Imagine when...

Dec. 11 Thursday - I left for Rome on my own with a layover in DC before I was to meet up with the rest of the class.

Dec. 12 Friday - I arrived around 7:15 and got my bags at carrosaul 10 and sat facing the wrong direction apparently reading a book (thinking I'll hear English if my class comes to turn around) Wrong - I had missed them getting their bags right behind me and waited till 9:30 when I concluded that searching was no longer hopeful and was about to take a taxi. This guy waved me down but his car only had a cab sign on the front and no ticker keeping track of the pay, feeling that this guy was a little sketchy I still got in the car and asked how much it was as he started to drive...."70 Euro" Uh Hell no went through my mind but instead I replied that with the train it was only 16 so I would pay 20 max (plus I only had 60 cash on me) At least he was kind enough to turn back into the airport and take me to the train station, which I'm not sure how I would have gotten there on my own. Luckliy at that moment George called me and was able to tell me what trains to take and send Abby to get me so I made it to the hotel.

After checking in we explored in the rain the sites of Rome - I kinda hopped groups and discovered a shopping mall and what I think was Trajan's column along with the Trevi fountain. (I didn't get a chance to throw coins in so I hope I still end up going back) To beat the jet leg after coming back in it was cards and wine up on the 6th floor (double deck BS and tounges is the way to go) - I'm impressed by the few 3 of us who were able to stay up till 10 pm! haha

Dec. 13 Saturday -First we went to the monk catacombs around the corner from the hotel - it was crazy! 700 monk bones were made into designs all having important symbolism - there were roman crosses, monks still perseved with eye sockets and arm flesh, there was a boy in a cirle with a balance and a siffle -he was a nephew of the pope and the circle represents the meaning of eternal life - birth- the siffle is that of the grim reaper and of death, and the balance is for justice.

Next we went to check out the Baths which absolutely blew my mind! They're humengous! The ceilings had to be 100ft tall. Now just try to imagine the mosaic tiling everywhere up on the walls, down on the floor, my head begins to spin just thinking about how splendid that place looked back in the 200 AD's. It definitely surpassed me expectations.

Next was the Circus Maximus - not at all what I expected - could just walk by it and never have known what it was. The history of the place is cool but how much is left really doesn't give a feeling at all for the emotion the place held. Could be knocked off the list of places to stop.

Theatre Marcello not really anything left, could be knocked off the list too. Just old columns, it was cool to see for a short period of time but nothing overly spectatular. The church right next to it however was really beaufitul with a blue ceiling with inlaid gold floral designs.

Next was a free for all so a group of us hit up Marceus Areillus and the tomb of the unknown soldier. There were tons of marble stairs and giant statues and chariots and cheribs. Inside there was a museum that held really neat swords and paintings. One the way to the pantheon we stopped off and ate at a little place and had a pantheon salad with a caffe latte.

One of my favorite places had to be the Pantheon it was absolutley break taking! I loved the oculous in the center and the coffered dome! (Coffered domes might just be an inspiration I use for my next design assignment) Michangelo is burried there too. After the Pantheon we hit up the shopping scene for a little but didn't really see anything all that great worth getting and found a fabric/upholstery store but didn't get anything (I'll have to go back to Rome to get some lace and fabric at somepoint)

When we got back to the hotel I met up with Lavinia! It was great to see her, she was a foreign exchange student at my high school staying with my boyfriend at the time. We became really good friends and emailed back and forth. She even came up to Florence to visit me when I went with a class trip freshmen year. We ended up going to the Berllini exhibit of his paintings (there were a lot of madonna with bambino - mary with child) It was really cool to see though, I could tell how his style progressed and how the understanding of the human porportions improved by the way the babies faces looked less like a 40 year old as well as Mary's face not looking so long. I do have to say I admire how well all the artist from AD to the Renaissance can render fabric so impecibly! I mean the way they can depict the folds of the fabric and the shine or matt that it gives off is incredible and I hope I can achieve an ounce of that in my marker renderings.

