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The Eternal City

July 9th, 2012 cmcurr11

I first visited Rome in 2004 with a group of high school students on a cultural exchange trip. When we arrived at the Trevi Fountain, my tour guide informed us that it’s a tradition to throw in a coin, which guarantees that you’ll see Rome again. If you throw in two, you’ll supposedly meet the love of your life in Rome, and if you throw in three, you’ll live in Rome for forever. Being the Classics nerd that I am, I wasn’t taking any chances that day, and I threw in about fifteen.

The coins seem to have worked so far; I returned to Rome with my sister in 2010 shortly before I returned to Holy Cross for my senior year.

That trip was filled mostly with me running around Rome and dragging my sister to all of the awesome nerdy sites. No worries; Caitie survived, but I don’t think she’ll travel with me in the near future.

I’m happy to report that the coins seem to still be working. Last week, I found out that I received a grant from both the Vatican and Bodleian Libraries to spend a week in the Vatican Library. I’ll be working with two manuscripts that factor into the matrix of my current research interest, Junius 11. I’ll be leaving at the end of September, which unfortunately means that I’ll have to miss Holy Cross’ Homecoming. But, hey – a week with my manuscripts in Rome? I think I can handle it. I’m really excited about this opportunity, since this is essentially a gateway grant to further grants at other libraries. And, who knows? Maybe I’ll discover something particularly rare in the dusty archives.

All I can say is maybe I should’ve thrown in thirty coins or so.

Yes, this is where I’ll be working. I might not come back…

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