Day 19: MON: Catacombs

I woke up early Monday morning to go on a tour of the Roman catacombs. We met and the Pyramide and took a bus from there along the Appian Way. The Catacombs of Saint Sebastian are some of the oldest in the world. Burying people started as a Christian tradition because before, the Romans would simply cremate people. Throughout history the tombs were sacked and so most of the marble plates and goods are gone. The catacombs weren’t officially discovered until the 1920s when they excavated under the church. The emperor Constantine? actually built the church over the tombs. It was a fun tour- I had to duck most of the time, but it was really interesting. I couldn’t imagine having to walk through there with just a torch. Afterwards we walked to the Domus Snc Di Massimo Magnanimi E Figli. It used to be a monument to an emporer’s death, but was turned into a fort in the middle ages. We walked back down the Appian Way and in towards town a bit. We visited the Fosas Ardeatinas- a monument to a group of Italians who were shot by the Nazis and then buried. They turned it into a museum and monument. It makes you realize just how old Italy is when you see some of the oldest and newest (by their standards) monuments in one day. BC-1940s is a long time. After the trip we went back to school and got our partners for studio. I am with Blake which I think will work out well. We have been in the same studio three times and sat by each other twice. Either way- we’re familiar and have similar interests which hopefully should help considering this is a team project (which we haven’t done before). We are also in the studio by the Piazza Navona which is a great location. More pics from studio soon!

Day 18: SUN: taco night

I set my alarm for 8. Snooze. Snooze. Snooze. I reset it for 9. Snooze. Snooze. Reset for 10. Snooze. I finally grabbed my phone off my desk and passed out again in bed, holding it while trying to change my alarm. I woke up at 12:30. Needless to say, I didn't make it to the flea market. Fail. Again. I'll try really hard to go next weekend. That day was leisurely. We tried to have taco night, but couldn't get ground beef so we made chicken tacos. They were delicious- I brought some salsa and spicy cheese. I miss Mexican food.

Day 17: SAT: new things in rome

Saturday was a chiller day. I got up and grabbed Cassidy. I wanted to go get some pizza so she came with me. We went to the 4E place and got some 'zza (i'm busy- I can't type the WHOLE word). On the way there we ran into Blake who said he was going to the Ara Pacis museum- the new building on the Tiber River designed by Richard Meier. We walked there along the river. The water was finally low enough to go down there. It's so quiet there. I found half of a CD player- just the lid that washed up from the river. All that time in the river had made it look really old and worn- like a relic or something ancient. I felt so old, imagining myself trying to explain to my children what a CD player was for. I could hear it now: "You could only put how many songs on it?" We finally made it to the museum as the sun was setting. Using the rough side of travertine on the wall and exterior was a really interesting take on a common material in Rome. The wall also has a fountain on the other side that runs along the street and down the steps. It blocks out a lot of noise from the nearby traffic. We didn't actually go see any exhibits, but we did go in the giftshop- I bought a postcard. After that we strolled about the city- they had an icerink nearby. It was a nice afternoon /evening. That night for dinner we had American night! We made cheesburgers, mashed potatoes, green beans, and drank beer (we even found some Budweiser). I brought a peach pie. I didn't realize that I missed burgers that much. I ate a whole box of olives that night. After dinner we went for a bit on the town and just sort of wandered around Trastevere without ever going into bars. Well we went into a sports bar for a bit, but then we left- the prices were too high. In the end we just decided to go home early and wake up for the flea market on Sunday.

Day 16, FRI: 1/22- Jack Beats

Friday I woke up and poked around. I did laundry with Hannah and got a hair cut. I was going to go work out, but then I thought I'd check my facebook and respond to this message from this DJ I met last week. He gave me some suggestions for cool places to go in Rome. I clicked on the first website and BAM in my face was JACK BEATS!. I couldn't believe it. Playing TONIGHT in ROME. I quickly made dinner and tried to round some people together to go out. Blake wanted to go so we headed off to GOA to try and make it before 1:00 before they came on. So we headed out the door- it was supposed to be a 40 minute walk, but we had never been there. We knew the general area though. I had my trusty iPhoner to try and guide us but it only works on wifi and was pretty much just a map for the time being. Anyway we got turned around a little halfway, but made progress! We ran into some Italian couple who knew where it was. They were super friendly and said they were going the same way so we walked with them, but unfortunately they were doing work on the metro in this one spot so we couldn't get one block over. We backtracked and got on the right track. We bid a Ciao! and hot footed it over to GOA. It was 5 minutes til one. "We're going to be OK!", I thought. rawng! There were at least 50 people waiting in line to get in. Unfortunately as I have found from living in Italy for this long- in addition to traffic laws, Italians also don't believe in lines. People were all trying to pile in but the bouncers were not letting the rope budge. Everyone who was getting in * in addition to being fluent in Italian* either A) had girls with them, B) knew someone who worked there, or C) knew a person behind the ropes who could get them in. They all still had to try and convince the incredulous bouncer to let them in. Finally, I grabbed this one bouncer and told him that it was just me and my friend trying to get in. He said "OK" and let us in just like that. The MOST fun I've had in Rome yet. We didn't miss Jack Beats- the music was amazing, the place was packed, and I had a ball. I met some really cool people there too- hopefully we'll get to hang out again some time in the future. When he got kicked out Blake was still inside. This girl I met, her friend kept telling me to leave Blake and go with them because Blake could fin his own way home. I told him no I'm waiting for my friend. He started giving me crap for it so I told him to "Keep wasting your breath because I'm waiting until my friend leaves". Blake made it out and we walked home along with another guy from the show who happened to like ultimate frisbee (Blake's favorite sport). It worked out well for everybody :)

