just your average week.

Unfortunately nothing too exciting has happened since I returned from Sicily. Instead of having Theory we have had History of Roman Urbanism for the past two weeks, and just as all history courses in the past I am not very interested in it our excited about it. The walks we had for the class were semi-interesting. They seemed very redundant though, because they all revolved around churches, and now we've seen so many I feel like they are all starting to look the same.

This weekend I celebrated my 21st birthday. We went out to a club, which was fun, just not my kind of scene. Give me a small bar and a pool table and I'm set. That's one thing that I've noticed more since I've been here -- most of the other students, besides getting school work done, only care about going out and partying. I really don't understand that typical college lifestyle. It was great to get all the birthday cards too, and it also made me miss home more.

I almost can't believe we've already been here for almost two months. The longer I'm here the more used to it I am and the more I love it here, but I am still very excited to go back to the States. A lot of people here talk about how they wouldn't mind just staying and living here, and that is not something I would really ever want to do. I would love to have a vacation home or something outside of the U.S., or just the opportunity to vacation here on occasion, but I enjoy permanently residing in the States better. It's most likely partially due to the fact that I am comfortable there, and feel at home there, but also there's so many places in America that I still want to see or simply continue to see on a regular basis.

Next week we are going to the Tuscany region, which I am very excited about. I opted to come back to Rome when the trip ends on Friday rather than stay the weekend, mainly just to save some money. The trip to Sicily after our visit to the Campania region ended up costing more than I had expected, and I am definitely staying after Venice because Kate is meeting me there that weekend and I cannot go to that region without seeing the Palladian Villas. If there's one thing I have to see in Italy before I leave, the Palladian Villas are it.

I need to get some homework done now, but I will update again as soon as I get back from Tuscany. Ciao!

is it time for the next break yet?

This past week was amazing and unforgettable. On Tuesday morning we boarded the bus for Campania, a region in Southern Italy, and I had no idea what kind of experience was ahead of me. 

Our first stop was in Paestum. We stayed at an adorable little beach front hotel, even though it was far too cold to actually use the beach. Paestum was almost indescribable. The temples were massive, bigger than I ever really imagined. I can't seem to wrap my head around such buildings -- so long ago, with so little technology, people spent so many years on intricate and monumental structures. I guess it baffles me to think a culture was ever like that. Nowadays we build things to last maybe 20 years, and we update styles. Back in ancient times they built for longevity. On a side note, I did the touristy thing while we were at Paestum and bought a really pretty glass pendant and indulged in pistachio gelato. That night, after our visit to the site, I learned a new card game. I can't remember the name of it because it was Italian, but basically it's like Hand and Foot, except you play in teams and the scoring is different. There were a couple other differences, but not very big ones, and my team won by a ridiculous amount of points. 

The next day we went to Herculaneum (aka Ercolano). This time we got to stay in a really nice hotel, complete with gardens and jacuzzi tubs and balconies that overlooked the sea. The actual site of Herculaneum was unbelievable. An entire town excavated from the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius all the way back in year 79! It's crazy to think how much the city around it has built up when Mt. Vesuvius is still there and could definitely erupt again and destroy the entire city (even though it hasn't erupted since about 1200). Thinking about natural disasters like a hurricane or earthquake is scary, but a volcano? Just because of the temperature and chemical makeup of the fumes, once you breathe it in you can literally disintegrate. I'm very glad I don't live near a volcano.

Our final day was around Naples, visiting quite a few sites: Oplontis, Cuma, Piscina Mirabilis, Sulfatara Volcano. Oplontis was okay, but I really wasn't too inspired by it. Cuma is a cave where supposedly a prophet sat and you could go hear a prophecy. Piscina Mirabilis was basically an underground water basin, so it was dark and damp and moldy. And Sulfatara was full of clouds of sulfur and did not smell very good. That was a tiring day--most of our time was spent on the bus and we only saw each site for 30 minutes to an hour. Our trip ended in Naples, and from there some classmates and I made our way to Sicily.

We took an overnight "ferry", which to me seemed more like a cruise ship, although that observation is not made from experience. It wasn't as fun as we thought it was going to be -- the rocking of the boat really just made us all tired and there weren't any other people our age on the boat. It was still a fun experience though. We docked in Palermo, Sicily at about 6:45 am and made our way to our hostel. It was really more like a bed and breakfast than a standard hostel. It was really cute and colorful. We couldn't check into our rooms until noon so we left out bags and spent the day around Palermo. Our first main stop was the Catacombs, something I will never do again. I wasn't really sure what it was going to be like, and it was only 1 euro 50, so I decided to check it out with everyone else. Considering I don't even like cemeteries, I have no idea why I thought the Catacombs would be okay. Hundreds of skeletons, all still dressed and some still with hair, like 6 inches from my face. Never again.

