Coming home from a long philosophical argument related to semiotics and linguistic incarceration of thought gives me a fulfilling feeling similar to a full-coursed Italian dinner from La Borca.

Cultural tourism: a concept that always attracted my friend and I...to me, it means trying to feel the pulse of the city, to know what the young and thoughtful (as opposed to the young and shallow, who are the same in every Western city) do at night, to find more bohemian spots for nightlife, instead of the typical Campo di Fiori barhopping-clubbing nights out.

My apartmentmate found a spot in the middle of nowhere--off a little piazza off a main road, a youth club full of supposed political activists and bohemians who show foreign films. They gather every night in an old, now-defunct seminary. Steps leading up to it almost look like there's a dead end at a shrine of our Lady, but when you actually go up there it's a portal to the courtyard wherein you see cheap plastic tables and chairs, a makeshift bar, and a wall full of Italian political statements that are classier than the communist and nazi incendiary graffiti around the city.

So then we watched Zaitochi, the blind samurai movie. Twas alright...it was dubbed Italian without any subtitles so I guess it helped my comprehension.

So that's how we found a place of trippy mind-bending possibly-social-commentary movies. An abandoned seminary turned youth activist liberal club.

That seemed like the culmination of a week bloated with travel, mostly walking. Going to beautiful Ostia Antica to find it closed, visiting the beach four stops down from O. Antica, walking home late with the feeling of prey in unfamiliar suburbs and there's a long way home...
--Fresh air
--Discovering a French quarter near the Pantheon with an old French church invested in by old French kings, with original paintings by Carvaggio
--Dinner with students...Italian style with appetizer, first course, main course, and dessert
--Museu di Contemporani Arti da Roma [sic] with an awesome exhibit from the artist Marc Quinn.
--WALKING WALKING WALKING
--Gelato Gelato Gelato outings
--Café Bella Roma, small and local
--Asking for directions ALL THE TIME..."Dove...il ristorante..."
--Apertivo: free food with purchase for 7euro alcoholic beverage: Momart

Now I have to go to an open-air market.

Salvé!
-guistino