….So today this morning is the beginning of the end of a really important chapter in my life. I can’t even begin to describe how blessed I feel like I had the opportunity to experience living abroad and how grateful I am for such giving, loving and supportive parents. It’s a weird sort of bittersweet.. I am beyond excited to see my family and even to experience what I used to consider normalcy….. dryers for your clothing, Mexican food, cell phones… but being here has been so awesome… I have no words to describe.. it is not even fair that I’m here and I’ve been basically all over Italy before my parents have even visited Europe.. I guess I just consider this to be something that I would want my own children to experience someday.

Yesterday Emily, Carmen, Summer and I walked over to the Vatican City.. Em and I still needed to see the Borgia Apartment, Stanza di Rafaelo and of course the Sistine Chapel. I am pretty much obsessed with art history (I probably could have had a minor in art history if it were offered at ISU.. next year they are!) so it was really exciting to traveling around and see all of the pieces that I had studied and had “put on my list” of things I want to see before I die.. and besides the Parthenon, the Sistine Chapel was the only thing I could think of on my list to the date- on this trip I have seen the Elgin marbles (the statues from the frieze of the Parthenon) in England, the discobolos, augustus of prima porta, the she-wolf, the equestrian statue of marcus aurelias, the dying gaul, ludovisi throne, tetrachs on the corner of st marks in Venice, Pieta, the laocoon, the ecstacy of st. teresa, tons of Caravaggios, the statue of Nike in the Louvre as well as the Revenge of Medusa and of course the Mona Lisa.. (the list goes on) and yesterday when we stepped foot into the Sistine Chapel it actually felt like the end, my eyes teared up and Emily and I just gave each other this look like “I can’t believe we are here”. Our entire college career (and maybe even before) we’ve studied the Last Judgement … everything from how it was a painted, who all of the people are, the placement, who had to have clothes painted on, how faces were repainted in another direction, who Michelangelo decided to paint in (he didn’t like some sort of religious/political person so he painted them in the painting as someone in Hell…) he even included himself…. And it was really cool to actually see it.. and if anyone gets the opportunity to actually see it, it’s overwhelming (it’s huge!) Michelangelo really was a genius. After this trip I’d have to say I have more respect for Caravaggio, Michelangelo, Raphael and Bernini (my favorite sculptor!)

Yesterday we also went to this “Concerto di Natale” (Christmas Concert) just around the corner from our apartment (we actually pick up their internet if we stand on the balcony) at this church called St. Ignazio. This church is already amazing… it’s huge (just like every other church in Rome) and the celing is painted in perspective.. it’s hard to describe, but the ceiling is completely flat and the artist painting it so that if you stand on this one dot on the floor, the ceiling has depth and appears to be arched.. if you step away from the dot, everything looks distorted.. keep in mind this part of the ceiling is 50 yards long… can you imagine the artist having to climb up and down a ladder to see if his perspective is working?! CRAZY.. sadly we don’t have any sort of painting master like we used to. Further down from this part of the ceiling is a dome.. which actually isn’t a dome AT ALL. It is also flat stretched canvas that is painted in perspective. During the concert last night we sat away from the “dot” for this dome painting so it was very distorted from our view. This church also has the huge alter side chapels with larger than life marble statues, huge twisted columns, etc etc.. and the back of the church had three large paintings and a painting in the apse (I assume about the life of Saint Ignazio). For the concert there was a large choir, an orchestra, and someone who played trumpet on “O ‘Holy Night” – of course all of the songs were in Italian!

A couple nights before yesterday, Kym and I walked around Piazza Navona- it’s only a few blocks from our apartment and they have a huge carnival in the square until January- complete with a carousel, carnival games, and all the crap you could ever buy.. oh yeah and one day I saw THREE Santa Clauses taking photos with children.. just a little confusing! Anyways we stopped by the Abbey Theater.. the pub we hang out at every once and awhile and we ran into these 4 Italians that we’ve probably hung out with 5 times already this semester.. we met them at one bar and then on another night at a completely different one- completely random. Anyways this one boy Fausto is in love with Kym.. they think she looks like the singer Pink with her short blond hair ☺ Anyways we sat at their table and hung out for about two hours.. it’s HILARIOUS because we basically speak 5 words of Italian total and don’t understand any of it… they don’t speak more than 20 words of English.. actually one of them, Leonardo, doesn’t speak A word.. he’s hilarious- like this big teddy bear who you have to play charades with in order to communicate. So this whole time we sit together we gesture and act things out to talk and as ridiculous as it is and as long as it takes to communicate one little thing, it’s always a blast… after about two hours though you get pretty tired of it- I lucked out and one of the boys spoke a little Spanish so that was easy for me. This is one of the experiences that I’m really glad I got to experience… it’s funny how language isn’t even a barrier anymore if you try hard enough. One thing I’m not going to miss here though are Italian men.. sure it’s a stereotype but it’s very true. I could be walking to the art store 2 blocks away at 9am and I’ll get a “ciao bella” or kissing noises in my direction… ewwww.. I mean really, can’t I just go to a store and buy paint without anyone cat-calling? And what’s even more uncomfortable is when you’re wandering around the city alone or what-not and you walk down a sidewalk with three or so guys standing outside talking and they just stare you down and it’s so gross.. it’s hard to explain but Italians STARE. A lot.. even when you let them know they are staring they still do it.. oooor if you walk down some alley and there are 4 old men playing cards.. they stop talking until you pass by. Weird. It’s so different how Americans shield their eyes from each other and Italians could care less about your privacy. At least I’ve never felt threatened in Rome.. which is the thing they stressed the most before you came here- especially how we were going to get robbed or mugged.. nope.. didn’t happen.. I didn’t even see it happen or hear about it happening to anyone. Of course if you’re walking around with your purse open and your camera hanging out of your pocket with your nose in a tourist book then chances are you could be taken advantage of.

