Summertime

So, im back in New Jersey, and I've been trying to find ways to keep myself entertained. My major summer goals include writing (just in general), going for walks/getting in shape (this is the one i'm least excited about so it might not happen), reteaching myself piano (which might be the most ambitious one, wish me luck), cooking new dishes (every friday night, Jamie and I will be getting together to cook, and if you, my hypothetical reader, live nearby, please do come join us!), and brushing up on my poor spanish skills (version 3 of rosetta stone seems like a much more successful program than version 2), and maybe some crafts thrown in. Also I'm trying to catch up on a lot of books and movies. Camp orientation is next weekend, and then camp itself starts at the end of the month. Also if you (hypothetical reader) know anyone who needs a babysitter, I'm available nights and weekends. :-D

Home!

Will update soon about the rest of my trip. For now though, just know that it was amazing.

Long overdue post......

24/4/10
Cinque Terre
Yesterday, the weather was crappy, and we were in transit for half the day. Leaving Rome was strange. I felt like I was just going away for the weekend...and not for an entire month. (Its only starting to hit me now) When we got to Cinque Terre, we took the leisurely path by the sea, and it was gorgeous even though the weather was not very nice. We ended up by these weird abandoned houses, along the path, with a rusty old swingset. Also, there was a strange cat who kept following us, and that was when we decided to call it a night...We took a train back to La Spezia, and these two canadian boys who had been staring at us on the trail were on our train, and they offered us these amaretto cookies, and then we never saw them again. We then spent two hours or so walking around La Spezia, trying to find a hostel, to no avail. So, we checked into the hotel mary, which was expensive, and small...but gave us a great breakfast. We got really delicious dinners at Ristorante Gattafin. Laura had these raviolis in a truffle sauce, and I got this delicious vegetable covered, freshly made pasta. This morning, we woke up early, to make sure we could find a hostel. Laura had written down google maps directions, and we took the train to Manarola (one of the five island towns), and the directions told us to basically scale a mountain (I have a backpack, my computer bag, and a duffle bag on me at this point), which was beautiful, but as we found out later, slightly unnecesarry. Later in the day, we figured out that our hostel was right up the street from the Manarola train station...So, we drop our stuff off at the hostel, and start wandering in the direction of the mountains. It only took us two hours to make our way to the top of a very steep mountain, following a very rocky path. It was gorgeous. At the top, we found a much less intense dirt path that took us along a couple of mountains, and into a quaint little town tucked into the side of the mountain. Somehow we wandered into a party in someone's backyard and got some really delicious fried polenta (?), enormous fava beans, cheeses, and bread. Then, we made our way back to Manarola, where we figured out that it was the Primavera (spring) Festival, and got to experience the song I'm a Believer...in italian. There was this group of small children who were congo-line dancing to terrible american pop songs and it was adorable. Eventually, we made our way back to our hostel.

26/04/10
Venice
Our train to Venice stopped for a hot minute in Pisa. It would have been nice to stop and look around a bit, but of all places, Pisa isn't really too high on my to do list. So, we had another transfer in Florence, and then made our way to Venice. After leaving the train station, I almost immediately felt like I had been transported out of real life and into a book or some stereotypical movie. There were men in traditional costumes manning gondolas, and accordians being played outside of fancy restauraunts (which yes happens in rome, and I am used to it...but it is a little different when the streets are all waterways and not roads). Venice was pretty much exactly as I pictured it, other than the public transportation. There are just boats that go everywhere. I wish that all public transportation was boats...


27/04/10
Right now, I am sitting on my very first night train. I still have at least 40 minutes before we leave the station. I am very excited. My seat is really comfortable...Hopefully I will still feel that way when it is time to go to sleep…. Laura and I have been traveling together for five days now, in Italy, and this has been really the perfect introduction to my solo trip, in the rest of Europe. I am so ready for Wien and new friends!! By the time I post this, I will have already met the Bauers, but at this moment, I am excited to meet them!


So, back to Venice...I'm glad that we stayed at a campground outside of the city. It just added a whole new dimension to that leg of our trip. We stayed in this little bungalow, a half an hour bus ride from the city. We mostly just walked around the canals and such in Venice, but we went to two art museums and a jewish museum. And one day, we ate lunch at this really fantastic restauraunt near the academia (art museum).


