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!

Week Eight

So Dan left today and I'm bummed. We woke up at the crack of dawn to take the train to the airport. We got there really early and just sat together as long as possible before he had to go through security. I am really going to miss him. It was so nice to have my best friend here for a whole week to hang out with me and get back to our old routines of doing stuff together like cook dinner and go out. I think this week has now just made our time apart even worse though. I mean, I never would have had him not come, but now that we've spent the week together it's so much more painful. I just hope the next two months go by soooo fast.

This past week was a tough one juggling school and doing stuff with Dan. He was a great sport and saw a lot of sights that I have already seen in Rome by himself. One night we got to go to a soccer game. It was SS Lazio vs. Juventus. Dan had the time of his life. That was the first real soccer game he's been too that wasn't MLS and it was so crazy and awesome. The visiting team's fans were even caged in in one section so there were no fights!

Another day that was really awesome is we went to the Colosseum. I had been way back in January when we had one of our classes there but it was really cool to go back and just walk around on my own time. I remembered a lot of the information about it and was able to give Dan his own little personal tour. It was so much fun, I took a ton of awesome pictures. The only bummer about this week is that the weather hasn't been that great. I feel bad cause it rained a lot and Dan had to stick that out with his sight-seeing. We also went to the Trevii Fountain where we got our picture taken in front of the fountain kissing. I love it haha, it's so cheesy and cliche but I am happy we did it.

Friday night I had the cooking class for Italian. Dan got to come and we cooked an awesome meal. We made amazing lasagna and these veal meat roll-ups that were slow-cooked in a tomato sauce. It was so much fun and the cook that was friends with our Italian teachers was so cute and we had fun talking. My teacher, who is the cutest lady ever, have I mentioned that?, complimented me on my Italian skills too which was awesome, so I am really not that confident with it. We had mostly Italian 1 people doing the cooking class so I was able to understand some things that the cook was talking about that others weren't and I was helping them. At one point I was talking to her though and figured out that she really does speak English, she just wasn't supposed to because I think Claudia told her not to to help us practice.

After the cooking class we met up with all the other kids who went on the pub crawl. It was so much fun. Unfortunately we missed the first part that was all you can eat and drink, so when we met up everyone was pretty wasted already and we were sober. But it was still a lot of fun checking out some bars we had never been to. We also went to a club in Testaccio last and danced the night away. The bar was wicked expensive, so we just said screw it and just danced for a while then walked home.

Saturday Dan and I went to the Vatican. It was gorgeous out and we packed a lunch to eat in St. Peter's Square. We sat on the steps on the outside and ate sandwiches just enjoying the awesome weather. It had to have been at least in the 70s. It was sooo nice. We then waited in line to go into the cathedral and walked around taking pictures and looking at everything. It was so amazing. That is the most gigantic church ever and it was awesome to finally see it. Unfortunately the museum was closed by the time we got to it so we didn't get to see the Sistine Chapel. I felt so bad because there wasn't another chance for Dan to see it :(

Saturday night we just went out with some kids to Scholar's and had a really good last hurrah.

Today since I was up early to see Dan off I was able to get a lot of school work done that I had to catch up on. We have our mid-crit this week for studio and an Italian quiz so I had a lot to do!

Week Seven

So Dan and I just got home from Venice! He got here on Saturday!!!! I came back from Tuscany Friday night in time to meet him when his flight came in Saturday morning. I was soooo excited to pick him up at the airport. Tuscany was pretty fun but not the best trip. I was I had gotten to stay there but I know I'm going back with my dad when he comes to visit. One highlight though was definitely the Nutella pizza we had in Siena, hahah. It was a really nice trip, we travelled through beautiful Tuscany stopping in Siena and Florence. They are such beautiful cities with amazing food, but the only drawback was most of the time we were doing walking tours and had to take a lot of notes. I can't wait to go back when I don't have to be there for school!

The first day we stopped at many of the small hill towns on the way to Siena. They were gorgeous little medieval towns with amazing views of the rolling hills of Tuscany. They were so clean and quaint with very few people around surrounded by acres and acres of farmland. We arrived in Siena that night and got to stay in another pretty nice hotel. A couple of the boys got pretty sick which I felt really bad about and I think it was from either the lunch or dinner that we ate even though no one else really got sick. Some of us went out in Siena that night, but it was really quiet and we just ordered some dessert and a bottle of wine at the only open restaurant in the center of town. One of the coolest parts of Siena is that to get to the city from out hotel you have to take about a million escalators because it is up so high.