After that we took the bus up to Duomo Monreale, an absolutely gorgeous church. I wish I had the patience and talent to make such beautiful and detailed mosaics. Words can't even describe. We were so tired from traveling that we took our own little siesta after that -- napped, showered, and got ready for a night in Palermo. We found a great little bar that was decently cheap and perfect to start the night. They didn't know how to make some drinks, so we had to tell them. Now they know yummy drinks for future American students. Overall it was a very fun night and I will never forget my one night in Sicily. On the final day, Sunday, our flight didn't leave until 9:40 pm. That turned out to be a drag because on Sunday, Palermo turns into a ghost town. EVERYTHING closes. I honestly don't understand how an entire city can just shut down. In America the weekend is when everything is open cause that's the day for errands. Not in Palermo.

Now that our first trip is over, I unfortunately have to get back into school mode. I am really excited for the rest of our trips, partially to see more of Italy and partially because it's a little break where we don't have to worry about homework or class. And now it's back to homework...

Ciao!

and now my life is almost complete.

This week has been the most stressful so far. Not because of one specific thing, necessarily, but a culmination of a couple things. My bank account situation got worse, and in waiting for my new ATM card (which I finally got today) I had no cash. And for those of you that aren't aware, a lot of places in Italy are cash only. So no cash led mainly to skipping lunch or spending more money than normal on lunch cause I would have to go to the grocery store to use my credit card. But mostly skipping lunch, which probably wasn't very good for me. 

We also had our first real project for studio this week. It was site analysis, and the process of finding out information was pretty easy, but when it came down to actually putting a presentation together I was not the happiest person. One of the main reasons I don't like working in groups is that for me to do my part I have to wait on someone else to finish their part, and when it's 9:30 pm the night before it's due... I think it's obvious how irritating it is. And they wait to tell me that they couldn't open one of the files I sent them to continue working on until 20 minutes before it was due, so that part didn't get finished. Groups are unreliable and more of a hassle than a help most of the time. 

Now let's get to the good parts of the week... Our walks this week were two museums, the Centrale Montemartini and the Ara Pacis Museum. Both were very cool. Montemartini is an old power plant that was converted into a museum, so the statues are placed throughout the building in front of all the case iron engines and boilers, etc. It seems strange, which it kind of is, but the contrast between color and style and material is very intriguing. The Ara Pacis Museum is a modern building by architect Richard Meier, and it basically acts as a display case to house one artifact -- the Ara Pacis -- the funerary altar of Augustus. It's a beautiful building. Basically all glass, you can see right through the museum so you can still see the city. There is, however, a lot of controversy around the building because many people are still unsure of whether or not a historic city such as Rome can welcome modern architecture. As long as you're not compromising the historic fabric of the city, I don't see why some modern buildings can't exist. They should still somehow speak to the city though, as does the Ara Pacis Museum, in my opinion.

Besides having a load of homework to do this weekend, one event made this weekend amazing despite everything else. I went to my first professional, and foreign, soccer game. It was Lazio (one of Rome's teams) and Milan, and the fans were definitely as into it as I had heard about. Unfortunately the fans we were sitting by were all into it in the angrier sense of the game -- Lazio lost. I didn't really care who won though since I don't know enough about professional soccer to really pick a team. I definitely didn't mind watching Milan win, especially when one of the assists was made by David Beckham. I wish I had been like twenty feet closer, but either way, David Beckham was right there!! It was amazing, and my life is officially one step closer to being complete. Haha.

My next post should be full of interesting things. We're leaving at seven am tomorrow for the Campania region to see the Naples area -- Paestum, Herculaneum, and a couple other sites including a volcano. Our class trip officially ends on Friday afternoon, and from there a bunch of my classmates and I are taking an overnight ferry to Sicily. We'll stay there for the weekend and fly back to Rome Sunday night. It will definitely be an amazing week, especially with no classes to worry about!

Ciao!

week three and counting...

What a hectic week it has been. Two days a week we have three-hour walks to yet another amazing site in the city -- all of which so far have been within fifteen minutes from my apartment. We went to see Michaelangelo's Campidoglio, which unlike everything else we've seen so far, was actually smaller than I imagined. It's still a great urban space, just not quite as shocking as some of the other places I've seen since I've been here. For this site we focused on strategic urban planning and looked at edges, axes, datum, foci, etc. It gets very interesting when you start picking a place like the Campidoglio apart and noticing how it's not an ideal space -- certain things are offset to create a more complex space.

Our second walk that same day was to the Pantheon. We had already been there before to sketch, but it's still breathtaking every time you walk in. From the exterior you can barely tell there's a dome, and when you walk inside you feel as if you just shrunk to a very tiny person. It's all very inspiring.