Oh yeah.. the other day we had “Christmas” too.. two of our roommates already left on Wednesday, so Tuesday night we made a bunch of Chili and made cards for each other and put them in our “stockings” – grocery bags tied on a string to the wall.. complete with personalized drawings of a stocking- thanks to Kym. Our painting prof also had a Christmas tree and because they were unable to put in up in the studio because of school/religion blah, she let us have it.. so we’ve had this twinkling half-size Christmas tree in our apartment for two weeks now. Christmas night we watched The Santa Clause and read notes that we wrote for each other. I think we can all agree that we are one of the few apartments that didn’t have any problems. Once again I feel SOOOO blessed to have the roommates I did. One of them, Summer, is 25 and I have actually had studio with her several times in Ames.. I always though of her as being a spaz who always showed up an hour late everyday.. WOW I was so wrong.. Summer ended up to be one of the most fun and clear-headed people I have ever met… and we never would have known if we hadn’t lived together. Even Kym.. I had class with her too.. but we NEVER talked.. no idea why… and now I can pretty much say she’s my closest friend in my apartment.. we get along SO well (she ‘s the one I went to Paris with) and we even think our Dad’s would be best-buddies if they ever met haha.

So on my final day in Italy I think I’ll be taking it easy.. I have spent a ridiculous amount of money this week trying to finish up Christmas presents so I am in no mood to shop (probably for the best since the Euro is so much more expensive than the dollar) I still need to pack.. and we need to take out our trash and clean our apartment. Em wants to go throw a coin in the Trevi Fountain- they say if you do this it guarantees your return to Rome… as pathetic as it sounds I have been avoiding doing this.. this semester has been THE BEST experience of my life, and I have at least 20 other places in the world I want to see before I die and if I can’t make it back to Rome I will always remember the incredible time I had while I was here…. From now on things will always be different.. the next time if I did come, I’m sure I would just be nostalgic the whole time…’oh this is where my apartment was’ ‘oh this is where we danced home from the coloseum’ oh.. blah blah. Wow.. I feel like this blog is getting boring

Anyways, long story short. I would like to thank my parents for all they have done for me… I don’t think I will ever be able to thank you enough, I’ve changed so much and my eyes have been so open to life after this experience. I also want to thank whoever has been reading my blog- hopefully it hasn’t put you to sleep too many times If any of you are traveling in the near future to any of the places I’ve been be sure to let me know and I would love to help you out with any plans you may have! I also want to thank those of you who have sent me e-mails (even if I never got replies back from you.. haha) it means a lot when you’re so far away from home. And if you’re reading this please pray for safe travels.. I hear that storms are ‘brewing in the states and we’ll be flying out of Rome at 1:30pm tomorrow through Frankfurt, Germany, Chicago to Denver. And everyone have a wonderful Christmas! Hopefully we will see each other soon ☺

Love, Tegan

So yesterday was Thursday and we all had the day off because our art history final was the week before.. so my roomate Emily and I decided to head to the Vatican City to see the Vatican Museum.. pretty much the mother-load of really great Italian art by Raphael, Michaelangelo, Botticelli, etc etc. Anyways.. so we get there and we’re all super giddy because we’ve studied this stuff last Spring with this really hard professor Dr. Cunnally who we adore (he’s brilliant) and also this semester. We walk around and see a bunch of religious gilded altars and paintings from the 13-1400s which was actually pretty neat, usually I skip that section of the museums we go to because it freaks me out but the Vatican actually had a really nice collection. We also saw Transfiguration by Raphael then headed towards sculptures.. a huge collection of portraits of Augustus and sarcophagi.. went outside (they have really pretty gardens and it was a beautiful day) and in this weird inside courtyard was the Laocoon, this famous Greek statue from 20BC.. after that we psyched ourselves up about the Sistine Chapel and started to walk up the stairs and this guy looks at us and goes.. ‘the museum is closing’ and I’m guessing our jaws dropped. It was 1:30pm and the museum was closing! BAH. Shock of a lifetime. So all the work we came to see we weren’t allowed to see So now Em and I have to go back again next week.. at least we got a student discount so we’ll only have to pay 8 euro again to get back in. Grrr.. so word to the wise, go to the Vatican in the morning!

The Laocoon:

The staircase to get out (the only way) of the Vatican Museum:

…Also the day before yesterday two of my sorority sisters who were studying abroad in London came to visit.. they started school a week or two after us and got two weeks off at the end of October and also finished school three weeks before us (!??!) but anyways they came over and we attempted to go out.. but the colder Rome gets the lamer it gets At least we got to see each other!

In front of the Pantheon:

So as you all know I spent the last weekend in Paris with my good friend Kym. We left early early Friday morning.. we actually didn’t end up going to sleep until 12-1am on Thursday night and we had to get up and leave at 3am, what a terrible idea. We had to walk to the Termini train station then take a twenty minute bus ride to the Ciampino airport, then waited until 630am to board the plane (we took RyanAir, a discount airline) because their were no assigned seats it was pretty much madness.. people basically ran onto the plane to get seats eventhough it was only a two and a half hour flight. Madness. Anyways, we arrive at Paris Beauvauis airport at 930am and take another bus from that aiport to Mont Pilliet which takes around 45 minutes. The place we stayed was actually only a 5 minute walk from there so it was perfect.

