Napels

is basically Philly on an Italian shore. But its fun, I like that it is a city along the sea, embracing mother earth yet urbanized. 

We went to the a best pizza dinner, night walk, museum, ate fried calamari, sat on the shore, and came back. 

walking

Went on many walks today. first carto walk, then studio site study walk, and after studio another walk behind Pantheon. The walk behind Pantheon is a new discovery from carto walk, in that little 13 minute walk holds 3 most famous gelato place. yum..

going to Pompeii tomorrow, as a field trip. Gatta go to bed.

backyard

Traversere is the backyard of Rome. It's local and mostly a neighborhood for people. Many have been living here for centuries. Others came in later, and live there. Traversere wasn't fully urbanized until the Renaissance ages, but people have called it their home since then.
It was one of those day when we were stuck inside studio for hours of "???" boring, today was specially boring. I was too happy when 6pm came around. Our residence in Traversere has a garden where couple fruit trees are dangling with delicious ripped fruit in this season, including cherries. Yes, everyday they look darker and darker, and today was perfectly ripped, so I picked some. They are juica-lcious. After that I went on a walk in Traversere neighborhood, realized how tourism did take over part of Traversere. Tourists, are part of daily life in the city of Rome. I'm glad I'm now confident to go explore streets without necessarily needing a map or fear of getting lost.
Came back at almost 9pm, made a 3 course meal. Too bad I was too hungry to take picture. Made rocket salad on bread, pasta in red wine sauce, and sausage and potato.
After that, things went wild with Andrew L, Matt N., and Lara K. ........

it poured, footlose, sausage!, stamps, late night, new sheets

1. It was like pouring buckets of rain on us. Yes, we were on a field trip/walk around Rome, in the rain storm.

2. Everyone was soak from the walk, and all our sneakers were dripping. The joke had something to do with ice-cube drawing. Nevertheless, we went foot lose (bare foot) during the rest of the day. 

3. Finally, I got raw meat product in my grocery shop!!! Meat/poultry in Rome is so expensive I've not cooked any meat for 2 weeks.

4. Do you know it is harder to buy a stamp than exchange money in Rome? That's because stamps are Italian government issued but US dollars aren't. The set up of a post office is similar to bank set up in the US, imagine that line you have to wait in the bank and transfer that into buying stamps. Yip. 

5. Studio night. of course it was studio and of course it was late. 

6. Apparently our dorm maintenance includes change of bed sheets. Spoiled, but I can take that. 

then we got studio...

uh the lovely studio, why one must live without sleep when dealing with you? Honestly I cannot handle more studio classes than what's required by AE, how people get through 5 years of that miserableness is a mystery to me. I'm suppose to be having a great time in Rome, but there we are, sketching away as the sky is pouring rain. There was even thunder storm.
So anyway, we went inside yet another Santa Maria today, it's the one right next to the Pantheon. The only most intact Gothic architecture in Rome. Didn't have my camera with me so no picture for now. Sure I will go get some tomorrow at lunch time.
After that, then maybe I can find sometime to visit the Tempietto. For strange reason we've been near it twice but have yet the chance to go see it.

cartographying Rome

It's a lot of fun to walk around Rome. By being here for almost 2 weeks and learning about the city development during class (nearly 10 hours of them everyday...) we get to learn alot about how to look at Rome. My favorite thing is the Nolli Map. It's a freaking awesome map, even it is made in 1748, it is the first MOST detailed map of Rome. And because Rome has not change much city planning in the last 250 years, whatever was there in 1748 is still pretty accurate for today. Crazy isn't it?
http://nolli.uoregon.edu/map/index.html a link to the map
Anyway so I used a copy of a smaller version of this map to explore around for a smoothie place tonight. Found a lot of scenic and cool things, as well as the smoothie place. Unfortunately it was too late and it's closed. But I don't really mind that, cz walking in Rome itself is a treat already. With that many monumental architecture squeeze in a little city called Rome, everything is in close proximity, and everything is interconnected, so getting lost is a given, but it's never too hard to find your way back, as long as you have a good map.
There are too many reasons for Rome to be cool, it is one of a kind and you can never understand it until you spend enough time here. But once you do, it is impossible to not love it. How can you not love a city where everyone walks to any places? Go to the millennium old Pantheon, enjoy its site with a cup of gelato in hand? or the important IL GESU church located right next to Pantheon and you classroom? What really give Rome its character is that; things of 125 AD and 1551AD be 5 minutes apart? It's not just the things a in close proximity, its also happening to the history of human development while each period is preserved. Yah... the whole city is archaeologically put together, the ancient, the old and the present all coexist in one location, budding shoulders, sharring their wine as if it is perfectly normal.

glad I don't have to be in the architecture major.... gosh they love ideas and abstract things too much formulas and method don't apply to them. one word can deliver 1000 meanings. engineers like to be crisp, clean and short, straight to the point. 

even I suck at engineering classes, i know i can make a much better engineer than architect.

and can we please go out to enjoy Rome?

laundry day, homework day, relax of day. I just love how there is not enough stress to make me anxious... yet. But hey, that's good right?
Anyhow, talking of laundry... have you tried to do laundry in another country? or another language? It was complicated... but I manage to finish 1 load. 1 more load to go.
Homework... yes they still exist, but since this one is the first homework among the 6, it came down easy, just took a lot of time. drawing, it takes long time to draw.

