The handout for my Ara Pacis Museum History presentation.
Friday, January 29, 2010
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
One Down, Three to Go!
Project 1 is officially over! I was stressing out a couple of days ago, but I think the project went well. I feel my layout has a very strong unifying quality and it doesn’t hurt that I am the only person to have done a 4 page spread (a decision I regretted at approximately 4:00am). Regardless, I am happy with how my project came out and I can’t wait to scan my pages and post them for you to see.
The past couple days have been hell. We had Italian in the morning and History in the rain yesterday on almost no sleep which was miserable. I’ve slept about 4 hours total the past 2 nights, which made it very difficult to wake up after a 2 hour nap before jury this afternoon. My neck hurts from leaning over the light table, with which I have once again developed a love/hate relationship over the past week. Love because it makes tracing photographs SO much easier and hate because you still have to spend hours upon hours staring into a glowing white surface that will, I am convinced, drive one insane if exposed for too long a period of time. Thankfully, it’s all over and I have our first study trip to look forward to!
That’s right, on Friday we are leaving for Firenze (Florence for all you Americani) as well as Bologna, Venice, Como, and Milan! I must say I am really excited to begin my grand tour of Italy. I could use some socks though… where the hell do you buy socks in Rome?
-BJC
P.S.: I stumbled across this Italian Industrial Design Firm’s website and I really like some of their stuff. Check it out: http://www.albertodelbiondi.com/jos/
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Drunk Italians and Rock&Roll
Its 2:45am and a bunch of drunken Italian men have been singing at the top of their lungs outside for the past hour. Its driving me crazy, so I've decided to put on some headphones and listen to loud rock music.
Meanwhile, I'll write my second blog entry. Today (or yesterday, rather) was somewhat uneventful. I wasn't feeling very good, so I decided to skip the museum trip (I've already seen it anyway) and use the day to recover from the previous week. After a nice shower and filling breakfast I went to studio to work for a bit.
A couple of hours passed and I found myself thinking about the fact that we will be going on our first study tour in about a week. I anticipate doing a lot of walking, but of the two pairs of shoes I brought, one offers no real support or padding, and the other pair are falling apart at the seams. Planning ahead, I decided to get a new pair and use this week to break them in. I asked Marina where to go to get a new pair of walking shoes and she suggested somewhere along Via del Corso. Unfortunately, finding a size 13 shoe in Europe is much more difficult than I thought!
It took me 3-4 hours of walking up and down Via del Corso before walking into the Puma store which had shoes in sizes above quarantasei (46)!
One thing I noticed while walking is that everyone appears nicely dressed. Although I do find the puffy, reflective, plastic jacket trend absolutely repulsive, for the most part, everyone is well put together. I think this may have something to do with demographic differences between the states and Europe.
From what I understand and have observed in the US, the less wealthy lower class tend to live in the inner city while the middle and upper classes live in the suburbia’s surrounding the city. In Italy, it is exactly the opposite. The wealthy upper class live in the heart of the city and the average wealth decreases the further one goes from the center. This could account for the surprisingly large number of people driving fancy cars and wearing designer clothing and the surprisingly low amount of poor and homeless in Rome.
I saw a guy wearing sweatpants that said "I <3 NY” today, It made me laugh because someone from New York would never actually wear pants like that. You see the same thing in the states all the time with those “Firenze” purses that girls carry. Just more proof that all people are really the same I guess.
-BJC
Meanwhile, I'll write my second blog entry. Today (or yesterday, rather) was somewhat uneventful. I wasn't feeling very good, so I decided to skip the museum trip (I've already seen it anyway) and use the day to recover from the previous week. After a nice shower and filling breakfast I went to studio to work for a bit.
A couple of hours passed and I found myself thinking about the fact that we will be going on our first study tour in about a week. I anticipate doing a lot of walking, but of the two pairs of shoes I brought, one offers no real support or padding, and the other pair are falling apart at the seams. Planning ahead, I decided to get a new pair and use this week to break them in. I asked Marina where to go to get a new pair of walking shoes and she suggested somewhere along Via del Corso. Unfortunately, finding a size 13 shoe in Europe is much more difficult than I thought!
