Monday February 15th

Already week seven! These past six weeks have absolutely flown by. Every day has been a new adventure and a new lesson. In fact, almost every day so far has been packed with activities –class, visiting Rome, various projects, writing assignments, readings, eating, exploring, and planning presentations. It’s been fantastic but I also think that I speak for all of us when I say that a slower, more relaxed day like today was welcome.

Only two classes today: Introduction to Baroque Art in the Conference room (one of very few in-house lectures given by Lisa) and Italian language class. In Italian, we learned some grammar, hotel vocabulary, how to book rooms, and how to make the receptionist aware of problems. For example, “l’acqua calda non funziona” and “posso avere ancora una coperta.” Both of these would have been useful in the past, especially when dealing with the jolly man who fixed our heat every other day but couldn’t understand a word we said! In the future, I’m sure he will appreciate our new Italian phrases.

In Lisa’s class, we learned about Baroque Art. Since today was less strenuous and eventful than most, here is a quick review on the major tenets of Baroque Art with fun pictures from past adventures in Italy to help you remember

1. New Subject Matter: landscape, portraiture, still life, scenes of every-day life
(below is a picture of Carisa, Steph, and Lauren doing arts and crafts (in a scene of every-day life) in honor of the olympics. Picture of the finished product to be expected later in the week)


2. Deep Interest in Psychology: Passions of the heart
(below is a picture, a still-life, of our Valentines Day treat made by Erika. Thanks Erika!)


3. Concerns with Space
(below is a picture of Sijia, staring off into space. Actually, she is looking up at a Baroque style ceiling that is painted to look like it goes higher than it actually does)


4. Preoccupations with Time
(below is a picture of an hourglass taken in the Palazzo Medici Riccardi, indicative of time)


5. Expressive use of Light
(below is a picture of Florence at night. lots of light. beautiful)



Of course, there was cooking and eating delicious treats before, after, and in between the classes! Mostly, we just took it slow. Different sets of people went on walks, explored their rione, worked on their projects, and quite a few of us grabbed gelato for an evening dessert. I don’t think we could ever grow tired of gelato! The day ended with everybody watching the Olympics and working on upcoming projects.

Ciao!
Alexis and Teo

Thursday, February 11th

This week independent Research check-in meetings were moved to Thursday, mine being at 10:30, so each group met separately with Lisa and Julie in Julie’s apartment. We had great Italian doughnut holes and cappuccinos from our wonderful and generous teachers, and then discussed our independent research topics, and the progress made on our research. The presentations are only a few weeks away!

After a long break during the afternoon, the whole group met up to go to Villa Borghese, and the museum there. We left at around 2:15, and took a bus ride to the beautiful gardens and property of the Villa Borghese. After a short introduction in the front yard, we went inside. The Villa was a “pleasure palace” built by Cardinal Scipione Borghese, who was the nephew of Pope Paul V.

Inside the museum there are currently hundreds of paintings and sculptures. We saw many paintings by the infamous artist, Caravaggio, whose paintings were great, but controversial with the church at the time. This did not stop Scipione Borghese from snatching up a lot of his famous works. My favorite was the Madonna with the child. The painting is very different from most depictions of the Madonna with the baby Jesus because it is very dark. The child is in the forefront, standing, but stepping on a snake with his feet. This is a very unusual pose and depiction of one of the most painted religious subjects.

The statues by Gian Lorenzo Bernini were my favorite part of the Villa Borghese. His ability to carve these statues out of marble was unreal to me. The details are amazing and in some cases the marble looks like it is actual skin because of the techniques he used. Also, the drapery on the statues almost looked like paper or cloth it was so realistic. Very amazing works of art to see so close and in person.Too bad we couldn’t take pictures of our own!

We left the museum around 5 in order to get back, because Natalia, Mick, and I (Conner) had to pack for our flight to Barcelona later that night!

Wednesday, February 10th

Today was a great day for a short walking tour. We were lucky to have Teo present to us about street shrines: their history and purpose in Rome. The street shrines are mainly of the Virgin Mary, and are paintings on buildings above eye level (about 10 to 15 feet above street level.) They can be seen all around Rome, and could be on any building or wall, on any road. The street shrines are religious art that everyone can participate in at any time of day or night, because they are right on the street, and in all parts of the city. These street shrines represent the religious influence in the city of Rome, but also let every citizen have their own personal religious connection and interaction with the Virgin Mary.

When Teo was taking us to look at these shrines, we saw the offerings of candles, flowers, and other items as a sign of people’s dedication to these religious figures. I actually had the pleasure of lighting a candle for one of the shrines that Teo brought, and we left the candle there on the mantle.

Later in the afternoon after our short walking tour, we had another Italian class (two days in a row!) with Fede from 3 to 5. We learned more about how to express what we liked to do in our spare time. We also ended the class with a much-needed question and answer period with Fede that usually involves us asking “how to say this” and “how to say that,” usually only discussing how to order food and coffee!