Ostia trip..... and I thought it was Austria..... oh well. it was still a good trip, learned alot, just, under the elements for too long. super tired. dead tired, if that can be realistic. So anyway, some of us went out for dinner, and I did, cz I'm sick of homecooking when food out there is cheap and delicious. delicious white and green (bean) pasta. So after that we came back, yet we left again for gelato. So good. I didn't get a sensible combo, mango and white chocolate with nutella, but each is good on its own. A pretty walk in Rome at night, just good chatting, and seeing. the common night live avaliable in this city.

Walking in Italy

That was the sole activity for the last 2 days--Walking. Yesterday we walked for 6 or 7 hours, today we walk for 8 hours in total for our classes, not including the go on your own to eat and explore.
The awful part of these walking lessons is trying to walk-sketch-listen in open area-take notes-not fall over at once. I say "not fall over" because as I describe, corbel stones are different than paved road, they are often harder on your feet. THe best part of these walks, however, pretty much paid off all the horribleness.
It's great to walk around one of the oldest city with an expert who knows pretty much everything about Rome. We got 2 Rome map experts, 1 sketching and drawing experts (aka an architect), and 1 Italian architect as tour guides/professor, so its like an intellect explosion with occasional comedic moments.
Our cartography guide Allen can basically spell out the significance of every street in Rome. You have to understand, Allen is not only a map lover, he is also wizard of Rome. Following him in Rome means you learn about when each church was build and how to induce information by looking at the facade of every single building. And he doesn't care if you don't draw/write in your sketchbook, but he will get furious if you don't look at the Nolli  Map (a 1748 map that records EVERYTHING in Rome. I mean, even the smallest fountain and chapel are recorded in Nolli)
As for sketching while walking, well, it's still a skill we must master.... My sketches are just bad.

p.s. a bucket of cold water: Spring semester grades are up...... bummer.

searching for the past

part of the reason why Rome is awesome to so many poeple is its ability to combine the life of ancient, old, and present together. look at the Pantheon for example, exist since basically 2000years ago, as a pagan worship place. In the Renaissance, a sculpted fountain was added infront of it. Today, you can go there on a casual after dinner walk and let the ancient history become fabric of your daily life.
Especially for us the AE here, we didn't come here to just take pretty picture of ancient monument, we are here to study the function these streets and building served in the past and today, and the transformation. To us, we literally can see how life was vs. today. Rome is a time machine, if you reach far enough, you can almost live in the day of antiquity, or Baroque period. Its a mind-blowing experience.
A part of me love the idea to go back in time and discover the old. Alot of people will agree with that. Why? I don't know, but I think a part in us see reconstruction as a beautiful activity.

There are millions art project ideas I have already. Inspired by the layers of time and history captured all in one corner in Rome, it would be cool to see how the Romans used the space than vs. how Romans use the space today; today Italian's values vs. values of my own.
idea number 2: a Photoshop timeline comparison of the south-east corner of Pantheon.
And to put life in the whole perspective, and living whole-ly, lets not be culturally educated but spiritually dry.

The beginning of dorm life in Roma!!

We got here!! It was too much fun dragging our big luggage on corbel stone..
(picture by Laura Wu)

After that the group split up and explore the city. For food and daily grocery. But our group got so lost we bump into a place by the great Michelangelo. Still have no idea what's the house is called. It's Renaissance sure.

 
After the cool exploration, we ate at a little club place, and did our grocery shopping next door in a local shop. Do you know their milk comes in plastic bottle?

The habit of bringing your own bag is a common practice here. The store workers rolled their eyes at us when we ask for plastic bags. Carrying bags of goodies like Americans, we marched our way back to our dorm. On the way, we passed by some ancient looking temple, was it the Temple of Portunus? That original one which was built back in 1st century?  And I just past by it? We also passed by a cat sanctuary/ruin, right in the middle of the city next to Teatro Argentina, and much more old ancient architecture/sculpture/ruins, walking on Roads the ancient Romans also walked on. The fact that the whole city is populated with common people all these centuries is amazing. Unlike the Forbidden city in Taiwan or other ancient Chinese city, Rome is a flat city, nothing is build beyond 7 stories. Here is a bird eye view, brought to you by a pidgin.
 
Tonight we girls are going to make our first real home-cooked meal since the landing, and have the blueberry pie from local bakery with dessert wine. Maybe we can get used to this city and stay here forever? lol
Ciao. (goodbye and hello...)

Rome.. 1st day

doesn't feel like the life of the next 7 weeks are going to be a huge deal/once in a life time thing. Now it feels like all of us hanging out in a big city. Although seeing the ancient ruins make it more shocking, and the thought that I'm walking on a 2000 year old street is surreal.
Food is good, wine is rich, cappuccino is creammy (and cheap!). haven't try any gelato yet. Our first dinner at a local place, only cost me 7 euros, with a big personal pizza and wine.

Siteseeing is a great 1st taste of "living" (enjoying) life from the past X weeks of non-stop working.
Arch of Constantine, one of my favorite Old architecture even it's not as old as its neighbor, Colosseum. I like it cz it's a bed rock to many classical revival style. The fact that it's a useful passage way makes me think it holds more value. It's sorta like saying, "hey, welcome to Roma" like a Roman, not that sheet metal on the highway as you cross into New Jersey.