This past weekend me and 5 other people went to Venice. To sum it up I could say that is was amazing, but that of course is not adequate. We left Thursday night on a night train and got to Venice at about 5:30am. We found the hostel/hotel place we were staying dropped out stuff and went to explore until things opened and it got light out.
We wandered to Piazza San Marco and chilled a bit and it started raining... story of the weekend. We were starving and found a little bar that was open and had some cappuccino and other various things and waited there for a while. We then went back and went to Doge's Palace. Some of us decided to pay a little more to get a guided tour of the Secret Rooms that can only be accessed with this tour and it was definitely worth it. We learned all about the Venetian society in general and got to see the Secret Rooms which the style alone was completely different then the extravagance of the rest of the palace. The Secret Rooms were where the employees such as lawyers, secretaries, and Grand Chancellor who was the head of all the secrets. The whole thing gets very confusing from there. But there were secrets and the rooms where the people who worked with these secrets are were also a secret. The Venetians were not supposed to know of their existence and they were not decorated elaborately because they didn't have to be because the citizens could not freely wonder there. There is a lot more that I learned but if I continue trying to relay it it will continue to be very confusing so that is all I will say about that, but if you want to know more, just ask.
After that we ran in for a quick look at San Marco's Basilica and it was the most gorgeous church I have seen yet (except I have not been to St. Peter's yet). Everything is decorated with real gold leafing and it is gigantic. You are not allowed to take pictures but I took a couple along with everyone else there (that rule wasn't very well enforced) the second time we went in.
When we left Doge's Palace to go to San Marco's (right next to it) we discovered something a tad bit unique to Venice. It had been raining quite hard and the streets were flooded. Like a good 6 inches and even more in some spots. It appears as though San Marco's is set lower than the street around it because that is where it was deeper. Also, the streets flooding is a normal occurrence because they have elevated side walks set up and ready to go for when this happens. We had seen them earlier and had no clue what they were for and assumed it was something they had not taken down yet from carnivale that had ended the previous weekend.
By then it was only about 12:30 by the time we were done with San Marco's and we hadn't slept much and had been walking around since 5 so we decided to head back to our hotel and dry off and nap.We got up quite a few hours later and got dinner at an authentic Italian place and I had some of the best tiramisu ever.
The next day we went to Murano and watched a quick glass blowing demonstration. Watching the guy make a glass horse in literally a couple minutes was amazing. Then we walked around a million glass shops where I went a tad crazy buying things. But it was worth it because the stuff is so pretty and I have some people's gifts done :)
After that we went back did a quick run through of San Marco's again for the people who didn't see it the day before and then rushed on a Vapretto (water bus basically) to get to San Giorgio Maggiore before it closed; we made it. We even had time to go up the campanile and have some amazing views over looking Venice while it was extremely windy and cold.
After that we went back and had dinner and walked around as well as walked around more the next morning before we caught the train back to Rome at 1 for the 6.5 hour train ride.
Venice was so incedible, if you ever have a chance, go, before its gone.
Ciao!
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Confetti and Silly String
On Saturday two other girls and I went on a day trip to Tivoli. It took us just about 2 hours to get there taking various forms of public transportation, and it was definitely worth it.
There are three Villas in Tivoli, but we only ended up seeing one. We went to Villa d'Este and it was amazing. It was built in the mid to late 1500s and has gorgeously decorated rooms and huge gardens that with numerous fountains. Everything was so pretty, and I can't even imagine what it will look like in the spring time when everything blooms. Also, since Tivoli is built on the Sabine Hills there were amazing views out over greater Rome.
After we left Villa d'Este we had planned on going to Villa Adriana which is the most famous villa in Tivoli. We had to take a bus a little ways and then we started following the signs. It was not as close as we had anticipated and we were wondering around interesting roads that did not look like someplace many tourists ventured. But we were going to the biggest tourist attraction in the area so it didn't make sense. Then somehow we stumbled upon a mass of people. There was some sort of parade going on. There were children dressed up in all sorts of costumes like it was Halloween. Kids and adults alike were throwing confetti at people. I myself got hit a few times. And there was silly string. It was honestly one of the most interesting things I have seen so far. It was definitely a very local thing and the energy was incredible.
It took about 30 minutes to finally get to Villa Adriana because it was slow going with the parade. And when we got there they had already been closed for an hour. So we headed back to the bus stop to go back to Rome. On the way we caught another glimpse of the parade that was going down the road it had already gone down, maybe they were circling, who knows. But the parade definitely made the failed attempt at Villa Adriana worthwhile.