We actually went out on a limb for this trip and stayed with a French couple who were probably in their late twenties. The girl was originally from Colombia but JD (the guy) was born and raised Parisian. We stayed on their fold-out king size bed and it was AWESOME. Wow.. our beds in Rome are awful.. I need to call my Mom to make a chiropractor appointment because I have never had a worse bed in my life.. I think the university should do something about it- my bed sinks down three to four inches in the middle, I even flipped it over and around and it is still just as bad. Anyways so we dropped off our stuff and took the Metro to meet one of Kym’s friends from high school, Amanda. We walked around and she showed us Notre Dame, the Arc de Triomphe, Champs d’Elysee, we ate at a little cafe where the menu and all the people spoke French (which I might add is nothing like Italian or Spanish, I couldn’t even pick out one word or even try to pronounce words on the menu..) I ended up getting a salad with chicken, grapes, almonds, celery, tomatoes, and honey. Outside our restaurant all these college-age kids were protesting, apparently a lot is going on with the school system in France.. college tuition for them is around 400 euro a semester so Amanda, who has been there for two years now, has no intentions of leaving. She also took us to this fancy little restaurant on Champs d’Elysee called Laduree.. who is known world-wide for their macaroons (they were even in the movie Marie Antoinette).. so these little cookies are about 2 euro each and come in different flavors like chocolate, coffee, raspberry, gingerbread, licorice, pistacio etc etc and it probably is one of the best things I have EVER eaten. It’s so hard to describe.. anyways I’m sending some home to my parents in a few days so hopefully they can experience the glory that is French macaroons with me After that she dropped us off at the Louvre which is free on Friday nights (genius) and we attempted to wander around looking for things we’ve studied in art history… keep in mind this museum is larger than anything I’ve seen.. it’s like 5 Metropolitan Museums of Art in NYC (or at least it felt like that). We even saw the Mona Lisa.. which is behind two sheets of glass and is roped off so you can’t even get close enough to see the brush strokes.. bummer, definately hyped up more than it should be. That night we headed back to the apartment and hung out with JD’s friends, who were mostly born and raised from Paris, but also one from China and one guy our age who was traveling from Poland. They were going to ride bicycles to this boat that plays reggae music around midnight (the metro closes at 1am so they could ride the bicycles back.. you can rent them for 3 euro) I was totally psyched about this idea but after only having two hours of sleep and walking around all day I was content with drinking my Desperado (a beer mixed with tequila.. it tastes a lot like a Michellada (sp) and it’s extremely popular in France although I’ve never seen it in Italy or the US) and going to bed.

The Louvre:

The Mona Lisa:

Next day we got up around 830am and went straight to Versailles.. you have to take a couple train to get there so it took around an hour eventhough it is a lot closer than that. Versailles……. is huge. King Louis the XIV was ridiculous. We spent the 15 euro to check out the Palace which was all gilded with really heavy decorative silver furniture. Theres this room that leads up to his throne that is lined with floor to celing mirrors (three-hundred and some of them!). It was interesting to say the least. We headed out back to the gardens (which were free.. too bad we didn’t know that) and from the Palace to the end was probably around 2-3 miles. It was infinite. Fountains everywhere (they were turned off though.. way too cold), green green lawns, orchards, etc. We walked down the mall (which Washington DC’s mall is based on) and headed toward Marie Antoinette’s little gettaway.. Kym was telling me that the King didn’t really like Marie so he probably built her this whole area so she could be busy with something. It’s basically her dream doll-house but huge. There are creeks, gardens, a lake, a mill, a barn, little cottages (which I want to live in!). We even happened upon a goat which followed us around for awhile. We got lost and then drudged back up to the palace.. loooots of walking. We got back to the center of Paris around 5 or 530.. our friend Chris from interior design had gone to Paris the weekend before and went on this free night tour of Montmartre so we decided to check it out.

Versailles Gardens:

One of the cottages in Marie Antoinette’s area:

Montmartre is the area where the Moulin Rouge is.. the artists hung out here, the red-light district, etc. It is SO COOL. Ahh, I don’t even think describing it would do it justice. This area is awesome and I’d learn French and pay serious money to live here. Anyways, we went on this tour with quite a few other people but it was pretty sweet. Montmartre is built on a hill and this huge church is on the top and the “sin” of the red-light district is at the bottom.. well the metro stop we got off at is called Blanche which means white and was named so because the artists would paint a white plaster on top of their canvases before they painted them and the white would run down the hill and pile at the bottom making that area white… we walked around and up the hill, making stops at Van Gogh’s apartment (which people live in now!), Picasso’s studio, the cafe where Van Gogh’s famous painting is of, a bar where Talouse Lautrec and Picasso ate and hung out, etc etc. They drank a lot of absynthe so as they got more intoxicated they would “trickle down the hill” into the area where are the can-can dancers were. This tour was sweet because it basically talked about all the artists, what they did, where they went, etc. Also because it was at night there were Christmas lights everywhere and really neat shops and bakeries which we promised we’d go back to the next day. After the tour we headed back to the apartment again and unfortunately couldn’t get in.. this was a sad moment, we had no phone and our credit cards wouldn’t work with the pay-phones so we were pretty stranded… luckily the stigma against French people saying that they are rude and arrogant is totally NOT TRUE (at least what we saw.. French people are SO MUCH nicer than Italians) I convinced Kym to ask these two random boys on a vespa if we could use their cell phone which they reluctantly handed over to us (they couldn’t speak English) and we eventually got back in and went to sleep.

The Moulin Rouge:

Metro sign:

Day three… we got up early again and went straight to the Musee d’Orsay which JD’s girlfriend said was really good museum for Impressionist art. We got there and were hungry so we went to this bakery and got these “things” I don’t even know what to call them… it was a ham sandwiched between two pieces of toasted bread with a fried egg on top with a tomato.. yum. French food is pretty much amazing. We got back in line for the museum and once we finally got in we found out it was free on Sundays, so we were successful again! The museum interior looked a lot like grand central station. We walked around for awhile and looked at paintings and sculpture and when we about to leave we realized there was a “third floor” on the 5th floor so we went up there.. BANK. It was a bunch of different rooms organized by artist.. Monet had his own room with haystacks, the bridge painting, etc. There were famous Van Gogh’s, Degas, Talouse, Seurat and a bunch of others. It’s the most/best collection of Impressionist art I’ve seen.