01/05/10
So, I've been traveling for over a week now. I'm on a train to Budapest at the moment. Wien was one of the coolest places I've ever been. It wasn't a novelty city (For example, I'd say that Rome is, because of all of the ancient ruins, and Venice is, because the city is made entirely up of canals). I mean, Wien had a ton of museums, and statues, and palaces, and parks, but what I mean is that it felt like a real city where people live and work. (While people do live there, Rome and Venice feel like they are mostly just catering to tourists). I went to the jewish museum, the freud museum, the music museum, an art museum (and one day, treated myself to some really delicious vegetarian food at a restauraunt in the middle of the city). The best part of Wien though was my first real couchsurfing experience. I stayed with the Bauers at their apartment on the outskirts of the city. They were amazingly hospitable. They fed me delicious traditional german food, showed me palace gardens, and around Prater (Austria's amusement park). The kids were adorable (and I was very impressed as to how well Tamuna speaks english! When I was six, I could barely speak one language...) and Marcus was a great tour guide around the city. I really hope that they do visit when they come to the states. Also, they loaned me a bike one day, and I was able to explore the city by bike, making my way to the Danube for a really nice ride, which was awesome. We also went to an anti-fascist rally, which was interesting. This morning we went to the May day festivities, and now I'm on the train to Budapest.

02/05/10
People keep asking me for directions in Hungarian. Do I look Hungarian?

03/05/10
On the train again! I'm heading back to Wien where I am going to transfer and make my way to Praha. Budapest was gorgeous. When i got in on saturday, Richard met me at the station and showed me how to get to his house. I made my way to the central part of the city, got some falafel and sat near the second largest synagogue in the world (which looks very much like a giant church). Then I stumbled across a wine festival, and I made my way inside. I made friends with two women who are lawyers from India, and we sat on the grass and enjoyed some music. Then, I made my way to the large park, and met Edit and Richard at a bar for drinks and to enjoy some gipsy music. The next day, I took a tour of the aforementioned synagogue, did a nice long walk around the city, and walked around the terror museum.

Then I made my way to the Baths in the park. It was an interesting experience....I couldn't believe that they had saunas that were 100 degrees C. I walked in, and almost immediately walked out. This morning I pretty much just woke up and hopped on the train. 9:30AM->5:25PPM. Lonnnnnng train trip. At this point, im on my second train. On the first train, I had a nice long conversation with Mohammed, who runs a tea company from Sri Lanka.

Yesterday, we visited Danielle in the hospital. While we were at the Amalfi Coast, she lost her footing and fell 30 feet from a ledge. She was insanely lucky. I'm not going to get into real details on this public blog because its not really anyone's business, but we saw her yesterday and she is doing much better. She could reach up enough to give us hugs! My apartment is so lonely without her.

/Junior year

So, the student show is tonight, and pretty much all of my work for the semester is finished. But, instead of being able to enjoy it, my head is congested and I can't really think. On the plus side, my trip planning is coming along....slowly but surely. I'm 100% done with printmaking and sketchbook. I'm glad that I took printmaking but it was just so much work, and the work wasn't even spread out evenly throughout the semester. I would have weeks where I spent 14 hours in the print studio, and the weeks where I didn't go into the studio to do work, at all. Photo has proven to be my favorite class.

Whirlwind!

I've been too busy to write! My family came for a week (pictures to come at some point!) It was really nice to see them. I was starting to get homesick, but they fixed that! I hope they had fun.

I've spent all week in the art cave working on my final projects, because they are all due next week. But, I'm treating myself to a well deserved break, because this weekend, I am going to the amalfi coast with danielle and jill! Pictures and updates to follow!

This week was kind of crazy, because it involved signing up for classes for next semester. And because next semester is my last semester of classes, I had to get into very specific classes, so that was a little nerve wrecking, but in the end it all worked out. I'm going to take glassblowing, ceramics, women in literature, my art capstone (writing intensive/art intensive), and an art education class. I can't believe that I only have one year left at Temple. Crazy...

