My Summer in Rome...

This week has been pretty hectic and busy, but surprisingly not stressful. I've spent all of my days working on studio trying to finish my project, which I finally got done today, YEYYYY!!!!! Mike, Ryan, Bahls and I have also gotten our things ready for our trip, booking hostels, getting train tickets, scheduling things and putting our extra stuff in storage. Other than that, I've been pretty tired, the two months here have dawned on me and I would just love to sleep forever. Tonorrow is our final presentation/critic, so I'm pretty excited to be done with studio. I am completely exhausted from this rushed semester.

Other than that, this may be my last journal entry for a while. On the next couple of weeks, I'll be travelling around Europe. I'll get to visit Munich, Interlaken (the extreme sports capital of the world), Paris, Amsterdam and Duesseldorf. I am pretty excited about this. I'm also going to have to pratice patience and keep myself organized because I'll be travelling with three guys, which I'm pretty sure will rely on me to get them around, Mike already told me so...

Rome has been great. I wouldn't trade this experience for anyhting. Some of my ups: seeing Rome, being in Europe, awesome trips, feeling like a local, getting to know another culture, seeing my family (or at least part of it), enjoying day to day Roman life, having a little bit of home (hectic traffic, long lines and pretty vocal people), meeting new people and from different majors, going to the same coffee shop every week and being expected... Some of my downs: stressful days, heat, hectic schedule, the robbery, bad professors, not enough time, getting on each others nerves, not been able to go home... All in all, Rome has been great and if I had another chance, I would definitely do it all over again.

Thanks mom, dad and my family for being so supportive and happy for me!!!

Love you lots!


Since I don't have any pictures, it sucks I know, I decided to put a couple of my sketches from my sketchbook. Enjoy!



Sculpture at the Sacro Bosco di Bomarzo. graphite



Building and water parterre gardens at Villa Gamberaia. watercolor

Yesterday was sort of a rough night, so I got to studio today just in time for class. First, we had a pretty boring lecture about our next and final phase for the project. Then, it was work time. I actually got a lot done today. After studio, we cooked some micorwave dinner, we just wanted something really fast. After dinner, some of the guys saw Shooter with Ryan and me. After the movie was done, I was dead from being so tired, so I fell asleep on Ryan's couch and then later went upstairs to sleep in my confy bed while he went out to party.

Saturday, I cooked some breakfast for Ryan and me, he was in a very sleepy/tired state. Then, Mike called us and invited us to a waterpark. So, after getting the directions, Keegan, Mike, Ryan, Ryan and I went to Hydromania all the way in the Western edge of Rome. It was pretty fun and Ryan's first waterpark, so he was like a litlle kid. When we got back, we found out that our studio had been robbed last night and they took a few computers, cameras and Ipods. Luckily, I has all my things with me at my aprtment, so I didn't lose anything, but it still kinda sucks. Anyways, we got ready and went to dinner with the boys at a really good Italian place. I was dead again, maybe the two months of little sleep have caught up to me, so I went back home and slept like a baby, literally cause it was hot so I kept waking up a lot, only not crying.

Today, we woke up early to go to the Tratevere market that goes on every Sunday. I went with Maddie, Joslyn, Jake, Chappy and Ryan. We walked and walked and it was pretty hot. Then, we came back to eat some lunch and work on studio, and that's what I've been doing since.

So, nothing too spectacular. Getting ready for my last days in Rome. Maybe trying to fit in what I haven't seen...

Love yous!!!!

Tuesday night, as I said, I went to see Harry Potter with Ryan, Maddie, Rachael and Josh. I completely loved the movie, it was pretty cool. BTW, Hanna, we need to talk.

So, Wednesday, it was another free day, so Ryan and I went to try the Vatican Museums, but the line was too long again and we didn't want to stand in the hot hot sun for an hour. So, we opted to go to Villa Borghese's Museum, which was amazing. The sculptures by Bernini are incredible, he was an artist. Then, we viited the Crypt of the Capuchin Monks, which is a tomb of about 5 rooms which are all decorated with the bones and skeletons of the monks from that monastery. It was kinda weird and creepy, but cool at the same time. Along our way, we did some birthday shopping and then we headed back to our apartments. At night, we saw Employee of the Month on my computer and then after hanging out with the guys for a while, I headed back to my place. The girls were all up and kinda drunk, so I talked to them for some time and then we all went to bed.

