Today, we woke up to the sound of the market taking place just below our balcony, once again. The market below takes up about 2 miles of street, with vendors stacked in about three rows --- a bit larger than the Des Moines Farmer's Market! However, last week brought some of the most exciting days I've had in Rome yet (which is exactly the way it should be, right? Each day getting more exciting than the last and such!) BUT - Thursday was, by far, the most entertaining day I've had yet due to the man in the image directly below this post. Jan Gedayne teaches at several of the American University programs in Rome (RISD, Cornell, Minnesota, etc.), and is known as the "Rockstar" when it comes to understanding and communicating the layers of history that exist in Rome. On our 3 hour morning walk with Jan, we covered almost 7.5 miles of built history from early BC to just a few hundred years ago. Walking around with Jan is easily one of the true experience types that makes one understand why study abroad is so essential to students today. In a way, 3 hours worth of information from Jan embeds years of knowledge that some Romans will never know about the city in which they live. Power of knowledge is truly an understatement once one truly understands the context where we now live, study, and continue to embrace. It's not necessarily the "power you feel that you suddenly have" once equipped with said knowledge, rather the "power of the impact" upon your perception of your surroundings. A list of a few things I saw this week! - Roman Forum and Palatine Hill - Alle fratte di Trastevere (free food for us -- "we're regulars") - La Basilica di San Vitale - Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore - Basilica di Santa Maria degli Angeli (Michelangelo's final architectural restoration work -- preservation and scheme for the Bath's of Diocletian) - Quattro Fontane - Gelateria Valentino - Trevi Fountain - Cappuchian Crypts - Borghese Gardens My new favorite places exist in the Borghese Gardens. Everything about the land (architecture, gardens, people, dogs, vegetation) is absolutely gorgeous!
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This time last week, I was mentally gearing up for one of the longer plane rides I've had the chance to experience. Hard to believe a week has come and gone in Italy. Tomorrow marks day #7, and we've already had the chance to see the great Roman sites, wander into some truly beautiful space, and figure out how to live amongst many. In the first week, while the Pantheon was truly remarkable, I found myself most taken by a small Protestant Cemetery in the Testaccio neighborhood. Had a friend of mine not recommended we go there, I most certainly wouldn't have found it by this time. (see photos below) With reference to the title of this post, however, one interaction in particular sums up the language barrier we're working with. Before embarking on a walking tour of the neighborhood in which studio is situated, a few of us thought we might have time to grab a small portion of pizza to eat before the tour. Working against the clock, we went to the nearest bar and placed our order. After being asked to sit while we wait, we realized a small miscommunication as we hadn't indicated we were looking for this order to be to-go. Apparently, we had confused more than just the nature of the order when the man looked quite surprised about how he was to package our order so that we might take it along. We soon realized our mistake as three entire pizzas (we're talking 12" in diameter, at least), each folded in half, and placed in a pastry bag to walk with emerged from behind the counter. The more i reflect on this experience, the more I believe we found a calzone's fraternal twin. The goal of this blog is not to document a play by play, rather subtle findings I find to define my experience here. I plan to primarily document my time in Rome through photographs here. I'll also be adding a second tab dedicated to my sketch book as the semester continues. Day #7 begins in just a matter of hours! Thanks for checking in! Various counts: Days in Italy: 6 Spring Break: 59 Days until the Maltby clan travels Italy together: 114 As an intern with ASK Studio, I recently had the opportunity to observe a photography session in action. Little did I know, architectural photography is an extreme sport of sorts (or perhaps the function of the building demanded extreme measures be taken in order to capture the right shot). Regardless, documentation of the Terry Trueblood Lodge was our undertaking for the day and it. was. great. Sunburn aside, we were hiking off the trail path, traveling along the edge of the lake, trudging across the peninsula leading furthest into the lake's center, standing on top of trucks, and even contemplating renting a boat in order to nab the perfect shot. Of course, a little bit of a waiting game took place as site maintenance crews were causing an almost "oklahomaesque" dust cloud of sorts around the lodge. However, that waiting time only lent to the even more extreme accounts of the photographer, Prof. Cameron Campbell, and his experience with aerial shoots from planes and helicopters. Thrilling? INDEED. [check out scenes from the lodge below] http://www.askstudio.com/index.ht_ml
Rika Noguchi
The Sun We got a chance to see this exhibition when visiting the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. Definitely worth a look. |
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