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24 Settembre-- Altars! |
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written
by Megan Brewster / 07.12.2004 |
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Itinerary |
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Today was a free day, with altar presentations at 7pm. During the day, most people worked on their term assignments, some went to buy out that leather store again, and some looked for the tackiest souviner for tomorrow's contest.
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Highlights |
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We began our tour of the altars at the BOYS' apartment in Trasevere. We were divided into two groups and escorted in separately. On the door were pictures depicting no shoes, no shirts, and no photography. The first altar was set up in their sitting room: an altar to GROUP SOLIDARITY. Alcohol bottles filled the three book shelves, flanked by two candles, with an offerings box underneath ("Offerte: Why lie? I need a beer"). "When we first arrived in Rome, we were separate individuals," Ben described. "But now, after four weeks, we are one group." There were beer bottles, wine bottles, grappa bottles, even the Jagermeifter bottles; arranged in the colors of the Italian flag: red, white, and green. They showed off their relic, a collection of beer nut shells from our many group dinners.
We were then led downstairs, rushed through the gate as it "only stays open for thirty seconds!" (a reference to our trip to St. Peter's necropolis). Here we saw the NINJA altar. "Ninjas are everywhere. Paul did some research and found out that Julius Caesar himself was a ninja. And we've found that everyone in our group is also their own ninja." Posted on the wall were pictures of everyone in our group, each labeled with their ninja identity in Latin: Sadie was the Burping ninja, as she can belch non-stop for easily one or two hours; Stephanie the "Just Friends" ninja, as she is just friends with her roommates; Angela the Catholic ninja, as she provided insights to our church questions; Cara the No Man Left Behind ninja, as she was constantly counting our heads to make sure everyone was present; Paul M the Kitchen ninja, for his "mad crepe-making skills"; Paul L the Frisbee ninja, as he is always willing to throw; Allie the Grappa ninja, as she... well, I'll leave that one up to the imagination; Kaia the Suzie Brown ninja, as she was called "Suzie Brown" by our tour guide in the crypts for always falling behind the group; Ben the Wannabe ninja, with pictures of him jump-kicking various ancient monuments around town; Anabelle the Gelato ninja, as she loves gelato more than anyone else in our group; Lesley the Fan Stealing ninja, as she would always steal the fan from her roommates during the hot nights; Jenny the museum ninja, as she is determined to see every museum in Roma; Whitney the Bottle Opening ninja, as he impressed us at the first group dinner with his ability to uncap bottles with a Bic lighter; Eliana the Just Learned To Drive ninja, as she recently turned 16 and received her driver's license; me the Food ninja, as I eat a lot; and Shawn, above all the other pictures, the Sensei ninja, as he was our beloved teacher. Laying on the beds were relics, such as a gelato spoon, a Frisbee, and frying pan, and museum brochures.
In the second bedroom, under the trap door, were sheets in the shape of a body. This was the TOMB of the Ninja That Was Left Behind. We missed you, Carolyn!!
We walked to Kaia and my apartment (in the tower, as Shawn described it, because we were at the top of a long, spiraling staircase) to see the PEDADONNA altar, our altar to Sore Feet. Chacos in the center radiated out like sunrays, representing our early-morning death marches around Roma. High heels framed our second-degree relic, an old Band-Aid box, and our first-degree relics, a pile of used Band-Aids. Posted on the wall were maps from Roma, Firenze, Siena, Cinque Terra, and other places we had been. On the Roma maps, Kaia and I had marked out our favorite walking tours: mine made loops and hearts around the major tourist attractions and snaked back and forth across the city; Kaia's ran up and down and up and down the river, with circles around where we had gotten lost one day. Up above, in Heaven, was a massage parlor brochure with wings and bus tickets flying around it like cherup heads.
Next we traveled to the Nun's Cloister (the girls' apartment). Allie, Angela, and Stephanie made an altar to ROCKS-- relics from various places we had been, such as Amalfi, Pompeii, Hadrian's Villa, the Forum, Capri, and Palantine Hill, each "meticulously carbon-dated" and arranged to spell out "Roma."
Jenny and Eliana made an altar to ELEPHANTS, inspired by Bernini's sculpture of an elephant, mocking other sculptures and monuments of his time. They were surprised to see that elephants were everywhere in Italia: there was an elephant contrada in Siena, and many Eastern neighborhoods in Roma proudly displayed the elephant. They had offerings of peanuts and chocolate (with pictures of elephants on top), as well as letters written to the elephant thanking it for the greet food, friends, etc.
Anabelle, Sadie, and Lesley made an altar to the TRIALS OF TRAVEL: THE AMERICAN GIRL IN ITALY. The backdrop of their altar was a picture of an American girl walking down the streets of Italy, pulling her shawl around her shoulders uncomfortably while men catcall after her. They displayed sandals, which caused uncountable blisters (including the sandal that was run over by a scooter), maps for Anabelle, a journal, our Literary Companion, toilette paper, tour books, and creature comforts (neck pillow, blankets form the plane, sunscreen, hat, sunglasses, stain remover). One part of the altar was dedicated to Sadie's adventures in the Italian Hospital, including the phrase book she used to try to explain to the nurses her condition, her laxatives, and one relic, but I'll leave that one up to the imagination, also...
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Images |
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Please see the provided link for the photos of all of the altars.
The specific details of the images are discussed in the previous prompt.
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