Today, we went with class to Ostia Antica. This town used to sit on the Tiber and on the East coast of Italy. It dates back to the 600 BC, and teh ruins are pretty awesome. It was incredibly hot today and we drank like 5 bottles of water and soda to keep hydrated. Some university was also doing some excavations. We got to talk to them and see what they found today (one of them was a mandible), which was pretty awesome. Then, we came back and I took a shower cause I was dirty and then took a really long nap. Ryan and I saw Shrek 3 and now, Mike just got here and we are going out for a while. Talk later!!!






Besos!!!

Friday morning I woke up quite early to take my train to Venice. Wow, those seats are uncomfortale. Anyways, we got there at around 2pm, only to find out that the public transportation system was on a strike until the late afternoon. We had a small problem because our hostel was situated in Lido, which is an island off of Venice that you can only get there by boat. So, Ryan and I walked through the small and maze-like streets of Venice with Joslyn and Maddie to their hotel. They settled down and then we walked to San Marco Square to wait til the strike was over. When we got there, we found out that the boats to and from Lido were still working, so we were able to get to the is;and and check into our hotel. Mike, Bahls, Chappy, Josh and Rachael were also staying with us, but were coming on a later train, so we would meet them at night. Ryan and I walked around the San Marco Square, had a huge slice of pizza and looked into some shops. We also went to a local worldwide known store that sells journals and sketchbooks with a handmade cover os leather form Tuscany and painted with vegetable oil. They are amazing. Then, we met the rest of the group back at the Square and did some drnking, but headed back soon because we were pretty tired. Venice is an amazing city and completely gorgeous.





Saturday, we woke up with the sun to go to the Basilica San Marco. The interior of the chirch is amazing with its gold mosaics and its geometrically patterned tiled floor. Wish dad had seen it. Then, we went to the museums around the square which were pretty amazing too and housed the longest oil painting in the world, done by Tintoretto. After that, we tried to go to the Scale del Bovolo, which is a spiral staircase, but it was closed. So, we walked around looking at local shops, murano glass stores and sat for a bit by the Ponte Rialto to soak our feet in the water and cool down. After that, we went back to Lido to meet with the rest of the group and go to the beach, which was really really relaxing and good. After that, we all went to shower and get ready for dinner. We were supposed to meet at 9:30pm, but the group was late and Ryan and I were hungry. So, we decided to just get dinner ourselves. We went to a really good seafood restaurant where we ate mussels, spaghetti with mixed seafood and grilled scampi. It was delicious. Then, after dinner, we went to the North shoreline to see the fireworks of the festival that was going on today commemorating the end of the Black Plague in the 1500s. Then, we went to bed.





Sunday, we woke up really really early to take our train back to Rome. We slept the whole way there and when we got home, we got rid of all our stuff and headed to studio to finish our projects. I went to bed at around 3:30am and then got up early to finish up my drawings. We had crits that day and then we couldn't sleep because we had to study for our test for Urban Morphology. So, again I went to bed late and woke up really early, so I haven't had any good sleep at all. it does't look like I'm goign to get a lot either because I am going to see Harry Potter today!!!!! Hanna, we'll have to talk about it.



Anyways, I'll try to keep you posted more often and check the pics because I updated them.
Love!

Monday. I woke up some time in teh afternoon and had lunch with Ryan before going to studio. We worked on our models and design and had two lectures by the professors. This sucks. After that, Ryan and I met mom, dad, Karla, Tania and Ozzie at their hotel. We walked over to Trastevere and saw the Santa Maria de Trastevere church. Later, we had a beer waiting for our table at the restaurant. We had a big dinner with appetizer, first course and second course, and a lot of wine. It was really good. We were done eating by 11pm ,but dad decided to stay until 12, so they could sing happy birthday to me. Also, they brought a bottle of grappa and a bottle of limoncillo to the table. So we had our drinks, and then they brought a Tiramisu with a candle and sang. The waiters sang in Italian, yey!!! Anyways, after that we headed back home to go sleep.



My Birthday!!! So, today I had class very early and we walked and walked all over the Trastevere area. I was kinda disoriented today and the professor kept asking me where the river was, and I always got it wrong, until he decided that I should lead us to the river, then I got it right. After class, Ryan and I had a exquisite lunch at McDonald's and then we went to studio to keep working on our projects. After studio, I went home to change and found bouquet of sunflowers and lillys that Ryan had bought me and left in my apartmet, what a cutie. After we got ready, we went to the hotel to pick up my family. We actually had to wake them up becasue they were napping. We went to an Argentinian restaurant, Baires, which was delicious. Again, we ate and ate until we were completely stuffed. Then we went to Campo di Fiori to have a couple or more drinks and relax. We were all there until about 12am, when my friends came over ready to drink. Then, my family went back to their hotel to rest and I went out to drink. I got back to my place at about 3:30am.





