"Try to get lost in Rome at least once a day."

I’m not sure who gave me this advice, only that it has never led me astray. I feel that this is mainly because I have attached another little clause to that recommendation: “…but always have a way out.” Always have some means of getting yourself unlost in a hurry, just in case something goes wrong. Streets in the old city are only occasionally straight, and then only for a block or two, with the exception of the Via Giulia, which was the first straight street in Rome (we actually took a field trip to go see it as a class), and if anything, the streets in Trastevere are worse. I believe the popular travel guide phrase used to describe the neighborhood where I live is “charming Medieval maze.”

I tend to rely on the Tiber River and the Janiculum Hill as my quick fix. At least once a week, I set off from some known point in the city, like the school at Palazzo Taverna, Piazza Navona, the apartment in Trastevere, or the supermarket off Piazza San Cosimato, and just pick a known destination and a new direction. I might follow the known path between two points until about halfway and then take a “shortcut” down a side street, or I might try to blaze my own completely new trail. It depends largely on my mood and how much time I have to wander around town. No matter where I’m going, I always keep track of where I am in relation to the river, since all the bridges are labeled on my maps. All I need to get home is the name of two bridges so I can pick a direction and then follow the river back to my neighborhood. If I am wandering around Trastevere, I just have to get to a relatively wide street, and I can see the Janiculum Hill, which runs along the street right behind my apartment building and is one of the highest points in Rome.

I must admit that I have been relying heavily on the sun this past month to tell me where I am in relation to my quick fix points. I felt amazingly independent and Crocodile Dundee-esque. Until I realized (this afternoon!!) that I have had an actual compass with me the entire time. Last semester, Dr. Paradise, being concerned about Bailey and I walking home behind the frat houses after dark, gave me an emergency whistle with a little red light (which we discovered has the ability to either light the way or blind the user completely, depending on which way it is pointed) and a tiny compass. I carry it on my key ring. I carry my key ring everywhere I go.

Following a wrong turn this afternoon, I got to take a whole new path to get home from school. I made it out of the old city and across the river just fine, but when I got into Trastevere, those “charming Medieval” walls blocked my view of just about everything. The very northernmost part of Trastevere is separated from the rest of it by a little spur of the Janiculum Hill, so I knew that until I got clear of that, knowing where the hill was would not help me much, not that I could see it anyway. I decided to just set off in a general southerly direction, still using the sun as my guide.

It was high noon.

The sun being little help to me, I wandered for a bit, just trying to keep the river generally behind me and the hill, when I could see it, relatively close and off to my right (I really was in no mood to climb the Janiculum, though in hindsight, that would probably have been faster). Consequently, I wandered down four dead end streets in a row, and I made a couple of wrong turns that took me in the completely wrong direction (I got to see the same architecture firm on two occasions, about ten minutes apart).

By the time I made it home, I was tired and rather crabby. My mood did not improve much when, pulling out my keys to get into the apartment, I noticed the little black circle with >, S, E and W on my emergency whistle. And I found my maps on my nightstand.

The best part is, I will probably still pretend to be Crocodile Dundee when I get lost tomorrow.