Week Fifteen

Well here I am home from Rome! It is so good to be home and even though I had an awesome semester there, I am so relieved to be back. I was starting to get homesick those last couple of weeks when the end was near.

I was pretty bummed to have missed graduation since all my roommates and friends graduated the day I flew back. It was really nice to have Dan, my mom, dad, and step-dad pick me up at the airport and go out to lunch. We had a huge BBQ at my apartment on Saturday for my roommates graduation and my return to the US. It was so awesome to see everyone, my friends, family, etc. all at once. It's good to be back!

I guess I should probably reflect on my trip with this final entry...

I had a lot of fun, though it was really hard work (this is what I tell everyone about my trip). It was amazing to see Rome and Italy and to travel. But it was also extremely busy with school, to the point of frustration, because it severely limited what we could do. There were a lot more places I wanted to go and things I wanted to see in Italy and Europe, that we didn't get to because of the heavy work load. No other study abroad program seemed to be remotely this tough and it was just a bummer to not have as much free time. I suppose that is the nature of being an architecture major, but it would have been nice to be able to do more.

I suppose I could have used my free time better too, and kept myself really busy at all times travelling etc. But I am also someone who cherishes my free time and relaxation, of which we didn't get much with school.

It is funny to think about because I really felt like 4 months was long enough and I was definitely ready to come home when I did, but there is so much more I'd like to do and see, so I know I'll go back, at the very least to Europe, and I'm sure to Rome again someday.

I am so lucky to have had the experience that I did. I saw so much and had a lot of wonderful experiences, met so many new people in my program and made a lot of new friends. I also really learned a lot about other cultures, which was really interesting, but also made me appreciate my life in America.

I do have the urge to travel a lot, and this sparked that interest even more. But I am also very much a homebody and I really like coming home after being away for a while. You are always so much more comforted to be home when it's been a long time that you've been away and that is how I feel know, being with my friends and family, back where I feel comfortable.

There are a lot of things I missed other than people...like American food, and being able to go into a store or a restaurant and feel comfortable ordering or asking for something and be confident that you are saying it right, and that you are getting what you want. It is really nice to be back with my friends, even though I did make a lot of new ones, it is nice to be back with the people that I have known forever, who know me, and people I missed for 4 months.

I am also really excited to have some time to relax, though I have to start summer classes really soon unfortunately. Hopefully it will be a relaxed semester and I can get a break from the crazy last couple of weeks I had.

Studio turned out okay, I didn't fully finish but I did the best I could with the time I was given. I didn't have the best crit but it was more about how the design was a little boring and that was something I struggled with for a while over the semester. We had a showcase at the studio before our goodbye dinner which was pretty cool. It was nice to walk around and look at people's work and have our apperitivo. We then went out to dinner and all the teachers came. It was nice to see them all one last time, get some pictures, and say our goodbyes. The following day our digital portfolios were due, which sucked. I basically spent my last two days in Rome doing my whole portfolio for the semester. I liked the way it turned out, and I finished on time okay, but it was just icing on the cake with the whole having to do work instead of seeing sites situation. But whatever, its over now, no need to dwell on it. Our flight home was pretty crazy because we all hung out together and packed and cleaned at the apartment and basically just stayed up because we had to take cabs to the airport at about 3am. We caught our cabs, and made it to the airport on time, but then we weren't allowed to check in because they couldn't find our reservation. We were all pretty freaked out by that, and the ticket office didn't open until 6am so we had to wait a couple of hours at the airport to see what the deal was. We were all exhausted and just wanted to get home at this point, and annoyed with dealing with this kind of crap. It ended up okay and they figured things out, I still don't know what the problem was but it worked out and we checked in and made our flight okay. The flight home wasn't bad at all. I slept a lot and relaxed with the excitement of getting home and seeing my boyfriend and family. We did have a pretty long layover in Germany, but most of us just had snacks and napped with our stuff while we waited. Overall I can't even remember most of the flight because I was so excited to get home. The feeling of walking out of the baggage claim and seeing Dan and my family was just so awesome, like in a movie.

All in all, I'm happy to be home. I'm sure I'll miss Rome, and will be dying to go back soon.

Ciao, for now!!

Week Fourteen

Not a lot to say this time, or a real lot of time to write it but I'll try to do some recap.