I woke up as late as I could, cause I got drunk last night. For lunch, Ryan and I cooked for my family. Although they were cranky and hungry before, they were stuffed and pleased with the meal. We parted ways, since they were going to Florence and I had to go to studio. In studio today we just worked and worked until forever. Then we had dinner, and we came back to studio to keep working on our project. We also reserved our hotel today for Venice, we decided to go this weekend.

Thursday was pretty dull. I had morning class, Ryan and I bought our train tickets to Venice. Then we ate some lunch and went back to studio to work on our project unitil midnight. We made our suitcases, packed up, and got ready for our trip tomorrow. I couldn't wait.


...

On Thursday, we didn't have the morning class, so what we did was sleep off our drunkedness from last night. Then we went to studio to work more on our project. We also had group cticis that took way longer than expected. As soon as we were done, Ryan and I went to get some groceries again to cook for his parents one more time. Today, we made some sauteed potatoes and cheese sauce pasta. It was pretty good, after dinner Ryan's parents left because they wanted to get some rest and then Ryan and I just hung out for a little while, made our suitcases for tomorrow and went to bed.

Friday. We had to wake up really really really early in the morning to meet our bus who would take us on the trip around the Tuscan area. First we went to Villa Lante, where we studied the water changes on the landscape and slope and how it is presented. The villas was pretty cool being set up in the hill and overlooking the city. After lunch, we went to Sacro Bosco di Bomarzo (aka Garden of the Monsters). It was pretty cool and sort of like a maze. I wish we could have spent some more time there. Then, we headed to Siena where we cheked into our hotel and later went to eat. We went to a really good wine bar that had amazing lasagna. Then, we picked up a couple of beers and went to hang out at Piazza Il Campo. It was a pretty cool semicircle shpaed piazza where everybody was sitting down drinking. We also got to see the celebration of the winners of the horse races that are typical to this city. After that, Ryan and I went back to the hotel and got on the roof which had an incredible view of the city. Later we went to bed.





On Saturday, our first activity ws to find different fountains in the part of the city we were assigned to and analyze them. Ryan and I finished a little bit earlier so we could walk around. We went up to Piazza de la Liberta and we also went by the Duomo which was pretty impressive. After lunch, we headed off to Florence. We got there later than we thought because we had problems with the bus getting to the medieval towns and streets, so once we got there, we went to the gotel to rest for a little bit and then took a night walk/tour with our teachers. After that, we went out to drink for a while and then headed bak to the hotel to rest.





The first thing we did Sunday was a lecture on piazzas from the teachers. We went to Piazza della Singnoria, where the replica of the David is, and we studied the space with drawings, maps and analyses. After that, we also did that in one other piazza. Ryan, Keegan, Mike, Rachael, Josh and I went to Piazza Santa Croce where we saw inside the church the tombs of Michaelangelo and Galileo, whichwas pretty cool. Then we had some lunch and headed off to Villa Gamberaia. This villa was pretty small, but we got to just explore it by ourselves and take our time to do a drawing. The villa also gave us an amazing view of the Tuscan landscapes, its architecture, vineyards, olive crops and sunflower fields. After this, we headed back to Rome. After unpacking and trying to contact my parents fro a while, Ryan and I went outside to find them. We did, amazingly, and we talked for about a half hour, but they were tired and went to bed. Ryan and I went back and finished watching Apocalypto before going to bed.






Besos!!!

OK, so sorry I haven't written in a long time, but Ryan's parents were here, so I didn't have that much free time to sit in front of the computer and write or post pictures.

Monday morning was spent finshing teh drawings for the project, printing and rendering. Then we had critics at 1pm which took forever, but Ryan and I left earlier to hang out with his parents. We met them at the Scholar's Lounge where they bought us a beer. Then, we went to this restaurant at the Jewish Ghetto. Since it was goign to be closed for another half hour, we just went to some other bar to grab another beer. After dinner and two botles of wine, we walked to the Trevi Fountain to see it at night and then went home to bed.



On Tuesday we walked around the Testaccio area, which is an artificial hill made of broken pieces of amphoras (vases that transport wine and oil). Then at studio, we had two lectures and we worked on some rough models to study spaces, a nice and welcomed change from drawing. We got some groceries and made a nice dinner for Ryan's parents. They were tired, so they went to bed, but Ryan, Maddie, Joslyn and I went to get some gelatto again. This time I had white chocolate and Straciatella. We came back to Ryan's apartment to cook a cake for his mom and then we went drinking at Scholar's. It was a pretty fun night.

