greetings from roma! as a request from carly i will update more often. i'm so mad because my blogger.com doesn't work sometimes and won't let me upload pictures :/ , but i'll update anyway, any hopefully it won't be too boring ;) haha! i'll edit in pictures in later!
Wednesday: Colosseum for art history
Paolo walked us around the historical district of Rome. We looked at columns and it was fantastic. I'm pretty sure any time spent with Paolo is fantastic "oh, the pill-AS-ters!" He loves marble on buildings ("Oh, theese marble eez fantastic!") but not ugly white marble like on the building in Venice Square. Don't worry, many more Paolo stories to come
Friday: Hadrian's Villa and Villa D'Este in Tivoli
Hadrian's Villa is the remains of the town Emperor Hadrian had built for himself in the 2nd century. The architechture is just amazing. The fact that these walls, buildings, pools, and floors are still suriviving today? It completely blows my mind. Leonardo da Vinci used to come here to sketch and learn. AND SO DID I!!! THAT BLOWS MY MIND! Paolo had us sit by the water while he read us an excerpt from the book "Memoirs of Hadrian", where the author did 20 years of research to write the book as if she were Hadrian. We learned that Hadrian was an intellectual. He was very wise and was very in-tune with nature and the human exsistence.
Villa D'Este is a garden of over 200 fountains made for Cardinal D'Este in 1560. He was the grandson of a Pope. Popes can have kids?! Apparently. Paolo informed us that there was a lotta incest and crazy stuff goin on in the family. Cardinal's mom was Lucrezia Borgia..and let's just say she got around. Haha, but the fountains are gorgeous and the whole garden is just so fascinating, every corner you turn there are more fountains. It is based after Hadrian's Villa which is right down the hill, and even some statues are stolen from there.
And that sums up my first full week in Rome!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wednesday: Colosseum for art history
Paolo walked us around the historical district of Rome. We looked at columns and it was fantastic. I'm pretty sure any time spent with Paolo is fantastic "oh, the pill-AS-ters!" He loves marble on buildings ("Oh, theese marble eez fantastic!") but not ugly white marble like on the building in Venice Square. Don't worry, many more Paolo stories to come
Thursday: Villa Borghese for sketching class
This place was beautiful! We went to the lake in the Villa Borghese, which is an emormous public park right in the center of Rome, kind of like Central Park or Fairmount Park. We walked up to the lake and started to sketch. I also got my first cappachino, a suggestion from my teacher, and it was phenomenal :)
This place was beautiful! We went to the lake in the Villa Borghese, which is an emormous public park right in the center of Rome, kind of like Central Park or Fairmount Park. We walked up to the lake and started to sketch. I also got my first cappachino, a suggestion from my teacher, and it was phenomenal :)
Friday: Hadrian's Villa and Villa D'Este in Tivoli
Hadrian's Villa is the remains of the town Emperor Hadrian had built for himself in the 2nd century. The architechture is just amazing. The fact that these walls, buildings, pools, and floors are still suriviving today? It completely blows my mind. Leonardo da Vinci used to come here to sketch and learn. AND SO DID I!!! THAT BLOWS MY MIND! Paolo had us sit by the water while he read us an excerpt from the book "Memoirs of Hadrian", where the author did 20 years of research to write the book as if she were Hadrian. We learned that Hadrian was an intellectual. He was very wise and was very in-tune with nature and the human exsistence.
Villa D'Este is a garden of over 200 fountains made for Cardinal D'Este in 1560. He was the grandson of a Pope. Popes can have kids?! Apparently. Paolo informed us that there was a lotta incest and crazy stuff goin on in the family. Cardinal's mom was Lucrezia Borgia..and let's just say she got around. Haha, but the fountains are gorgeous and the whole garden is just so fascinating, every corner you turn there are more fountains. It is based after Hadrian's Villa which is right down the hill, and even some statues are stolen from there. me and my professor paolo!!!!!!!
Saturday: Ostia
We went to the beach! And the best part is, we took 3 ways of public for transportation...for 1 EURO!!! So cheap and amazing! It was about 45 minutes away, and the weather was absolutely perfect...it was breezy and not hot...I fell asleep instantly. However, there were fighter planes practicing or something and they were VERY LOUD! Somehow..I still managed to sleep... :)
Sunday: Pantheon mass for Pentecost
Dream come true. Ever since I have learned about it, the Pantheon has been one of my favorite buildings that I only wished I could see in person. And now I have. Not only have I seen it, but I have attended mass there and an amazing one at that. For Pentecost, rose pedals are dropped through the center oculus to represent the Holy Spirit making its appearance. The oculus is the hole in the center of the ceiling that lets the light shine through. In Roman times, this was the hole that represents all Gods shining through. The Catholic church made this into church...they didn't want to destroy the beautiful building, but they wanted to make it Catholic since it was a multi-god worship place, and to keep it standing without turning it into a church would be "sacreligious". Either way, it is a beautiful, beautiful building with an even more beautiful mass. It was amazing! At the end, rose pedals just kept falling down then we got to go to the center and just BE in the rose pedals..
We then walked around Rome, got a bite to eat, got some gelato, saw some of the national bike race.. Lance Armstrong was racing, but we would have had to wait 2 1/2 hours to see him and our feet hurt :/ Overall it was a great day!
Saturday: Ostia
We went to the beach! And the best part is, we took 3 ways of public for transportation...for 1 EURO!!! So cheap and amazing! It was about 45 minutes away, and the weather was absolutely perfect...it was breezy and not hot...I fell asleep instantly. However, there were fighter planes practicing or something and they were VERY LOUD! Somehow..I still managed to sleep... :)
Sunday: Pantheon mass for Pentecost
Dream come true. Ever since I have learned about it, the Pantheon has been one of my favorite buildings that I only wished I could see in person. And now I have. Not only have I seen it, but I have attended mass there and an amazing one at that. For Pentecost, rose pedals are dropped through the center oculus to represent the Holy Spirit making its appearance. The oculus is the hole in the center of the ceiling that lets the light shine through. In Roman times, this was the hole that represents all Gods shining through. The Catholic church made this into church...they didn't want to destroy the beautiful building, but they wanted to make it Catholic since it was a multi-god worship place, and to keep it standing without turning it into a church would be "sacreligious". Either way, it is a beautiful, beautiful building with an even more beautiful mass. It was amazing! At the end, rose pedals just kept falling down then we got to go to the center and just BE in the rose pedals..
We then walked around Rome, got a bite to eat, got some gelato, saw some of the national bike race.. Lance Armstrong was racing, but we would have had to wait 2 1/2 hours to see him and our feet hurt :/ Overall it was a great day!
And that sums up my first full week in Rome!!!!!!!!!!!!
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