Layers of History

I figured it was about time I actually wrote something about Rome, since all I've really talked about was my traveling adventures outside of Rome. As much as Oktoberfest was amazing, I don't want to look like a crazy alcoholic. Anyway, our architecture classes here are really starting to get us walking around the city and seeing how much it really has to offer. In cartography, Allan is teaching us how you can understand Rome's history just by reading maps and being able to read building language. We're learning how to identify papal coats of arms and periods of architecture so can we easily date buildings and the surrounding area. Its amazing how much he can talk about an area just by looking at a building for a few minutes. In our analysis and studio classes, we're learning how to translate ancient architecture to modern-day, which honestly, is pretty useful being that I've found most of our architectural history classes kind of pointless up until now. We've been learning about the Renaissance, and how we can apply the same techniques they did in their buildings, and apply it to a modern style. We're using this idea in our studio projects as one of our major goals is contextualism in an ancient Roman urban fabric. We're also doing a competition for the first phase, so our professors want our projects to have a lot of thought behind them. The competition is called the Arturbain competition, and its a French competition. If we win, we would win some money and a trip to Paris. I'm not expecting anything, but our site is pretty challenging and interesting to work with. I also really enjoy the juxtaposition between modern architecture and ancient structures, so I'm excited to see where all of our projects go.

Main nave of San Clemente

We've had quite a few walks throughout Rome the past few weeks. Last week we walked down one of the old salt routes and found some of the ancient aqueducts that still exist in Rome today. The one we looked at empties into the Trevi fountain, which is one of the major landmarks in Rome. This past Wednesday, we went to San Clemente, a church near the Colosseum. The nave was very ornate, and clearly Baroque in the main area. Funnily enough, knowing the ceiling was Baroque won me a free cappuccino from my professor. It was worth it. The detailing in the church was very beautiful. The church was done with a technique called spoglia, which is essentially taking materials from several places and using them to build a new structure. If you look closely, this church has a lot of random bits of marble and other materials that are clearly from other ruins.
We weren't supposed to take pictures, but I decided I wanted to anyway. I figured as long as I wasn't making noise or using the flash that I wasn't really hurting anything (and I didn't see any scary Italian guards either...). We also visited the 4th century mausoleum that is under the nave of the church. It was much more basic down there, and the architecture was completely different. We're all realizing how you really can tell a building's story from looking at its architecture. So many buildings in Rome have been partially demolished and have had parts added and subtracted dozens of times. If you look closely enough, we can tell what happened when, and sometimes even why. It's a pretty fascinating thought.

Trajan's Markets

We also visited Trajan's Markets and Forum, which was quite a change of pace from San Clemente. The architecture here is clearly ancient, but its easy to tell what used to remain. They've transformed some of the main areas into a display for modern furniture. It was rather strange seeing such modern material in an ancient space, but the contrast was also pretty interesting. The bottom half of Trajan's markets is from ancient times. However, there is an entire layer that was built on top in medieval times. In Rome, it seems that builders usually just built on top of what remained instead of demolishing or reusing what already had existed. Its probably why Rome has such a dense culture and is such a unique city. Nothing looks the same, and most of the time, buildings don't match, and usually they had an entirely different look and function hundreds of years before.

Morning light

We had another walk today, and it was for cartography where we were following one of the prehistoric paths of Rome, defined by the seven hills. First we went into Santa Maria Maggiore, a huge church at the center of a piazza near where our route was. It was one of the pope's favorite churches and was near his villa, so the church got its own piazza. Its beautiful inside and outside, so I guess I can't blame him. We went to Santa Maria Maggiore early in the morning, so the light was coming through the stained glass windows perfectly on all of the marble columns. It was truly a beautiful sight, and its easy to see why so many of these church spaces are considered heavenly or ephemeral.