On our free day, Wednesday, we spent the whole day with Ryan's parents. We first sang Happy Birthday to Ryan's mom on their hotel room. Then, we headed to Villa Borghese. It is an amazing site, full of tress, obviously cause its a park, and great statues. We walked around for a while and sat down next to the pond to have a picnic. Laurie, Ryan's mom, was having a great time feeding the birds. Then we took some rowboats out on the pond which were pretty fun, once Ryan got the hang of it. Then we wanted to go to the museum, but it was sold out, so we walked all the way to the Caste San Angelo and on the way did some shopping. When we got back, I went shopping with Laurie to get her a skirt for tonight. Then, we changed for the 4th of July party we were having at studio. We ate some hamburgers and snacks as well as drink a lot of wine. Then, obviously we ended the night at Scholar's.



Byesss, I'll keep you posted tomorrow...

Hola!

Friday came and went. I worked in studio for a long long time. Then Ryan and I moved part of our luggage to studio, so it would be easier to move on Saturday. After that, we went home and dressed up pretty to go on our dinner date. We went to a nice Tuscan restaurant and had a big meal sponsored by the money his mom gave us before leaving. This was the first time we had an appetizer, a first course, a main course and dessert, obviously accompanied by some house wine. So, the house wine was an exquisite Chianti, yum yum. For appetizer, we shared a plate that had a meatball, fried squash, fried cheese and some fried potato. It was delicious. My main course consisted of some homemade ricotta and spinach ravioli in some tomato sauce, and Ryan had some homemade canelloni. My main course was veal with lemon and his was a medium rare veal steak which he had the happiest-little-kid-smile when he ate it. Then for dessert I had a creme brulee, which I thought of mom in every bite, it was amazingly good and smooth, and Ryan had a champagne cognac after dinner. Wow, what a meal. Then we walked back, hung out for a little bit and went to sleep.
*We didn't take a picture, but Ryan just told me that we didn't need all that flashy stuff and that he had a lot of memories from our dinner, what a cutie patootie :)

Saturday morning we tried to go to the Vatican Museums, but the line was too long and we didn't have any patience. So, we just moved into our new apartment, where I share a room with my other three roommates, this is going to be interesting. Then, we went to studio to work on our project for the whole entire day. It's kinda getting to me. Later at night, we just went home because we were tired of the project. Then we went to get some gelatto with Maddie, Joslyn and a friend of Maddie's to a really good place. Delicious! After we got back, Ryan and I watched half of Apocalypto and then off to bed.

Sunday morning we woke up kinda early to go meet Ryan's parents at their hotel. They said their flight was good, but a little stressful once they got in Rome. Apparently anybody's first day in rome is pretty stressful. Anyways, they were happy to be here and we were excited to see them. We had lunch with them and hung out for a little while, but we had to go back to studio to finish working on our project. Which we finally did, so we left printing for Monday morning and we went home. By the way, our landlord has the cutest three little yorkies that follow him everywhere and look at you as if they were wasking who you were. Cute!

Besos y abrazos!!!

Wow. It's been a while since I've written in here. Let's see what I remember....


Ok, Tuesday night we ate at this really good Italian restaurant for Josh's b-day. Then we met up with everybody else and went out to celebrate his 21. I was really really tired from the day, so I just went home around 1:30am.



On Wednesday, Ryan and I visited the Vatican, finally. After waiting in line for about 45 minutes, we went to the Cupula, up 350 stairs. The climb was pretty tiring, but cool and the view from above was amazing. We saw the square, Belevedere Court and the gardens, apart form the whole city of Rome. Then, we went down to the Basilica, which was pretty amazing. The ceilings are very intricate and the sculptures adorning the popes' tombs are pretty cool, there was even one with a dragon, hehe. Anyways, security was moving us out for a mass or something, but we did have time to see Michaelangelo's Pieta. It was pretty cool, but not was impressive as I thought. Mainly because itwas kinda far so you coudln't really see the details, it was behind some glass and it was smaller than I thought. Still, pretty cool. After the Vatican, we saw some shops around. We ate some lunch and then we headed over to the guys' place to meet up with Mike's parents. We hung out with them for a while and then went to get some more Chinese food; the boys love their Chinese. After dinner, all of us were pretty tired, so Ryan and I went back to the other side of town. We watched a movie and played some cards with the girl. Then, my bed was calling me.



