Though we trave…

Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

Midterms and Preparing to Leave… Ciao, Roma!

Well, my midterms are technically over. Tomorrow I have a mid-semester critique and review by my sketchbook professor, but I’m not too worried about that. Art history and museum theory were very stressful, so I am increidbly happy they are over. However, I’m not sure I prepared quite as well as I should have, which will be a lesson for finals. Still, they’re over and spring break begins in two days!

I’m not sure how else to describe my feelings except for: EXCITED. Having never been abroad before, I chose to do the slightly cliche and more touristy cities: Barcelona, Paris and London… in 10 days! We’ll see how it goes. Me and my roommates already booked tickets to Versailles and the Warner Bros. Studio Tour in London. And I will be sketching in each city, which will be very interesting and a great way to remember my travels.

Regardless of where I am going, I am quite happy that I get to travel outside of Italy. As much as I love Rome, I am anxious to explore other cities in Europe. So, until after spring break, I bid thee adieu! Many pictures to come on Facebook, I promise!

Tuesday Morning

What an interesting start to a Tuesday! Today my roommate Courtney and I were supposed to go to Centrale Montemartini for our Museum Theory class. However, we were informed upon rising this morning that the metro’s impending strike might put a damper on our museum visiting plans and our teacher emailed us saying that we were allowed to visit another day. Courtney and I decided that, well, since we’d woken up at the crack of dawn we would try to go anyway. Womp. Didn’t work out- the only subway car that pulled into the Cipro station passed by us without stopping and so we figured that we might as well just go another day. And so we began walking toward Temple’s campus. Along the way we (I) decided that we (I) needed to see if McDonald’s in Europe serve Shamrock Shakes… it’s just one of those Tuesdays that I really wanted a Shamrock Shake.

After we made a couple of turns we found ourselves at the local McDonald’s… where they did not have the deliciously mysterious green-dyed frosty drinks but they DID have drip coffee. And so we (I) decided to wait in line. That is, until a disheveled-looking old man with a single dreadlock amidst his rather greasy hairs decided to turn to us and whisper very creepy-sounding phrases in Italian. Well, to me they sounded Italian but to Courtney, who has about five more years of Italian under her belt than I do, said that they were incredibly creepy whisperings. And so we left the McDonald’s and jetted down the street for fear of Mr. Mumbles following us. After a ways, we decided to stop yet again but at a local caffe that had no old men in sight. That place made a very milky cappuccino, which was really gross in all honesty. I’ve never been a fan of hot milk and I can usually only stomach it when it’s mixed with enough coffee.

And finally we made it to school about a half hour later, after a few minor detours through a wealthy-looking neighborhood close to school. And when we arrived at school around 9:30, I realized it was the earliest I ever arrived at school on a weekday. Normally I am on an excursion from 9-12 Tuesdays-Thursdays and on Mondays I like to sleep in if possible. And I really liked arriving to school that early. I am quite sad that I don’t have the opportunity to walk to school that early on more days. This morning was so lovely and sunny, which made me realize that I have been so completely caught up in going to classes, traveling and just being busy in general that I haven’t been able to really slow down and appreciate the days I have. I hope that I am able to do so over spring break in Barcelona, Paris and London, once midterms are over and my workload is less heavy. And I hope I am able to experience more beautiful mornings like today’s before I leave for the United States.

A Little Late… Firenze!

Buona sera, miei amici! I apologize for my lack of updates this week. Last weekend me and my roommates traveled to Florence for about two days. It was my first trip out of Rome, and it was refreshing to see another Italian city on my own and not as part of a class excursion. We traveled by train, which was so lovely because the landscape here is much different than the landscape along the R5 line from Philadelphia to the suburbs. Rolling hills, not unlike the ones in Vermont, as well as huge huge mountains (much bigger than the ones in Colorado) flew by as we zipped along towards Firenze.

The first thing we did upon arrival was eat. After that, we checked into our hotel which was actually really nice and clean despite it being a 3-star hotel. Although, we saw another 3-star hotel later that day and it looked MUCH nicer. Hmm. After checking in, we decided to venture into the famous Florentine leather market. We were surrounded by various skins and the scent of… well, city. And leather. I tried to focus on the leather. After we made our purchases (a leather jacket each… woops), we decided to venture on over to the Galleria d’Academia, which houses the David statue. I have to say, I was really amazed at how large the statue was. In photos, it seemed more life-size as opposed to the absolute GIANT statue it was, in-person. I actually don’t remember much of this trip at this point, because I did so much this past weekend. Florence definitely was not as mesmerizing as Venice, but it was a memorable first trip out of Rome on my own! 

Tivoli

 

Friday February 8 seemed like the longest day ever… My Art History class excursion to Tivoli, a small town outside of Rome. Surprisingly, it took longer to get out of Rome than it did to get to actual Tivoli. We visited two sites: Hadrian’s Villa and Villa d’Este.  Hadrian’s villa was astonishing in its magnitude and the sheer number of uses- it was apparently Emperor Hadrian’s place of residence during his reign because he disliked the Roman senate. At its peak, Hadrian’s Villa housed over 1000 people, including slaves, and was used for multiple purposes: banquets, political meetings, residential and other everyday things. Apart from the lots of walking and somewhat boring lecture by my professor, the villa itself was really stunning and the weather was perfectly sunny.

