When we were given a chance to explore the Spanish Steps, I paused about halfway up to turn and look at the city. Honestly, my first impressions of Rome were somewhat disappointing because, though I didn’t really know exactly what to expect before I got here, it was certainly less metropolitan, but I was determined not to let expectations I wasn’t even aware I had been holding ruin my wonder at the fact that I was not merely in another country – I WAS IN ROME! – and so I turned around to look at the city from a different perspective. From my elevation, the people moving through the square and down the street all looked so small, and I contemplated how many people have described such a sight as if the people were insects, too small to be significant, or even much worth note, but I dismissed this notion as imprecise. The people were not simply swarming around like insects but instead flowing in organic paths that were nevertheless not absolute. They appeared as the blood flowing through the living city, so that it was obviously something distinct to this particular city, rather than something that could be found just anywhere. There is much more to a city than its buildings – as there are always limits to the practical variety of functional structures – but you can’t let this similarity blind you to the real nature of the difference. There seems to be a necessary duality between people and places, so that neither is sufficient without the other – a city cannot retain its identity without its inhabitants, and the people respond to the environment of one another amidst the buildings.
I found it highly amusing when Professor Dobski approached me and asked me what I was thinking. That question often entertains me, because typically what’s going on in my mind is particularly atypical, tangential, and complex, but it particularly pleases me when I am able to respond to this inquiry with a pithy answer which answers their question but is nevertheless completely out of context. In this case, I was able to respond with, “They look more like blood than cockroaches,” which I was then asked to elaborate upon. I was even more pleased when my explanation led him to share that some cities were actually built so that the movement of people through it would actually mimic the flow of blood through the body, which is super cool on so many levels.
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