After that we went and ate at a Resturant in an area that Lavinia walked us - had a pizza with salame (since they don't have pepporini in Italy I got salami cut into circles haha) The waitor was really nice there and helped us with our pronounciation and even helped us split the check (which we left him a pretty nice tip for)

On the way back we walked past some piano bars and figured we try a place out so after changing we headed out for a night on the town which went down pretty much like this
-First piano bar was either a strip club or a gay bar but either way only men were allowed
- Second place this creepy old guy tried to get us to go into his club and Jordan looked on the inside and saw no one else there and it would be 15 euro for a cover so we passed on that one
- Third place was George's - really nice piano bar and the music was great however the drinks were ubber expensive and we figured if we wanted to stay there we'd have to pay so we headed for the door on that one ( plus it was full of older guys with way younger women...not that there's anything wrong with that but it was a little sketchy)
- 4th place was way too swanky and we needed to be in formal dress; suit tie, evening gown kind of wear
- So we just walked over to Peppy's where I indulged in the God Mother and attempted to get a free drink from Antino the waiter - as of no such luck we had our one drink and came back to the hotel

Dec. 14 Sunday - We went to the Colosseum, apparently we thought we were getting a guided tour but there was a miscommunication so we ended up having the time to ourselves to view it on our own. It was definitely massive and had tons of arches. The little museum around it on the top had some interesting things, not everything had to do with the Colosseum though, some stuff was from WWII. The underneath part would have been even cooler to walk through in person but seeing it from above at least gave a good oversight of what the gladiators walked through and where the animals were stored.

Then we left and walked over to a flea market by the river- imagine all the Good Wills and St. Vincent De Paul's put together on a giant street in New York with everything open air- that's pretty much what this market was. We went with a big group and established a meeting point if we got separated and so me KJ, Logan, Phil and Nick found a cheap kabob place (which was unlike the other kind of kabob's I'd seen, it was on a tortilla and they put fries in it- but it was still really good)
We walked back to the arch of Constantine and went into the Forum with the rest of the class. CRAZY HUGE!! Forum is another one of my favorite places! The fact that some of the columns were one piece of marble - for real I'm flabbergasted (haha that's a fun word) There was a basilica which was incredible with a large coffered dome. We found the center were at one point all roads lead to Rome. It sucks that a lot of things were lotted and only a few things were left but the things that were still amaze me. To even think of what it looked like color ---oooo- it would've been gorgeous! Jordan, Justin, Chris and I all walked around the Palatino Palace roof - it was huge and the guy even had an enormous work out field and a ton of different baths - why? cause he could that's why.



*****Intermission************
Things that I appreciate back in the states are
-the helpfulness and truthfulness of people when you ask a time, place, or cost -most of the time at least
- the sane driving skills
- free toliets and toliet seats
- free water
- free seating at tables
- parking spots not sidewalks
- how technology and construction are easierly integrated because the history surrounding a certain area isnt restricting the location.
- how zoning codes dont cause things to look super homogenous

Things to Appreciate about Rome
- how things do have a cohesive look and fit in well with each other
-the history！　
－how because everything isnt free they dont feel entitled to the little things in life
-public transportation！
-walkablitiy of the city
-the water conservation-different settings for flushing the toliet
-foot pedal facuets- less germs

-maybe not an appreciation but at least a difference is the amount of pda.