Last week we went on a day trip to Tivoli, which was really nice. We saw the Jubilee Church by Richard Meier that was a little outside of Rome. It was really beautiful and a really awesome modern church. It is basically made up of these fins that look like sails. It is really elegant and beautiful. The one thing that is really funny about it, is that it's this clean white structure surrounded by basically project housing. There was a service going on when we got there so we had to hang out outside, but I got a lot of really nice photos. We then got to go inside for a little bit after the service was over and got to discover the cool little quirks about it. Like how there is a cut in the wall behind the altar so at a certain time the light shines behind it.

We then went to see this gorgeous villa know for its beautiful gardens. I forget at the moment what it was called, but the best part was just walking around the gardens that just had tons of waterfalls and fountains. It was a gorgeous day out and we all had a really nice time just walking around the grounds. One really cool part was this set of caves that had fountains at the back. It was really cold inside and not lit at all. It was so cool.

We then spent the next 36 hours or so cramming for our history final exam. Everyone had a really tough time with the midterm, so the whole apartment was just insane study sessions everywhere. The test was pretty tough but I think I did okay. The frustrating thing was that it took a lot of time out of working on our design projects, which I am still really freaking out about. There is so much work left to do and I have been working literally every day from about 9 or 10 in the morning until 2 or 3 am that night. It is really frustrating because they told us we would have time to enjoy Rome at the end of our trip, but I have been stuck in the studio doing work all the time. I really don't even feel like I can do anything else with the amount of work I have to get done. I'm not even sure I will finish on time. It is just so maddening. We are all really frustrated. The project is just too big and we were set up with not nearly enough time to finish all the requirements.

I have been working for days and I still am not done with my drawings. It took me so long just to work out all of my plans. Ugh it is so stressful. A couple people went to a concert for Earth Day in Piazza del Popolo where Ben Harper played and I didn't even feel like I could take the few hours out of my time to do that. I guess that's kind of the story of being in architecture, but really it's just frustrating since I've felt so busy and there are a few more things I'd like to do.

Anyway I'm basically just ranting at this point and I have to get back to work. TOO much to do!

I can't believe my next entry will be after I am all done with this and I'll be at home! I can't wait!!

Week Thirteen

So here I am back from Spring Break. We had today off as well because the Italians observe Easter Monday too, so that's definitely nice. Dad and I actually arrived back in Rome on Saturday and have just been enjoying a couple of days off in the city, although nothing is open because of the holiday so it's pretty hard!

Anyway, so we rented our car on Sunday which was a little silver hatchback, I think a Ford of all types haha, and set off on our journey to Siena. We decided for the trip to stop in different little towns all over Tuscany to try their wine and site-see and have fun in the smaller towns as well as the bigger ones! On the way to Siena we stopped to get lunch in a little tiny town in the Tuscan hills. It was so beautiful and remote! It felt like there were no people around. The city was walled in and basically just steep cobble stones. We took photos and ate lunch at a place my guide book suggested. We got the local white wine (a trend which would definitely continue!) and enjoyed the lovely weather.

We then made the rest of the way to Siena and checked into our hotel. It was a little difficult to find since it was somewhat outside of the city. It ended up being about a 10 minute walk to the city walls at the northernmost side. The hotel was really nice, and definitely would have been a nice summer resort because it had a pool and really nice patios and gardens. We were also able to pay for some internet cards to use our laptops. We then walked into the city to get dinner.

The next day we explored Siena. I gave my dad a little tour of the city since I had been there before and could remember the information pretty well. I still couldn't get over how cool the cathedral there was, with its unfinished expansion. We got some gelato and layed in the main piazza just enjoying the sunshine.

The next day we went on our way to Cinque Terre, stopped in San Gimingnano on the way there. It was this really cool little town that is known for its many towers. We payed to climb to the top of one of them. It was an amazing view of the surrounding Tuscan hills. My dad was a little scared up there since he's afraid of heights and kept yelling at me to keep back from the side. We climbed back down and got lunch. We got a little pitcher of white wine made there and had a little lunch. It was so delicious and the weather was continuing to be so great.

We left to continue on our way up North to Cinque Terre. We arrived in La Spezia which was the place where we planned to leave the rental car while we took the train to Cinque Terre. We drove to the train station having no clue where to park. We definitely should have researched it before. I ended up asking a taxi driver in broken Italian mixed with English where there was parking. We found an awesome little parking garage where the man who owned it gave us a ride back to the train for free. It didn't even cost too much to park there!