Monet:

After the museum we went back to Montmartre to shop and it was POURING. It was so unforutunate.. the wind was blowing our umbrellas inside out (which was amazing, our umbrellas survived the weekend and they probably flipped out ten times) We went into a few shops but a lot of them were closed and JD told us that on Sundays most things close at 2pm. We walked up and down the main street and attempted to go to a movie but decided that watching it in French would be more frustrating then entertaining. We hopped on the Metro again and went to the Eiffel Tower.. we had plans to go up it (it costs 11euro) but it was still pouring and cloudy so we opted out this time.. we took videos of us dancing around it in the rain and stood under it for awhile which I think creates some sort of weird air stream… we were about to be knocked over by the wind, and once again our umbrellas were flipped inside out and whipping around like kites… we probably looked pretty ridiculous.

The Eiffel Tower:

…hopped the metro back to Champs d’Elysee hoping that more stores were open down there.. it’s basically a Times Square but a LOT bigger.. the sidewalks are like the width of a house which is great.. and there was everything from really expensive car stores to Cartier, to Adidas and Nike or Roxy. Of course we couldn’t find anything that we could afford (even Nike shirts).. I’m still struggling finding Ian’s Christmas present It was still raining so we dipped into a coffee shop and walked around a Borders-esque store where we listened to some French rap (it’s not as bad as it sounds…) We went back to Laduree around 7pm for dessert and cappucinos.. we weren’t really sure what time the French eat dinner since Italy is so whack so we just ordered two desserts and split them and sat around and talked for an hour and a half. We got one dessert that was like one giant apple macaroon with apples and a caramel filling, then we got some sort of chocolate, nut, something.. wow I’m terrible I can’t even remember what was in it.. but I have pictures It was a pretty enjoyable time. The restaurant has their own shop inside so people who are buying hundreds of dollars worth of macaroons for Christmas could stop in there.. we each bought macaroons for our families and then some for our host (JD).. the lady behind the counter was crazy. We keep trying to describe to our roomates but it never works.. She had this little apron and I want to say a nurse hat on.. and she would ask what box you want to put your cookies in, then what flavors and she had these little white gloves on and she’d pick up the cookie and set it nicely in the box.. then smile. At the end she holds up the box with the cookies in it, with a questioning look as if she wants to make sure you approve of how she organized it before she wraps it up. She was almost cartoon character and I was just waiting for her teeth to sparkle when she smiled.

The Champs d’Elysee and Arc de Triomphe:

Macaroons:

We went back that night around eleven and they had friends over again, this time for a friends birthday party.. they had made different platters of food and a cake. It’s really entertaining to watch French people interact and try to figure out what they are talking about.. the French language is so much sweeter to the ear then Italian, it was nice to have a break. Around eleven we watched Man of Fire (which I’ve never seen.. good movie) JD hates dubbed movies so he always watches the English versions. We crashed at 3am and were up again at 5am to head to the airport.. then after arriving in Rome I went to painting class for 5 hours on two hours of sleep.. to say the least I’m tired today.

..sorry my writing is ALL OVER the place.

Also here’s my painting to date.. I have maybe two weeks left to work on it because I have to let it dry to bring it home.. I have a bad feeling I wont finish it

So yesterday was quite the interesting day… Emily and I woke up around 930 am with plans to go to the Vatican City.. one of our other roomates (Meghan Linafelter) is from Sioux City, and one of her fellow SCer’s was going to become a cardinal at the St. Peters, so we went to watch. We got there around 10:30 and it was a pretty big crowd.. there are always hundreds of seats outside in the piazza for the sermons and people were sitting there, there were also security guards everywhere- they even checked our bags before we walked into the open piazza. The ceremony was taking place inside the church but they had set up 4 big screens outside so we could watch. We got to see the Pope talk and hear a few songs and see all of the cardinals in their red gowns.. pretty neat to see, and now I know what the new Pope looks like!

After that we wandered home to work on our Advanced Typography projects that are due this Wednesday.. later around 430pm another one of our roomates comes home from shopping on Corso and says that the Backstreet Boys are down the street.. so of course I jump at the chance to go (if you are family.. I’m sure you remember how crazy I was, I even dyed my hair blue for their black and blue tour.. haha) so Meg L, Emily, Stephanie and I ran down Corso to this record store where a big mob was standing outside.. at this point we thought there was no chance we’d actually get in but wanted to catch a glimpse- welllll after a half hour or so of waiting they start filing people through the line which is absolute insanity but within an hour we squeezed into the record store together.. of course we’re geeking out- it’s been like ten years since we obsessed over this band and now they are all 40 years old and we’re giddy to meet them. We basically only wanted pictures but the point was to buy their cd and get it autographed.. we get up to the bottom of the stairs (their table was at the top) and all these security guards tell us to turn off our cameras and put them in our bags.. so we grab paper in hopes of getting it signed (I used the back of my Fabriano train ticket.. ha) Meg was actually in front of me and when she got up in front of Brian she didn’t have any paper so she looks at him and goes “oh.. I’m with them” hahahahahhaa.. it was funny.. Nick looked pissed off, he didn’t even take a second to look at anyone.. and then Howie and AJ were so excited that we were Americans (we were the ONLY ones there!) So we told them we were from Iowa and in Rome for graphic design.. the security guards are continually shoving us through the line (I’m serious we were only in front of them for maybe 15-20 seconds TOPS) and as we got shoved out the door they said Iowa… POTATOES. Yeah.. apparently they aren’t that smart.. so we go down this creepy staircase that spits us out on a side street and we giggle like little girls cos we have no idea what just happened. Needless to say it was quite the experience.. we get home and everyone pretty much threw their autographs around the living room.. haha. Good times

On to Paris this Friday! Can’t wait

Sorry the pictures are still screwed up.. you’ll have to copy and paste the http:// adresses into a new browser window!