The third day we headed to Florence. It was the other big city in Italy that we have been to and I really loved it. We walked around the city visiting the cathedral, the baptistry, and the Medici palace. The walks we went on focused a lot on the families of Florence and the architectural styles of the period. It was really interesting and the weather was decent for the most part although it has still be pretty cold. I even had to borrow a sweatshirt from my friend Steve who is like double my size by the way.

One of our teachers brought us to this really cool store that was like an herbologist's shop but was run by the nuns of Santa Maria Novella. It was so old fashioned and cool and they sold soaps and perfumes and other really cool stuff. I definitely want to go back if I can with my dad. From there we left for the train station (at least those of us who were heading back to Rome!). The train ride back was pretty quick and we just got back to Rome and settled in and hung out. It was kind of nice just being there with a few of us.

The next morning I went to the train station to pink Dan up. It was the best day ever. When he came out of baggage check I was dying with anticipation. We rode back to Trastevere on the train together and dropped his stuff of at the apartment. We then went out to do some sight seeing and to find some lunch. We got paninis near the Pantheon and enjoyed the beautiful weather by sitting on the steps of the fountain to eat. I then gave him my own little tour of the Pantheon and then walked around to see some other sights. Dan was getting pretty tired so we headed back and made some plans to go to the soccer game that was that night. We figured out how to get there and got to the stadium just in time (Julien came with us) but we found out that we couldn't buy tickets at the stadium for the game so we didn't get to go. :( Instead we headed over to the Vatican since it's sort of near the stadium and got to see it at night!

We then went to Scholar's, our favorite bar, because we wanted to show it to Dan. We got some snacks and so beers and just hung out. Dan got really tired and we had to wake up early to go to Venice in the morning, so we went home and to sleep.

Really early Sunday we woke up and caught a train to Venice. It took about 5 hours, and once we got there we got on a water taxi and rode it to St. Mark's Square which is where our hotel was. It was the cutest little guest house that had been redone really modern, but our room was soo tiny. It wasn't bad, just quaint. I really liked it. We set our stuff down and went exploring. We saw St. Mark's Square and just walked around the city through all the winding roads and canals and over bridges. We found the Rialto bridge that was so cool. It's a bridge that has stores built into it. We found a place to grab pizza for lunch, and explored some more, then headed back to the hotel to rest and get ready for dinner. We went out to a place that our hotel keeper recommended and it was so delicious. We did all the traditional stuff, including getting limoncello after dinner. I had so much fun doing all of this stuff with Dan. We celebrated the Valentine's Day that we had missed with this dinner. It was so nice.

The next morning we got up and had dinner at the hotel. We then had to make our way over to the train station so this time we walked and got ourselves lost and took about 2 hours to find it. We had wanted to explore and kill time so it was actually pretty fun. We rode the train back and got back in time to grab some dinner at Florida Pizza which is my favorite place in Rome to get pizza, and headed over to the studio to watch the Italian movie, which was Life is Beautiful. I LOVE that movie. Now we are back at the apartment just relaxing.

Alright, better go!

Week Six

So I am really tired so this one might be a little short because we just got back from Barcelona! This past weekend six of us girls planned our own trip to go to Barcelona, Spain! We flew in on Friday night and settled into our hostel before going out to dinner. We found an authentic spanish restaurant and got Sangria. yumm. We also got Tapas and I ordered Gazpacho and then had Paella for dinner. It was soooo delicious and we had so much fun just us girls. We then went out that night for a pub crawl that we had found because we met some Australian guys on La Rambla who were running it. It was a lot of fun because they brought us to bars that we never would have been able to find.

The next day we woke up really early to do as much site seeing as we could. We walked to Casa Mila which was a building by Gaudi that we had learned about a bunch in class in America. We also found some other buildings by Gaudi on the way that we hadn't heard of before. They were both so much more amazing in person than from photos. I loved the aesthetic that was ocean-like and all the stone and iron work. It was amazing. We went up on the roof of the Casa Mila and it was sooooo cool. There were all these different chimneys and sculptures on the roof and you could see the Sagrada Familia from there which is where we headed next. It was also amazing weather because it was so warm out and sunny for once!

