Saturday, September 12

One Week Of Classes Down, 14 More To Go!

Well, it's finally Saturday morning and I've now made it through one whole week of classes!  My conclusion for the semester... I'm going to be crazy busy!  I decided to be a little extra ambitious this semester and take 4 studio classes! (For those who don't know what that means, it's double what normal sane people take!)  This means that I am going to class from 9am-7pm four days a week!  Studio classes are 6 hours long, which seems insane, but you can actually get a lot of work done!  I'm thinking that it will keep me on my toes and focused so much that the time will pass fast!  I took a few pics during class one day this week to show everyone what our studio in Rome looks like... it's in an old palace that is the only original building still standing in what is known as the Jewish Ghetto.  Don't worry, it's not a ghetto like we have in America, it's actually a very safe place.  There will be more pics above in the photo stream!

This weekend, a lot of the girls that I live with decided to travel to varying places around Italy, but Bridget and I decided that we should stay home and get a jump start on all our projects and research (and to go SHOPPING!).  After just one week, I already have 7 different projects underway... and lots of our projects are based on the incredible art and architecture here in Rome, so this means that I am traveling all over the city to gather information, pictures, sketches, etc. A few of the projects include: A total identity creation of the Tiber Island, which will include a logo, stationary, website, information packets, wayfinding, etc;  A series of four 3-D posters that work together and individually and are based on a path of 1000 paces that I took throughout the city;  The creation of sustainable packaging and labeling for a pre-existing spice company; And a handmade rustic 'altered' book based on my photography, comparing and contrasting the modern and ancient art here in Rome.  I'm very excited because these projects are unique to the Rome program and will always have special meaning.  Let's just hope that I can get them all done in time and that they turn out decent!

For another class, art historty, we go on 3 hour walking tours each week of buildings around the city.  This week, we visited 3 different churches and we able to take some amazing pictures of the artwork inside.  I'm hoping to get more pictures up soon, and those churches will be included.  Also, a lot of the other photos were taken for the purposes of varying projects, so don't think I'm weird if you see 30 different road signs, strange detail shots, or anything else that might be in there!  One more thing... this week we broke the 100 days until I come home mark!  I believe that today is 98!  Can't to see everyone again!  Loves!

Monday, September 7

Updates!

Well, I finally got my first set of Rome pics up!  I thought that I had taken a lot of pictures so far, but after compiling them, there doesn't seem like many at all!  I have another 100 days of picture taking, so I'm sure that I'll get plenty!  I made a few other updates on my blog as well.  Now, anyone can post comments.  You don't have to be a registared member and you don't have to type in a silly code.  Also, when it comes to the pictures, if you don't already know, you can click on the slideshow to view the pictures one by one on a bigger scale.  Just some quick notes... that's all I have for now.  Love from far away.

My Apartment!

Well, as I promised, here are a few pics of my apartment here in Rome. It's pretty good sized compared to some here, but there are also 7 of us living here. It's got 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and is decorated with things from Ikea. So, here's a look...


Sunday, September 6

Weekend One!

So Friday was our first official day of studio class, and luckily it only lasted an hour! We just had a quick overview of what all our classes are going to entail this semester. After a relaxing afternoon, all of the graphic design students over here... around 20 of us... all headed out to find the famous Spanish Steps once the sun went down. These are the steps where Julius Cesar was stabbed around 30 times and left to bleed to death. They are very popular to visit at night, as they were completely packed with people. Everyone sits on the steps, looks at the water fountain below, and drinks their bottles of wine. It was a fun night, but an extremely long walk there! I'm going to really have to get used to all this walking!


Saturday was a roommate of mine's birthday. She wanted to go to the beach, so that's exactly what we did! It was a long trek there, but after a 45 minute walk, a 10 minute train one way, a 30 minute train another way, and a 10 minute bus ride, we finally made it to Lido di Osti beach. It was right on the Mediterranean Sea and it was gorgeous! It was an absolutely perfect day outside, just the right temp with a little breeze every now and then. The water was a beautiful clear blue and the perfect temp for swimming! We had fun trying to find seashells to bring home, which was actually really hard! Also, we learned that most Europeans are very proud of their body... no matter what size or shape it may be! We'll just say that there were a lot of ladies who forgot the wear their tops! We all came home with the perfect kiss of sun on our skin, cleaned up, and went for dinner to continue the all day birthday celebration. We ate at a nice little resturant on a cobblestone sidewalk. It was the picture perfect Italian resturant... iron chairs, large stone pots with tapestries, and single light bulbs strung from a rope that was tied from one tree to another. The nights here have cooled down drastically since we first arrived, at about 70 degrees and breezy, making our dinner outside very peaceful. We were a little disappointed in the food, as we all came home still hungry and broke, but we'll just say that it was a learning experience!


Sunday started with a nice morning of sleeping in... well more like laying in bed until 10:30 listening to cars, vespas, trams, buses, and ambulences fly by on the main road right outside my bedroom window! When Bridget and I finally got up and around, we set out to accomplish our first assignment for the start of a class project. It was the daunting task to do a scavenger hunt all around the city of Rome. Now, that may not seem to bad, but Rome is HUGE! We were given a list of 8 well known places in the city and we were to find each of them and take our picture there to prove we had done so. So at 11:30 we set out with our camera, a map, and our tennis shoes on with hopes to accomplish this task in record time! We walked and walked and walked! At one point, we were over 2 1/2 hours away from our apartment! By the time we finally made it home, it was after 4:00, but our mission had been accomplished! We were both completely exhausted, sweat completely through everything, and starving! After a quick snack and some much needed water, we both conked out for about an hour! We decided to make it a nice night in to catch up on emails, get organized, do laundry, and just relax! I really think that I've walked more in the last 10 days then I have in all of 2009!

Well, I'm off to bed now, as it's 1:33am here. I'll try my best to get more pics up in the morning. Also, I'll take picture of my apartment here so you can check out how lucky we got with our place... it's pretty nice compared to some of the other students! I really need to be thankful because I'm so blessed! Love and miss everyone!