On Thursday, we had another morning class. This time we visited the Roman Forum and talked about it for like four hours. We studied the materials, the location and general topography of Rome, we got questioned at the moment, we had to say Carrara marble and memorize a gazillion different stone types, we walked and walked, and in the end, I had 9 pages full of notes. I also noticed that my teacher has a keychain on his backpack that is a digital countdown to Bush's last day in office. After walking forever, Ryan and I dropped by the Mouth of Truth, but the line was too long, so we headed to studio where we kept working on our projects. And I don't remember what I did during the night, either working in studio or hanging out at my place.

I'll try to get back on track tomorrow, or maybe later today, but don't count on it.

Love!
Besos y abrazos.

Mari Juana

Hola!!!

Ok, so Sunday was another work day. I woke up in the late morning, but actually got out of bed at around 1pm. After eating, I went to studio to finish working on my maps. They actually took longer than what I thought, which kinda sucked. But I did finish the project and printed it off. Then, Ryan and I went back home and finished watching You, Me and Dupree.



Monday. First day of the week and a final review day at that. I went to studio a litlle bit earlier to finish setting up my stuff. Then we put everything up, talked about it for ever and then finished up. Ryan and I went to get some groceries to cook for my roomies. Also, today was the first day that we all arrived at the same time to the apartment. We cooked some dinner, which was pretty good. Then we drank some wine and beers and played some card games until about 12:30am. We called it a night then.

Today, Tuesday we had class at 9:30am with our new Urban Morphology professor. He's an archeologist and I'm pretty excited for this next stage. He has also been in a couple Discovery Channel programs, I think I saw some on a marathon day called the 7 Wonders of Rome. He's really funny too, way better than our last teacher. Now I'm sitting here in studio, taking a break from designing. Tonight we're going out again because it's Josh's bday, so that should be pretty fun. It's also cooler today, which feels kinda nice, but I'm still sweating.

Anyways, love you all!!!

WOW, either Rome is very hot, or I am used to wearing shorts when its 60 outside. I am practically sitting in a pool of sweat right now...

Anyways, Friday was another studio day. I worked on the maps we need to do for studio and we talked about them during class. It was a long and hot day in studio. After that, Ryan and I went to my place to drop off our bags, and we went to have a dinner. Then we went to this project by the river that a New York artist does every summer in Rome. We were volunteers for the event for two hours. They had candles lit up on both sides of the river between two bridges, a row of candles floating in the river forming a sort of serpent, live music and the she-wolfs along the embankment walls had a spot light on them. It was pretty cool to be there and just sit by the river drinking wine. Our job only consisted of watching for the instruments, which the musicians were doing themselves, so we could sit together and watch as they lit up the serpent of candles. After 2am, I got too tired and sleepy so we called it a night.




Saturday was beach day!!! Ryan, Maddie, Joslyn and I went on a little trip to the beach of Italy. It was crowded, dark sand, waist-deep water and dirty at that, but it was stilla beach. And lying in the sun was one of the most relaxing things I've done this summer in Rome. I miss the beach, and Rome's beaches will do, casue I doubt I'll find any when I get back to Ames. Anyways, after teh beach we came back, took naps, cooked some dinner, worked on our project and then went to sleep. Nice and relaxing day at the beach.





I'm hungry, so I'll keep on writting later.

Muaaaaa

Holaaa!

Tuesday was Mike's birthday, the big guy I hang out with all the time. As a gift, Ryan only left his mustache for him, it was what Mike wanted, and let me tell you he looked kinda weird. We went to class in the morning and walked around looking at more fountains. We got handed out our quiz and then we were off. I had lunch with Mike, Ryan, Keegan, Jake, Josh and Rachael and then we went back to studio. We met in our groups and later had a lecture form an architect in Italy working on a project by the river. After that, I went home to change and get ready to go out. Ryan and I went to Mike's aprtment where we met up witheverybody and had a beer. Then, we went out to eat at a Chinese restaurant they like. Then we set off to drink at Campo di Fiori. We went to two bars there and danced a lot. We all had a good time. Then after the bars there closed at 2am, everybody went to another bar, but I was too tired and walked home. My feet really really hurt.





Yesterday was another free day, but I was a little bit hungover and tired, so I slept a lot and then just lounged around wasting my time. Ryan came over at about 2pm to eat breakfast/lunch. Then we went to studio to work on our quiz. We were there until pretty late and finished wrtiting the essay at my place to hand it in today at noon.