We walked over to the Sagrada Familia which is a huge cathedral designed by Gaudi but has already taken over 100 years to build. It is my favorite building by far in the world at this point. We waited in a really long line to see it and finally got inside the gates. The outside was incredibly sculpture with different biblical scenes and vegetation and animals. Inside the church was the amazing place I have ever been. It was all white stone sculpture with gigantic columns made to look like trees. The most beautiful part was all of the stained glass. It was much more beautiful than traditional stained glass. It was just pieces of different colors that glinted in the sun. I was mesmorized. We were able to find a short line to take an elevator up into one of the tall skinny domes. Once we were at the top we walked up winding stairs and across a bridge where we could see amazing views of Barcelona. It was really scary but also really thrilling and we got some awesome pictures.

We then had to climb back down tons of stairs to get to the bottom. Once we were down there we wanted to get to Gaudi's Parc Guell so we grabbed a map to figure out the bus route to get there. We found our way, and I was once again mesmorized by Gaudi. It was basically just a huge park with some houses in it that looked like little gingerbread houses. Then there was one really wide open part that was like a platform all lined with benches decorated with shards of porcelain. It was so beautiful and again really beachy which I loved. It turned out that the platform was held up by this really cool colonnade and we made our way throughout the park to see it. By the time we had explored the park we decided to head over to try to find the Barcelona Pavillion. One of the girls' feet were hurting so she headed back to the hostel.

We found our way to the Pavillion but it was closed because of some kind of convention and we were heartbroken. It was dark out by then and there was a really cool light show over a fountain so it made up for it a little bit, but not much. We were pretty bummed and just headed back to the hostel.

That night we went out to a fancy dinner. We were all pretty tired so we just stayed in that night. The next day we had to wake up to go to the airport. On the way there we got breakfast at Starbucks. It was the scariest moment of my life. There were two really creepy guys that were basically going to rob us had we not been warned. Two of the girls warned some other people and the guy spit on us and we grabbed our stuff and ran away. It was soooo scary but the good thing is we made it out okay. Thank goodness. We made it to the airport okay and back to Rome.

Well I am really exhausted so I'm gonna go. Dan gets here in a week, can't wait!!!!

Week Five

So before I get into this past week, I still have to talk about my trip to Sicily!

We left Naples Friday night and took an overnight ferry to Sicily. The boat was really nice and was almost like a cruise ship. We had a really nice room that I shared with 3 other girls. Once we got our stuff to our room we all went an grabbed some snacks and drinks, but were pretty tired so we went to bed soon after. We had to wake up on the boat at 5am to get off! Before going to bed we did get a taste of how Palermo culture might be since the whole boat was mainly men and all of us girls were pretty creeped out by them. We got stared at and gawked at while we were in the public areas of the boat.

When we got to Palermo we got off the boat and made our way to the hostel. The city was pretty quiet since it was so early in the morning, but we were able to find our hostel by walking and following the map in my guidebook. It was right near Teatro Massimo which was a very large and historical theatre in Palermo. We ended up waking out hostel owner up to let us in and were able to drop our stuff of but not check in since it was so early. We decided to wander and grab some breakfast nearby. We all got our usual italian breakfasts consisting of cappuccinos and pastries, which I'm lovingggg, while we waited for our other friends staying at another hostel to call. Once we were done they were still busy checking in so we walked through an open market that we saw near the cafe. The market went on for miles and they sold fruits, vegetables, meats, cheeses, everythinggg. We even saw a sheep hanging to be bought! Eeeew!!!

We stumbled upon Palermo's huge Cathedral which was gorgeous! We then made contact with our other classmates who were checking into the other hostel and made plans to meet at the catacombs in Palermo. We were able to find them pretty easily, but had to decided to walk there which was fun but far! The catacombs were not what I expected at all. It was basically the basement of a church and there were preserved full bodies of people! It was really creeeeepy.

We then went to the next town over from Palermo that was at the top of a large hill. It was a gorgeous view and we got to look at a really amazing cathedral there.

