I got the photos working.

Things here still are moving fairly slowly. This monday we had a field trip to CineCittá, where they have sets and shoot a lot of movies. The tour was joined about halfway through by a group of Italian middle school students who were easily all the most awkward people I've ever seen. There was a girl with a rhinestone decal on her tooth and we loved her.
There was the set for Gangs of New York, and that show about Rome called Rome. It was really disenchanting, and most of it looked like a big garbage pit, but it was also quite reminiscent of my highschool days as a theater techie. They've left the set of Gangs of New York up, and it's this bizarre tiny city of crumbling styrofoam facades. It was really cool, but we couldn't easily take pictures because we had to sneak them all. We got to go into a fake submarine and shoot fake torpedoes. And there was a pregnant bulldog. So cute.

I've also been working out my project for the semester a little more. I'm keeping up with the embroidery, and I'm going to do a series of illustrations based on a book of late 18th century poems and songs that I found in the library, and then hopefully move onto a larger composition.
Today with art history we did a few churches, looking at the late Renaissance. We went to Santa Maria del Popolo, which is one of my favorites and has work by both Caravaggio and Bernini. Also Sant Agostino, where there's a beautiful library that I'd been to a few times.

I went swimming again yesterday. This is my swimcap. It makes my head look like a cake.

A few things from the previous posts - 

Palazzo Spada - remember, that colonnade is only about 7 meters, and the statue at the end would be about half my height. 

Tempietto

Fountain in Florence. Pretty cool. Grotesque?

200 Years of Progress

There hasnt been a whole lot going on since I last wrote. Right now, everybody else seems to be on weekend trips, and its pretty much just Jennie and me in the Cenci. It's kind of nice. It's also an absolutely beautiful weekend.
I went swimming again yesterday. I was alone this time and it was really relaxing.

On Thursday, with art history, we just walked around this neighborhood and saw things that I've seen a thousand times. It was really great though to hear about them from Ezio. We also went to Palazzo Spada, which is just near Piazza Farnese and I've been meaning to go there for a while now but haven't found it. It's just a little palazzo where they wanted a big garden but didn't have enough space, so they made a little collonade that looks like a big garden, but is really about 7 meters long.

Also, We had a little optional field trip to see the studios of some artists working in Rome, and there was this children's book illustrator, Vladimir Radunsky, who does pretty fun things. That was really good to see. He also had cute dogs.

Today was a Porta Portese day. It was pretty successful. I got a scarf commemorating the American Bicentennial. "200 years of Progress." It's a beauty. It's also a lot more special for being in a 50 cent scarf pile at a flea market in Rome than if I were to find it anywhere back home.
I really need to shower now, though. Way too much human contact.

Ps there's something funny with my computer and I'm having trouble getting pictures up. I'll try to figure out what's going on.

HEY i went to Florence last weekend!
It was really fun. I saw Abby Southwell, which was really nice, and re-visited the Uffizi. It was otherwise a fairly uneventful trip. I got a really great pair of white princess gloves that I'll never be able to wear for fear of getting them dirty. They're really great though. We ate at a really cute little restaurant that tied all their napkins up with ribbons.
As much as I had a nice time, though, weekend trips can be kind of stressful. It just does't leave a lot of time to relax.


Chasing down pigeons with an American flag with a tank on it.

This Wednesday Jackie and I went swimming at the Foro Italico (see pictures below) and it felt so good. I forgot just how hard swimming is, and it's taken a while to recover. We're going to try to make it a regular thing, since we have such a low key schedule. I'm excited.
On Thursday we had a pretty good art history tour. We went to the Farnesina, the old Chigi palazzo, which had some pretty sweet raphael frescoes on the ceiling. Also we went to this little church that I've walked past and sat in front of a gillion times, but never before been inside. Apparently Beatrice Cenci (after whom our building is named) was buried under the altar secretly in the night. Also there's a great Ecstacy by Bernini.


Tempietto!

Then we got back and had a pretty sweet/awkward 20 minute valentines day party. Anne made great cakes.

Otherwise, not much else happening. I'm catching a cold.

Lars, e una ragazza tutta sua

(aka lars and the real girl) was so good. I just went to see it with Becca (in English!) and everybody cried a lot. jeez.

Today has been a really good day. We had an art history trip to St. Peter's. We didn't go into the Vatican museum though - just the Basilica. It was good and I learned new things. For example, at the raising of the obelisk in the center of the piazza there was a death penalty for anyone who talked because it was going to take so much focus. HOWEVER there was so much friction on the ropes used to pull it that they were about to break, so someone said "wet the ropes!" and didn't die.

anecdotes!

There's just so much there, though, that I'm going to have to keep going back again and again. Ain't no stopping 'til the party's through.
Yesterday we took a trip to the Foro Italico, the olympic stadium that Mussolini had built. There's a guest scholar here from RISD for the week and he's doing a series of lecture on propoganda and the fascist era, and it's really interesting. We've been seeing ancient/renaissance Rome, but little more recent than that. It's really fascinating - Mussolini was a pretty bad guy, I think we can all agree, but a lot of Italians have mixed feelings about him. He did horrible things, but he also turned Rome into a fairly functional city.
Anyway, there's a big pool at this stadium and Jackie and I are going to start swimming there. I'm excited.




Not much else is new. Jennie and I found a park today. It was a little dirty, but pretty nice. There aren't a lot of parks around here so we have to take what we can get.

ps pictures arent working now, and i'm tired. I'll get them up tomorrow.

Back in the swing

Hi!
Classes started this week. They're really great. In art history we're starting with the renaissance, which I think will be a lot more interesting and easy to retain than the ancient roman stuff (no offense Trajan.) Yesterday we saw three churches, Santa Maria in Trastevere, Sant Chrisogono, and Santa Cecilia. Santa Cecilia is the one that I usually go to when I go to mass, and it was really great to learn about the history of it, as well as go into areas of the church that I wouldn't have seen without Ezio as a guide. Santa Maria in Trastevere and Sant Chrisogono were both really beautiful, and had incredible mosaics. And these are all within a ten minute walk of the Cenci.



Cavallini's last judgement! In Santa Cecilia! Beautiful!!!!

Yesterday we also started with the Italian tutor. She seems really great. It's going to be mostly and hour and a half of just talking, which is just what we all need. Also, she lived in Boston for three years! we had a lot to talk about. She know Mr. Tripani, the head of the languages department at Rindge. Pretty cool.

Now that a few people have left, there's been a big scramble for free studios and single rooms. It's all been kind of a mess. It's frustrating because we've all done so well living together for this long, but suddenly there's tons and tons of drama and sour feelings. I got a new shelf and some more wall space out of the whole fiasco though, so whaatteevverrrr.

Otherwise, there's not much more going on. I'm still working on plans for the summer, still feeling kind of lost and nervous about all that, but I'm sure it'll all work out. I hope.

Tryin'a put some more travel pictures up -