We then caught a train to Monterosso which was the furthest North of the 5 towns, where our hotel was located. We checked in to our hotel which was this cute little guest house that was kind of modern and was run by a women who lived there. We made some plans for dinner and then went for a walk to explore and ended up just hanging out on the beach. It wasn't quite warm enough to sunbathe but was nice to just enjoy the ocean that I had been missing for months. We ate a delicious dinner and then got our rest for our big day!

The next day was probably one of my favorite days in Italy. We embarked on the hike through the five towns of Cinque Terre. At the beginning it was pretty difficult, and it was super humid that day but we made it to the second city in about an hour and a half. The hike was so awesome. It was these tiny, narrow paths along the cliffs that jut out into the ocean and you just weave in and out, getting little peeks at the other towns along the way. We took a ton of really good pictures and had a really fun time. The hike got easier and easier as we went, and at the end was basically a paved stroll. We took the train back and relaxed at the beach again for a bit before going back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. We ate dinner at a place out hotel lady recommended and it was really cool because it was basically in the side of the cliff.

The next day we left to return South to Florence. We stopped in Pisa on the way there to check out the leaning tower! It was really cool to see up close. All of the buildings on the site are leaning, and it was crazy that they still even let people up the tower.

We got to Florence and checked into this crazy nice hotel. It was so gorgeous. We explored Florence and then got dinner at this really cool wine bar. It was super modern and you were basically surrounded by bottles of wine all over the walls. The next day we had reservations at the Uffizi Gallery which is this really famous museum in the center of Florence. It was nice to see a lot of famous paintings including the Birth of Venus. We spent the rest of the day walking around the city seeing other sites, including going to the museum where the statue of David is. That was really amazing and I was so surprised to see how big the statue is. It was a really nice day and we got to see a lot of awesome stuff.

The next day we caught a train back to Rome since we had dropped off our rental car our first day in Florence. It was nice to get back and unpack and relax for a while. My dad came over the apartment after getting settled and brought some wine and we hung out and drank and chatted with the other kids who were there. We basically just walked all around Rome the last couple of days. We went out to lunch for Easter, nothing too crazy. We were going to go to the Vatican but felt to intimidated at the time.

Anyway, now I am just trying to get settled in, prepared for the next couple of insane weeks before going home!

Week Twelve

So today is the first day of Spring Break! Dad and I leave tomorrow with our rental car to Tuscany. I am so excited. A lot of people left today and last night for their respective trips. I do sort of wish I could have gone on Spring Break with my friends and gone to some places that I haven't been, but I know I'm going to have a good time and we are going to Cinque Terre!!! Which no one else is going to so I am excited to get that in.

This past week was pretty busy with school and trying to see my dad. Although he had a lot of stuff planned and kept pretty busy himself. We got dinner a couple of nights at some cool restaurants I hadn't been to. One night we went to this one that Alex and Steve had recommended and who is there but Steve with his family and then Alex and Diana came on a dinner date. It was too funny. The food was delicious, very traditional.

We also went to this restaurant that I had been eyeing for a while because I thought it was very my dad's type of place, trendy seeming. I think it was called Glass but we keep messing up the name haha. It was pretty good. One of those places where the menu is pretty limited and it's all fancy foods, so sort of intimidating. We enjoyed ourselves though and I think my dad and David liked the atmosphere, even though the wait-staff was interesting. We had about 5 different waiters and none of them could get our orders right.

Today Dad and I are going to walk around Rome for the day since we are free and none of my friends are around! I think we are going to visit the Borghese gardens since I haven't been there yet and it's a beautiful day out! I think that should be a fun thing to do especially since my Dad has already seen a lot of the sights.

This week was a little bit hectic with school work. Yesterday was our final Italian exam. I wasn't too too scared about it, but it was definitely a big part of our grade and I wanted to do well so I studied a lot. We also had to hand in a Thema and a worksheet, so there was a lot of homework in addition to studying for the test. Along with the Italian exam we had a lot of studio work due because we are trying to keep up since our final will be the last work to do after break. It was really hard though because you want to focus on the work that is more immediate.

The walks this week were really fun too. We moved into the more modern Rome times and talked a lot about Mussolini and then really modern Roman architecture. We went to Villagio Olimpico, which is the Olympic Village from the most recent Olympics which I new forget when it was but I want to say was sometime in the 70s. It is now basically a big neighborhood with apartments/condos and it has it's own school and everything. Pretty cool.

