San Pietro

On Sunday I went to Citta del Vaticano and experienced

one of the most amazing sundays in my life.

The Basilica Papale di San Pietro is the single most beautiful

and awe inspiring piece of architecture on this earth!

I started my sunday by visiting the Vatican Museum with a few classmates.

Afterwards I decided to go inside San Pietro and photograph

the masterpiece that has been the center

of the christian catholic world for the better part

of the past 400 years!

When I entered San Pietro, I payed my respects

in the Vatican Grotto to the past Popes, prayed,

and then sat in on a mass in one of the many side chapels!

This experienced opened my eyes to the catholic faith

more so than any other experience in my lifetime.

When I exited San Pietro I was left with a certain feeling of holiness.

The kind of feeling that gives a person a new sense of direction and reasoning.

Trails! Who Needs Trails? Hiking Cinque Terre

Ok so this is the Santuario della Modonna di Montero church and it is REALLY high up! It over looks all of Cinque Terre, with a view that stretches more than 11 miles! Gorgeous!

Heres a look at the typical trail..and yes that is a cliff on the other side!

Vernazza So beautiful

Oh yeah so this is the view from the church and it DEFINITELY does not take 15 min to get there when you start from the waters edge like we did! Try more like 2 hours and almost without trails! The guys we were with chose a differnet route that stopped about halfway up! haha But the view was SOOO worth it

Oh the places we go...and the stories, OHH the stories!

So this weekend one of my roommates and myself decided to take a little trip north and leave our Roman home behind for a few days...and thats when things got interesting!

A Cinque Terre é Pisa vado! (to the five villages and Pisa we go)

So it was after Mike and I boarded our train to La Spezia and were pulling out of the Rome Tremini treni stazione that I realized I had forgotten our hostel reservation information on my studio desk. Crap! Yeah yeah Dad! I know I know blonde moment, thanks! But hey, who's to say I didnt intentionally forget them to make things interesting? haha Ok so I lie!

Anyway, I'm thinkin, no nig deal were big boys, we can handle this. I mean I'm directionally intelligent, I know the town (Biassa) that our hostel is in and Mike is a Eagle scout, WE GOT THIS hahahaha (nervous Kitty laugh...that 70s show for those who know it) riiiight!

So we get to Le Spezia and its 9pm. FYI 9pm in Italia means not a damn thing is open, which is smart, NOT! So we go to a hotel right outside the treni stazione were a "lovely" hostes (sarcasm) tells us we are stupid and that Biassa has no youth hostel! She was sooo much help! So we wonder around for about 15 min asking if there is any place open to buy a map bc were thinkin we are going to go on a little hike. Yeah again, NO place is open. So we go back to the hotel and use Mike's blackberry to google what I believed to be the name. Thankfully we found it and took a cab ride up the switchback road at twice the posted speed limit to get to our destination, Ostella Tramonti Youth Hostel in Biassa, Tuscano Italy.

The following morning we take the bus down to Riomaggiore (southern most village) and proceed to find out just how beautiful Cinque Terre is! Each village is so unique and if anyone wants a beautiful place to spend with a loved one or just go outdoors for a few days on the Mediterranean coast of Italia I HIGHLY recommend it. Mike and I hiked for the entire day and we estimated that we did around 9 miles of hiking, on and off the designated trails. Cinque Terre is absolutely gorgeous and is definitely a MUST SEE for any Italia trips.

Through all the hassle of the first night, it was all worth it. We meet some cool guys who are from the US but living in Rome from our hostel. We saw some of the most breath taking sights this world has to offer. And we experienced our first true trip out on our own, backpacking Italia in style!

Oh and Pisa was a little tipsy!

Johnny Depp and the Desk Lamp

So classes have started and I have begun to die slowly! Ok yeah, thats a lie. Classes are actually really interesting and really relaxed compared to being in Iowa (theres not much exciting stuff going on in Iowa so lets be real).

I only have four classes a week, which is SWEET! Can't beat studing design in Rome and only having class for 13 hours a week! hahaha I win!

Anyway the classes I am taking are Italian Design, Studio, Italian Language, and Italian History. They are all very interesting and they just add to the magnificence of Rome. I am also taking an online Digital Photography class that should be interesting as well. My favorite class is Italian Language and Im actually pretty good at it. The rest of the classes I really enjoy, even Italian Art History.

History is going to kick my butt because I have a professor that is a cross between Johnny Depp who speaks in random thoughts that leaves the listener pondering what was just said, and your stereotypical college professor who knows way too much for the average brain to comprehend. Although I do love the history that we cover and his passion for the class, he tends to give a lecture at such a speed and with such an unorganized thought method that it tends to leave me in the dust. When listening to his lecture, I become transfixed by the amount of historical knowledge that one man can have stored away in memory alone. He uses no notes to give his lectures, only clifs and photographs. He is a genius of sorts, and overall I think this class could be the best and worst part of Rome!

Oh and I forgot to mention, my professor somewhat looks like Johnny Depp from Secret Window, but has the demeanor of Jack Sparrow. It makes for a bit of comical distraction at times on my part. haha I cant help it, I could find laughter in a dark ally, so what!

In Studio, the class that I spend most of my academic hours in, I am currently redrawing a light of my choice and giving a bit of artistic flare. I chose a light that would not be too hard to recreate on paper. I did this because I have a belief that when recreating something through drawing, a person should not pick a complicated piece and come up short in drawing it, that would only hinder the true beauty of the piece itself. Rather a designer or artist should pick something that is visually intriguing, but simple, that way when it is recreated it can be done with such precision that it will make both the original piece and the rendering extraordinary. Now having said that, I do not know if I have succeeded, but I do know that I picked a Lamp that suited my modern design style. It is called a Tizio lamp and it was designed by Richard Sapper for Artemide in 1972.