That night we went to dinner at a place we found online that was owned by an Italian man who had lived in America for a while, so he spoke English really well which was awesome! The food was delicious and we had a great time. We then met up with the other group to go out that night. It was a lot of fun but towards the end of the night the girls were starting to get pretty freaked out by all the guys staring at us. Palermo really only has men, it is soo weird.

The next day we got a guided tour of the Teatro Massimo which was really really interesting. The inside was gorgeous and we even got to sit in the Prime Minister's box! We started to head to the bus to get to the airport and grabbed some food on the way. It was pretty easy to get to the airport and we made it safely back to Rome!

Week Four

So we made it back from Campania and Sicily alive! Although Sicily was prettyyyy sketchy to be honest. But I'll get to that in a bit.

Campania was BEAUTIFUL! We left Wednesday and went south of Rome to Paestum. It was so amazing because we saw when I think were the only Greek Temples in all of Italy. It was soooo amazing to see them up close and I was so impressed at how well most of the 3 temples were so well preserved. We basically just looked around for a while and had free time to just sketch and hang out. The weather was actually pretty good, albeit a bit rainy at times, but we were able to get some sketching in. We also got a really good group picture of the whole class in front of one of the temples. We also got a tour in the museum there by Saskia (who I LOVE by the way) which was so interesting because we saw all of the artifacts that they uncovered at the site, like coffins, and clay pots and sculptures that belonged on the temples themselves. When we got out of the museum it was raining so a couple of us went and grabbed some gelato while we waited for the other group to finish.

We left Paestum and stopped at the Villa Oplontis which was a really well preserved ancient villa. We got guided tours and had time to sketch, but I mostly wandered around and took photos. It was SO huge and amazing that someone had lived there. One of the coolest parts was that only half of it was able to be seen because it had been excavated from having been covered in lava when Mount Vesuvius erupted. The other half was under a modern road so they didn't excavate it but we got to see the cut part that showed the layers of the lava. It was soooo cool.

We then left to go to the town where our hotel was located. It was right on the coast and could have been really fun, but it was so cold and misty the whole time we were there. The hotel didn't even have the heat on when we first got there! Once we had settled in, some of us left to go to find a store where we could get some snacks and wine. Once we got back we had a nice dinner in the hotel restaurant, where we all sat and chatted and had an amazing meal. It was homemade by the owner and his son. We then all went to our rooms and hung out together until it was time to go to sleep.

In the morning we traveled to Herculaneum which was so incredible. We checked into a beautiful hotel (which we got to stay in because the town of Herculaneum was pretty ghetto). Once we had dropped our stuff off, we went to the ruins. It was a lot like Pompeii where there was a whole city that was preserved when Mount Vesuvius erupted. The weather was probably the best we've had yet. It was warm out and sunny and we were right on the ocean, it was amazing. We could see Capri from where we were in Herculaneum. We basically spent the day walking around the ruins and got some tours from Saskia and a woman who worked at the ruins. It was so much fun. We saw tons of interesting things, and took all kinds of pictures. That night we had dinner at a pizza place that we found near the ruins. It was delicious homemade brick oven pizza. We then stopped for some wine on the way home and hung out at the hotel for the night.

The next day we stopped at a couple of different places on the way to Naples. We went to a cave of a siren, it was soo eery and amazing that they were able to carve that cave out. We also stopped at a water sistern that was amazing. It was basically a man-made cave where water was kept. We stopped for lunch where there was a small Colosseum and a couple of us snuck down below the floor to see underneath the stadium. It was so much fun...it was really scary because we took these really dark stairs down but it was soooo worth it because it was so beautiful. There was a serious of arcades and old column ruins and we could see above through grates in the ceiling. When we went back above to the ground area, many of our classmates were hanging out on the colosseum steps, but then a lady came and yelled at everyone, saying they were all nuts and in huge trouble, etc (in Italian, but Saskia translated for us). It was pretty funny. We then went to a volcano but it was awful because it smelled like sulfur and i was gagging the whole time. It was fun watching some of the boys climb up the side of the crater though.

We were then taken to Naples where we were going to catch the ferry to Sicily.....but I'll have to talk about that next time since I have to get ready for classes tomorrow!