This morning we came early to studio to proof read the essays and print them off. Then before class we headed to Campo di Fiore to see what the market there had. We walked around for a while and then the unthinkable happened. Jake and Mike, who came with us, were just eating some peaches by a stand, when they pointed to us that non other than Owen Wilson (Wedding Crashers, Meet the Parents, the voice of Lightning McQueen in Cars)was buying some fruits in teh stand right in front of us. We stayed there kinda starring at him for a while, it was the day that I decided not to take my camera with me, but we didn't want to bothe rhim either. He really looked like he didn't want to talk to anybody. When he was done, he took off on his bike. The boys were more starstruck than I was. After lunch we came to studio and here I am now.

Love you all!
Besos y abrazos

Holaa!

Ok, Saturtday I went to Tivoli with 7 other people in LA to see some important villas. The ride was long traveling on buses and metros, but we got there fine. We first went to Villa d'Este which is full of fountains and lying on a slope, so there's a bunch of stairs and ramps goign down. It was comissioned by a cardinal in the 1550s. The views of Italy from the mountain top are spectacular and teh cool air coming form the fountains is pretty refreshing. It's also filled with a lot of symbolism. After lunch, we went to Villa Adriana which dates back to the 100s AD. It is all in ruins now, but it was once a great villa and estate with orchards, theater, pools, hospital, palaces, baths and anything else you can imagine. It was like a maze walking through it and trying to imagine it how it used to be was pretty hard, but fun. After that, we came back to Rome where after dinner, we went out to drink with the guys by the Tiber River at some sort of mini artesan and pub area they've set up for the summer. It was a pretty good day, especially because it ended dancing at the Scholar's Lounge once again.







On Sunday, nothing too exciting happened. I went to studio to finish working on my section and get all my stuff together. And later at night, Ryan and I watched a movie on his computer. This time we saw Reno 911, Friday we had seen Mary Poppins. Only he would do that for me, haha.

Yesterday, we came to studio a litlle bit earlier to finish up the sections and meet up with our group. Then we had the pin up and we talked about them. I'm pretty proud of my job and how the section turned out. After studio, I was pretty tired so ryan and I went home and we cooked dinner and read some readings for school. After playing cards with my roommates for a while, I went to bed.

Love you all!!!

So yesterday we didn't end up going on the pubcrawl because we were in studio until pretty late, but we did end up going out. I left studio at around 10:30pm and went home to take a short nap because my head hurt. Later, Ryan and I met up with the guys at Scholar's Lounge at around 12:30am. We were there for a while, drank a little and talked a lot. I went home kinda early to get a good rest.

I woke up today at 10am, but stayed in bed until about 12pm when Ryan came over to make some lunch. Then, we went to studio to continue working on our project. We left for lunch and came back to keep on working. I finished up the rendering part, now what's left is the finishing up with labels and all that jazz. Tomorrow I will be going to Tivoli with some of the guys to see some villas very important in LAndscape Architecture history, so I'm pretty excited about that.

Although my stay in Rome has been short, I already feel like I have been here for a long time. Today I woke up and forgot that I was in Rome. It actually took me a while of walking down the street to realize it. I think it's pretty cool.

Hola!!

This week has been a little bit hectic. We have a 2 meter (a little more than 6 feet) long section through the river due on Monday, so we had to get cracking. Since this is one of the only two long weekends we have, we want to finish it by today, so we can make good use of the weekend.

So, on Monday morning, some of us woke up early to finish some pictures we needed to work on and print them off. Since, we didn't know how long it would take to do this in Italy, we woke up at around 8:30am. Turns out, it didn't take long, so we had about 4 hours spare before studio. I worked on getting my picures in order and updating my journal. Then, Ryan and I went to visit some nearby sites We went to Piazza Navona, which is a huge long public open space that houses fountains by Bernini. We sat there for a while just resting and talking. We also saw a crew that was videotaping and photographing a couple in the Piazza being all romantic, wonder what that's for. Then we walked over to the Pantheon. You definitely have to go there on a sunny day when teh sun is up. The view from outside is pretty cool, but as you walk in to the round space you start getting the view of the Sun's rayscoming in through a hole in the ceiling and teh contrast between it and the darker walls. It's pretty amazing. Then, we had some lunch and headed to studio, where I worked on my project until 12am when studio closes.



Tuesday was a pretty uneventful day. We had class in the morning where we walked around talking about the aqueducts and fountains. Then lunch and then another long studio workday until 12am.

On our long weekend weeks, we have class on Wednesday. So we came in to studio in the morning to get an early start on the sections. We also worked until 12am.