This parade was not the only place that I have seen confetti and silly string. Right now it is also Canivale Romano and there is confetti and silly string as well as kids in costumes all over Piazza del Popolo where the festivities of that are going on. Also, you can see reminants of confetti on almost any road. Even right by my apartment. This place is covered in confetti.
I was going to add pictures but that takes too long. So check out the Facebook Album.
There are three Villas in Tivoli, but we only ended up seeing one. We went to Villa d'Este and it was amazing. It was built in the mid to late 1500s and has gorgeously decorated rooms and huge gardens that with numerous fountains. Everything was so pretty, and I can't even imagine what it will look like in the spring time when everything blooms. Also, since Tivoli is built on the Sabine Hills there were amazing views out over greater Rome.
After we left Villa d'Este we had planned on going to Villa Adriana which is the most famous villa in Tivoli. We had to take a bus a little ways and then we started following the signs. It was not as close as we had anticipated and we were wondering around interesting roads that did not look like someplace many tourists ventured. But we were going to the biggest tourist attraction in the area so it didn't make sense. Then somehow we stumbled upon a mass of people. There was some sort of parade going on. There were children dressed up in all sorts of costumes like it was Halloween. Kids and adults alike were throwing confetti at people. I myself got hit a few times. And there was silly string. It was honestly one of the most interesting things I have seen so far. It was definitely a very local thing and the energy was incredible.
It took about 30 minutes to finally get to Villa Adriana because it was slow going with the parade. And when we got there they had already been closed for an hour. So we headed back to the bus stop to go back to Rome. On the way we caught another glimpse of the parade that was going down the road it had already gone down, maybe they were circling, who knows. But the parade definitely made the failed attempt at Villa Adriana worthwhile.
This parade was not the only place that I have seen confetti and silly string. Right now it is also Canivale Romano and there is confetti and silly string as well as kids in costumes all over Piazza del Popolo where the festivities of that are going on. Also, you can see reminants of confetti on almost any road. Even right by my apartment. This place is covered in confetti.
I was going to add pictures but that takes too long. So check out the Facebook Album.
Friday, February 12, 2010
Classes, you know, the reason why I am here.
I have had two full weeks of classes already and I think it is time to share a little bit about the aspect that brings me to Rome for four months...
I am taking a Principles of Marketing class, a Principles of Management class, both of which count towards business core, and Intro to Italian Language and Culture, and Art of Rome.
First of all, one of the biggest culture shocks academically is how small the university is and how small all of my classes are. There are about as many people at AUR as there were in my graduating class. There are more people in some lectures at MSU than there are that attend AUR. Ok, I think you've got the picture and I will explain more in regards to how this is so strange in respect to specific classes.
Principles of Management- Frankly, I don't really like this class and I don't like my professor. He is one of those "lets have everything I say be a joke even though no one thinks its funny" because p.s. its not funny at all and you are just wasting time. He spent over the first ten minutes of our last class trying to get us to choose a secretary of the class and then he made a big hoopla, yes hoopla because that is the only word to describe it, about giving the class a gold star for how well we did on our first quiz that we used our notes for. Really, is it that hard to do well on a quiz when you can use your notes? Well, if that's all it takes to impress you you must have had some really bad students in the past. Also, we have groups for the whole semester. We had group homework this weekend and then we will be working on our group project for the entirety of the course and it will be presented during the last week of class. I don't like group work, usually because I find group members to not be as reliable as they should be and to not be as smart as they should be. Further more, weekends are used for traveling or seeing Rome not for working in groups. How in the world are we going to find time to meet. Oh, and as a spoiler for when I talk about marketing, we have groups just like this in there as well. Beyond not liking the group aspect it can only be do-able because it is a small class also because of this we have individual presentations that we have to do and we have to participate in class. I know these things aren't horrible or even "bad" they just aren't things that would be common in a normal management class at a large university consisting of several hundred students per lecture. And all these things would be better if they went along with a class that was a subject matter that I cared to learn about.