Our walk led us through some of the less pretty parts of Rome. Some of the streets were really worn down. A lot of the buildings in this area have a lot of history. You see where windows were filled in, and new windows were erected in a different place, or indentations where stairs once were, and a random opening that used to be a door. There are so many ways to be able to tell how Rome once was, whether its clues in the architecture or clues in the papal stone carvings or the detailing. I guess I'm starting to understand why they have us study in Rome. We'd never be able to do anything like that back in the United States. Our architecture just isn't old enough.

Nave of Basilica Santa Prassede

We went to another Basilica along the way on our walk. Its called Basilica di Santa Prassede. It ranged from having a medieval style to having Renaissance paintings and a Baroque baldacchino. The paintings were very ornate with a lot of Christian symbolism, ranging from the Holy Mother to the twelve apostles, to the evangelists. There was a service going on while we were in there, in one of the smaller rooms off of the main apse. They were singing, and for some reason, the sound was truly beautiful. I don't know if I just liked the song, or thought it sounded really nice in such a grand space. We also saw one of the smaller prayer rooms that were totally covered in mosaics. I've never seen mosaics that were so intact before, let alone an entire room of them.

This basilica was also a spoglia church. The floor was made from stolen columns, and a lot of the entablatures didn't match either. Though its not perfect, I feel that having such a random selection of material gives the space more character, and shows how much history is truly there.

I think that's all for now. I enjoy seeing so many types of churches. I hope we get to see more. We're visiting Rome's original port, Ostia Antica, tomorrow, and I should be visiting France next weekend. It all should be a lot of fun, and it should all be really interesting to see.

Ciao, a presto.

Ein Prosit, Ein Prosit! Bevo! Bevo! Oktoberfest!

Ein Prosit, Ein Prosit, der Gemutlichkeit.
Ein Prosit, Ein Prosit, der Gemutlichkeit.

Eins, zwei, drei g'suffa!
Zicke, zacke, zicke, zacke!
Hoi, hoi, hoi!

The four of us when we arrived at the campsite

 Guten tag! Ciao a tutti! This weekend we went to Oktoberfest, the largest European festival of the year in Munich (München), Germany. Naeemah, Amanda, Mackenzie and I all bought a bus2alps all inclusive package and went together. We rode on one of their private buses. The trip was 12 hours long. It was a long ride, but the views of the sunrise over the mountains in Germany were gorgeous. I never realized how many mountains were in Germany, and just how green it is in comparison to Rome. We stayed in the Stoke campsite, which is run by Stoke Travel. The second we walked into the campsite at 9am we were handed beer or sangria to quench our thirst while in line to check-in. We all bought the package the campsite had for unlimited beer and sangria for the entire weekend for only fifteen euro. Both the beer and the sangria were delicious. Mackenzie was given a "bull bite," which is a mixture of the two, and even that tasted good. Each row was organized by letters, which were all named. Ours was O for "orgasm," so the Australians who ran the campsite obviously had quite the sense of humor. We had two tents, each for two of us, and they barely fit two people inside them. Its all part of the Oktoberfest experience, even if I really don't enjoy camping.

Entrance to Oktoberfest

Naeemah and I decided to walk around and take in the festival before going in any tents. There isn't a lot going on outside the festival; most of the important parts of the city of Munich are a few metro stops past the festival. We got off at the Hackerbrücke stop where the festival was occurring. The festival is considered to be in "Theresienwiese." We did see a beautiful Gothic cathedral literally right down the street from the festival. It was called St. Paul's Kirche (church), and it could be seen from inside the festival. I found it amusing looking up and seeing spinning carnival rides with a couple hundred year old cathedral in the background.

The festival itself is a sight to behold. The tents are all huge, and they seriously question a person's traditional definition of "tent." They all hold thousands of people, and most have biergartens outside to hold even more people. We walked around, and both got Bavarian pretzels. They also taste amazing, and you realize just how bland American soft pretzels really are. You can eat these without any mustard or anything, and they taste even better with beer (though I may be biased, as apparently my general dislike of mustard is strange). They also have carnival rides right next to all of the beer tents that young and old all enjoy together. There are also a lot more families at Oktoberfest than you would expect to see, but I suppose its because alcohol isn't as "forbidden" in Germany as it is in the United States. A lot of the children were even wearing lederhosen and drindl, which are traditional Bavarian clothing worn at Oktoberfest. Most of the women, of all shapes and sizes, wear drindl. They had so many styles and colors, and I would have bought myself some had they not been so expensive. Maybe next time.