So today, Thursday, I'm pretty tired. We just got done with our first class where we walk and stand arround for three hours and everyone gets restless at the end. I had some pizza for lunch (a cheese, artichoke, tomato and salmon one) and then got some gelato. Right now, Ryan is the happiest man alive because he's lactose and we found a gelateria that sells some flavors without milk in them. He's had two already.

We share our studio with some students from North Carolina. Patricio, from Argentina, invited us to do a pub crawl with them because they get done today, but it is still on the works because from the look of it, we'll need to work on this sections all night tonight. I'll keep you posted on what happens.

Anyways, I love you all!!!

Besos y abrazos.

Today, I met up with some of the poeple in my studio group at around 9am to study our design site and take some measurements for our sections. Then we went to studio to work a little, but got hungry and went to the supermarket with Ryan to get some food. He cooked lunch for us at his place and then we went to my aprtment to watch some TV, we needed to rest. So, since all the channels are in Italian and we don't understand any of it, we watched the MTV Movie Awards, which I'm pretty upset that Harry Potter didn't win the "Best Movie You Haven't Seen" Award. Anyways, later we went on a looong and steep walk up the Janiculum Hill, which is the highest one in Rome, along the Mura Aurelie. We reached the top and got an amazing vie of Rome. We could see the whole thing, almost 360. After resting there for a while, we went to visit the Fontanone dell'Acqua Paola, which was just a few steps away. Then we went back to studio to talk to our families and then went to my place to cook dinner. We were pretty tired so we went to bed early.

So, sorry mom for doing this late, but here's what I've been up to.

On Friday, we met up with the group at 12pm in the studio to get ready for our bike ride. We first went on a boat ride that went North on the Tiber RIver from the Tiber Island for about 20 minutes. It was really cool seeing Rome from the water and right in the middle of it. Then we got off the boat and got on our bikes. We rode for almost the whole afternoon up to the North freeway (the round street that goes around Rome) and back to the Tiber Island for about 25 miles total. I was pretty tired and my butt bones were pretty sore, but it was lots of fun. We got to see the country side and the country clubs for the Roma and Lazio soccer teams and other country clubs. After we got back and were all tired and sweaty, we went home to take a shower and head to Mira's place (one of our professors). There, we drank some wine, ate some pizza (or a lot), and hung out with classmates and studio teachers. It was pretty cool. Later, we went to the Scholar's Lounge, which is an Irish Pub that had special prices and drinks for American students. The group of around 10 was there for a while and we danced a lot, even with a couple that was celebrating their 39th anniversary. But teh fun had to end, so we went to bed.






On Saturday, we met up at 9:30am for another bike ride, but this time to the South. This time we got to see the industrial part of Rome, more residential areas, and the country side again. When we got back at at aorund 2pm, I was beat so took a five hour nap. It felt good. Today, Mr. Bush decided to come to Italy. Our professors had told us to be aware of the situation and avoid public demonstrations and to keep a low profile. There had been anti-war demonstrations announced throught he whole week in different posters, there was even one at the Piazza del Popolo, which kind of shocked me. There were mostly in teh afternoon, so I slept through all of it, but a lot of people from class were afraid of the whole situation. Later, I found out that one of teh demonstrations turned against the police and a riot erupted where tear gas had to be used. There were 10,000 police on duty that day and from the morning to the early night you walked past police all the time. It was interesting to see how other countries view politics and Americans, although some people didn't think it was. Later in teh night, Ryan and I went to eat at this place we pass by everyday. The owner told us to sit down and teh food was pretty good. We had some ham and bread appetizers and a salmon and shrimp pizza, delicious!!! Now, instead of Buon giorno! we can say Ciao! to him, which is pretty cool.





Two of my roommates, Joslyn and Maddie

Buona sera:

Today, the day started early again. I have classes from 9am-12pm and then from 2pm-6:30pm, so Tuesdays and Thursdays are long days for me. For the first class, we walked around the city again. We visited Augustu's Mausoleum, Ara Pisca, the site of the old Porto di Ripeterre, then we walked to different important streets, including the Via Paola, thank you very much, and finished at a church which I forgot the name, there's too many to remember. Then we had some lunch and I took a nap in studio before class. During studio, we kept on working on our project and divided into groups. We'll have to draw sections of the river with the bridges and building fascades. Then, Ryan and I walked home and here I am, writing to you guys. Ryan's roommate and his friends from Architecture that came to visit are going to cook dinner tonight, I'm quite excited. Later tonight, we'll be going to my place to drink some wine and hang out with my roommates, maybe play some games, who knows. Anyways, I hope everybody is doing great and love you all.