Week Three

So this marks the end of my third week in Rome. I am starting to get settled in. The weather still hasn't been great. It rains a lot, but is really cold. I even went out a bought a down comforter for my bed! Who knew it would be this cold in southern Italy?! But then again our heat is terrible and is only on for something like 6 hours per day. I'm so glad that I brought my fleece blanket that Dan bought me for Christmas. I can wrap up in it even when I'm in the living room doing work on my computer. I am really hoping that this weather get's better soon. We are all feeling pretty miserable about it.

Monday we had a project due that is a sketching assignment for Theory class. It is pretty interesting because we never really did much hand drawing in Boston, so this is helping to practice. We had to analyze a piazza near where we live in Trastevere and design one sheet to demonstrate what we observed of the space. I think I did a pretty good job. This week we got a new assignment to pass in before we leave for Campagna. It was to compare two museums we visited, the Ara Pacis Museum and the Centrale Montemartini. They were both so interesting in their own ways.

The Ara Pacis was by Richard Meyer who is a pretty well known American architect and is one of the only really modern style buildings in Rome. I really really enjoyed it and hopefully I will get to go see Meyer's other project outside of Rome, the Jubilee church. The museum just houses the one artifact that is the Ara Pacis. It is right on the river and next to the Mausoleum of Augustus. The best part I thought was there was a fountain and waterfall outside along a wall made of travertine. We arrived at the museum early in the morning so the early light was so beautiful on the water. I took a bunch of pictures of it.

Montemartini was really cool because it used to be a factory and they renovated it to turn it into a museum, leaving some of the machines in the building, creating a really interesting juxtaposition between the white sculptures and the machines. The coolest part was there was a huge statue of Athena in the center and then there were also parts of what must have been a gigantic statue. There was a huge arm and hand and lots of kids took pictures with it. The room of the museum where these statues were was the main room of the factory and the installation was meant to look like a basilica whereas the other main room was set up to look like a villa with one whole wall being a huuuuge machine. The floor had parts of a mosaic from a real villa and there was a staircase where you could go up and look at it from above. It was so beautiful.

This week we are basically just preparing for our trip to Campania and then from Naples a bunch of us are going to be taking a ferry to Sicily. I am really excited because it is going to be our first thing that we are doing without teachers. I think the whole week is going to be really fun and it should be nice to have a little break from schoolwork.

Week Two

Week 2 marked the official beginning of classes. We were all starting to get settled in, figuring out where to get groceries, school supplies, etc. I've been making pretty decent meals since being in Rome. Cooking with Dan all the time at home got me into the habit of cooking well-rounded homemade meals. It's funny though because we all just eat tons of pasta basically. I have been trying to change things up though and got different kinds of meat and sauces. I have had to alter my way of cooking in some ways though. For instance, I almost always use ground turkey for meatballs and stuff like that, but they don't sell it here, although I did find ground turkey patties. So I just used those to make meatballs. I finally found bread crumbs too! Thankfully I don't have to make my own from stale bread, because I was under the impression I'd have to!

Going to the supermarket is an interesting experience. I have gotten better at it over time but mostly try to stick to buying stuff that I know. One thing that is really different is that you have to weigh your own produce and print out a sticker to mark it with its price. They don't have much for sliced bread because they buy fresh rolls all the time, but I can't eat the fresh bread fast enough and it gets stale after one day! You have to pay 5 cents at some of the grocery stores for each plastic bag you use, and the check out ladies are always soooo mean.

Along the same lines, we have discovered just how much the people here hate having to make change. The other day, 5 of us got lunch together and it came to €46 and change. The waiter made it €40 so that we could just give him 4 10s. It was so weird that he would want to lost €6 just to not have to make change. And it happens all the time! If all you have is a 50 dollar bill many places will refuse to take it. It is soooooooooo weird to me.

The 2nd week we started Studio too. It is already sooo different here then it is at home and I would say most everyone agrees. We have a lot more work here but all the teachers are far more understanding. They look out for us personally and understand that we want to be travelling and experiencing Rome and Europe. We were bummed when we found out that studio is Tues/Fri until 5:30, which really means until whenever we're done with class (often 7 or 8pm at home!). We were able to get 2 Fridays switched to Thursday so we can travel. I booked to go to Barcelona with a group of girls for the first long weekend, which is really exciting!