At the Hippodrom biergarten

Later on Friday, we tried to get into a beer tent with Mackenzie and Amanda. The tents were pretty crowded by then, but we managed to make our way in to the Hippodrom beer tent toward the entrance. It looked like a large circus tent, and we found seats in its biergarten. We were sitting at a table with some Germans. The Germans at our table were very friendly and fun, and it was really interesting talking to people who live in other countries. One of them brought fake mustache, as they are "always a hit." This turned out to be true, as the four of us and other Germans (waiters and visitors alike) stopped at our table and took pictures with mustaches with us for the majority of the night. We had three rounds of beer, which turned out to be some of the best beer I've ever had. It was called Spaten-Franziskaner, which is the speciality of the Hippodrom tent. It was a lighter beer, and it had a great taste. I will have to try to find it at home. Our tablemates also bought us a round of beer and roses. The steins of beer are steep in price and size. They're about 9-10 euro, but they're about 3-4 American beers, so its worth your money. The steins are pretty cool to hold and drink out of. It turns out that in most German bars and clubs that this is what they drink out of, so I guess Americans just aren't as cool when it comes to drinking beer. We discovered that Europeans all really know how to party, and they all were accommodating. We realized that they didn't buy rounds of beers for just girls as you would in America. They are just accommodating in general, and would buy beers and food for any group of people if they were all having fun together.

Beer stein + mustache = a good night.

The night in general was great. Mackenzie and I did end up getting lost on the metro and going the wrong way twice in a row, but the amount of beer we had may have had something to do with that. We did get directions from some nice people on the metro, so we did find our way eventually. Friday night at the campsite was absolutely freezing. Germany is at least ten degrees cooler (Fahrenheit, will probably never get used to Celsius) than Rome, and all we had were thin sleeping bags. It was definitely an experience, especially since our complementary shower tokens only allowed us five minutes of hot water. Wah, more realizations of how good we have it in America.

On Saturday, we decided to go to the Hofbräuzelt beer tent. We all woke up around 5:45am to be able to get there around 7:30am. They opened the doors at 9am, so we were waiting in a very long line for at least an hour. Its crazy to me how many people will get up to be able to get into a tent, but Oktoberfest is a huge deal to most Europeans, especially Germans. This tent had a variety of nationalities, mostly German, Italian, American, and Australian. We only stayed for an hour or so initially. We had a round of beer, and I had a tasty sandwich with bavarian ham. It was good and tasted a lot like Lebanon bologna. The beer they served here was called Hofbräu, and I personally didn't like the taste as much. It was German beer though, so it was still good. Mackenzie and I decided to browse around a bit, and look around at the merchandise. We ended up buying beer steins, though I was tempted by the Das Boot shotglasses/glasses they had. They have some really nice metal and ceramic beer steins, but most are the better part of $100. I'll stick with glass for now. We met up again with Naeemah and Amanda who had met up with a group of Italians. They kept singing "Bevo! Bevo! Bevo!" which is an Italian translation of one of the popular German drinking songs. It was very catchy. We explored the carnival rides as well, and got a lovely view of the entire festival and the surrounding city. We also tried bratwurst, which was basically a very very tasty hot dog, and about three times as long as an American hot dog. Being able to eat German food was definitely a nice change from eating pasta all the time, and it was really enlightening to see how German culture and food differs from Italian.

