The most difficult thing I encounter daily in Rome is not my attempts at communication with the Italians, but rather it is simply trying to keep up with all the things that keep happening to me! A few examples to illustrate my point.

Yesterday, after school, Gabrielle and I went out walking around the city. This is not an unusual thing and I have started to become pretty comfortable going anywhere that I please. We stumbled upon a group of kids playing soccer in a piazza, and the moment was ripe for a good photo, so I busted out the camera and started shooting. Out of nowhere two rather large, official-looking men came up to us and unloaded a barrage of questions in Italian. Who are you? Are you journalists? What are you doing here? You’re students, huh? Where?! Etc, etc. It was all we could do to spit out simple responses in an attempt to placate them. Suddenly one of the men grabbed my camera in an effort to take it away, but I yanked back and quickly stowed it in my backpack. Gabrielle and I exchanged a quick glance which confirmed our mutual feeling of uncertainty.

Our confrontation resulted only in my deleting of a single photo taken at the location. Only afterwards did we examine the various factors that could’ve been at play. Turns out that we were in the Jewish sector of town, right outside the Hebrew school actually, and the Jewish community has had to go to great lengths to insure their security as of late. We were also right around the corner from a building operated by the CIA which is famous for being the location of the mysterious death of a certain Italian official. On top of all this, Italy is hosting many heads of state at the moment and all police forces are on high alert. Thankfully we were able to explain ourselves and diffuse the situation.

That night my Italian family and I had a Bar-B-Q at our place. I had given them all kinds of food items from Texas upon my arrival–Stubb’s BBQ sauce, Texas wine, etc–and they were eager to try them all. Several friends of the family were invited over, including a fellow film director, an editor, a professional photographer, and even the brother of one of Rome’s soccer stars. Everyone loved the food and I put on some good American music in the background, which quickly became a favorite of those present. I enjoyed very much joking and laughing about the differences between our cultures as well as getting to talk shop with like-minded enthusiasts from another country. It was another great evening.

I haven’t even had time to write down my other excursions in the city, like stumbling upon a chase scene being filmed at the Piazza del Popolo, my visit to San Pietro e la Citta del Vaticano, or even finding a piece by my favorite poet frescoed onto the wall of a side-alley shop. I’ll try to fit everything in, but in the meantime you can view various photos that I’ve uploaded. Ciao!