To Map or Not To Map

I wish I had a dam map. I really really do. See at first I came over here and I was one of those kids who thought maps are only going to hold me back - they're charted, they're constricting, they're so by-the-book. Coming in to this, I wanted to go out and explore on my own, not with any direction but sheer submersion in the life, finding new things around every corner. I envisioned me strolling around the open concourses of Rome, stumbling upon ruin after ruin and Italian life daintfuly tucked away in each side street. I was an optimist who, in many ways, naively expected my own directional abilities to carry me through the grandiose city. But now, after about three weeks of the program, I have just now gone out and found myself a map.
After using a map relentlessly to navigate around Barcelona, I began to realize the raw value of having an arial view of a city. Ultimatley, what a map allows me to do is visualize the city and understand the geographical and thus societal make-up of the city. While in Barcelona, after only a day of having my map, I was able to fully navigate around the city and understand how the different neighborhoods melded into one another. By plotting different points on each map - points that had specific value and relation to me - I was able to get a contextual feel for the city. In contrast, by not using a map in Rome, I really haven't been able to understand the city and how each Piazza and zone relate to one another both geographically and culturally. Without the entire visual representation of the city, I feel lost and I think that my appreciation for the city has dwindled because of such.
But now, after picking up a map from the porter of the Residence, I have been able to really get a sense for where things are in relation to one another and how to navigate around. And what I feel most special about is that my very fear of locking on to a select path and being oblivious to the surrondings while following it - something I find myself doing at both Temple and my family's home - is non-existant because the city really has that much to offer that it can't help grab your attention. While here, its so hard not to look up and stare and the juxtoposition of old and new, historic and modern, serious and fun, etc. because the entire feel of the city is so different for me.