*****Resume************

Dec. 15 Monday- Pompei
We arrived in Pompei with enough time to grab lunch at a near by joint and then headed towards the ruins to meet our tour guide. Our guide was extermely educated in Pompei history and had been a tour guide for the past 30 years if I remember correctly. Heres some of the information I got from the tour - along with amazing pictures and incredible fascination-
- Dug up the runins 20-30ft underground that spanned 91 acres.
- Locals used lava stone, the greeks used limestone and marble, Etruscans used tuffa - a way of identifying different buildings on the sites
-Greek roads were always straight hence why all the roads were in intersecting perpendicular arrangments.
-Nomadi was a widow who became a priestess and got her son Julius elected as president - she was good at influencing others with her powers in the textile world along with having the floor of the forum remade in marble.
- There are temples to all the religions, not one was persecuted - Romans, Greek and Persian
- Roman blieved opprotunitz to survive in the afterlife is to be remembered so they try to die a heroic death, or at least have a bench by their tomb that says "after you enjoyed your sit here please remember me"
-They had shops for exchanging money with the reciepts on wax tables that have records of the cost of mule and slave etc.
-the side walks were fairly small and in the road were large stepping stones incase the road got flooded it was easy to cross the street.
-They used the invention of slidding doors since the shops were small and there would be no room to swing a door open into the store or out onto the sidewalk.
-10,000-12,000 people inhabitated Pompei
-The word acheology came from discovering Pompei
- When the umbrella cloud errupted over the city no one left because they didnt realize what was happening. - 5ft of rock covered the town by noon and by night there was 10ft of rock and people were buried alive in their homes. Those who tried to escape breathed in toxic gases that would cement in their throat causing suffocation. On the 3rd day when the cloud collapsed it was basically a tsumani of rocks that crushed anzthing that was left standing and blew over 70-80 miles into the next towns.
-Plaster casts were made of people, they even have a few silicon casts that are able to tell the type of textile and pigment of their clothes --my favorite fact and soo incredible, definitely wish I could have seen what that looked like.
-Seeing the plaster cast was really emotional for me at least because I could feel the pain and agony those people had to have been feeling right before their death, their faces are frozen in this horrid expression with still all their teeth and bones- clenched fists and curled toes further their anguish as they probably tried to escape their fate.
-There were plenty of thermal baths around along with 89 bars and 25 brothels
-the frescos of the brothels were a little disturbing and to think that was an acceptable way of life and the stone beds....it just seems like a really challenging and kind of tragic downfall to the human race because it still continues today, maybe not to the naked eye but its still a way to make a living which just doesnt seem like living at all to me.
-Romans invented the fireman - a person who knew what to do to put out a fire had to be justified for entering so it became an organized way of life, mostly slaves held the jobs and were able to rise in status since they would get paid for saving someones house. -hence also why no houses are allowed kitchens on the second story.
-They also coined the phrase Beware of Dog to keep people out - even showing it with mosaic tiling on the floor.
-Prison didnt exisit there so people were either a-whipped in public, b-crucified, c-became a gladiator, or d-decapatated. If a person was breaking the law by fighting for what they believed was a noble cause then that person could be enslaved -like soliders- hence how slave came about from the Yugoslavians who were being enslaved.
-There was a place for abandoned babies to be left and then they would become slaves- aka the milk column where the babies would be fed before adopted.
-In the houses the decoration tells the generation - just like today if someone owns something of a parent or guardian they will most likely change the style of decoration to suit the times and their taste.
-The largest house is 27,000 sq ft
- There were lead pipes imported from Britain but only 5 cases of lead posioning were found.
-Bakeries were run by blindfolded donkeys and 51 pieces of bread were found in the oven during excavation.
-their tools for medicine and work are similar to what we have now
- In 70B.C the oldest ampitheatre was built
-Pompei also housed the 2nd most important school for gladiators


Whew! Thats a lot about Pompei!

That night I went out to eat with Phil N. and Tyler and had a great salmon dinner and good converstation.
Later me, Jordan, Tyler, Phil N, KJ, and Rachel went to an Irish pub called Fiddlers Elbow and played a round of darts -Jordan won but I let him win for a confidence booster haha!Then we finished the night off right with a round of indian poker and texas holdem.

Dec. 16 Tue.
Got up and saw the differnent Berini and Brunellschi Churches - AMAZING!!! Love Love Love the coffered dome that looks oval with the crosses and hexagonal shapes by the four fountains. As well as the St. Maria Victoria that housed the St. Thersa of Esctasy- she didnt look too contraversial but I guess at the time she was more in esctasy than in enlightenment. And I loved how the ceiling started to blend and fall down onto the sides- I think that happened in the mannerism period if I can remember back to art history but Im not quite sure.
We walked in the rain to the Borghese museum and saw Berninis David which shows him in the action of the fight instead of like Michaelangelo and Dontello who show David after the battle. The Rape of Prospersine has to be mz favorite because the detail and intricacy is astounding! He made her flesh appear real in such a hard medium, the way his hands left indents on her twisting flesh and the tear that fell from her face---ahh it was amazing!! There were also lots of Carrivagos and massive busts. I need to figure out how the different marbles were mixed together, did they carve one to match the other and then put it on top like a paper doll?