It took me 3-4 hours of walking up and down Via del Corso before walking into the Puma store which had shoes in sizes above quarantasei (46)!
One thing I noticed while walking is that everyone appears nicely dressed. Although I do find the puffy, reflective, plastic jacket trend absolutely repulsive, for the most part, everyone is well put together. I think this may have something to do with demographic differences between the states and Europe.
From what I understand and have observed in the US, the less wealthy lower class tend to live in the inner city while the middle and upper classes live in the suburbia’s surrounding the city. In Italy, it is exactly the opposite. The wealthy upper class live in the heart of the city and the average wealth decreases the further one goes from the center. This could account for the surprisingly large number of people driving fancy cars and wearing designer clothing and the surprisingly low amount of poor and homeless in Rome.
I saw a guy wearing sweatpants that said "I <3 NY” today, It made me laugh because someone from New York would never actually wear pants like that. You see the same thing in the states all the time with those “Firenze” purses that girls carry. Just more proof that all people are really the same I guess.
-BJC
Friday, January 22, 2010
The Beginning (week1)
It has been an eventful first week and a half, so I am going to try to summarize my experiences as much as possible... but probably not, so this should be a long one.
___
Thanks to weather (or perhaps workers going on strike), my original flight was cancelled and rescheduled for several days later. It actually ended up working out as I was upgraded to first class to make up for the inconvenience. I don't know how I will fly economy ever again!
I landed in Fiumicino, Italy with one and a half suitcases (one I left partially empty for when I return) by myself with no contacts and without the ability to communicate. All I had was 80 euro and an address: Via Santa Maria Dell'Anima 30.
Knowing the Fiumicino cab drivers charged a minimum of 60 euro for a ride to Rome, I set out in search of the train that runs between the airport and Termini Stazione. After buying my ticket (11euro) and almost getting on the wrong train, I found myself stepping onto the Fiumicino-Termini Train and embarking on a one way trip to the heart of Rome.
Disoriented, alone, and mentally and physically tired from both lack of sleep and carrying my luggage everywhere (Italians love stairs) I wandered out onto the notorious streets surrounding Termini Stazione. After a short time, I found a group of cab drivers huddled together speaking fast Italian. One noticed me and leapt from the group, “CAB?! You need cab?” he said pointing at his car and waving his hands.
“Si, si!” I nodded after ensuring the vehicle was one of the legitimate, white, metered taxis of Rome. He opened the trunk and helped me toss my luggage in.
The ride was as expected: crazy, fast, and with more than a couple middle fingers involved. He dropped me off about two blocks from my apartment claiming that Piazza Navona was under construction and that he could not drive there (I’m fairly certain he just didn’t feel like navigating through the back roads).
“Ventinove euro.” The cab driver said.
“Gratzie.” I said as I handed him a 50. He produced 10 euro in change (most likely assuming I wouldn’t understand how much ventinove (29) was. After a bit of arguing over correct change, he produced another 5 euro and proceeded to act like he couldn’t understand me. Giving up, I set off to find my apartment, and the rest of the day, like much of Rome, is history.
Since then I have stocked up on food (the first couple days were rough), figured out when to shower so that I have hot water, rearranged my room, consumed a few bottles of wine, bought a jacket, started my classes, visited the pantheon (I buy groceries there… no, not kidding), the Forum, the Colosseum, Trajan’s market, and St. Peters, shopped at the Campo Dei Fiori farmers market (my studio overlooks the piazza), walked the 7 hills of Rome, went bar hopping on the Colosseum pub crawl with 15 of my classmates and a sketchy Canadian guide by the name of Tac, watched an authentic Italian movie, Skyped with Kathleen and my parents, bought an Italian phone, and finished 30% of my history class grade (I was assigned a week long project the day before it was due and I somehow pulled it off. Go me!).
That just about brings you up to speed! I’m sure I’ve forgotten something, but all will be revealed soon enough. Besides, I need to go to bed because we are going to see some priceless works of art tomorrow (well… today) at 10:00am.
Buona Sera!
-BJC
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