In front of Castel Sant’Angelo near the Vatican
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The crowd outside the record store
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Me and the autographs
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Not a whole lot is happening lately… last week graphic design took a day trip to this paper-making town called Fabriano, which is a 3 hour ride on the “slow train” so it’s probably only an hour away. The weather in Rome is probably mid to upper 50’s so we’re all wearing sweatshirts and scarves.. well.. we get on the train about 1030 and when we start to get closer to our destination we keep going through tunnels (in the hills) and all of a sudden we pop out of one of the tunnels and there is snow everywhere!! K, so the rumor in Italy is that it doesn’t snow.. but like one of my classmates had said, it was like Narnia. So we started freaking out ‘cos we’re excited it’s snow until we realize that we have to walk 2 miles from the train station to the paper making museum we’re going to… eek. We get there and maybe half the class has umbrellas.. (I was not one of them) and we HAULLL it.. I was wearing my Globe moccasin shoes which it took maybe a quarter mile walk before they were full of sleet (oh yeah I forgot to mention it was sleeting at this point) so all of us are freezing.. but we made it.. took a tour, they showed us how they make paper from rag pulp etc. It was pretty neato for graphic designers.. it would have been cool to get some of this paper too but it costs 27 euro for one piece of paper! GHA. This museum also had all the wire molds for watermarks.. the way they make watermarks in money, etc.. they lay the rag pulp on top of this wire frame and the image that you want to be a watermark sticks up, so the paper is thinner in that area, so when you hold money up to the light you can see through that area easier because the paper is thinner.. (that sounds really confusing) and Fabriano actually prints the euro which is pretty cool. So we spent probably two hours in this museum (which was mostly outdoors by the way) and go back to the train station for another three hour train ride home.. our prof was actually nice enough to get two taxis from the museum to the train station for all us smart girls who either didn’t have an umbrella or the right shoes.. ha. To say the least Kym, Meg and I took the bus home from Termini train station!

So I’ve mentioned a few times about where I live in Roma, but haven’t really posted pictures yet of the Pantheon.. I don’t really have much to write about because not much has been going on here.. lots and lots of school work.. we basically only have 4 weeks left of actual school which includes 3 type projects, three parts to our big graphic project, three painting canvases and an art history final.. ergh.. I have a feeling I’ll be excited to go home at that point. In last week’s art history class our prof took us to a couple churches that houses some amazing artwork by raphael and carvaggio.. it’s crazy!! Now every church I walk by no matter how plain it looks, I walk into. Yesterday I took a walk to Borghese Park and around Roma for an hour or so and when I was a block away from home I walked into this church and there were two really famous Carvaggio’s in it! It’s basically a free museum considering Carvaggio is probably one of the best painters ever. (I’m serious..) Anyways here are some photos (For some reason it’s not letting me post them right so you have to copy and paste all of the web addresses under the descriptions and paste them into a new browser window to see them.. sorry!)

The dome inside the pantheon.. it’s solid cast.. !!!
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This is the front of the Pantheon
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This is Raphael’s grave.. inside the Pantheon
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The inscription says:

ille hic est raphael timuit quo sospite vinci rerum magna parens et moriente mori

here lies raphael, by whom Nature feared to be outdone while he lived, and when he died, feared that she herself would die.

Which is probably one of the coolest quotes I’ve ever seen.

This is a photo taken inside one of the random churches from art history.. it’s a Raphael painting
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Here’s a Carvaggio painting from another church
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So since I last wrote, my roomate Kym and I decided to travel.. we weren’t sure where yet so we started looking at Sardinia and Sicily (the two islands) but airline tickets were super expensive and the train was 11 hours… so we decided on Paris! Ha. RyanAir is a discount airline in Europe.. kinda like SkyBus in the USA.. so we got roundtrip airline tickets to Paris for 39 euro each (39×1.5 = US $) We’re leaving the thirtieth so I’ll have to keep ya posted.

Yesterday after class I had decided that I was going to explore Rome.. we only have 6 weeks left and I feel like I haven’t seen nearly everything yet.. so Kym and I left our apartment around 130pm and walked down Via del Corso to Borghese Park.. (these places mean nothing to you but oh well) so we walked past this park for probably another mile.. (Northwest of Central Rome, North of the Vatican) I’ve never been that far in that direction, and we ended up in the business district of Rome.. where the real Italians hang out/go to work/have apartments. It was pretty quiet over there and basically no stores to go in and look at, so we checked out some fountains and churches and followed the Tiber River south towards the Vatican.. we found an organic grocery store, which we attempted to tell Meg it’s location (one of our roomates is crazy about organic) and we also found another “Corso”.. a main drag with shopping on it.. we were meandering when we saw this one store that caught our eye so we popped in.. and we saw Mexican food.. PopTarts.. Betty Crocker.. Thanksgiving foods.. etc etc.. wow.. I think my jaw dropped.. it ends up we were in the International Grocery Store.. so all the crazy things we were craving all semester we found.. we ended up taking home some taco mixin’s, cheddar cheese, and blueberry muffin mix.. haha.. all the little things you take for granted (ahhh I can’t wait til there isn’t a pizza store on EVERY corner) After that we crossed the river.. two bridges north of the Castel Sant’Angelo bridge and took these stairs that led down to the walkway that runs right next to the water.. BAD IDEA. Usually sometime in the evening it’s like you’re in the movie Birds.. its SWARMS of birds.. so we were walking on like a thin layer of bird-poo instead of sidewalk.. then we started hearing it.. (imagine the sounds of raindrops) needless to say I got pooped on I’ll post a picture below of the birds.. About 45 minutes after this we made it home and cooked up some delicious tacos. I think next Friday I’m headed for South-East Rome.. past the Tiber again…