After that me and a few others walked over to the Vatican - no line at the museum and went through the different collection of Egyptian to modern religious art. The tapestires were geeze! I mean threading all of that and the rendering of the fabric, again thats incredible! The Sistine Chapel was crazyyy, if you got a close look at hell you saw the devil making a silly face sticking his tounge out, people being pulled back to hell, and just creepy depictions of skin, the soul and the damned. The 3d rendering is amazing and the people actually looked like their feet were dangling! Theres just way too much to look at to really get a good understanding of it i could spend just a week looking at all the different panels appreciating all the hard work went into creating that master piece.

And the St. Peters Basilica!!! AHHHHHHH!!! GIANORMOUS!!! Everything is so high, every statue is at least 8ft tall and the Pieta was the smallest one and so shinny and protected by glass- The altar piece, oh the altar piece, that was to die for I love the black and gold spiral columns its just i cant even fathame how it was created!

Later that night was the dinner with all the professors and the Dean - delicious lamb with 4 other courses before it...mmmmmm I can still taste it!

My favorite part of the night though had to be the dance slash toga party were we moved all the tables put on some music- which only happened to be salsa or 80s and danced...well I at least danced and made people dance haha. It was pretty fun and Muthar came up and is a pretty good salsa dancer.

Dec. 17 Wed.
Drive to Florence. It was actually really nice to go to Florence again. I was a little reserved at first because I felt like there was so much to see in Rome that to try and see the important things in Florence and in Rome would be too much, but Im glad I went again. We got to see an older church with a facade like the Duomo and wooden ceiling that held Marconis tomb -inventor of the radio- as well as a statue that was used as the basis for the statue of liberty. Phil and I walked around exploring the church more and then we all ate at the little German market taking place in front of the church. Then it was off to the Duomo and the Bapistry. The Bapistry was being rennovated when I was there so it was really cool to get to see the doors and look on the inside to see crazy detailed mosaics all over the ceiling. Then it was off to the top of the Duomo again! The view from the top is so goregous and the weather was absolutely perfect! Then after the Duomo we all went to the David, which is just something to be experience, his face is so stern and intense after the battle. I really love the slaves also because their roughness evokes an emotion of their lives - the hardships a slave endures being held captive. I forgot to get my swiss army knife that was in my purse so I just left a little of me behind in Florence. After that we raced over to the Palazzo Vecchio to see Mick and Mac as well as run to the top of the Ponte Vecchio and see the piles and gabs of gold and jewerly placed in the windows. From there it was a relaxing bus ride back falling asleep while listening to Jordans ipod.

Dec. 18 Thur
Off to Ostia! It was like a little Pompei but not as great of a view because it wasnt on a hill. There were tons of mosaics and half intact buildings. It gave me this secret garden feeling because things were overgrowing and you could turn down any little path and come out somewhere completely different. Jordan, Rachel and I wondered off through a field leading up to some ruins, got our feet nice and soaked but had a good time investigating the area- only to discover that a path lead up to it from the other side haha. - also were I lost my black sweater- just leaving parts of me everywhere! The theatre is actually still in use in the summer which would be pretty cool to see something in action there. After wondering around for a good 5 hours we headed off to the EUR. It was very contemporary feeling, white marble arches and the axis of evil was marked with a marble obelsik in the center of a round about and looking in either direction you could see the 4 main buildings of the fascist party. I decided to be a little daring and when all the cars passed I ran out across the round about to touch the oblisk and then got offered a ride from Italians- while a nice offer didnt quite seem like a safe choice so I waited for the traffic to calm down and then ran back across the round about- what a thrill haha. That night we went to Sloppy Joes with Ashely and her friend who was studying abroad in Rome. After hanging out there for a little we went to Scholars, an irish pub that was jam packed with people and had an irish band playing. It would have been great to stay there but with a group of people and trying to make conversation let alone stand next to each other just didnt seem like a lot of fun so on a mission to find a dance club we made it to the Piazza Nouvea and then just headed back home unfulfilled.