Day 15: THR, 1/21: creeper night

thursday we went to the pantheon and sketched for the morning. we got to really analyze it and look at it. it's different when you sketch something from when you take a picture of it. you have to really look at it and analyze it. after that i ate the best slice of pizza i've had in rome yet: it had eggs, artichoke, olives, pepperoni (a rarity), tomato sauce, and plenty of cheese. we got it from this tiny restaurant from the Pizza Nazi. After that I ran back to the apartment for a bit and then headed back to school. We met up and then headed to Testaccio for a presentation on frugal architecture. Testaccio is by a giant mound which looks like a huge hill, but is really a giant pile of discarded pottery from a pottery factory. It's an old industrial area that's being converted into hip locales. Anyway, the final presenter was Danny Wick from the Rural Studio at Auburn. The lecture was conveniently timed right after we got our emails from Rusty telling us who made Urban and Rural studio. I didn't make it which was a bit of an upset, but everyone who made it in really deserves it- it was a really tough crowd and a good group of people. I'm also really excited about on campus next semester. Anyway the lectures were nice, but a bit boring and draggggged on. This left Danny with no time. His presentation was good, but a bit sped up. they tried to make him hurry and he said "look, i know you want me to hurry, but i need to finish!" his presentation was BY FAR the best and really embodied "frugal architecture". It makes me sad I won't get to do rural studio, but I'll go down a lot over the weekend next year. anyway we got out of the lecture pretty late and we walked home. That night we would up at scholars lounge. It was great until we left. Somehow I got left at the bar and I had to walk home by myself. I've done it before so i didn't think much of it until some guy started walking next to me and chatting me up. It seemed innocuous enough, but I was a bit cautious seeing as how it was 3:30 and i was alone. It wasn't too far of a walk and it was in a busy neighborhood but there was no one out an no cars. He started telling me that he lived nearby and that i should go to his apartment. I kept saying "No, No"- hoping he'd leave me alone. He was a little older and much shorter than me so i didn't feel immediately threatened, just really creeped out that he might have a weapon or something. We got the bridge and he started saying some dirty things so I finally grabbed him by the shoulders and forcefully said something to the extent of "NO! Now leave me alone". He left and I power walked home. I got mad at Marco for the guys leaving me. There was no way they couldn't have seen me outside the bar. I don't want to walk around alone late again. In retrospect it wasn't a big deal, but I think it's a good lesson about being careful in the city.

Day 14: WED 1/20: cities of the dead

I woke up early at 7:00. I was not going to be late. We were out the door by 7:45- we had to be there by 8:30. We all traveled in a group walking first, then by tram, then by bus but we made it on time. The Termini train station was a grand building- modern and streamlined and covered in marble. We went and waited inside- I got a croissant and some of the guys were overwhelmed with joy to find a McDonalds that serves breakfast. We met up with all of our group and then got to the bus. Excuse me, “coach” as they call it over here. This thing was nice. Huge, spacious, new inside and out with reclining seats and a bathroom DOWN a tiny flight of stairs. It even had an ESPRESSO MAKER built in at the front of the bus. It was the most Italian bus I had ever seen. We sped off throughout town and out through the gates of the ancient city wall. I tried to get some sleep but it was hard at first because the historian with us kept talking in the microphone and I had a speaker right above my head. An hour and a half later- we were there: the city of the dead or the "Necropolis". The Necropolis is in a small town called Tarquinia which used to be a Vatican state. It is on a hill by the sea and is heavily fortified. We visited a bunch of elaborate ancient tombs. Apparently they have discovered over 6000 of them but we got to see some of the best preserved tombs. After that we went to the museum nearby that was filled with ancient Etruscan artifacts, including a lot of pottery and vases. There were no cameras allowed :(. Etruscans were very advanced because they had built all the tombs and women were equal with men in their society. After that we had lunch at what seemed to be the only open restaurant. It took a long time to serve everyone and we were about 30 minutes late. We all piled in the bus and squeezed through the tiny roads to the tiny town of Cerveteri. Cerveteri is a farm town that only until the 1980s discovered it was on top of thousands of graves. Most of them are still covered and are sitting wide open on public property or farm land. We went to a museum type place that had sectioned off some excavated big specimens that were in good shape. When it got dark we piled back on the Italian bus and were off to the city. We hopped a bus back to the apartment from the Piramide.

Day 13 TUE 1/19

Tuesday morning I got up at 8am and was in class by 9:30 for my first Modern Architecture class. Our teacher is cool- she's very enthusiastic. Rome has been through a lot of transformations. We learned about the different city plans it has been through. Later on we'll get to go on some really cool field trips. That afternoon we met up with our groups in studio. We went over to the new studio building which is right by the Piazza Navona. It's a beautiful building and very old (of course). We got another set of keys which brings me to about 100 now. We worked on building a 3D site model for the project. We have to model all the buildings in the area. Luckily Francesco had a CAD file for the city so we got to lay everything out pretty quickly.