We also went to Garbatella which was this quaint little area of town outside the main city. It was so cool and we all decided that's where we would want to live. Basically it was a whole neighborhood of little houses with nice lawns and small quiet streets.

Another really cool place we went on a walk was to EUR which was an area built for a world exposition for 1942, although it never happened and wasn't finished. It was all Fascist style architecture, which isn't really my taste but was still so cool to see. It was all planned out in an axial way with an obelisk in the center of the axes. We got to go on the roof of an auditorium building which was so nice. It had a really nice view and the weather was gorgeous so it was fun to just be up there. We also got to see the huge building with all the arches, known as the "square Colosseum" up close. We had seen it from the bus a couple times on the way in and out of the city but it was cool to see it closer, although it was closed and we could just look at the outside.

The weather has been getting a lot better. Definitely a lot more hot days, lots of sunshine. It feels great. It's such a nice difference from the many many rainy days we had at the beginning of the semester. And it is starting to be nicer weather here than at home.

Anyway, I'd better go, I have to meet up with my Dad and David and then get packed for the big week! I can't wait!!

Week Eleven

This past week was a lot more relaxing here than it has been in a long time. Classes are sort of winding down. This is the last two weeks of both History and Italian classes and so we've been getting excited about that. They basically have us wrap up everything except exams before our break and then all we will have left is our history test and studio work until the end of the semester. Seems like it will be nice because they promise us that this way we will have more time to enjoy Rome some before we have to go home. I can't believe I only have 5 weeks left! Although I am definitely looking forward to going home and seeing my friends and Dan and everything.

The walks for history this past week were pretty cool. We are learning about Boromini and Bernini who we have studied in class before but it's so awesome to see all the stuff in person. On one of our walks we went to San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane and it was so beautiful. It is this tiny church on one corner of an intersection where 4 fountains were designed for each corner of the intersection. The fountains were so cool and interesting, and shows just one of the many things I love about Rome, that while standing to cross a busy street with cars whizzing by, there are these beautiful old fountains. It's just so crazy how old this city is. I think that is definitely something I'll miss. Just walking down the street and oh hey, there's the Colosseum, just chillin there.

Anyway, the inside of the church was just so awesome, such my kind of church/architecture. It was really plain white, simple, stark even, yet so beautiful. There was this amazing coffering on the ceiling in the dome that was made up of crosses and ovals, and was beautiful in it's detail and I think better just plain white. That is definitely something I've noticed here, the churches are just so crazily adorned with different stones and it's just gaudy sometimes, whereas this tiny church is so simple and is probably one of the most beautiful in my opinion.

This weekend we also had our last planned trip with school. We went to Fabriano and a couple of other small "hill" towns outside of Rome. In Fabriano there is a paper making factory where they are famous for their paper and it's sold in art stores all over. We got to go to the factory and each make our own sheet of paper. It was really cool because I didn't know that that was how paper was made (obviously the non-mechanized version) and it was fun just to do it. We also did some scavenger hunts and got a really nice lunch at this cool restaurant where it was also a furniture store. They sold the furniture that you sat at to eat. The tables were all made out of these awesome tree trunks with glass tops and it was just so cool. I wish that place was in America so I could buy some stuff!

After the planned activities were over we walked over to this big park and played around for a while. Simona's daughters were there and it was fun, so people played volleyball, the boys mostly played some pick-up football/rugby, and then there was this zip-line thing that we all took turns riding. It was pretty funny. We even convinced Claudia to do it! She was so scared but it was great.

That night we stayed in a hotel in Fabriano. Most people called it an early night - there wasn't much to do anyway. Today we basically just made our way back to Rome but stopping at a few different cool places on the way. The best part was we went to these caves and got a tour through. It was so beautiful and even though we weren't supposed to take pictures, I took a bunch of really good ones :)

All in all a pretty low-key week in Rome. My dad comes on Tuesday and I am so excited. It will be nice to hang out and go on break with him! Especially since he has a fun week planned out for us! David Brown is coming too which I'm happy about so my dad will have a friend to hang out with while I'm busy with classes and my Italian exam on Friday!

Week Ten

So here I am finally back at the apartment where I can relax for a night. This past week we travelled in the Veneto region with school and then a bunch of us stayed in Venice for the rest of the weekend. We just got back and I'm so happy. It was a pretty long, money spending week and I am glad just to be back with my bed and to be able to take a load off, no homework, etc.

