Matera

Ciao! It's been a while,

Last weekend was the first organized trip and we went to Matera, a beautiful little city in the Basilicata region of Italy. It was amazing. The people were all very kind and friendly and the sassi, houses built into the rock cliffs of a large valley, were breath taking.
The peace and quiet of this lovely little place was such a relief from the hustle and bustle of Rome. If/When I return to Italy, there is absolutely no way I won't return to Matera.

The first night that we were there, the entire group toured the sassi and went inside an amazing little old church that was literally a hole in the stone. After, we went out together for dinner and I was lucky enough to get a seat beside our beloved instructor, Antonella, and her friend who was the sweetest, funniest, most spirited woman I've met.
Pictures don't do this place justice, you'll really just have to go see for yourself.

On Monday, back in Rome, we took a class field trip around the city to see the beautiful Caravaggio paintings hanging in various churches. We got to see the entire St. Matthew trio (the calling, martyrdom, and writing the scriptures) as well as the conversion of St. Paul (my favorite) and the martyrdom of St. Peter. They are all much more magnificent in person than in any of the textbooks I've studied. [I freaking love Italy and it's magnificent art]

Then Wednesday we took another field trip to look at many of the works of Bernini including the Ecstasy of St. Teresa. Because I'm not super obsessed with Bernini, this wasn't as exciting for me as the Caravaggio tour (and I would much rather have gone to see the statues in the Palazzo Borghese), but it was pretty fun.
That afternoon I stayed for the second class (which I'm not actually taking) because Antonella had arranged for the two, very sweet, directors of the documentary "Italy Love it or Leave it" to come and talk to us and give us a private screening of their film.
I seriously loved this great little documentary. It gave such a great commentary on the many problems of Italy as well as shows many reasons to love this beautiful country. If you can see it, do.

Official Trailer

I looked at my bank account and died a little bit after realizing how much money I've blown through already. I've bought nearly nothing to take back with me, but apparently the cost of food and the forty bajillion museums, churches, field trips, blah blah blah that I have gone to (and will continue to go to) cost way more than I had ever expected. You cannot imagine my frustration every time I see a "student discount only applicable for EU members" sign. ><
I guess the only thing I can really do (since I refuse to waste the opportunity to experience and see as much as possible while here) is to just turn a blind-ish eye to it until I get home (and then spontaneously combust out of horror).

This weekend I will be staying in Rome again (being too poor to go see Milan) and hopefully knock out most of the last important sights in the city that I want to see.
Unfortunately Friday and Saturday will be made difficult by the bus strikes (wearing my walking shoes =/...). Hopefully, though, I can still be productive.

I'm still excited for the wonderful experiences yet to come, but am starting to miss all of your wonderful familiar faces.
Lots of love <3

My weekend in Rome

Il Vaticano e Il Mercato di Porta Portese

Loads has happened since the last update, so brace yourselves for a long winded report.

On Friday, while most of the group went on their trips, a few of us went to the beach!! It was lovely and despite the annoying people shoving crap in our faces and demanding we buy it, I think we all had a lot of fun. I even got my first sunburn of the summer, which has already receded into a tan.

 Poor Emily, however, ended up getting very sick and had to miss her trip to Venice, but hopefully she’ll be fully recovered for when we all go to Matera this weekend.

I held off on talking about going to see St. Peter’s with Jack, because I was waiting until I also went to the rest of the Vatican museums and saw le stanze di Rafaello and, of course, the beautiful Sistine Chapel.

Jack and I had already run through the beautiful Basilica earlier in the week. It was over the top and ridiculous and slightly overwhelming and pretty much totally awesome. As expected.

On Saturday Austin and I adventured through the Vatican, which was a lot of fun besides the hoards of tourists. On a side note, you should totally go through the Vatican with someone who studies roman history and someone who’s obsessed with art history, because I feel like between the two of us we could have trumped most guided tours. I absolutely loved looking at all of the amazing art, though we didn’t even make it through like half of the museums (unfortunate)…

Raphael’s and Michelangelo’s amazing frescoes were well worth the cover price (which was only €8 instead of €15 with the international student card btw). I may or may not have illegally taken pictures of the Sistine ceiling…. Art should be public regardless.