This morning, I went to the modern art museum with my photo class. I'm not so big on modern art, but some of the photography in the museum was pretty cool. I took a nice long walk today too. The weather has been gorgeous.

I'm going to the reggae circus tomorrow night, and then my family is coming to visit on sunday!
More updates soon!

Florence and Siena

This past weekend, I took a trip with my friend Jill, my roommate Molly, and the rest of my art history class to Siena and Florence. We took a private bus on friday to Siena, which was much colder than I had expected. For lunch that day, I got the most delicious meal that I have had in, at the very least, a month. I had homemade pasta with a mushroom sauce. Mmmm. Oh, the luxury of eating out for every meal during the weekend...I think that I have only eaten out once in Rome, the day that we went ice skating. Anyway, after Siena, we took our bus to Florence, got situated in the hotel, and found a restauraunt for dinner. Over the course of the weekend, we made our way to 13 different churches and museums, including the Ufitzi gallery. Saturday night, we went out to dinner with our professor which was cool, because he is incredibly knowledgable about his subject matter, and interesting to talk to. The trip was really awesome, because we saw al of these famous and beautiful pieces of art from the early rennaissance period that I had heard about and read about for such a long time (Cimabue, Giotto, Duccio, Donatello, Mosaccio, Botticelli, Leonardo, Michelangelo, etc etc etc). Also, the timing of it all was great. We saw Donatello's David in the same day that we saw Michelangelo's David. I especially enjoyed that.

My photos from Florence and Siena:






http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2024881&id=1340490149&l=ea7f451c57

Classes.

School.

I'm taking five classes this semester. I've done semesters where I have taken more credits, but this is proving to be my most difficult and time consuming semester. I really don't mind that my semester is so intense, because I am learning so much. The issue that I have though, is that I am living in Rome, and barely have time to go outside. I spend 12 hours a day, on average, in the basement at school. I am taking two drawing classes, which is great because I needed a lot of practice with the basic art elements, and I have finally had the time and the focus to work on these very basic things. It also helps that I have helpful professors. I really like all of my professors this semester, which is great. My printmaking class is the most frusturating, because it is so time consuming, and every time that I think I did something right, it turns out that I did ten things wrong. But, at least I'm learning. Darkroom photo is definitely my favorite class. The process is so cool to me. I'm also glad that my Sketchbook class and Art History of the early rennaissance class are both set up so that we take field trips around the city, because I likely would not have time to get to many of these places otherwise. I will try to upload some of my artwork soon.

Also, I'm working on my entry on Florence and Siena. So, that'll come soon too!

Spring Break 2010

So, after a grueling week of midterms, my reward was six days in the warm, beautiful country of Tunisia. I was warned dozens of times about how dangerous it was going to be, but I felt incredibly safe, the whole time that I was there. I was with a group of around 40 other students from my study abroad program, plus one of the Italian professors, and her friend who was our tour guide. We spent a lot of time on a bus throughout the week, but it meant that we were able to see most of the country. We started out in Tunis, spent a night in Sousse, saw El Djem, took a ferry to the island of djerba, saw the outside of the synagogue where the oldest Torah in the world is kept (but we weren't allowed to go in, because it was Purim), spent a couple of nights in Douz, one of which was spent in the middle of the Sahara desert in a tent, rode camels, went to several souks (markets of sorts), among many many other things. I really like the traditional Tunisian style of clothing, so I bought myself a dress, a shirt, and a sweatshirt. I also had an opportunity to read Angels and Demons, (thanks, Laura for letting me borrow it!), and for the first time in years, I had a "can't put the book down until I finish it" experience, which was awesome. Every night (besides the night in the desert), we had beautiful rooms in some of the fanciest hotels I've ever been to, and there was a buffet dinner and a buffet breakfast every day of the trip. My favorite night, though, had to be the night in the desert. Last year, I had a similar experience when I went to Israel, but there were less people around this time, and the night was less structured. It just felt so much more peaceful. There were moments where I could lie in the sand and not hear anything besides the wind, my thoughts, and my breathing. I could not have asked for a better spring break.