Dec. 19 Friday
Day to do whatever- headed over to Lavinias place with Jordan and Michelle. There was a cute little flea market that had we gone there earlier in the week been deadly to the pocket book. Then she let us see her apartment which was sooo awesome, I could definitely live in a flat in Rome. It had a nice high ceilings, a den, a big living room with lots of book shelf space, 3 bedrooms-with tons of closet space!- an eating room, kitchen and 3 bathrooms. I really liked it and the location was right next to food market, flea market and other shops all around the corner. Then we headed off the train station to catch a train to Naples and then a cab that was suppose to be 8 euros to Sorrento. The train ride Jordan taught us how to play the Russian card game idiot- I cant remember what it was really called- I love the train ride, I could be content when I get older and retired to just ride a train all day and look at the scenery go by haha. When we got off in Naples it was as I was told to expect- stinky and dirty and not really exciting- we went to get in a cab and was told it would be 100 euros-uh again hell no we said and left- we could have taken another hour train to Sorrento for 5 euros and would have gotten there at 4 which in hindsight I guess we should have just done. We walked around Naples thinking it couldnt possibly be that bad - we walked for a half an hour, the sun started to set and we figured we better get out of here fast- stinky, creepy and loud- not a really great place if youre ever interested in going there- now that I remember though hindsight again-we could have seen the Pompei museum that held everything taken out of the city- oh well we were pretty ready to leave- so we got on a bus the bus driver was nice enough to let us know when to get out- we started checking the times to see when the next train was leaving even though our ticket was for 9pm- the next train was leaving right then-we made a mad dash for the train hopped on- Jordan jumped out to stamp our tickets- we made it! we sat back down and then the train ticket checker came around- he punched Jordan and Michelles ticket and I accidently had handed him the arriving ticket so when I handed him the correct one he actually looked at the time - he did a double take and then asked to look at the other 2 tickets- we played dumb and he didnt speak any english- getting a little nervous at this point that we might be asked to get back off the moving train- he just shrugged and walked away- luckily we were sitting 2nd class and there werent that many people on the train anyway. It was a nice train ride back talking about the things we appreciated and didnt like - I like getting broader perspective and listening to other peoples point of view - traveling is definitely one of the best ways to accomplish that too.

Back at the hotel the hotel staff through us a little sandwich party with champagne- the owners were so sweet and one even offered to hook any of us up with a family to live with if we wanted to come for a longer period of time! Score!

Packing time and one last time to just hang out with some pretty sweet people that I really hope we can maintain friendships over time.

Dec. 20 Sat.
Ciao Belle Rome!! Leaving time I had a wonderful trip, honestly the things Ill remember most are the side converstations, learning different things about each professor, the silly inside jokes and the emotions that certain works of art were so good at pulling out of me. I waved the class good bye as they departed for the gate and I headed off for yet another adventure in Japan.

Thanks so much for an amazing trip!

Theater Marcellus

Our next problem is on the Theatre Marcellus. The problem is

The Public Broadcasting company (PBS_, creator of the popular series "History Detectives" has sponsored its four investigators on a month-long archaeological architectural and cultural history workshop in Rome.. PBS is considering expanding its scope from investigating the provenance of American artifacts to analyzing and investigating objects from other cultures. The investigators' areas of expertise range from architecture and construction, engineering, to history and the arts. The Rome Conference will provide the group with much needed background to enable them to apply their investigative skills to researching artifacts and reconstructing historical evident in other cultures.

While the group was completing its studies in Rome,they learn that sanitation crews sapazzini have unearthed a puzzling find in the subterranean depths under that Via Del Teatro Di Marcello. This find was so unusual that the news was splattered across the front page ofCorriere della Sera. Ancient artifacts are frequently found during the most common excavations in and around Rome. Even the most learned Italian archaeologists, however, could not explain the significance or the provenance of the strange box or its contents. Inside the stone sarcophagus was an unusual combination of artifacts—so unusual that no local experts could agree on any aspect of the find. For when the lid was pried from the top of the sarcophagus, they found the following: a large brass bowl-like object, some shreds of disintegrating cloth, several chunks of different types of stone-like material, some post-Roman era coins, and a decaying Latin scroll ending with Vi...vi…s.

The History Detectives could not help but be drawn into the puzzling story. Did they not unravel similar, though much simpler, mysteries in the United States? Then they realized that this inexplicable discovery might prove to be the validation for expanding the scope of their investigations beyond the United States. If they could break the mystery—it they could not only identify the objects, but trace their provenance, perhaps they could also sell PBS on the idea of a much-expanded television program.

But…What were these objects? Why were they buried as they were? Would they be able to trace where they came from? And finally…What would they have to do to convince PBS to produce a new version of their program?

We looked into this PBS show already and it's almost like an antique roadshow except they go out to find the antiques. I emailed the man who's on the show and works and lives in Cincinnati to see if we could interview him but I haven't heard back yet.