Germans love the Spice Girls

Our last stop for the night was the Armbrustschützenzelt beer tent. We had to wait a little while, but it didn't take us too long to get in. We were talking to an Italian and a German. We were trying to explain American football to them, but I don't think we made much of an impression. I was enjoying practicing my (very broken) Italian with the Italian guy though, as he only knew some English. It turns out him and his friends were from Venice, and I was proud of myself when I was able to tell him in Italian that we'd be visiting Venice in a month or so for school.
Once we finally got in, we were sitting in the biergarten here as well. Some random guy bought all of our beers for us, and I still can't remember who it was. The generosity still amazes me, and I don't think it was only because we were American girls. We had fun just having friendly conversation with the people sitting around us. Everyone at Oktoberfest was pretty friendly, or at least fun-loving and drunk. The beer they served at this tent was the Paulaner, which was also very good. We met a group of Germans (all wearing lederhosen, so they were pretty awesome in my opinion) who all loved singing Spice Girls. It still amazes me how much Europeans love American music, but this fact really surprised me. He knew all of the words and tunes to their major songs. It was absolutely hilarious. All the Germans just wanted to have a good time, and they all really enjoy their beer. I think Americans should definitely take a lesson out of their book.
I also ordered a plate of the chicken at this beer tent. I don't really even like chicken very much, but this chicken was delicious. It was basically half of a chicken, but it was salted and seasoned just right. The Paulaner beer went very well with Bavarian food. What I really enjoyed about Oktoberfest in general is that the people there were drinking a lot, but they were still enjoying themselves. They weren't drinking only for the sole purpose of being drunk.

Main plaza of Marienplatz

On Sunday, we had to leave in the early afternoon, so Mackenzie and I decided to go to Marienplatz to see the Munich City Center and look through some of the local shops. It turned out that mostly everything was closed because it was Sunday, but it was still nice to see some of Munich other than just the festival. In the main plaza, there was a gorgeous building that housed a restaurant and some shops. It looked somewhat Gothic or Medieval in architecture, and it looked like it had once been a church. Munich's architecture and city structure in general is very clean and simple, and very much not like Rome. Rome has a lot of ruins, and many of its walls and buildings are worn. Munich's buildings are all much newer and are more cohesive. I don't know if there is a city I like more, but I love thinking about the contrast between the two. It is really refreshing to be able to visit other places outside of Italy while we're here. It helps to put Italy's culture and tradition into perspective.


Mackenzie and I stopped at a local Starbucks. The chocolate mocha and chocolate muffin tasted delicious, even fresher and tastier than a Starbucks coffee would in the United States. They also served our coffees in mugs and we sat at tables with sofas and armchairs. It was a much more formal setting than most Starbucks in America. I found it very interesting that a chain franchise even differs in different countries.

Vineyards outside the window of the bus

The ride home was a long one, but the views on the way home were absolutely breath-taking. We think we drove through Austria in between Germany and Italy. We were able to see the Alps and all of the towns that have been nestled into the mountainside. We also saw several churches and castles, which I would have loved to hop out of the bus to see. It is amazing to see how much of Europe is left untouched, and how much of it still looks natural. We also saw several miles of vineyards through Austria and Italy as well. Seeing the mountains and all of the towns was just majestic, and it can't even be expressed in pictures. The scale is something you have to experience in person. That is why I'd really love to visit the Alps again sometime while I'm here. Hopefully I am able to.


Now we are back in Rome for our third week of classes. Last week we visited the Via Salaria, which was an old salt route in Rome. We were also able to see some of the remaining ruins of the old aqueducts, including a still functioning portion that feeds the Trevi fountain. Its fascinating seeing something that has lasted and functioned for so long. Tomorrow we are visiting the St. Clemente church near the Colosseum, and this week we are also visiting Ostia Antica, which is Rome's original port. It all should be nice to see, and it will be nice to see more of Rome for a weekend. In the next weekend or so, we may be trying to go to Southern France, so hopefully we will be able to do that.
Well, that is all I have for now. A presto, as I leave you with a picture of my first (and definitely not my last) Italian cappuccino. I never liked coffee much, but as usual, the espresso and cappuccino here tastes much different and sweeter than it does at home.