These are the links to my pictures from Tunisia:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2024742&id=1340490149&l=2ffb720530
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2024783&id=1340490149&l=b9d4b20aa7
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2024781&id=1340490149&l=5c340a1309

Holland

So, we decided to take a weekend trip to Amsterdam. The problem with traveling to a city for only a weekend is that you either don't have time to do everything that you want to do, or you're rushing to cram everything in. We weren't exactly rushing, but I'm so exhausted because of how much we managed to do this weekend. Friday, we left our residence around 4AM, to catch a 6:30 flight. The weather in Holland was pretty much gloomy and cold all around. Over the course of the weekend, I went to six museums, went on a boat tour of the canals, rode bikes in the rain, among other things that I'm probably forgetting. Our first museum stop was the Anne Frank house, which is somewhere that I've wanted to visit since I was 12 years old, and reading books like Number the Stars and Anne Frank's diary. I'm really glad that we went. The museum was just set up so well, between the quotes from her diary, the pictures, and the videos of people who were close to her. To lighten the mood, we got bagels after the museum, and then we went to the Van Gogh museum, which I enjoyed a lot more than I was expecting to, even though we were all sleep deprived. On saturday, I saw the Jewish museum which had this really cool exhibit (I took some pictures of it, ill up them later) on this one artist whose name I don't remember. Then we putzed around a flea market and went to the Rembrant house, and then to a photography museum. Yesterday, I went on boat tour of the canals, and even though it was rainy and foggy, it was really pretty. Then, the rijtmuseum, which is hyped up a lot, but I didn't find it to be that exciting, and then we all went for a bike ride. Amsterdam is such an amazing bike city. It was nice to hear people speaking english again. I was also really excited that there was a grocery store right across the street from our hostel. Even more exciting, it was a grocery store that we have in Philly, but literally everything in this store was different. [I really like going to different grocery stores and seeing what products they sell/who they cater to/how their prices are.] Almost everything cost approximately one euro. They sold giant jars of peanut butter for one euro, which wouldn't be exciting, but in Italy they don't really have peanut butter, and in my local grocery store in Rome, a smallish jar of peanut butter costs over 5 euro (which is approx $7). And, I've been eating a lot of peaunit butter here, to get in my proteins...so one euro peanut butter was exciting to me.

Because midterms are next week (I'll up some pictures of the work i've done so far soon), and I'm traveling this weekend, I haven't had much time to explore this week. Last weekend, though, we had a full day's outing. First we went to a gelateria (Old Bridge) near the vatican and got the most delicious gelato. Then, we went ice skating at a castle (Castel Sant'Angelo), followed by a delicious sit down dinner at a nearby restauraunt.

I also included the picture of Micheangelo's Moses, because I forgot it in my entry last week. Tomorrow, we go to Amsterdam! Pictures and stories to follow!

Also...

With my art history class, this morning, I went to the church of San Clemente and saw some frescos by Masolino and then we went to the church of Aracoeli. There is so much extraordinary history here. I feel like I'm being blown away by all the incredible art and architecture just about every day. Like I said before, I will add some pictures later. I keep forgetting to bring my camera cord with me to school

Some thoughts.

After being here for a little over a month, I can honestly say that I feel really comfortable living in Europe, and could definitely get used to living on this side of the world, more long term... Even though no one can really understand a word that I say here, and despite a lot of strange cultural differences, and close living arrangements and being thrown into so many situations way outside of my comfort zone, I think that in this very short period of time, I've learned so much. I have to take public transportation just about every day. My art classes are forcing me to work out art-related issues that I've had for years but just avoided because I felt I was no good at it. My friends here come from different backgrounds and lifestyles and decisions from me, it is especially refreshing because I was so used to being surrounded by inconsistent people who generally weren't good to be around for so long. I've been going to the market every week, picking up fresh fruits and vegetables, and cooking family style dinners most nights. I think the biggest downside to being here is the fact that I am taking four intensive studio classes, which don't really leave a whole lot of time for exploring. But, after this weekend, I have three weeks in a row that involve some traveling. The 19th, we are going to Amsterdam. The next week is midterms, which makes the following week spring break, so I will be in Tunesia that week. Then, the week after classes pick up again, I am traveling to Florence and Siena with my Art History class.

