Quid agis hodie?

I definitely have to do at least two more blog entries--one on Ordesa and one on comparing and contrasting--but I'm being anachronous and updating on to-day first and will do the others later. They are in me, definitely. I am, however, doing a particularly good job at going out and being social! It's a bit strange to me to be in a group and not think that everyone is wasting their lives, but I suppose that people who would go on dialogues don't lend them to wasting their lives. Actually, I meant to update yesterday, for that's when I was in Torla and Ordesa, but we went out. Spain, apparently, hasn't heard of Thirsty Thursdays, especially in the hot summer when students aren't around and everyone who is has work the next day. We started at Sol y Luna, this lovely local dive that we patronise every day. The owner loves us and will usually throw in a sangria on the house, after the 10 other pitchers, and he said that he wants to throw a party for us before we leave here. Last night, though, we should have just stayed there, for we went out to a bar and were the only ones there, so I didn't even bother spending 4,50€ on a litre of something horrid, and a few of us left. The others wandered and were unable to find a bar on Kristina's map (hand-drawn by a friend of a friend who had studied here for a year) before coming home an hour after us. Basically, I wasted 6,40€.

I may get in only to-day update before going out again to-night, which I was not going to do, but all 18 of us are, and we have to-morrow off, and all that I have to do is buy tickets before 1500. Either way, Spanish women are beautiful, Spanish men are not, and everyone knows it.

Moving on, Lucretia, tu bella puella, tu, were sorely missed to-day. I had no one else with whom to explain the Roman forum, balnae, and amphitheatrum to everyone else, and certainly no one with whom to enjoy this marvellous reconstructed graffiti:


Zaragoza (pronounced 'tharagotha' ('th' as in 'with,' 'r' rolled as in most Romance languages and silly Scots accents--Emily, I think that I now know how to teach you to roll your 'r's, as I've pretty much taught AJ) started 2003 years ago as the Roman port town of Caesaragustus, from which the name is derived. Loving etymology, I think that this is pretty awesome. When the Roman empire fell (damn barbarians, or crazy inflation/currency devaluation and loss of the middle class--sound familiar?) los moros (the Moors) peaced on in, and chilled with the Christians until 1118, when I forget what happened, but you can bet your boots that it was the Christians being Christofacists. For a while, Muslims, Jews, and Christians all sweltered and ate lots of meat (some different meat than others, but still) together in harmony, but then they had to go fighting over the same god, as is religious people's wont, and there goes harmony. Between kicking out los moros, and then the Jews (late 1400s?), and then the whole Inquisition thing, the Catholics made sure that they were the only ones left.

Before all of that lame recurrent history stuff, though, the Romans had this huge port here. Like I said (or implied, and those of you up on your Roman empire history understood) the port was here for about 300 years. Then everyone forgot about it until 1972. No joke. This is what happens when religion makes everyone in the Middle Ages forget any worthwhile achievements that were made by the ancient civilisations. Caesaragustus was the largest port on the Iber (Ebro now), and I think the largest city at the time in the Iberian (understand the nomenclature now?) peninsula (paene insula: almost an island). The Roman town exists now in three ruined places (as mentioned, the forum, baths, and amphitheatre) and what's left of the city walls.

The balnae were comparable to those in Rome, and bigger than many in Pompeii.


The amphitheatrum was modelled after one in Rome.



(Dude, legit ancient Romans walked here. And some children got lost looking for their parents, and some chick strategised about how to get some boy... People don't change, but we've all lived...)

The forum--and this is interesting--was placed right up next to the river, like Faneuil, instead of its usual spot at the city centre, so important was the river.




We watched films in these really well-done museums around the ruins. They even made the people in the films say things in latin! You can be sure that I was the only one in our group laughing, but o, man. I love the ancient Romans. They reconstructed what the town was like from the perspective of one of the city magistrates, and it was just wicked.

All in all, I now know that I will probably start crying walking around in le rovine in Roma, and I will definitely be speaking in latina. Also, Lucretia, I would very much enjoy coming back here with you sometime. You would also have enjoyed Ordesa, but who wouldn't have?