Pushing Pisa

Spanish Steps and Trinita di Morti

On Wednesday, we were introduced to our site for our studio project, which should be an university. It is on Via Trinitatis, which doesn't still exist by that name, but portions of the road still exist. It starts near Castel Sant'Angelo and ends at the Spanish Steps. We walked up all of the steps and were able to see some nice views of the entire city of Rome. We also were able to take a drink from the fountain at the bottom of the plaza. According to Allan, the water running through that fountain is the same water that ran through the Roman aqueducts two thousand years ago. Some of those aqueducts still exist today. The water did taste pretty pure.

As much as the Spanish Steps and the rest of the site are interesting to look at, our site for studio is pretty challenging. It should produce some cool projects though, especially since our site is in Rome.


This weekend Rachel and I went to Pisa in Italy's region of Tuscany. We left on Friday around 10am and arrived at about 2pm. We stayed in a hostel right on the main shopping street, Corso Italia. The hostel was pretty quaint, and I enjoyed my stay there, given I really had no idea what to expect from a hostel. The staff seemed friendly enough and the accommodations were nice. We also had 300-year-old glass windows in the room we were staying in, which I thought was pretty interesting. Rachel and I spent a lot of the day shopping and stopped for gelato at La Borsa Gelateria, one of the larger gelato places in Pisa. Pisa in general is a fairly small Italian town, and is an interesting juxtaposition to Rome. Corso Italia seemed to have most of the activity, and other streets seemed sleepy and almost a little creepy at night.

Knocking down the Leaning Tower of Pisa

On Saturday, we went to the Field of Miracles (Campo dei Miracoli) where the Leaning Tower of Pisa and Duomo Cathedral are in the town of Pisa. We did the typical tourist photos in front of the Tower, and then proceeded to be amused at watching everyone make poses out of context. We walked along the tourist carts and ended up buying Pisa mugs. They leaned and were shaped like the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Good use of six euros if you ask me. I also bought one of the Harry Potter books and the City of Glass in Italian. I'm interested to see how Italian and English translations differ in fiction books (as both books were originally written in English). That, and they were just really cool and I love books.

We also went inside the Duomo Cathedral. It was gorgeous inside, and the striped arches reminded me of Cordoba. Tuscany has its own branch of architecture, and Pisa is even more unique still. The inner nave had gold leaf on the ceiling, and all of the arches were striped with a light pink and white marble. The cathedral also had magnificent original paintings on all of the walls, and had a transept that was dedicated to prayers to Catholic saints. The cathedral also had small stained glass windows that cast pretty colored light on to all surfaces of the cathedral. The scale of the cathedral cannot even be read in pictures. The columns themselves are huge in comparison to a person, and the height of the nave is even more large. Cathedrals are really spectacular structures and I can't wait to see more in other countries.

Nave of Duomo Cathedral

The Duomo Cathedral truly does seem like an ephemeral place. The light shines through the clerestory and subtly shines into the space. Its truly majestic, and it was truly worth the ticket to see it.

After the cathedral, we eventually got more gelato. We went to another gelato place where you could have one, two, or three flavors in one. I chose three flavors with mango, melon, and dark chocolate (mango, melone, e cioccolato fondente). It was delicious and very rich and creamy. The mango and chocolate combination was a great one.
When we went to dinner, I tried gnocchi con burro e salvia. I still have no idea what salvia is other than the drug, but the dish was good either way. I've never had gnocchi and had no idea they were made of potatoes. During our dinner, we found out that there is a train strike in Italy starting at 9pm and ending at 9pm Sunday. Our returning train was scheduled for 7:45am Sunday morning, and we started worrying. We ran to the train station in Pisa, Pisa Centrale Stazione, and they said it may still be running. We decided to sleep and hope for the best. Our train was running, but it was the only one running out of any of the trains that were scheduled. Our train ended up being delayed because of other people who missed their train, but we still got home much earlier than we thought we would. Train strikes and union strikes seem pretty regular here in Italy, and it really makes me wonder what state their government and economy are in, and how often this could affect traveling in the future.