Recap

Saw Michelangelo's Moses this morning and sketched it, with my drawing class. Over the weekend I went to this enormous flea market, and spent two fulls days working on my prints in the printmaking studio. Pictures of what I saw in the past couple of days to follow!

Excited!

I'm going to Tunesia in March for my spring break! I'm really really excited to go to Africa. I'm also going to Amsterdam in 2 weeks. And, I'm in the process of planning out my travels for the month of May. I just want to go everywhere!

Yesterday I went to the vatican museum with my art history class and also saw the sistene chapel. One of those Rome things I felt I needed to see. I wasn't disapointed. I'm kind of excited to go back with my class and hear my professor talk about the celing.

Dadadadadada

Today, I went to a dada and surrealism exhibit. I couldn't take pictures in the exhibit , and I was amazed at how much I enjoyed it. In general, I'm not so into that kind of art. But, I was just so awestruck...for lack of a better word. I wrote a really long list of the artists that I want to look more into. There were a bunch of pieces by artists that i was familiar with, but there were SO MANY pieces by artists that I had never heard of before. My favorite was Victor Brauner. (see directly below)

(not taken by me. i found it on the internet.)

After the dada/surrealism exhibit, I saw a brief exhibit on concentration camps (pictures to follow) which was especially interesting, because I couldn't understand any of the words in the exhibit. Between the german and the italian translations, it was more haunting to me.

Reggae Circus

This past week, we went to the church of Santa Maria in Trestevere, for art history. Trestevere is a really cool area of Rome. Jill, Danielle and I went back to that general area the following night, to a place called Pepato, and met up with some Italians, and really just a bunch of people from different parts of the world. Its always interesting going out in parts of the world that arent the united states, because they ALWAYS play American pop music from 4-10 years ago. Then, last night, we went to this Reggae Circus, not knowing at all what to expect, but we were excited about it anyway. I was not disappointed. There was a drumline, and people doing tricks with fire (which are both on my hypothetical list of favorite things) and a bunch of girls dressed as jesters dancing. That was just between band entertainment. The bands were pretty good. Despite the serious language barrier between our little group and everyone else, I had a really good time.

Field trips!

So, I have at least two field trips a week. In a fairly strange city where I am unfamiliar with the public transportation system (also, generally public transportation makes me anxious, especially when I'm by myself). And we have to get to these field trip locations by 8:30AM, most of the time by public bus. So, thats a huge step for me. Just getting to the field trips. But usually they are really cool, so when I actually find my way to the class meet up point, I get to see some awesome things. Like the Pantheon, for instance.

And the forum

And this famous statue of the founders of Rome.

I feel like I can totally nerd out, because I'm surrouded by all these familiar/really famous artifacts/buildings all the time. And, between my Rome Sketchbook class and my Art History/Early Rennaissance class, I think my brain is going to explode from all the nerding out i've been doing.

Last week...

So, my daily walk to school ends with me crossing the Tiber. Temple Rome is situated in this cute building, and a princess lives on the top floor. I wish a princess lived at Temple Philadelphia. One of the first days of class, my roommate and I didn't have a whole lot of homework, so we decided to adventure the Villa Borghese gardens. First of all, the Piazza de Popolo is about a two minute walk from school, so we generally end up there before heading anywhere else.

And this guy is usually blowing bubbles for spare change. Its kind of adorable








Anyway, we ended up at the Villa Borguese gardens, which are really pretty in some parts, and other parts are totally not expected.

And this last picture really has nothing to do with anything, its on my walk to/from school, and its really just the saddest looking bike ever.

Umbria!

My first weekend here, we took a trip to Umbria, which is an area in Italy, two hours north of Rome. We spent a few hours exploring the hill town of Todi. Then, we ate a traditional long lunch at a castle

First of all

I've been in Rome for about two weeks at this point. But I know that if I don't keep track of where I go and what I do, I'll regret it at some point. We came to Rome a week before classes started, so that we could get acquainted with the city. We went on a tour, and got to see a little bit of everything...from the spanish steps to the colluseum to the Capuchini Bone Chapel, a church made of human bones, and our tour ended at the trevi fountain.

(I found the photo of the bone chapel online, but the other ones are mine)