Next, we went to Villa d’Este, which was created by a pope during the Renaissance (I’m pretty sure). The only word I can use to describe this place is: lush. There were so many trees, shrubs, bushes and… FOUNTAINS. So many fountains. Hundreds of fountains, all shapes and sizes and shooting up like GALLONS of water a minute. I do not understand how they managed to power these things during the Renaissance, but I guess they did. Some of the fountains aren’t even functioning these days, so we apparently didn’t get the “full effect”. But the views from this villa were incredible. We could see all the way to St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome (all we saw was the dome, which was super tiny on the horizon). This was definitely the most awe-inspiring trip I’ve had so far, for school. I’m sad that my excursions for class are now over, but at the same time I’m very thankful I won’t have to take any more notes while awkwardly running to catch up to the group because I paused to take a (billion) photos.

Ciao!

Journeys Abound

Well, this weekend… I am officially going to travel outside of Rome for the first time! My roommates and I will be journeying to Florence for a day and I am thrilled! There is something about living in Rome but having the chance to go somewhere else for a weekend that is so enticing, and I feel as though I waited too long to go somewhere else. But alas, I guess I should pace myself… but maybe not. There is so much to see, and only 11 weekends left!

“It is good to …

“It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.” – Ernest Hemingway

I like this quote because it reminds me that I am only here, in Rome, for a limited time. As of the end of this week, there are barely 11 weeks left in the program… midterms are two weeks away and spring break is three weeks away… Where does the time go? This quote reminds me not to wait to go home, even though I miss the states dearly, but to venture until I go home.To record, through retellings, through this blog, through emails, through memories, the travels I experience and the things I see. To create a time for me and for my adventure.

To Live Permanently (or Semi-Permanently)

“The traveler sees what he sees. The tourist sees what he has come to see.” -G.K. Chesterton

The Dreaded Wall Walk

My first real Saturday in Roma was spent drawing and meandering around the Vatican city and St. Peter’s basilica, however that all changed when Sunday morning rolled in. I got up at 6:45 to go on an 8-hour walk around the Aurelian Walls… 12 miles total. What made the morning even more exciting was that there was a fire in the Metro and so a group of us American students were forced to take a chance on an unmarked bus that seemed to be going in the general direction of San Giovanni, the original meeting point.

Luckily for us, the wall walking group was aware of the transportation issues and thus had not left by the time the “stragglers” arrived. After a quick cappuccino and introduction to Jan, a Temple Rome professor and the Wall Walk guide, we were off! And man, was it cold. Within five minutes of walking, I couldn’t feel my feet and all I could think of was how I could’ve been in bed…

After the first hour passed, the weather began to warm up (slightly) and we were well on our way to discovering more than we ever wished to know about the Aurelian Walls. What I think is especially fascinating about the wall is that within it is only 5% of Rome’s population as well as the “city” itself; the other 95% of the population and actual city buildings are outside the Aurelian Wall. It really put things in perspective, especially just how large Rome is.

My favorite part of the walk was through two parts. First, the Villa Borghese, which provides a beautiful view of Rome from some part (I’m still confused about which part of Rome the school’s campus is located in… but that’s what this view was looking out over). There were a ton of kids wandering around the park in costume, and we found out from Jan that every Sunday kids and their parents come to parks to run around and scream and stuff. But this particular Sunday was special because Carnevale begins in just a few days, and so there are many events in the parks for families over the next couple of weeks. Among the adorable costumes were an elephant and a dragon. My personal favorite was the dragon… too cute.

My next favorite section of the walk was in another park, that I forget the name of. It provided yet another SPECTACULAR view of Rome and led up to this secluded sort of town that eventually led down into Trastevere, a well-known party town and hang out for American students. By the time lunch rolled around, I was losing energy fast… and by the time that we ended up at one of the last information points, I was so ready to sit down and never get up again. The last stretch of the walk was definitely the hardest, but we ended up where we began (finally) at San Giovanni. Jan treated us all to a soda, which felt so good and well-deserved after8 hours of hiking up and down the hills of Rome.0 I was very happy that I took part in the walk, even though I couldn’t feel my feet by the end. It was also a really good excuse to completely gorge myself on carbs and various chocolates once I returned to the residence.

Sadly for me, though, I had to wake up on Monday morning at a somewhat reasonable hour to get ready for school… even though I felt like I could’ve stayed in bed for days. Which is actually an interesting point about Rome… so far, I haven’t wanted to sleep in or stay indoors all day, despite the fact that the weather has been so dismal. It’s just too damn boring in the residence. Without internet and without my beloved American sitcoms, I find that I get very stir crazy very easily in the residence. Hence, I bought some books for “leisure reading”… Cormac McCarthy’s “All the Pretty Horses” and Neil Gaiman’s “The Graveyard Book”. I think this might be the first semester in several years that I will have free time for reading because a) I can get my work done for class relatively quickly while on-campus and b) there are no distractions, apart from gelato, that take the place of reading. Well, actually no, that’s entirely true. I expect to venture out into the city of Rome during my free time at school in order to visit sites like the Spanish Steps or the Trevi Fountain, which I have yet to do. However, the prospect of reading in my free time is too exciting to pass up… Except of course today I forgot my books… woops!

Arrivederci!