I also noticed in Pisa how they seemed to be having some kind of government protest or problem. All over the walls they had phrases like "Pisa e basta," "solo Pisa," "Livorno merda," and "fascisti" in graffiti. I still don't know what the issue between Pisa and Livorno (a bordering city) is, but there must be something going on. It seems that Italian government is hanging by a thread. We witnessed a politician giving a speech and a protest while we were in Pisa as well. It was pretty crazy that we saw all of that in one weekend in one Italian town.

That's about all for now. We start another week of classes this week, and this weekend we will be at Oktoberfest. It should be a great week. Ciao for now.

School Begins

Musei Capitolini, Piranesi awards ceremony

Well, the Piranesi Prix di Rome competition is officially over. We had presentations last Friday, and we had the awards ceremony at the Musei Capitolini at Capitoline Hill on Saturday. The museum was beautiful, though we didn't get to see much of it. We also had to go through security to get in, which was interesting. Made us feel official.

The awards ceremony was interesting. It was mostly in Italian, which wasn't too helpful. I was able to understand bits and pieces. It was nice being able to see all of the participants in one room, and apparently more international students (American, Romanian, and Russian) participated than national, aka Italian students. I thought that was pretty neat, having so many nationalities designing together. Despite some organizational issues with my group, the experience overall was nice. It was refreshing knowing how other design students around the world work, as its fairly different from how we think in America. My group actually did win some sort of prize, but as the awards were given in Italian, I'm not actually sure what we won. It was probably an honorable mention of some kind, though.

On Saturday night, a group of us decided to try to find a bar that was showing the Penn State vs. Alabama game (9:30pm our time). We found a place called La Bonticella that is an American Pennsylvania sports bar. They had all kinds of Pennsylvania sports paraphernalia, and it was a nice, cozy space. We had some Peroni drafts and free peanuts (the container of which said 'Giovanni's nuts'). Though we lost rather badly, it was still a nice night and the bar had a really nice atmosphere. Not to mention we ran into newlyweds and a one-year anniversary couple. It was too cute. It was also nice to spend a night with some other Americans and chat about your experiences in Rome.

We went to a Sunday flea market in Trastevere as well. Its at least 3 kilometers long, and a lot of the stuff they sell is pretty reasonable. I got a pair of shoes for 4 euro, and I plan to go back again. Some of the shop venders do try to rip you off and most of them don't respect personal space, but that's really just how it is here. We're just not really accustomed to that in America.

Allan Ceen's Studio Urbis

The past two days we have officially started a normal class schedule. We've now had each of our classes at least once. They all seem really interesting. Our analysis class seems to tie into our studio. In our studio, we're doing a French competition. At first I freaked out at the thought of another competition, but this one seems much better. I think we're designing a university, and our site is in Via Trinitatis near the Spanish Steps in Rome. We should be having a site visit sometime this week, so there will be more pictures to come with that. Our cartography professor, Allan Ceen, is a real character. He's a great professor though, and you can tell he's quite knowledgeable. Our first assignment was to find his studio (Studio Urbis) from our studio at Via della Gatta (yes, that translates to Street of the Cat). He gave us a map and an assignment paper and basically told us to go, avoiding all main traffic roads (which I suspect was to make the assignment a bit harder, honestly) and drawing our path as we go. It was actually quite fun, exploring Rome alone and being able to take everything in. A lot of the back streets are quaint, even if you do run the risk of being hit by a Vespa. Given the nature of the class, it seemed like a fit assignment to start with.
Allan Ceen brought another interesting fact to our attention that I really hadn't given much thought to. He gave us a brief history of Rome during the first class, and a lot of the core ideas of Roman government (Republic, Senate, etc) are all used in American government. I feel like I really should have already known that, but I didn't. Rome, an ancient city, has tons of similarities with our country. He was saying how Rome has lost some of these ideals since the Roman Empire, as it fell over a thousand years ago, and how it is refreshing to see the United States operating with similar ideas. As Americans, we usually feel isolated from most of Europe since we are such a new country, but that connection was pretty meaningful to me.