Principles of Marketing- Groups again, class participation again. And I forgot to mention that with the whole class participation thing (and the promise of pop quizzes) you actually have to read the book. And that is a lot of reading, 30+ text book pages almost every class. Then, my professor wastes time and makes us behind by talking on and on about certain companies, and if you really know nothing about the company, how are you supposed to participate? My professor seems ok at times but other things she is just really meticulous about things that are ridiculous. We have to e-mail her a schedule of all the dates and times for out group meetings. What good is that information going to do for her? But, likewise with the management groups, I feel as though meeting with each other is going to be a struggle especially having to set up two sets of group meetings with fitting with everyone schedules. That is going to be a nightmare. Oh well. I could complain more about small classes and group work but its really not that bad. But, on the other hand. The marketing material has actually turned out to be rather interesting. Not because I find marketing in general interesting because I don't, and I think the interesting aspects might wear off as we get into more in depth material but I am in Rome and talking about how marketing to different cultures completely changes the way you market things is truly a very interesting approach at looking at different cultures and just the idea of culture in general. More on this later because I could go on and on.
Into to Italian Language and Culture- I am really glad I chose this (ITL 100) over ITL 101 which would have been a more grammar oriented way of learning Italian that is like any elementary language course (and the ITL 101s meet four times a week instead of just two). This class is definitely the most useful because it would be nice to learn some of the language while I am here and we also take the time to look a lot at Italian culture which I think will be quite interesting. There is not much else to say about this because it is just what it sounds like and pretty enjoyable.
Art of Rome- This class will hopefully be amazing. Although it seems as though there are a lot of things standing in the way of its awesomeness. I'm going to quickly go through the down sides and then talk about the good aspects because they are far more interesting. And then I think I will also do a post about the specific class session (oh man that's already 2 more posts I have promised and I have so many more running around in my head, I wish I was better at this "blogging" thing). Downsides- quiz every week, reading every week, 2 papers to write, and my professor is annoyingly particular. First, me and a few other people were late because we were meeting at some random "bar" (that is what they call like snack shop/ cafe places where you can get coffee and gelato and other assortments of things) we were literally 3 minutes late to a 3 hour class and he was like, oh you guys are late, that's half an absence. (And if you get more than one absence you loose like 2% of your grade.) Seriously 3 minutes out of 180. Maybe if we were like 10 minutes late ok. And then we took a quiz. Pretty straightforward on the stuff that we talked about in the first class... except spelling counted and if you didn't spell it correctly then it was wrong. Ok I guess that is alright, but we had to spell isosceles that was not part of the new vocab we used that was one of those stupid words you learned in like 3rd grade when you were learning about triangles that you could never spell but never really cared because it didn't matter. Last time I checked being able to spell isosceles had nothing to do with art history. The last down side that I am going to mention is that I could not care less about describing, analyzing, and interpreting art. I ust don't care. But on the upside. We spend 3 hours every week walking around Rome and seeing the historical things while he tells us about the history. Which was fascinating, until we had to start analyzing Trajan's Column. As I said before I will get into more of the details of what I have already seen in the class and maybe do a quick post every week about it.
So those are my classes, like them or not I have to take them.
I am taking a Principles of Marketing class, a Principles of Management class, both of which count towards business core, and Intro to Italian Language and Culture, and Art of Rome.
First of all, one of the biggest culture shocks academically is how small the university is and how small all of my classes are. There are about as many people at AUR as there were in my graduating class. There are more people in some lectures at MSU than there are that attend AUR. Ok, I think you've got the picture and I will explain more in regards to how this is so strange in respect to specific classes.
Principles of Management- Frankly, I don't really like this class and I don't like my professor. He is one of those "lets have everything I say be a joke even though no one thinks its funny" because p.s. its not funny at all and you are just wasting time. He spent over the first ten minutes of our last class trying to get us to choose a secretary of the class and then he made a big hoopla, yes hoopla because that is the only word to describe it, about giving the class a gold star for how well we did on our first quiz that we used our notes for. Really, is it that hard to do well on a quiz when you can use your notes? Well, if that's all it takes to impress you you must have had some really bad students in the past. Also, we have groups for the whole semester. We had group homework this weekend and then we will be working on our group project for the entirety of the course and it will be presented during the last week of class. I don't like group work, usually because I find group members to not be as reliable as they should be and to not be as smart as they should be. Further more, weekends are used for traveling or seeing Rome not for working in groups. How in the world are we going to find time to meet. Oh, and as a spoiler for when I talk about marketing, we have groups just like this in there as well. Beyond not liking the group aspect it can only be do-able because it is a small class also because of this we have individual presentations that we have to do and we have to participate in class. I know these things aren't horrible or even "bad" they just aren't things that would be common in a normal management class at a large university consisting of several hundred students per lecture. And all these things would be better if they went along with a class that was a subject matter that I cared to learn about.