Since we realize that this objects are hypothetical it gave me more creative freedom to make up a story about the objects (while still considering their purposes) for instance they could be the burial remains of Marcellus - who was supposedly buried in a monument to him but perhaps his wife or someone stole his remains and put them back in the theater that was named after him. Or maybe their just stage props for a show on the murder of Julius Caesar. A poor slave could have escaped and lived in the basement of the theater. There he used the bronze bowl to kill rodents and bugs as his food. The cloth was his only form of clothing and the sarcophagus is what he was buried in when a stage hand found his cold dead body one night and decided to give him a respectful burial, however he never removed the slave because he would consider it disrespectful to take the man out of his freedom back to the those who enslaved him.

Those are all just random ideas but our group is going to do more research on the theater, who went to it, the plays that took place, the items used in the culture of the people at the time period, how they cooked, how they dressed. We'll be looking for the what, why and so what of things to create our story as historical investigators. Then we're going to create a spoof episode of the TV show to show to "PBS" on why they should start investigating internationally as well.

Ostia Rewind

Working in the Ostia group I realized I'm more conceptual and more theatrical when trying to plan a presentation. I like the idea of skits or movies instead of powerpoints. We each divided up an area that we were interested in (I took art). From there we researched our individual areas. I found that Ostia has tons of Mosaics in a lot of their baths and other dwellings. They also had frescoes which is a mixture of plaster and pigments (in same cases egg yoke) that they use to paint on the walls. It seemed like if the colors hadn't faded that Ostia would have a lot of reds, oranges and browns as their color palette. Logan researched the construction of the buildings and discovered a material called tufta that they used. Brian did the history of Ostia and how it went from being a predominate city that people had to travel through to being sacked and deserted. David researched the excavations of the city and just how far the city has come from being looted to being restored. Abby reported about the lives of the people in Ostia and how their schooling was similar to ours and their daily chores.

Abby suggested that we be a travel agency trying to convince people to travel to Ostia. So since my computer has illustrator I created the brochure and the all the postcards. I also complied a video of pictures of Ostia to play while we passed out our travel packets. I also burned everyone cd's of Italian language so they could get excited about going to Rome and Ostia to try and learn the language. I also had everyone send me their pictures that they wanted in the powerpoint and complied the powerpoint presentation. (For the next project I'm not going to be the only compiling everything together)

Everything went pretty smoothly for our presentation and I think most people got a good understanding for Ostia and are interested in visiting.

From other presentations I know I learned interesting things but at the time it's hard to recall everything because the presentations were packed with lots of information and there were so many back to back that it makes it hard to decipher which fact went with what group. I liked how a couple of groups created games for us to play (jeopardy and the board game) and the trivia questions at the end of the group on the roads helped to have to remember what they said. It would be nice to have 2 days of presentation if the groups are going to run over but since our class only meets once a week it'd be hard to do that. I agree with the professors to shorten the time. It's hard to try and present about all of our topics because there's so much information that it's hard to pull our the most important, relevant and interesting facts to present on. I think every group had that problem of editing and knowing what to edit. Because I may find something so fascinating but no one else could so they won't remember what I told them. I could through a lot of facts at them but they might not remember any of them because they'd been overloaded with information. So I think the hardest part in presenting is trying to know the audience and knowing how to edit one selves. That's something that I even have to deal with constantly in my studio classes. It's so easy to keep piling on design after design but it actually takes skill to know when to stop, stand back and take things away.

For our next presentation I think we'll be better at being able to edit ourselves. We'll still have all the knowledge of the problem but not maybe have to share it all unless asked a question that way we can portray the most important information in the time allotted.

Hi!!

We had our first presentation day yesterday and it was definitely insightful and interesting. I learned a lot of facts about the Colosseum and the fact that women and dwarfs were gladiators too! (Crazy!)

There was an fun game of jeopardy on the baths and aqueducts. We got some tasty road cake as well as lots of good facts about who used the roads. I think people enjoyed our presentation of Ostia with our brochures and postcards and information. (Hopefully all the cds burned correctly so everyone can learn Italian!)

I really liked learning about Ostia because there's so much information and it's nice to study something that isn't Rome but is closely tied to it and has a lot of similarities as well.