I am excited to upload the pictures from this trip. There aren’t many, but they get the point across well enough.

I know you probably are disappointed that I haven’t been taking the standard excessive amount of pictures during my trip, but not only am I laboring under the assumption that I’ll be able to snag most stuff that I’m missing from my fellow classmates, but also I feel dumb photographing things that have been photographed 80 bajillion times and can easily be found in a million different versions on Google image searches; so instead I’m just going to continue enjoying actually being here and not looking at these wonderful things through a lens.

This morning I went to the epic and fantastic Marcato di Porta Portese, which was way cooler than any one had made it out to be. As someone far more enamored with old things than new ones, I can tell you had I not pre-emptively limited myself to a budget and still continuously reminded myself that I would have to figure out how to tote these purchases around Germany and then back to the states, I would have bought so many awesome that I woulda been broke by then end of it all. Maybe in two weeks I’ll be able to go back and find something shiny for my mom, and maybe even settle on something special for myself as well.

I’ve been very picky about my purchases up to this point mostly because I only want things that I know I’ll keep for a long time. I’d rather come home with only a few things that I really love but might have spent more on than a million frivolous things that will be out of style in a year or two {glances at leather jacket and little painting from Florence}…

I did find my wonderful spaghetti western comics 6 for €3 and a cute dress. Wooh!

I have to mention the very sweet man that I had a short but very memorable conversation with. I had asked how much a skirt was off handedly (in Italian) more out of curiosity than interest and this somehow evolved into a conversation about where I was from. He was obviously an immigrant into Italy (judging by his ethnicity and accent I’d say he was from somewhere in North Africa). When I told him “Texas” he said he didn’t know where this was so I explained that it was in the southern US. His response was that he wished he could go to America, but that he could not because it was too difficult. I think what struck me was more the way he looked at me than the way he said it, but I knew that what he meant by “difficult” was “impossible” and it broke my heart. I’ve gotten many an odd look in my life, but this was the first time anyone has genuinely looked at me with envy. I told him that I was sorry for his difficulty and wished him luck before I left. I only get a little solace from the fact that Rome is probably much better off than where he came from.

When I got home my host mom had her granddaughter here! And incase you were wondering, even the babies are cuter in Italy. Julia is precious and only 1 year 6 months (and already knows more Italian than me). It was so sweet how she took to me though. When I would leave the room you could hear the little reppetitions of “ssandra! ssandra!” which of course is her cute little way of saying “Alessandra.” She also was very sure to test my vocabulary of household things by pointing to things until I would say what it is; {tiny finger pointing to the light “Che è quella, Julia? È la luce?”… happy baby face). It was really cute seeing how Italian nonne dote on their little bambini. I eventually met Angela’s son (Julia’s dad) and her older granddaughter (who’s name is also Alessandra). She has such a beautiful family. And I totally mean that literally, they are very good looking people this family.

Anyway, I’m looking forward to this week. I have big plans to go see some modern and contemporary art before the trip to Matera!

A presto!

The Renaissance!

Andiamo a Firenze!

We took our first (unorganized) weekend trip last weekend to the beautiful city of Florence! So much Renaissance I could die.

The city, of course, is unfathomably beautiful. Though you don’t have the ruins scattered all willy-nilly like we do in Rome, the city is a mixture of beautiful Romanesque/Gothic/Renaissance glory.

Unfortunately, the place is so rampant with tourists that I really had a hard time enjoying much of the outdoor sightseeing. Additionally, I think I went the entire weekend without hearing more than three words of Italian, which seems ridiculous.

I did, however, get to see a very welcome familiar face! Jack met me in the city (a day before the rest of the group showed up) and we feverishly knocked out a bunch of the sight seeing.

We walked around a bunch Friday evening to look at the amazing view by the river and catch our first glimpse of the main churches, il Duomo, and the rest of the area, but due to a very unfortunate train ride I ended up having a horrendous headache and we spend most of the night, after dinner, in our hostel room.

