Presentations are over! We had a free day today since our workshop is finished. So last night was a relief. Therefore, we stayed up til 4 am or something rediculous hanging out at a piazza then trekking up a hill to see the city at night. We might as well have just waited for sunrise. Today we were SO lazy. I got a kebob for lunch. Don't be fooled- not steak and veggies on a skewer.. more like a gyro wrap with lamb. We discovered a store that sells coca cola for cheap. That was exciting. We met with AU, ARK, and Philly professors tonight for comments about our projects. They seemed to like and enjoy everyones work. So that was encouraging. Had Chinese food again tonight.. SO good. We needa little variety every now and then. The Chinese restuarant definitely has that. Tomorrow, we're going to Subiaco and Cervara .. hill towns 1.5 hours away. I'm excited. If they are anything like Cortona, I'm sure I'll love it. Only problem- possible rain. Not good. Hopefully we won't get poured on. Cross your fingers. More stories to come soon!
Ciao!

A few great things have happened recently:
Made new friends from Arkansas
Created the best sandwich ever
Ate Chinese food with our professor and his partner
Finally painted my fingernails

Sounds simple, but if you only knew....
We've been working on the group project this week. It's going ok, yet I'm nervous about some things still. Even though I usually like group work, this project has been kinda challenging. I think it's because I took a secondary role in the team. Everyone couldn't be the leader, so I decided to listen and offer help when needed. Hopefully everything will turn out fine!

We've had a long day of drawing, italian, workshop, lectures, dinner, hang out..
It scares me how fast this is going by! I don't want to leave. I feel like there's so much to do and see here that you could be here for a year and not see it all.
Bedtime for bonzo.

Somehow it's almost 9 o'clock here. I don't know where today went. It started at Santa Maria in Trastevere, where we sketched all morning. It was cold, overcast, and rainy today. We've been spoiled with good weather, so today was a bummer for us. I had lunch on the go- a bizarre sandwich I made- thinking I was late for class. John had checked his watch and was for sure that we were late, yet still we snaked through trastevere on the longest route possible to studio. We got there and nobody else was inside. Confused, I made John check his watch again. We were 30 minutes early. Figures. Italian class started.. and by the minute I was more and more confused/tired. None of us understand it very well and get pretty frustrated about that sometimes. After that class, we got together with our mixed school groups to start our workshop project- creating a new entrance to Trajan's Forum. Our group got a good start, and hopefully we will be able to work quickly. I'm in a group with all girls, and so far everything's gone smoothly and should be great. We only have a few days for this project, so it's going to be some fast designing. Overview: We're connecting the proposed metro station with an underground entrance for the forum, providng interesting views to the layers of Rome. We finished early, so we went for a cheap cappuccino. Mm. Nicole and I walked home, beating the rain/hail storm. I'm so tired today, so as soon as I get pictures uploaded, take a shower, and look up a couple things for studio, I'm hitting the sack. Hope everyone has a good day!
Momma- give that little angel baby cat a big kiss for me. I really missed her today. :(
Bouna Notte!