Mua!!

Paola





Flood marker at the Porto di Ripeterre

Hola!

Sorry I haven't kept you posted in a while, but classes started and, well I don't really have an excuse. Anyways, here's what I've been up to.

On Monday, Ryan and I set off in teh morning to get soem things off our "to Do" list. First, we went to check-in into our apartments and get our keys in the Penn State office at Via della Gatta. They made a copy of our passports, thanks to the new terrorist law where any hotel, hostel or apartment where you're goign to be, they are required to copy/scan your passport. Then, we walked around the studio area getting to know the neighborhood, get ourselves oriented, learn some streets and where stuff is, and just get a feel of the area. We went to some art supply stores, the bookstore, which my new goal is to read a book in Italian, but I don'tknow which one yet. We also went to teh hardware store and some appliance stores to find some adapters for our computer cables. After that, we went to studio at 2pm when we had class. We started talking about the Tiber River and it's relationship to the city. We looked at some maps and stuff and then we were off at 6:30pm. We also got teh keys to our studio. That night Ryan cooked for us again and then we hung out with his roommates for a while, but we were tired so went back to our apartments and to bed early.






Tuesday, we had two classes and one started at 9am, so we had to wake up early. The class is called Urban Morphology, and it more or less a parallel course to studio cause we learn about Rome's urban history, important and historical sites, construction, importance of river, etc. The first half of teh class we just had teh orientation, but on teh second half we went out to visit sites. The hustle and bustle of the city and the noise of cars made it really hard to understand what the teacher was saying. Among the sites we went to were Tiber Island and Ponte Rotto. On the two hour lunch break, some took a nap and I later went to eat. For studio today, we had another mini lecture and then set off on another walk to visit two of our three design sites. We walked a lot. From the Jewish Ghetto all the way down to Trastevere and to where the embankment walls are not the same as the city center. We spent about three hours wlaking non-stop, so my feet hurt and by body was aching. after studio, Ryan, Rachael and I went to the 7-guy aprtment to hang out with them. We all drank some wine and talked quite a bit. We had a good time. Then, the three of us rode the bus back home and went to bed.





Today, we had our first free day. I woke up a little late because yesterday was a long day that involved a lot of walking, some drinking and going to bed late. Ryan and I met up with one of his roommates and a friend of his at the Spanish Steps. There's a lot of people there, it's incredible. It's pretty fun to just sit there, take in teh sun and talk for a while. After that, we went to the Trevi Fountain, which was also packed with people. It's pretty much amazing and I did get to throw in an euro coin behind my shoulder to the fountain. Then we moved on to walk down Via del Corso, which is crazy packed with shops and people, on our way to the Piazza del Popolo. This place is amazing, way big and it's more awesoem that we got to learn about it in our landscape architecture history classes, those will cme very handy. The view towards teh two churches is spectacular and the Church of Santa Maria del Popolo is pretty cool too and has some very famous paintings. Then, we walked up to the Villa Medici and walked around the gardens for awhile, but we were tired, so we decided to head back. We took the Metro, went grocery shopping and cooked some dinner. And now I'm here, writing to you guys.





By the way, I had some Hazelnut Gellato teh other day and it was marvelous. I'm going to have some more today....


Love you all and hope everything if going great!

Hugs and kisses

p.s. I have no idea how you couldn't fall in love in this city, it's amazing

Hola!!

So, Saturday. Today we had orientation at studio, which is located at the Palazzo Cenci-Bolognetti in the Piazza della 5 Scole in teh Jewish Ghetto on the East side of the river. We met our advisors, organizers and some of our faculty. We also had a neighborhood walk where they pointed out important places, such as the bookstore, art supply store, electronics, post office, etc. After that, Ryan and I walked home and we had lunch at a sit down restaurant with some Cabernet Sauvignon and some amazingly good food. We didn't do much today because we still had some jet lag, so we just went to bed early.





On Sunday, We started off the day by going to the supermercado to buy some groceries. Later, Ryan told me that they were declaring three saints, so there were a lot of people in the Vatican and for mass. The day was kind of rainy so our plans were delayed. In teh afternoon, Ryan and I walked to the Palatine, Piazza del Campidoglio and around the Colosseo and the Circus Maxximus. We walked for a long time, so then we decided to head back. Ryan cooked me some dinner and then we hung out some time with his roommates and later with mine. Then, off to bed.