Principles of Marketing- Groups again, class participation again. And I forgot to mention that with the whole class participation thing (and the promise of pop quizzes) you actually have to read the book. And that is a lot of reading, 30+ text book pages almost every class. Then, my professor wastes time and makes us behind by talking on and on about certain companies, and if you really know nothing about the company, how are you supposed to participate? My professor seems ok at times but other things she is just really meticulous about things that are ridiculous. We have to e-mail her a schedule of all the dates and times for out group meetings. What good is that information going to do for her? But, likewise with the management groups, I feel as though meeting with each other is going to be a struggle especially having to set up two sets of group meetings with fitting with everyone schedules. That is going to be a nightmare. Oh well. I could complain more about small classes and group work but its really not that bad. But, on the other hand. The marketing material has actually turned out to be rather interesting. Not because I find marketing in general interesting because I don't, and I think the interesting aspects might wear off as we get into more in depth material but I am in Rome and talking about how marketing to different cultures completely changes the way you market things is truly a very interesting approach at looking at different cultures and just the idea of culture in general. More on this later because I could go on and on.
Into to Italian Language and Culture- I am really glad I chose this (ITL 100) over ITL 101 which would have been a more grammar oriented way of learning Italian that is like any elementary language course (and the ITL 101s meet four times a week instead of just two). This class is definitely the most useful because it would be nice to learn some of the language while I am here and we also take the time to look a lot at Italian culture which I think will be quite interesting. There is not much else to say about this because it is just what it sounds like and pretty enjoyable.
Art of Rome- This class will hopefully be amazing. Although it seems as though there are a lot of things standing in the way of its awesomeness. I'm going to quickly go through the down sides and then talk about the good aspects because they are far more interesting. And then I think I will also do a post about the specific class session (oh man that's already 2 more posts I have promised and I have so many more running around in my head, I wish I was better at this "blogging" thing). Downsides- quiz every week, reading every week, 2 papers to write, and my professor is annoyingly particular. First, me and a few other people were late because we were meeting at some random "bar" (that is what they call like snack shop/ cafe places where you can get coffee and gelato and other assortments of things) we were literally 3 minutes late to a 3 hour class and he was like, oh you guys are late, that's half an absence. (And if you get more than one absence you loose like 2% of your grade.) Seriously 3 minutes out of 180. Maybe if we were like 10 minutes late ok. And then we took a quiz. Pretty straightforward on the stuff that we talked about in the first class... except spelling counted and if you didn't spell it correctly then it was wrong. Ok I guess that is alright, but we had to spell isosceles that was not part of the new vocab we used that was one of those stupid words you learned in like 3rd grade when you were learning about triangles that you could never spell but never really cared because it didn't matter. Last time I checked being able to spell isosceles had nothing to do with art history. The last down side that I am going to mention is that I could not care less about describing, analyzing, and interpreting art. I ust don't care. But on the upside. We spend 3 hours every week walking around Rome and seeing the historical things while he tells us about the history. Which was fascinating, until we had to start analyzing Trajan's Column. As I said before I will get into more of the details of what I have already seen in the class and maybe do a quick post every week about it.
So those are my classes, like them or not I have to take them.
Monday, February 8, 2010
Things to do, Things to see.
I have now been in Rome for about 2 weeks. This time is the transition time from feeling like a tourist, running around to all the major sites, learning the city, learning how to blend in, to being a resident and student in Rome, sure it is only 4 months. But we are living here for that time. This is not just a vacation... which is easy to forget at times.
This city is huge, this city is gorgeous, and this city has so much to see that even with 4 months here I know I will not be able to see all that it has to offer. The question right now however is: What have I seen so far? Well let's start with the main tourist attractions:
Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, Colesseum, Piazza Navona, Pantheon, Castel Sant'Angelo
A few of these I will get to learn more about in my Art of Rome class so I will be able to tell more about them then.
The Trevi Fountain is, well, GORGEOUS. I saw it in the day, threw coins with my right hand over my left shoulder, one to return to Rome, two for love, and three for marriage or divorce. And, if you ask me the third one is sorta a gamble. But, if I am not married then I would have to get married and then the third coin will have done its job and then the divorce won't happen? Sounds good to me.
I also saw the Trevi at night, which is highly recommended.