Tomorrow a big group of ISU students is going to the Roma soccer match! Should be interesting

View of St. Peters from down by the river

Casel Sant’Angelo

the swarms of birds

So as I previously wrote.. my art history teacher looks just like Johnny Depp.. anyways before he became an art historian he was a professional chef, he actually worked at the #1 restuarant in the USA for a couple years.. anyways so s group of us paid him 35euro to go to his house for lunch.. we left around 10 am, took a bus, then an hour train ride to this town called Bracciano.. this city is so beautiful! It overlooks a huge lake and is surrounded by green gardens and fields and rolling hills.. and of course the castle where Tom Cruise just got married.. it was pretty sweet.. we toured the castle and the tourguide was only in Italian so Johnny relayed it on to us.. they also had a costume area of the castle where they had outfits on display from different movies like Othello etc.. After the castle we went to this apartment.. it was really small, two bedroom, bathroom, kitchen/living room with fireplace. It was exactly what I thought it would look like though! It was really authentic/rustic, with lots of art and random prints on the walls. He bought the place when it hadn’t been lived in for 12 years.. it was a 4 bedroom with no bathroom so he basically had to gut it. Anyways here’s a description of what he cooked us/kinda taught us how to remake:

First he made us a quiche-like dish with 4 different types of onions and eggs, then we had a mushroom tart.. I hate mushrooms and it was delicious! He had made some sort of mushroom concoction that he layered between two pieces of this bread tart.. then we had risotto? A rice with safron in it.. then we had pasta “of the woods” with random vegetables thrown in.. peas, onions, mushrooms.. it was really good too, it makes a difference when you have homemade noodles! Then we had roasted guinea fowl with rosemary, potatoes, green beans with a pear sauce (the sweet sauce was really good too) then we had marzipan for dessert…and of course red wine with the meal and bread and followed it all up with a shot of this alcohol called grappa which is made from leftover grape skins after the grapes have been mashed for wine! It was a really fun day.. not kidding, from the time we started eating to when we stopped was 5 hours! We left around 8 at night.. so it basically took all day.

We also had to turn in our oil paintings on Friday.. I’ll include some pictures below.. I got critiqued today and on my painting I got a B+/A- and if I fix a few things I can get an A and I got an A- on my drawing with a possible A as well.. not too shabby for a beginning painter

my final drawing

my desk in studio

all of our pieces on the wall

a view from the castle in bracciano

johnny depp cooking

…if these pictures were pixelated or blurry im sorry i’ll be sure to fix them later but you get the idea!

…continued from last post.

so that last morning we were in florence we decided to go to the museums.. because florence houses some of the best art in italy we had to reserve a ticket for the galleria academia (to see the david) and the uffizi.. which has a lot of paintings and scultpure. when we made our reservations i actually ended up with a different time than the other three girls so i headed out to the academia about an hour before they did.. (at 9am) i got lost on the way but used the extent of my italian knowledge (dove e la galleria academia) to ask an old man where I was going.. so found it, got to cut the line because of the reservation and walked around the museum.. it’s actually not that big but because it has the david people are willing to pay almost 20 euro to see it.. and it’s DEFINATELY worth it.. it seems so cliche because there are cheap david sculptures sold at every tourist shop but when you actually see it your heart stops… literally.. i don’t know if I have EVER seen a piece of art that incredible. It’s HUGE, way way way bigger than I thought and every proportion/vein/muscle, etc was perfect. Michaelangelo was such a genius.. I guess he had to have permission from Italy to dissect 30 human bodies a year, so you can see how that knowledge is portrayed in his artwork. It was so cool. Also in the museum were Michaelangelo’s unfinished marble sculptures which were sweet.. it’s kinda funny because being in Italy you hear stories about these artists, and I guess Michaelangelo was kind of a diva.. if he didn’t want to do something he didn’t.. and at one point he ran away from Italy so he didn’t have to do a certain piece for a Pope because he couldn’t do it his way.. and then they also had plaster casts for marble sculptures which I don’t think I’ve ever seen before.

After the Academia I had around two hours to kill so I walked around Florence which isn’t that big at all.. I ran into a piazza which has one of the David copies outside (the one everyone takes pictures of.. where it originally stood) I checked out some shops and the Vecchio bridge.. it’s a bridge built before the war which shops on it, and Hitler had helped fund/make it so when the Germans invaded Italy he told his troops not to bomb it because he thought it was beautiful.. so that is why it still stands today. Around 11:30am I went to the Uffizi to see if I could get my ticket because my reservation was for noon and it was MADNESS. I don’t know if I’ve seen a longer line.. hundreds of people in line to go to this museum.. there was a two hour long to get into the museum without a reservation, a line to get your reservation, and another line to get into the museum with your reservation.. to say the least I didn’t get into the museum until 1pm.. an hour after my reservation.. but it was worth it.. I love the Met in New York but this museum has the best paintings I’ve ever seen.. European collections are so much better than we have.. it had a whole room dedicated to Botticelli (my artist for my triptych painting.. the piece called the Primavera) he also did the Birth of Venus.. they had Carvaggio, Rafaelo, Leonardo, etc etc etc.. so good. After that I had to wait on the Ponte Vecchio for the other three girls (the bridge) what a bad place to meet.. it was so crowded.. but luckily we found each other and crossed the river to go to Michaelangelo’s Gardens.. we had to walk up like 6 flights of “nature stairs” to get to the top but it was an incredible view of the city.. and up top of the hill was also the other David copy.. so now I’ve seen all three ha. It was pretty though.. I almost feel like I’m taking these amazing places for granted because every thing we see here is so cool and beautiful and so it’s hard to compare it to something else..

After the gardens we ran into an antique market but all but Meghan were too tired to walk so we sat down on some stairs while she wandered around.. then we headed back to the hostel, grabbed our stuff and went to the train station..