On Tuesday we left for Verona (you know, where Romeo and Juliet are from!) Once we got there we checked into our hotel which was pretty cute. We got a little balcony off of our room and were right on the main square in Verona.

We visited a pretty cool museum built in an old castle (actually called Castel Vecchio!). We were basically just told to walk around and sketch and explore for a while. It was really cool. The museum was right on the water and there was really interesting features we found like a walkway along the river and this old bridge where you could climb up on the sides and see over the river. Later that afternoon, we went on some walks around the city and went to a photography museum that was installed in some excavated ruins. The photos were amazing and I think that was one of my favorite things we saw.

At night we had a dinner as a group which was really nice. I sat at the table with Scott and it was actually pretty cool to here all about his life and his family and stuff. It was really interesting. We then found a bar to go out to since it was St. Patrick's Day and we had to celebrate! It was so much fun because we got to put an iPod on for a song and so we put on Shipping Off To Boston and it was soooo awesome.

The following day we heading toward Venice but stopped on the way to visit a couple of sites. The coolest one was the Bolle at the Nardini Grappa Distillery. They were these two huge glass balls basically that were held up in the air. They were used for conference rooms and labs for the distillery. It was so awesome. There was this one part that was an auditorium and the seats automatically went up and down. I think everyone really loved visiting there, plus we got a free tasting! And lot's of people bought their grappa for gifts for people at home. I bought 2 little teeny bottles for Dan and my step-dad.

Once we arrived in Venice we checked into our hotel, which was soooo awesome. I roomed with Darien and we got one of the 2 really huge rooms in the hotel with a balcony over the canal. It was amazing. Darien was really excited because it was her birthday that night and she felt like it was extra special because we got the big room. That night we went out to dinner as a group and then attempted to find some nightlife that did not exist.

Thursday we spent the day doing tours of the city. We went to St. Mark's Square and went to this really awesome modern art museum where there were all these crazy installations. Like the one in the main area when you walk in was just all these sheets that looked like there were bodies under them. It was nuts. I think everyone really liked it, and it was really interesting to look at. We were given a lot of time to explore the museum and Lindsay showed us around telling us all the stuff she new since she specialized in modern art.

That night we got dinner again as a small group. It was pretty nice. We found this place that wasn't too expensive and had pretty good food. I had spaghetti with white clam sauce and it was amazing. Northern Italy is known for it's seafood and boy are they right. I think everyone enjoyed themselves. There was a fixed priced menu that some people got and is pretty common at a lot of touristy places. You get a pretty good amount of food (3 courses usually) and it's not too expensive.

The next day (Friday) we went on more tours of Venice and ended at the Peggy Guggenheim collection. That was one of the best museums I've been too because it was all this art from the early/mid 1900s of a lot of artists that I have studied. They even had the Proun by El Lissitzky that I did for my first semester studio project. It was so awesome to see in person. They also had a lot of works by Picasso. It was all around a really nice museum and I enjoyed it a lot.

We were then set free on our way and those of us staying in Venice went to the hotel to get our stuff and find our hostel. This hostel was by far the sketchy-est and most expensive of all of those we've experienced so far. It was a small apartment with a few bedrooms that 2 guys ran. The whole payment situation was awkward because of the language barrier and they were trying to get us to pay for meals and stuff. It was also the only place where we had to pay extra for sheets (even though it was by far the most expensive hostel we'd been to!). We ate dinner at the hostel that night and then went out to find some bars. An Australian couple that was also staying at the hostel came out with us too. We did successfully find some bars that had some people there, even though we were basically half the party. We sat down at a table at one of them and played cards basically the whole time. It was a lot of fun until the couple that came with us got into a fight and it was the most awkward thing ever. We basically had to get them to make up because their key to the hostel worked and ours didn't! It was really funny though.

The next day we went exploring around Venice on our own. We walked all the way down the island past St Mark's Square and found a park and it was just so awesome. The weather was beautiful and we took tons of pictures, got gelato, etc. It was a lot of fun and was just nice to walk around.

The next day we went to St Mark's Square to get a gondola ride, because you have to do that if you're in Venice. We were able to convince one of them to let 8 of us go on the gondola which was apparently illegal, but they'll do anything if you pay them enough. It was pretty short but really fun and I'm glad we did it. That morning was also Ben's birthday and he and Kyle had woken up earlier than the rest of us, so on the way to meet them we stopped at a bakery and got him a little cake which we presented to him in St Mark's Square. It was awesome.