Well, that is all we've really been up to. Our travel plans for this weekend are uncertain, but we're considering going to somewhere else in Italy. Next weekend we will be venturing to Munich, Germany for Oktoberfest with bus2alps. It should be a great time, and I am excited for Bavarian pretzels and some German beer steins.

I'll be sure to keep this updated (yes, I'm talking to you, Julie) once we have more experiences. Living in Italy finally doesn't seem so strange. I really enjoy cooking with fresh food, especially handmade pastas, fresh fruit and vegetables, and fresh meats. American preservatives will not be a nice change when we go home. I'm trying to speak a bit more Italian, though I usually panic when it actually comes to speaking to Italians. I know most of the basic language, I just need to make myself use it. I'm sure I will in time. I don't think I'll ever get used to the traffic, though.
Well, ciao for now. I'll leave you all with a nice photo of my group (gruppo 14) from Piranesi in the Italian students' apartment in Tivoli.

Colosseum by Twilight

Though we've been kept busy with the Piranesi Prix de Rome competition, Rachel and I still found time to take a nighttime walk through Rome. Our destination was the Colosseum, but we ran into Capitoline Hill and the Arch of Constantine along the way.

Capitoline Hill

All three places look beautiful at night. Its amazing to think that we walked where so many famous people in history once walked. A lot of Roman history happened all of these sites. It amazes me that people who have lived in Rome their entire lives actually become used to seeing stuff like this everyday. Rachel and I took this weird back way to the Colosseum (not to mention kinda shady) and all of a sudden we were standing on Capitoline Hill. That just doesn't happen in the United States. The Italian participants in my group for the Piranesi competition were actually asking our opinion about this because they feel that they don't know how the rest of the world views ruins, as they are so used to them themselves. All of Italy (and probably a lot of Europe too) is like that. Its just so different than what we're used to. The United States have only been a united country for a couple hundred years, whereas Europe has been organized for much much longer than that. It doesn't seem like it makes a difference, but it definitely does.

Colosseum

Our next stop was the Colosseum. I'd really like to see it during the day so I can do the tour. That's on my very long list of things to do while I'm here. It looks amazing at night. I love how they illuminate all of their ruins for tourists to see. I wish I could have seen it when it was in its prime way back in the day, but its held up pretty well. I think both the Colosseum and the Pantheon are especially impressive. They're both thousands of years old, but they're still basically intact. Villa Adriana and the Baths of Caracalla are impressive too, but its much harder to imagine what they actually looked like when they were built. They both look like they were magnificent too, so it's a shame that they weren't able to stay as intact. The Arch of Constantine is right by the Colosseum as well. I didn't even realize it was there at first... it seems like its just sitting there off to the side. It was still impressive to see, though.

Walking through the streets of Rome at night is peaceful, but at the same time, there's some strange people out. You have people walking their dogs, tourists, and then some generally shady seeming people. I guess that's the life of a city, though. I do appreciate how many dogs I've seen since being here though. Villa Adriana has random dogs just running around the villa. I think they must be strays, but the staff there must feed them. They're actually very cute dogs. I also saw someone walking a white german shepherd that reminded me of Bolt.

That's all for now. I think we're seeing the Musei Capitolini sometime soon after this competition has ended. I'll be sure to keep this blog updated.

Thanks to everyone who takes time to read this. Ciao for now.

Tourist Attractions

Another few days in Roma. We've done some very tourist-y sightseeing in the past few days, that is when we aren't being shuffled from one place to another for this competition we're doing.

We decided to eat at a cafe before our outing. We had bruschetta as an appetizer, which is the first time I've ever eaten the dish. I don't really like tomatoes, but this was delicious. We actually got the appetizer, primo piatto, secondo piatto, and a dessert all for a 10 euro special. We shall make a return visit.

Bruschetta, which is some tomatoes on toasted bread with olive oil and spices.