Spanish Steps were cool. I haven't gon up them yet, just went by them briefly. I also want to go to the world famous best McDonalds in the world which is right by the Spanish Steps. Who thought I would ever want to go to a McDonalds... as far as getting food from there, I'm not sure that I'll go that far.
The Colosseum is so amazing to see and it reminds me of walking around Athens and being on the streets around all the cars and such but then oh, there's the Acropolis that has been there for thousands of years. I have yet to go inside the Colesseum though. But I do that in my class and I will take friends if they come so I don't want to go too many times and pay the 12 euro.
The Colosseum is another site to definitely see at night if you get the chance.
Castel Sant'Angelo was SO amazing. One of my roommates and I spent a few hours there. It was one of the bloodiest places in Rome, it had gorgeous rooms that were the apartments and that you unfortunately can not take pictures of which is a shame because they were so gorgeous they gave me goosebumps. And one of the coolest things was when you finally got to the top and went out on the terrace you could see the entire city sprawled out. You could see the Pantheon, Vatican City, and just the immense sprawl of buildings.
The last one is of Vatican City. St. Peter's on the left and then the walls go out to the right.
The last site that I am going to mention is the Pantheon. I am going to stay brief and give you our Art of Rome class' description of the front and share more when we finish learning about it. I will explain more about this class later because it is going to be one of the most awesome classes I will ever have a chance to take.
"The facade of the Pantheon is a rectangular structure that measures approximately 60 feet tall and 110 feet wide with an isosceles triangular pediment about 20 feet tall. With the rectangle are 8 evenly spaced unfluted columns made of granite marble. 7 of the 8 have Corinthian capitals and the northeast column appears to have a composite capital. Above the capitals is an architrave with remnants of an inscription. A freize with the following inscription: "M AGRIPPA L F COS TERTIVM FECIT." The pediment face is white marble with an innumerable quantity of holes. The above inscription means: Marcus Agrippa during his 3rd counselship made this." And now, if that was too dry, here are some pictures.
And even though I didn't "describe" it, here is a picture of the oculus.
I was going to continue, but this post is far too long already.
Ciao.
So, I arrived a while ago...
I meant to start this right before I left including anticipatory feelings and such. Well, I procrastinate a lot and to say the least, that didn't happen. But, I will start from the beginning. I am studying for just shy of four months at the American University of Rome... in Rome, Italy of course. I left early morning from Traverse City on Monday, January 25, 2010. I took a short flight to Chicago where I then proceeded to wait... for four hours. My next flight directly to Rome Fiumicino was slightly delayed, very empty, and had a ton of turbulence. It left around 4PM Chicago time, which was 5PM Michigan time and then got in at about 8:30am Rome time, which was 2:30am Michigan time. I went through passport control and "customs." I swear every country I've flown into aside from the US could care a less what you bring in. There is an option to go claim stuff, or you can just walk through the other doors, no questions asked. I was then greeted with people from AUR and led to a mass of people. Most of which are from Maryland. The majority of people studying abroad at AUR are from Maryland. It's crazy. More on that later though... or probably not, since who really cares about Maryland. I'm sick of hearing about it already. jk.
We then were taken to our apartments. I live with 5 other girls (well now basically 4... long story) 3 others from State and 2 from Maryland. Our apartment is huge. My bedroom is larger than my extended double was last semester. We learned things about it where to find helpful places near by ie: the market, the farmacia, the tabacchi. We went to have out first pizza in Rome. Definitely more to explain about the food later on. And the rest was a blur of unpacking and napping and jet lag.
Everything else that unravels from here ties into the larger picture of different cultures and being culture shocked, not in a bad way though. In an eye opening good way. A way that not only opened my eyes to things about Italian culture or my own American culture, but to the whole thought and idea of cultures in general.
Ciao.
We then were taken to our apartments. I live with 5 other girls (well now basically 4... long story) 3 others from State and 2 from Maryland. Our apartment is huge. My bedroom is larger than my extended double was last semester. We learned things about it where to find helpful places near by ie: the market, the farmacia, the tabacchi. We went to have out first pizza in Rome. Definitely more to explain about the food later on. And the rest was a blur of unpacking and napping and jet lag.
Everything else that unravels from here ties into the larger picture of different cultures and being culture shocked, not in a bad way though. In an eye opening good way. A way that not only opened my eyes to things about Italian culture or my own American culture, but to the whole thought and idea of cultures in general.
Ciao.
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