Our studio project is on a really odd site. It seems like studio teachers love giving us sites that are either in a really bad area, or are extremely complicated. This one is both! It is located on Via Portuense which is right across the Tiber from Testaccio in the southern end of Trastevere. It is a really sketchy place, and we were told not to go there alone or at night ever. Umm... great. I just love designing on sites in areas that are unsafe. The site itself is this really long and skinny strip of land along the river that has a bunch of really run down old buildings among basically a whole lot of shanties. There are mostly craftsmen there selling building materials and stone, and then little stands that serve as shops with mopeds and the like. It is really dirty and we've seen tons of homeless people living there. Anyway, it should be an interesting semester using that site.

The weather has still been off and on. It definitely rains here a ton more then it does at home. Rome is absolutely beautiful though when it's sunny out. I cannot wait until it is sunny a lot more often. I really like it here but the days when it is cloudless and sunny are by far my happiest. I think that I am definitely someone who is heavily effected by the weather, even though I love living in New England, but I also LOVE the snow, so when it's snowing I don't consider that bad weather at all.

Anyway, better get to working on some homework! The reason why I'm so bad at keeping up with the blog is because I am sooooo busy with other things! Once I'm caught up though hopefully I'll be able to stay with it.

Week 1

So I fell a little bit behind with the blog and am going to write the first few entries in retrospect.

So here I am in Rome, we got here at about 10am after a long night of flying over the Atlantic. I am usually an avid plane-sleeper but the timing was off for me and I wasn't tired enough to fall asleep in the seat I was in. I finally got some shuteye on the short flight from Frankfurt to Rome but it definitely wasn't enough.

We took a shuttle bus from the airport and Scott, our director, encouraged us to look out the window at the country-side before we arrived in the city. To be honest I was pretty taken aback. The "countryside" looked to me like they had built up a bunch of industrial buildings and high rise apartment buildings out side the city in the 60s or 70s and then completely abandoned the area. It was gloomy out, so that didn't help, but the whole place was barren, there was graffiti on everything, it was a little disheartening. As we arrived into the city, it was more of the same. Was I in Rome? This wasn't the Rome I was expecting. We quietly made comments amongst ourselves, it was dirty!

When we finally got to the apartments we chose rooms. Assia and I got a triple room for just us 2 which worked out nicely for us. Our room is really big and with my stuff all unpacked is pretty homey, aside from the cold tile floor. Speaking of cold, the heat is only on for 6 hours a day in 2 hour increments that we don't control. This is a sign of one of the differences from home, they are a lot more conscious of their energy consumption it looks like. There is a lot less hot water, the washing machine is TINY, etc.

At 3pm on the first day we had orientation. Most of us slept through the entire thing. I really tried to stay awake but it was so difficult....what do they expect when we flew all night?!

For the rest of the week we had lectures and walking tours, and the city began to grow on me. To give the city a break, we drove in by the worst part. We live close to the nice part of the city and most of our walking tours have enlightened me to the beauty that is Rome.

The second day when I went to pay my rent as the housing office which is in Piazza Navona was when I really started to be happy about being there. We walked around a building and there it was, the first really beautiful thing I saw in Rome. I was truly excited.

We also started Italian class the first week which I love. I decided after the first day to take the upper level class. I was nervous at first but it was a good choice and the teacher is the sweetest little lady in the whole world and encouraged me to switch even though I didn't take the placement test.

Friday night we had a dinner with the whole group. Now that was an experience. The whole dinner was crazy seafood dishes. The whole time everyone was timidly poking what they were about to put in their mouths, it was funny, and I felt adventurous. We went out afterwards, and had a lot of fun. We found a lot of good places to go out at night and made some new friends. Saturday we walked around and explored Trastevere (where our apartment is). We found these stairs to go up the hill and found a look-out point that I would guess is the best view of Rome. It was amazing, I was so impressed and took tons of pictures. I went back the next day to do a sketching assignment, I loved it so much. That is probably one of my favorites places in Rome so far, and we found it by mistake. For the sketching assignment we also found Bramante's Tempietto by mistake! That was an awesome discovery, and no one told us it was sooo close to our apartment!!

Anyway, that's all for week one!