After Italian class I went on a run, therefore missing the optional excursion to a Liberi Nantes soccer practice, however I later found out that the excursion got cancelled for lack of interest. Maybe we were all too tired!

SNOW DAY

The girls of the interno 8 apartment were giddy today. Lauren played "Let it Snow" on her computer while we watched the Campo de' Fiori become the Campo de' SNOW. There was a blizzard outside of our windows for a few hours this morning, apparently the first real snow that Rome has seen in 24 years.

Our excursion with Julie was rescheduled for next week, so we have the glorious gift of a three-day weekend... again!
We all had a slow, relaxing start to a very lethargic day. There was a lot of facebooking, photo uploading, and eating going on until a few of us stirred up enough energy to venture out into the sno...sun? Sometime around noon the snow came to a sunny halt. It was fun while it lasted though.
I decided to make the most of the day. After waking up after 10, spending a good four or five hours browsing the internet I descended the five flights of spiral stairs and walked the 50 feet to the Rome Center. I have been sitting here in one of the empty classrooms working on my art history project for a couple of hours now. I'm not gonna lie, I'm feeling good.
As Carisa would say, today has been a "killer day".

Tuesday, February 9th

Today was a different sort of day than yesterday. It began with Italian language class from 9-11 am. We had a little lunch break, and then met again at 1 o’clock for our Roman Borders “Graffiti excursion”. After a short bus ride, a few wrong turns, and another bus ride, we began our tour of the outskirts of Rome. Maria Teresa Natale, a graffiti artist and the creator of a graffiti website, showed us another side to Rome. We walked through dirty, impoverished, immigrant neighborhoods, full of low rise apartments and: graffiti! The graffiti art was fascinating, and some of the artists are really impressive. My favorite part of the tour was the hidden... for lack of a better word “lot”… that we walked through. The place was completely covered in graffiti art from the past 30 years. It was fascinating, and great for photos.


After almost three hours of walking, we were given the option of being done for the day or continuing with the tour to go see Richard Meier’s Jubilee Church. I went to see the church, despite the fact that I was freezing cold in my thin North Face fleece. The church turned out to be well worth the extra hour and a half of shivering- it was amazing! So modern, totally different than anything we’ve seen here in Rome.

It took an hour and a half to get back to the Campo de’ Fiori. After a six and a half hour excursion, I finally collapsed on my bed at 7:30. It was a long day, but a stimulating and refreshing one as well.

Thursday, February 4th

Ciao Ragazzi!

What a day we all had today. We started out with a trip Caritas, and
this long awaited trip was well worth the wait. We learned about the
available means for the incoming immigrants, their situations and
their stories. But most importantly we learned about how much the
employees at Caritas truly care about the people that walk through
their doors. The manager of the center even told us a story that
occurred almost 10 years ago. These people dedicate their time,
connections and hearts to the immigrants that enter their offices, its
truly touching.

After Caritas we headed to the focal point of the Catholic religion,
The Vatican. We saw painting from every time period, every art style
and every available type of creative outlet. Painting, sculpting and
even tapestry were available for viewing. The most remarkable and
debatable pieces we saw was of course the Sistine Chapel. This
incredible dome that has every inch of Michaelangelo’s style in each
stroke had people feeling very difference emotions. Some felt let
down, the art didn’t live up to the hype it had been given while
others stood in awe at the masterpiece above their heads.

Overall the day was long, exhausting and truly exhilarating. Caritas
showed us much about the cities efforts in immigration and how giving
the human heart can be. The Vatican was an expression of the talents
among past and present artist as well as the capability for people to
have authentic faith. Even the unreligious can feel a sense of
divinity in the incredible surroundings of the Vatican.

Buona Sera Tutti!

Monday, February 8th

We are on to week six now… entering the second half of our adventure here. Twelve of the fourteen of us went to Venice for two nights this weekend, which made our free morning today especially nice. We had a light day of classes, just art history from 3-5.
Carisa gave an in-depth, enlightening presentation on the Church Triumphant, the history of the Jesuits in Rome, and guided us through the Il Gesu and Sant’Ignazio churches. We debated the methods and intentions of the Jesuits in their evangelical sweep of the globe in the 16th and 17th centuries while sitting on the steps of Il Gesu. The all too familiar roaring, beeping, screeching of the Roman traffic provided an ideal setting for our discussion… joke.

Although the façade of Il Gesu isn’t overly impressive, the inside is spectacular. Upon entering the church, your eyes are immediately drawn to the high alter where there is a massive, gold-encrusted Jesuit emblem. The ceiling is covered with frescoes and statues, creating a three dimensional effect… and the sensation of “ascension”. Everything in the church seems to be in the process of being pulled heavenward.

After visiting both of the Jesuit churches, Lisa took us to one of her favorite cafés and bought us coffee! Lisa is too good to us sometimes… it’s a wonderful thing. I had the best cappuccino I’ve ever tasted in my life; sugary, frothy, and delicious. The point is, today was just a great start to the week.