This blog might be a novel.. so enjoy!
We had a long weekend (thursday - sunday off). Everyone split up into small groups to travel. Brittany and I decided to take on 3 cities in Tuscany in 4 days: Cortona, Siena, and Florence. We woke up at 5:30 am to catch a train on Thursday morning. Confused and searching around the station, realized it had left early.. missed it. We had to wait 2 more hours for the next one to leave. Miserably sitting at the station, grabbed comfort food in McDonalds hashbrowns to drown our sorrows. Oh, and then had to pay to use the bathroom. Yeah. Stazione Termini is NOT our favorite. Anway, we got the next train, rode it to Camucia, a smal town outside and down the mountain from Cortona. We wandered around with our 40 lb backpacks andpurses filled to the max. (yes, everyone- i lived out of a backpack for 4 days.) We aimlessly toured the small town, looking obviously like students from america. We found a little bakery, and an older woman who owned it took an interest in us.. she didn't speak much english, so we tried to communicate through the little common language we knew. "Studio architectura en Roma" seems to work well. She was sweet. Mom- this was the first place I noticed CHUPA CHUPS! my long lost candy dream! Tuscany loooved those things.
We backpacked to our hotel.. side of the road style. I had always wanted to do that, so I felt adventurous and hippie-ish. We walked for about 45 minutes, found the hotel- it was beautiful! Called Borgo Il Melone, it was nestled away from the road at the base of the mountain with gorgeous trees and neatly trimmed flowerbeds. Not all things were in bloom- I can only imagine how amazing it looks then. It was very nice, spacious, friendly workers, huge bathroom, excessive toiletries - we loved it. We caught a bus up the mountain to Cortona. One of the most beautiful places I've ever been, and my favorite town we visited this weekend. It was old yet modern, clean, steep .. everywhere you looked it was a postcard picture. We explored up the mountain for 3 hours, taking pics and discovering little hidden architectural treasures. Come to find out, UGA has an abroad campus there. Also, Under the Tuscan Sun was filmed there. It was quaint and precious. It rained some. We saw lightning from miles away over the mountains and the rain on other towns. The trip had been great up to this next situation: We went to dinner at a family owned ristuarante, and we were eating our porkchops when a piece of mine got caught in my throat. I tried to wash it down with a big gulp of water, but the water just came right back up and all over the place. It was one of the scariest things that's happened to me. Brit attempted to help me some.. and no one else in the room seemed to know what was happening or how to do the heimlich. I leaned over myself and eventually I was ok. Choking is awful. But I'm OK and alive! so yay!! We rode back down the mountain and settled back in the hotel.
Next day was COLD! It had snowed that night in Cortona. We tried to take pictures before our next train left, but it was bitter! Train to Siena involved a transfer. We got there, ran up the stairs, and watched it ride away into the abyss. Annoyed- freezing- confused. We waited for another hour and a half, and finally made it to Siena. BUT it was dark, we didn't know well where to go, and yes- still cold! We were staying at "B and B Hospitality" .. supposedly a nice hostel. Hmmmmm. We walked up 4 awful flights of stairs with our enormous backpacks, opened the door to a 2 bedroom unit with 2 bathrooms. Another italian lady was there. Awk. Good thing our toilet didn't really work, our tv didn't work, our keys were hard to use, and the other toilet was in the shower. YIKES! Bad luck.. I think so. We wandered around trying to find food.. both of us in annoyed moods because of the whole day. We ate. It wasn't that good. So we just decided to go to sleep. OH- and the B and B part (bed and breakfast) .. there was literally a bed.. and literally "breakfast" in the room (if you count individually wrapped croissants and toast and lukewarm milk in a box, breakfast). We got out of there the next morning pretty fast, explored Siena: went inside the Duormo and visted the main piazzas and bigger churches.
Next phase: on to Florence. We caught the trainnn!!! Made sure not to get tricked this time! After the ride through the hills, we made it to Florence. I was smart this time, and bought a pop out map that worked wonders. We figured out the city very well. Our hotel this time was a medium between the other 2. From luxury to poverty to comfortable. bizarre. Hotel Bavaria was quaint and simple. We shared a bathroom but had a sink in the room. We walked the city 3 times it felt like, touring some churches and taking pictures with the time we had. We went to the market and bargained a little. By 3 o'clock we were ready to go home, though.
We made the train, and rode back to Rome (about a 3.5 hour trip). It was a whirlwind weekend.. one to never be forgotten. I learned alot about public transportation, maps, to chew my food up better, reliance upon people, and probably to avoid sketchy hostels when possible.
This week we're having a workshop with students from Arkansas and Philadelphia U. I'm looking forward to it. It's nice to meet new people and hear their stories too. I know that was long blog- and still, it was the basics. Can't wait to show everyone pictures! Miss you all!
Ciao!