We then met up with everyone at the train station and took the train back to Rome. I was the keeper of the ticket as provided by Scott and I successfully held onto it and gathered everyone together for the train. It was a long ride home and I am happy to be back after such a long time away. I spent SO MUCH money and it will be nice to just relax in Rome for a while now.

Only trip left is Spring Break! Time is really flying by! My dad gets here next week, I can't wait!

Week Nine

Well, what a week/weekend I've had. Definitely one of the busiest. They crammed so much work in for us, plus a couple of us decided it would be a good idea to go to Munich this past weekend!

Last Thursday was our mid-crit. I worked all week on it and really liked how it turned out. I got all the work done which was awesome because most people weren't able to get all the requirements done for Thursday. I also planned out my sheets and they looked really good. I was really happy with my presentation and got awesome praise and feedback. I love that feeling where you get all your work done and you are happy with it. That rarely happens and I really need to start working on making sure that it does more often. It's really nice to be able to go before critics and be confident with what you have. Most other people did a pretty good job.

Unfortunately, we could not rest because we had an Italian Quiz on Friday and our Theory project was due on Monday! I was way too tired from the mid-crit wFork to do much on the Theory project though (like a lot of people) and boy was that a mistake, but I'll talk about that a little later.

On Friday, 5 of us left to fly to Munich for the weekend. It was Sara, Diana, Alex, and Steve and I. We arrived in Munich and found our hostel which turned out to be soooo cool. Our room was awesome and we had our own bathroom and balcony. And the hostel itself had an atrium with bean bag chairs and other awesome things. Definitely a high quality establishment. We got settled in, made our beds and got ready to go out, and found a restaurant on the maps we had. We got dinner and it was pretty good but nothing extraordinary. We then searched for somewhere to go to a bar but for some reason the city felt pretty dead. We weren't sure if it was just a quiet night or the city had early closing laws. We later figured out they are more of a day-drinking crowd. Anyway, we found this bar that was half Irish-half Australian and got a couple of drinks but we were really tired so we went home after a little bit.

The next day we woke up and Steve, Sara and I attempted to work on our Theory projects for a little bit but it was getting late so we woke Diana and Alex up to get going. We explored Munich visiting a couple of different sites and ended up at the English Gardens which were so awesome. There was a surfer's wave where for some reason there was a non-stop wave because of the current and a bunch of guys were surfing on it. Then we walked through and saw a naked guy sunbathing. For some reason, in this park there is just an area where people sunbathe naked, and its just accepted and theres little kids running around and it's no problem. We then saw the cutest dog we've all seen in our lives and Alex wanted to steal it. Definitely the best dog we've seen since most of them are more mutt-like. We've definitely noticed that dogs are more grimey and usually not pure-breds in Rome, not like the nice pretty dogs in America. (I miss my puppy!)

Anyway, we then got to the Chinese beer garden in the English Gardens and got lunch. We finally got to drink out of the huge beer glasses. The food was awesome and so was the beer. The weather was great and we loved our lives.

That night we went out to dinner at the HofBrauHaus. It is a really traditional beer garden in Munich and it was definitely the best time. We shared a huge table with two German kids and a German couple. The kids spoke some English and got to talking with us. We got awesome meals and the huge beers that the beer maidens could carry like 10 of at a time. It was sooo cool. There was also a band playing sweet umpa music and there was lots of cheersing. It was such a blast. The German kids we met took us out after to a club where we stayed out pretty late dancing and having a good time.

The next day we went to see the Glockenspiel which is a really cool clock in the middle of Munich where there are puppets that dance around when the clock goes off. It only happens twice a day and everyone gathers around to watch it. It's really cool.

Later we went to Dachau to see the concentration camp. It was a really interesting, sobering experience, and while that seems like a really depressing thing to do, I was really happy we did it. I am so interested in the German culture and it was my first time seeing anything like that in person. It was upsetting, but I appreciated the memorialization. There were signs that said "Never Again" in a lot of different languages.

We then headed back to Rome and had to get going on our Theory projects! We ended up staying up all night with many other people and not finishing in time. We talked to Scott and a got sort of extension where we got our grades docked so that we could finish our projects to their fullest. I ended up finishing mine at mid-night the day it was due, but I liked the way it came out and hopefully even with a grade docking I won't do too badly.

Tomorrow we leave for our school trip to the Veneto region!