The soda here is even different. It tastes much better, for one, because they use natural flavors with no preservatives. You wouldn't think that would make a difference, but it does. The orange soda in the photo was made with real oranges. It tasted basically like slightly carbonated orange juice. Delizioso.

That same day we had one destination we had to see: the Pantheon. I've never been to Europe, and whenever I think of Italy, I think of wine, cheese, the Colosseum, and the Pantheon. On our way to the Pantheon, we ended up in the Piazza Navona. Since I've been in Italy, I haven't really fully believed that I was here. It seemed that I was just in a really cute town somewhere. Walking into the Piazza Navona convinced me. Its absolutely enormous, and its so gorgeous. The fact that all of those statues and the details in the buildings has lasted for so many years is just amazing. I was also instantly reminded of Dr. Craig Zabel's class and his love for Bernini and the Fountain of the Four Rivers.

Piazza Navona

Fountain of the Four Rivers

After spending some time there, we finally reached the Pantheon. It was crowded, but I think it always is. I never realized how big the Pantheon actually is. I've seen tons of pictures of it (thank you, Jamie Cooper) but never realized just how large it actually is. Its also pretty cool that when we leave class everyday that we see the Pantheon the second we walk out the door.
It truly is remarkable how the Pantheon is essentially intact compared to what it was thousands of years ago. I suppose its because it was used as a church. They still had an altar and pews set up. No idea if they use them, though.

Interior... tons of people

Love the oculus and the light. Will be making a trip to the Pantheon when it rains too.

Exterior

We also happened upon an Italian church when we were near the Pantheon. It was called Chiesa di Santa Maria Maddalena I think. I've never heard of it, but the interior was very well decorated and intricate. It was all the original marble and gold leaf. I don't really go to church, but I'd go to mass just to be able to sit in that church. Its weird to think that Italians are used to going to church in places so ephemeral and beautiful.

Interior of the church

We also happened across the Trevi Fountain too. We had no idea we were so close to it. We stopped at a pharmacy too (farmacia). They're nothing like CVS from the States. Everything is locked away in cabinets, and pharmacists (called chemists here) have you get basically everything for you - anything from tylonel to typical prescription drugs. They're also expensive. A lot of our prescription drugs aren't even legal here. I got medication for mosquito bites, which apparently are monster mosquitoes judging by the size of the bites. The medication basically looked like ammonia-flavored lip gloss. It worked well, though.

Trevi Fountain

The sculptures were very majestic, but its a pretty crowded tourist spot. It was hard to really get a good view of it. I want to try to go at night and see it illuminated, and possibly have a bit more space.

Living in Italy is definitely an experience. The cashier at the supermarket got visibly angry because we didn't give exact change. At least I'm assuming she was annoyed. She looked angry and seemed to be saying some very angry words in Italian. Not appreciated. Being able to walk to get gelato or go to an open market for fresh fruit, vegetables, and pasta is great, though. Making fresh beef with peppers and onions for dinner is delicious. I've already tried three flavors of gelato (fragola, cioccolato, tiramisu) and am aiming to try all flavors before I leave. Its nothing compared to American ice cream. Its just so creamy, and its probably better for you too.

I really would like to see the Colosseum and Spanish Steps. I'm sure I'll see them eventually. We found one of the shopping streets (Via del Corso) where we found an H&M. Its basically the same as in America, but its cooler because it's in Italy.

We also went to a festival along the river one night. They had all of these little tables, chairs, and cushions set up alone the river in Trastevere. Clarissa, Naeemah, Rachel, and I all sat and had some wine and chatted. It was a very quiet yet enjoyable night. I wish I could do that every night. They even had little stalls set up for shopping. It seems to be a summer festival, and because it is officially September (already?!), I'm pretty sure its over now. It was nice while it lasted, though. I'm excited to see if there are more celebrations and festivals in Rome and Europe as a whole.

That's all for now. Ciao, a presto!

That will be all for now. Ciao :)