.. and man was it good to be home in rome.. it’s a weird feeling to be back and know where you’re going.. its funny, we get back to Rome and there is trash everywhere and we’re like “YAY WE’RE HOME”.. whereas every other city we went to last week was so so clean.. if you drop anything in Venice you get a huge fine.. guess you’d have to be there but it’s funny.

I probably had like 5 shopping bags with me as well as my backpack and purse so Kym and I stopped at the Trevi fountain on the way back and watched all the crazy tourists and gypsies trying to sell things.. we also went to Abbey Theater that night to grab a drink and we met the bartender who is there every night.. he’s from Birmingham, UK and moved out to Rome to be a translator.. he promised he’d take us to a Mexican restaurant (apparently there are three in Rome.. I had no idea) and he also took me on a short vespa ride… (don’t worry it was safe mom! haha) anyways a good end to a good trip.

This week is INSANITY though.
Monday.. we were supposed to have our triptych drawing done on our canvas.. each canvas is 30cmx130cm tall.. so I had painting from 2-7pm working on that.. then I was there from 7-midnight painting.. then this morning I went to studio around ten AM and painted until 1pm.. I pretty much have to wait til the oil paint dries a little ‘cos it’s starting to get muddy. I had no idea how hard oil painting.. I have a lot more respect for painters now.. ugh, so hard… so tonight I had to work on this big elaborate sketchbook for Palatine Hill.. my identity system project that spans the entire semester for our graphic design studio, it includes research, photos, value drawings, watercolor paintings, sketches, logo ideation, etc.. it’s kinda a big deal.. so that’s due tomorrow.. then it’s Halloween and one of the apartments is hosting a deal.. then Thursday I have my second art history test.. which I already feel so unprepared for.. the other class doesn’t even have tests or homework.. for their final they have the option to write an essay.. whereas our final is like comprehensive of 120 works of art and two essays! eek.. then Friday our logo for Palatine is due.. as well as my painting!!!!!!! GHA. To say the least Saturday will be a good day.. it’s also the day I’m going to my art history prof’s house to take a cooking class and eat a six course italian meal (he used to be a chef) can’t wait!

All for now.. ciao! xoxo

the copy in it’s original place

the porta-potties at the festival di creativa.. it’s what my triptych is off- Botticelli’s Primavera

The Ponte Vecchio on the left.

last tuesday we embarked on our second fieldtrip to milan and venice. we left rome around 8am and got there around noon and that afternoon we went to a graphic design studio and watched two presentations from two different studios which was pretty neat.. then we went to one museum that seemed kind of dingy and it had the painting we’re doing for painting studio in it.. it’s called frutivendola (if you want to google it) but we’re actually doing it a lot larger than how big it is. also in this museum was an art school on the main floor so a couple of us sat down there for awhile and people watched.. it was sweet. we also went to this interior designers studio.. he has since passed away but they kept his studio exactly how it was and it was really cool- he’s actually pretty famous but i can’t remember his name right now (castiglione? idk) i was expecting milan to be a big city with skyscrapers and a lot of high fashion.. and actually its a really nice city- it reminds me of london.. no skyscrapers.. lots of fashion but it seemed cheaper than rome!

we went to venice on thursday which was a couple hours from milan and as soon as we arrived at the train station we had an hour break or so and we went sitting on the steps (apparently you’re not allowed to sit on the ground in venice.. it’s against the law.. as well as picnicing!) so some of us got our passports called in… we survived though. then we had to take a vapparetto (spelling?) basically the public transportation (boats). it’s an interesting system.. you cram onto the boat and either take a seat or just stand along the edges.. when they get to a dock/station a guy throws a rope out and pulls the boat into the dock so people can jump on. the only downfall to this is that its really slow.. especially when there is a lot of stops. im also not quite sure how the traffic works, it seems like its anything goes! after we arrived we went to a palace which was pretty cool… lots of armor and that sort of stuff (nothing related to graphic design of course!) and then we had the rest of the night to explore so we wandered around forever to find a restaurant.. the alleys are CRAZY there, nothing is organized, almost like a maze. so we probably looked for almost an hour and we gave up and went to this cheap looking restaurant and as soon as we ordered our food we realized it wasn’t like 7 euro, it was 14-22 euro! blah! so the joke is that ashton kutcher punk’d us because it was so ridiculous! oh venice… so expensive. the next morning we went to the museum correr which is in the piazza across the way from Saint Mark’s Cathedral.. it was pretty sweet too, lots of old maps and things.. at this point it was raining pretty bad and the sirens were going off for high water so they got all the planks out.. so when we got out of the museum it was FLOODED.. it was madness.. you could buy these ridiculous looking rain boots for 10 euro because you either had to walk through a foot and a half of water (no joke.. in a huge piazza) or fight the crowds on the planks. after the museum it was the goal to go check out the interior of saint marks.. well when you start walking on the planks you think you’re going in the right direction til it spits you out somewhere you don’t want to be, but you can’t go straight there because of the flood.. so by the time we actually were on the right plank it had been a half hour or so and we were at a standstill with all the people trying to get in.. so we skipped it and went to the modern art museum which was awesome. venice was really really pretty and im so glad we went but a day/day and a half was perfect.. you pretty much see everything there is to see.. and there are so many tourists there and PIGEONS!! ghha so many pigeons.