Ciao! I realize I've been an unreliable blogger. I'm sorry! I've been so busy. Well, here's the recap:


Sunday: Went to flea market that take up a few city blocks. It's pretty intense, yet some good buys are there- you just have to search. I bought some sunglasses. They're precious.
Went to the geniculum hill to take pictures and such with Jonathan. Saw the Tempietto. Decided to go to the Vatican. Got there at night... stunning. The scale of that church is bigger than you can even imagine.
Monday: Finished work on projects (Sixtus V plan and apt analysis)
Tuesday: Presentations. Everything went great. The projects were all interesting. Brittany's birthday! Cooked for her. Went to get gelatto.
Wednesday: Went to Ostia Antica (old Roman port town dating back to 300 BC or something unfathomable like that). It amazes me that materials like concrete, brick, stone can last that long. Went to Stazione Termini to get train tickets for this weekend. Success! Yet... got on the wrong bus back. Ended up out in the boonies. Had to regroup, turn around, resorted to Mickey D's french fries for comfort. Printed off info at studio. FINALLY made it home, packed, blogging, bed.... ZZzzz
Brit and I are going to Cortona, Siena, and Florence this weekend!! So excited! Can't wait to tell you all about it. I have to wake up at 5:30... so goodbye.

Well. I did it. Today I broke down and got McDonalds for dinner. I mean, when you see the golden arches staring you in the face every day, it's hard to stay strong. I figured the arch derived from Roman architecture, therefore it's only logical to assume the golden arches are a distant relative of the classic architectural feat, making it "A - OK" to devour hot Fries. Nugs. Coca cola classic over ice. Mmmmmm! There is no ice here, and I'm not ok with that. That was the first coke with ice in over a week.. and it was glorious. Zach and I were a little bit too excited to dine in there after working at studio all day. We've been making a map that is freakin' awesome. We're using watercolors, acetone transfers, ink, pencils .. It's like a treasure map! (everyone knows I LOVE treasure maps- i.e. "the goonies" and "national treasure") Please try to contain your excitement while reading this.

Some crazy things seen this weekend:
-Large, unkempt, homeless man with no pants on sitting on the sidewalk with a jar set out for monitary donations. Hmmmm, not real sure what he was trying to promote for $$ - the fact that he, indeed, had no pants on orrrrr ... yeh thats just nasty.
-Another freaky homeless "one man band" guy. Complete with accordian, honky horns, clacking things, a bizarre bird nose (?), little bells, and a string puppet. BIZARRE.
-British/Welsch men that rudely hit on us at the pub. Claimed he was from California yet had a strong accent. hmmm? His name was Stuart. He touched my face, and it was awkward.

Hopefully going to the crazy bargain markets tomorrow.
Mommy, will search for your pagmina.
Rob, will keep an eye out for anything relating to Sparta. ?
Patrick, will send you home a small cat.
Keeks, jewelry is everywhere here. Enough said.

Ok, I'm out. Time to sleep on my really comfy foam bed. I miss my bed and my assortment of pillows.
Ciao.

Today was less eventful: no getting lost. no hiking 2000 miles. no visiting major works of architecture. no exploring.
We went to studio, talk to our professors about our idea (which went well), went to a pizza bar, went to the ART STORE! (got some brushes and paints! whoop whoop!!), went home, took a fabulous nap, then did another 'tour of homes' at the rest of our class' apartments. I came up with the brilliant idea to play "2 truths and a lie" today at progressive home tour. It was fun- a new way to learn tidbits of info about the people in our rome class. We have cooked in for 2 nights in a row. Last night - C made chicken french. SO GOOD. Tonight, had the guys over for a payback, chicken pesto dinner. We should just open up a little ristuarante! Tomorrow we'll work on our presentations, then it's TRAN's BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION! everyone's excited. This is our first weekend in Rome where we actually know what we're doing. Should be a lot of fun. Well, time for beddy by.

OH.. forgot to say. Had my first encounter with a mi mi (cat) today. It was black and skinny.
:( we wanted to keep it. poor baby. anyway, miss that little dora bell!!!