I am recreating this desk lamp on Gray Fabriano paper at a 1:1 scale using only graphite pencils and one color for intrigue. I am drawing two elevations and two detail drawings. I have not completed the rendering yet, but what I do have I like. When the drawing is completely finished I will show more but this is what I have for now...

Refrigerators are luxuries

The days of Nutella sandwiches, potato chips, and one piece of fruit at a time are officially over.

For those who don't know, this past week the guys and myself have been without a working refrigerator. We have not been able to truly cook dinner because we could not keep our food fresh. This has resulted in many nights out and a lot of Italian Pizza, A LOT!

And now I am proud to report that we, the residents of Circonvallazione Gianicolense 110, apt. # 4, finally have a Refrigerator, and this time it works, oh boy! It is a glorious thing to be able to buy food, cook dinner, and save leftovers.

This only came to be after I formally wrote a letter to the housing office and the coordinator back at ISU telling them that we were going to get a new refrigerator or they were paying for my meals! I had to resort to this because the maintenance man was not very prompt, more like he didn't care at all. I called him twice and he basically told me I was stupid and that he'd be out to check it the next day, yeah he never came! Infuriating!

Anyway the situation has been resolved and I am now enjoying home cooking, done by myself! :) And yes the refrigerator is filled with all the Roman essentials: Wine, Juice, Cheese, and Pasta Leftovers :) its just the beginning to a glorious "glutinous" semester abroad!

My Days of strictly being a tourist are numbered..

Life as a Roman has only just begun

Well, I've been in Rome almost a week and I have loved every second of it! I have been a tourist for every second since I got here and have been in awe of my surroundings with every step I take.

Class starts officially tomorrow and although I am looking forward to a schedule, I am also sad that I cannot just wander this magnificent city. Although, I only have 16 hrs of class a week at the most, I cant complain tehe ;) My favorite classes I think are going to be Italian Language and History.

Through this first week of living in Roma I think the most gratifying experience is knowing that when I attempt to speak the language I get instant respect, which in two cases has turned into getting hit on cant complain about that haha! Overall, I am learning the language at an alarming rate and I have to say the Italian language is hard, but very fun to speak! Im hoping that by the end of the four months I will be pretty fluent.

Well My days as a tourist are almost over so let the days of doing as the Romans do begin...here goes nothin.

Mio amare Roma!

I am Here!

Three days in and I can not find a single thing that I truly dislike about this Beautiful and historically rich city! The language is gorgeous, and when spoken properly it sounds like the finest tuned harp in all the world. The buildings are amazing and you can see the history built right in, oh how I love it! I can honestly say that with each passing day, I find myself loving the food, loving learning and speaking the language, and even, even loving the heat. For those of you whom have not checked, it is 95 during the day and 80 at night...no AC! Oh well, we are spoiled in America and its good that people such as myself are experiencing not having all the luxuries that we have back in the states (AC) so that we can cherish them when we have them.

My apartment is nice and is in a kinda sketchy area of town, but its right down the street from a good road that has markets and restaurants on it. Plus we are right next to a tram stop, which makes the roughly 2.5 miles to studio a breeze haha. At first when I got here I hated my apartment, but now it is slowly beginning to grow on me and I am actually beginning to enjoy it, aside from having no fridge because it is still broken.

Overall though, now having been fully moved in and all unpacked I am in love with Roma! I have seen the vatican, been inside Basilica di San Petro, have walked on the ancient Roman roads to the Pantheon, seen the Trevi Fountain, and have been past the ruins to the Colosseo! This place is gorgeous and I have found a new favorite city in the world!

Day 4

Today was a wrap up day basically. The girls and I went to our last two BIG Must-See places, Notre Dame Cathedral and the TOP of the Eiffel Tower!

Notre Dame was indescribably beautiful, both on the outside

and on the inside! When we got to the cathedral we went straight to the line that would get us up to the top. It was only about a 45 min wait, but the waiting wasn't that bad because there were a few street performers that kept my attention for the better part of a half hour. Bethany even got a picture with what I like to refer to as the Rue Creeper (Rue is road in French). This very talented Gentleman was sporting a A

lbert Einstein like wig and would sneak up on

unsuspecting tourists mainly women and place his hand ever

so gently on there shoulder and wait for them to notice and..well squeal haha, HILARIOUS! The best was watching him push away the men in couples and holding the womans hand until she realized that the hand she was holding was not the one belonging to her significant other! Worked every time!

Once we got into the cathedral, we went straight to the top and saw the gargoyles,

saw the famous hunch back of Notre Dame bell, and a look at the Paris skyline that was breathtaking. Afterwards we went inside where I believe the beauty of this Cathedral may have made my heart skip a beat or two. The way the murals were so intricately painted as well as the detail in each and every sculpture and wood work, it made me speechless.

The greatest thing about the Cathedral was hearing the organs play. We made this trip at this time for a reason, at 4:30 on every sunday of the year, a organist plays

for anyone to hear. The sound added wit

h the physical beauty of the church made everything seem

so surreal.

Once we were done there we decided to see more of the city by walking to the Eiffel. Note to all whom read this: remember, just because you can see it in Paris DOESNT MEAN ITS WITHIN WALKING DISTANCE especially if its the Eiffel Tower! haha I mean that was a long flippin walk! I think it was close to three or four miles or so. However, once we got

there and waited in line to get to the top, we were speechless at what lay before us, a view that stretch for miles. Every building lit up at night is just an amazing sight to see. It was definitely the cap to a beautiful stay in Paris.