after this point we were done with the school part of the fieldtrip so kym, meghan, kaylene and i took the train to florence.. we got there and didn’t know where our hostel was so we starting walking and got lost and everyone we asked directions for said they’d never heard of the street.. but eventually we found it. we had reserved ahead of time but when we showed up marco (the desk guy) said he gave someone our beds.. so two of us could sleep across the street in an extension of the hostel, and one person would sleep at the main hostel and one person would sleep in a hotel… so instead kaylene and meghan slept together and didn’t have to pay.. it worked out. after we got settled we went to a pub with the australian boys in our hostel as well as marco and a woman from colorado.. it was really fun.. i talked to this italian for awhile and he’s a stain glass artist (i’m pretty sure.. he was hard to understand) but he gets flown all over the world to do his art.. so he’s done stuff in washington dc and london.. and then his friend came who is a girl from chicago and she had done graphic design for ten years and moved to florence to do art restoration! the australians were pretty interesting too.. they were from perth.. and of course we were comparing our countries.. apparently australia is on the verge of war (i had no idea..) interesting times.. so that night i slept in a room with three strangers (top bunk) and i fell out of my bed.. first time ive ever done that.. i think i tried to step off and fell like 6 feet and when i hit the ground i slept walk… i thought i was in venice.. it was weird.. i don’t really know how that worked out. the next day i ventured on my own and went on this 8am-8pm tour of tuscany with a bus group.. i was with a couple from argentina, a family from australian (the parents grew up in italy), a couple from brasil (grew up in italy too), a couple from budapest.. and a couple others. we started in siena.

siena = my favorite place in the world to date. it was so cool.. tuscany is just like the pictures.. vineyards, trees, rolling hills.. so beautiful. siena was this city kinda up on a hill and it was all the old architecture, the cute alleways, beautiful views, it was clean.. and they have this big main piazza where they have this huge horse race every year- it’s like the most important thing to the siena culture.. our tour guide showed us a video of it and people bawl if they win.. they run through the streets parading..oh yea i should explain.. siena is divided into districts.. twelve different areas, and each area is identified by an animal.. so there is an elephant, turtle, snail, wolf, eagle.. etc.. and so when you are in that district you will see sculptures and plaques of that animal. each district has it’s own official, church, etc.. and each one has a fountain with a sculpture of that animal.. like there was one of a little boy riding a snail- so if you were born in the snail district you’d be baptised in that fountain.. it’s SO COOL!!!!! our guide said that it’s the richest city in italy and i can see why.. they keep their money really quiet so you’d never know but it’s such a great place i can’t see why someone wouldn’t want to live there.. there was even a wedding going on when we were there.. and they were a group from scotland.. and also one of italy’s famous politicians was getting married there that night too. after siena we went to this little farmhouse in the countryside with it’s own vineyard and we had pasta, different kinds of meat and cheese, bread, and tried some different wines.. we also had this almond biscotti with a desert wine (it was so strong!! you dip the biscotti in it..) and they also had their own bees so we got to try the honey.. it was sweet. after lunch we got back on the bus and went to san gimignano.. it’s also on a hill, it’s a city with a couple large towers.. i got so lost in there, they had really bad signage and the alleys were basically like a maze.. i felt like i was in a confusing castle the whole time.. that was neat though too.. they were known for this certain type of white wine and some of the shops would let you sample them so i tried a couple different kinds and ended up getting a red bottle called botticello.. bringin’ it home for christmas san gimignano also won the award for the world’s best gellato 2006-2007 so know i can say i did it hahah.. after san. we went to pisa! it was an hour or so drive between the two so we got to see a lot of countryside again..

pisa was kinda weird.. im not sure what the whole city is like because the tower is in an enclosed piazza with a basilica.. the grass was so green it actually looked really nice.. and ive heard so many people say pisa was dumb and small and it’s actually pretty cool.. completely different than i thought.. but that’s all we saw in pisa so we weren’t there that long..

then that night we decided to go check out this festival di creativa! inside a big fortress (in florence) and it was SO FREAKING COOL. this fortress was huge and as soon as you enter you’re surrounded by the coolest/most diverse/artistic people ever.. the first building we went into had a bunch of graphic design posters, a bar, a rock band.. another building was in underground caves and was modern art.. another building had a hippie band from the USA.. another was outside and it was punk/metal.. another building had paintings and skateboard designs etc.. it was basically really artistic people showing off their portfolios.. another underground room had a rave going on with cool light fixtures.. it’s so hard to describe but it was by far one of the neatest things ive seen.

…so one day left to describe (and i gotta run to painting studio..) so i’ll update the rest later with some pictures.

ciao!

Michael and I in the Piazza in Venice

High water in Venice.. it was so high we had to walk everywhere on these planks

The view in Siena

One of the district signs in Siena

Tuscan countryside

San Gimignano

…so today we went on a fieldtrip (everyone went, including all of our professors) to Tivoli. We spent the morning at this place called Hadrian’s Villa.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hadrian’s_Villa it’s the beautiful country home of Emperor Hadrian.. he actually ruled for 20 years and whenever he was actually in Italy, the capitol was moved from Rome to Tivoli. It was humongous.. three different types of baths, pools, etc. It reminded me a lot of Palatine but a lot bigger, a lot more intact ruins, and it was amidst olive tree gardens which was really cool. So after we visited the villa for a few hours we took the bus again up the hill to picnic.. we explored the town a little but it was pretty small. When we finally met up again we went to this place called Villa d’Este which NONE of us knew what it was.. and it is probably the coolest place I have ever been.. it’s funny, I think I’ve said that three or four times since I’ve been abroad- in the UK at Windsor, Palatine, Naples/Sorrento and now Villa d’Este. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villa_d’Este it was the home to Cardinal Ippolito II d’Este.. I’ve never seen so many fountains in my live.. it was like stepping into the gardens of Alice and Wonderland.. but even cooler. We didn’t get to spend a whole lot of time here, but it was breathtaking. Here are some pictures below: (Just click to enlarge)

These two are from Hadrian’s villa:

Villa d’Este:

View from the Cardinals home looking down

A row of “beast” face fountains.. over a hundred I’m guessing…

Me and my roomate Carmen

(A water organ) water was pressured through to play some songs on an organ