Our second day of walks was to Piazza Santa Maria in Trastevere and a few places right on the other side of the river including the Arch of Janus and a now church that used to be three temples that I can't remember the name of right now. Piazza S. Maria in Trastevere is in the same area as my apartment, and we went there to start a drawing assignment on it. It was actually kind of fun -- we had to measure our paces and hands, etc. so while we were there we could measure things without a ruler or tape measure handy. It is similar to the Campidoglio in that there are certain aspects about it that don't line up and you would expect to line up. There isn't much of an attempt to make it seem like a regular space, however, so it's more obvious that things won't be exact. The temples were interesting. We got to go underground to the old infrastructure of the temples. It was kind of creepy though -- there were some bones down there.

Besides that, Italian has been going well. It's a fun class and good to balance out the architecture load. Unfortunately other things have not been going so well -- besides petty things like my hair dryer frying and I think my straightener may have died too, even though I used it with the proper converter, my bank account basically got hacked into. It's a total mess, and the normal way to work everything out would be to go into a branch because there's a bunch of things I would need to sign and I'm the only person on my account. Since I'm in Italy, it's all very tedious and difficult and not something that's easy to deal with when I'm still adapting to a completely new culture. It's a lot to take in, but it will all work out soon and everything will be great. 

Now I must continue my homework since it's now Sunday afternoon and my Saturday wasn't quite as productive as planned. One other quick thing -- in about a week and a half we have our first travel study to the Campania region (southern Italy) that ends on a Friday afternoon, and after that for the weekend there's a bunch of us going to Sicily. I'm quite excited!

Ciao!

is the vacation over yet?

One week down and about fifteen more to go. I still can't believe I'm actually here! The first week was full of long walks and tours around the city and the whole time it felt like a short vacation -- once the week ended it would be time to go home. Actually living in Rome is such a surreal experience. Leading up to this amazing experience we were told about culture shock and how it would most likely be emotionally difficult to get used to such a different world, and when I got here I seemed fine. I still am fine, but there's little things that make me feel better about being so far way from reality. For example, even though I wasn't necessarily feeling homesick or anything, I found a comforter for my bed that looks almost exactly like the one I have at home, and it just made me feel a little bit better. That was nice.

It's also been a very different experience being with all the architecture kids just about twenty-four/seven. Back at home we all have classes together but generally have other social lives, but in Rome we're together for everything. It's actually kind of nice though -- I'm getting to know all these people I've technically known for almost three years now but really didn't know anything about them before this. 

The walks we took this week were absolutely amazing. The first one was to Palatine Hill, the Forum and the Colosseum. It was so crazy seeing the Colosseum first hand. I was in complete awe at how big it actually is -- pictures just don't do it justice, as most of the things in Rome I have discovered. The second walk was to Tiber Island and through the Jewish Ghetto. Although none of the things we saw along there are exactly textbook buildings that everyone knows about, they were very interesting. It seems like almost every time you turn there's another piazza or ruin or simply something you'll never find in the States. We also saw the Pantheon after that walk, and unfortunately it had stopped raining by the time we got there. In pictures and even from the exterior it seems like just a decent size, but once you go in it's simply breathtaking. I honestly can't comprehend how people spent so much time or had the patience to make such great monuments when the world was much less technologically dependent. The last walk was to the Piazza di Popolo and back towards the Spanish Steps. 

Once my feet and legs were about as sore as they have ever been, we finally got to have our formal welcome dinner. I was very excited for the seafood menu they had planned for us -- that is until I found out what exactly they meant by seafood. The way Italians eat seafood is very different than the way Americans eat seafood. The "salad" portion of the meal was some seafood patte, with some spinach cake looking thing, and a little seafood salad of squid and octopus and I'm not even sure what else. The second course was some kind of cheese and artichoke lasagna, which for some reason I wasn't a fan of either -- I think maybe it was because I still had the foul smell of the first dish on my mind. It also had a pasta with it -- which also had squid and octopus and whatever else in it. The third course was a tuna steak and actual salad, which was delicious, followed by a chocolate muffin with a cream on top that was absolutely delicious.

I will post again soon, but now I have to get back to some homework so I can get to bed at a decent hour. 

Ciao!

travel day.

I woke up this morning at four o'clock to start my long journey to Italy. It seems like yesterday when Italy was a distant thought, something I had months to prepare for. This day came very quickly and unfortunately am aware that my time in Italy will go by far too fast.

My whole experience leading up to today was new, exciting, sad, and overall a total whirlwind. I have never traveled outside of the country before, so that in itself was very intriguing. Then going through the process of getting everything prepared -- my passport, visa, documents, packing four months worth of stuff into two suitcases -- was hectic, a lot of checking and rechecking. However, I know it will all be worth it, and the craziness of preparing was nothing compared to what is now less than twenty-four hours away.

I am sad to leave home but so thrilled to be embarking on something new and unforgettable. This will be one more mile marker in my life, and I hope to have many more. I will miss all of my friends and family greatly, but it won't be long until I'm back and hopefully with a multitude of amazing stories to tell.

Five more hours in the Logan Airport and I will be on my way to Roma via Frankfurt. Arrivederci!