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!!