…Funny story, when we booked our hostel we had a double room, but when we got there they had to move us to a single with a king sized bed…Oh reliability… On the bright side the room was a lot cheaper and the hostel owner, Leonardo, was kinda the bomb so everything seemed to even out.

The next day we hauled our butts outa bed and hiked straight to the top of the dome, which I would like to point out, is a pretty impressive feat. I only bumped my head once on the way up and despite my quivering legs after getting back down the journey was tooootally worth it. The view of the city is un-freaking-believable and I was so happy to see the amazing frescoes up close. As you will see from the photos, the hell scenes were obviously my favorite. Who doesn’t love a good demonic beast eating condemned sinners, am I right?!

After the dome we met up with John, a fellow Rome studier, and went right to the Uffizi. I’m sure the boys were just thrilled to have gone with one of the three of use that literally piddle ourselves with joy whilst in the presence of art.

I can’t tell you how many times I gasped, sighed, or sputtered in front of one of the works in this wonderful museum, but I can tell you that it only took me until the first room to have my eyes well up with tears. Nerdtasmic.

The first room we walked into was the one containing the three glorious and immense altarpieces that pretty much symbolize the birth of the Renaissance for painters; Cimabue, Duccio, and Giotto all in one room towering over me…. And I died. (That was just from the first room ;) )

The other most momentous experience I had there was walking into a room, slightly oblivious to the paintings on the other side of the room, and turning around to see Botticelli’s masterpieces. Though he was never the most interesting artist to study, I must say that after being able to practically stick my nose in his most renowned works, he was an amazing artist.

Later Jack told me that he was glad that he got to go to these museums with me and hear me ramble random facts about the art, which made me a little proud.  I’m glad at least a little of my enthusiasm and love for this stuff is contagious.

Sunday was spent seeing Michelangelo’s David and wondering through the markets on the street before heading back to Rome. I must say we did meet some pretty interesting characters on our trip to Florence… I probably won’t elaborate on this blog post since I seem to have rambled on and excessive amount already, but I will say that I think we made some very hilarious memories not the least of which involving crazy Italian street vendors that like to give the American boys advice on how to pick up the ladies.

 A presto!

The ruins and Ancient Rome

Ciao! Mi dispiace per l’attesa grande,

So much has happened since my last update, for which I apologize. I think that it is time to rectify this epic travesty (for which, I’m sure, my family has been very distraught over).

The second day of class was consumed by a tour of the Coliseum and the Roman Forum, some of the most famous and beautiful ruins, but not necessarily my favorite. I remembered the Coliseum so vividly from my first encounter with this colossus, so I probably wasn’t as enthusiastic about this as I should have been.  I loved, however the beauty of the Forum from ground level. Unfortunately the tour guide was pretty quiet and I was too bored by hearing more about these monuments that I have already learned so much about. My one regret from this day is that I didn’t stay and wonder around on my own, but by the end of the tour I think we were all ready to gtfo.

Inside the forum (in what I believe was the rebuilt senate building) was an amazing exhibit of glass that had been excavated from a small town from the same time as the ancient Roman Empire. I was dazzled by the amazing vibrant colors and intricate details that the Romans were able to achieve. They were using techniques comparable to the glasswork of modern Venice! Unbelievable!

Naturally most of the group was bored to death by these things (as I’ve caught on that I am one of the minority that am completely infatuated with the history, art, and architecture of every period of Italy), but fortunately I have found a couple wonderful art history nerd comrades to share in my excitement over such things.

Periodically I would venture around the city seeing the most historical/famous sites… you know, the touristy junk… which is always fun. It would be impossible for me to detail all of these wonderful experiences, so instead I will just let the pictures speak for themselves.

I cannot tell you how inspiring the city is. It seems that everywhere you turn there are ruins either sectioned off in little courtyards or piazze or even incorporated into modern buildings (how cool would it be to literally have a bit of aqueduct as your bedroom wall?!... That’s a thing here).

These ruins are easily my favorites to see; maybe because they take me by surprise as I weave through the cobblestone streets or maybe because they seem less tainted by endless reproduction through photos or tchotchkes sold at every vendetori in Italy.

Allora, stay tuned for my next update about my trip to Florence!