madisonhunn
italy!
a collection of thoughts and pictures and knowledge and such?
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June 4- Final day of class ):
You read the title. It feels like I have been in Italy for ages but also no time at all. Believe me, I am excited for the luxuries of home, but there’s nothing like what Italy has at home. And today was such a reminder of how much Logan sucks!
We had a late start today, which was nice because I was meant to present today so I got to hone my presentation and also stay up a little later the night before. We walked to the archaeological museum which was probably the closest thing to our place. We sped through there as a group, there wasn’t a lot of opportunity to explore the rooms on our own which was fine. We got to learn room by room on what was important. I presented on the Bust of Livia and I think I did just okay. I don’t like that form of presentation. I don’t think talking in front of a group is my strong suit, nor is improvised speaking (even though this wasn’t improvised, however any form of filler word improvising and shaping a script to sound more natural will become a nightmare very quickly. Ask my brother for his wedding dinner video and that’s concrete proof).
After, we had a little break before going to the Borghese Gallery. A small group of us got some fries and munched them in the train station. But lord, the Borghese Gallery…
I shed a few tears in there.
This was a fantastic place to end this trip as far as class goes. Oh god is Bernini literally an incredible INCREDIBLE man. I literally would steal everything that he has ever created. I would really channel those British roots and stuff my pockets.
Seeing Apollo and Daphne brought me to literal tears (two or three maybe) and this woman gave me a pity smile to which I turned away from her and wiped my cheeks. I will definitely be back here. Definitely definitely definitely, no doubt.
In order:
1. Bust of Livia
2. The Boxer
3. Pomegranate
4. AAAAHHH!!!! Detail on Bernini’s Pluto and Persephone, 1621-22
5. Bernini’s statue of Aeneas, 1618-19
6. More Pluto and Persephone
7. MORE Pluto and Persephone
8. Bernini’s Apollo and Daphne, 1624
9. More, this is my favorite of his here!
10. Sadie did my hair like The Bust of Livia for my presentation (:
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June 3- Time is beginning to run out
Today was our second to last day of classes, and it luckily felt like a regular normal day. The goal is not to think about the time here coming to an end. Instead, I gladly trekked around Rome and listened to my classmates and let the sun beat down on me once again.
We began at the Doria-Pamphilj Gallery. It was small but a very beautiful building. I sat and looked at the stone painting by Antonio Tempesta for quite a while. It was…literally astonishing. Being able to get inches from that to really soak in all that detail is something I really enjoy about spaces like this and I like that they placed it on the wall at eye level. The scene is so tumultuous, yet so easy to break apart. And the Raphael above it is hard to peel your eyes off of. Such a mesmerizing two works.
We stopped by Villa Farnesina for a moment. Fresco doesn’t catch my eye much like other things but I still find it absolutely incredible. I always want to touch it. After that, we stopped by a couple of churches. There are some amazing sculptural works in these places and not that many people inside of them. I don’t mind not being with a crowd all the time but do people even know? They are missing out incredibly.
We walked around and got food in the area after, went home and did some homework before trekking out again for Elsa’s birthday. She slipped on an orange and cut her knee and I couldn’t not laugh, even though it was her birthday. Sorry girl. We got our Trevi Fountain on though!
In order:
1. Unicorns!
2. You tell me what you think is wrong here…
3. Basilica di Santa Maria in Trastevere
4. Basilica di Santa Cecilia in Trastevere, statue is Stefano Maderno’s Saint Cecilia
5. Bernini’s Blessed Ludovica Albertoni, 1674
6. Bags both me and Max were wanting to steal from the lunch place
7. Trevi Fountain!
8. Star formation we did in front of David, and his very kind response to us being freaks
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June 2- REPUBLIC DAY?!
Everyone rejoice! Free Sunday and Republic Day means free entry to certain places! Unfortunately, I accidentally slept in way later than I wanted to, so I ended up trekking out at… um… 4pm… I am so sorry for this massive fail on my part.
I got a group of people to walk toward the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art. Why this one? I don’t know. I do regret not making my way to the Capitoline…but I have just been telling myself I’ll be back. I’ll be back, right?
Elsa said this place wasn’t worth the 9 Euros she spent on it the day she went, but I think that was so incorrect of her to say. A lot of the stuff they have was so fun and really cool to look at. I have never really had a good eye for things like this, I don’t find myself gravitating towards more modern art, but I am growing my scope and I really had fun here.
Today was very very chill, because after this we just went and got gelato and then went home after.
In order:
1. Gustav Klimt’s Le tre etá, 1905
2. Mario Schifano’s Acquatico IV, 1988
3. Alan Jacquet’s Le déjeuner sur l’herbe, 1964
4. Max pointing at Andy Warhol’s Hammer and Sickle, 1977
5. Pietro Tenerari Psiche svenuta, 1869
6. Butterfly awww
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June 1- new month, not new me
Today was the day I went to Positano and Amalfi. I was expecting a nice little sunny day where I could chill out and read, but of course: rain. I had to wake up at 5:45 to get to the plaza at 7:00. I was so tired, didn’t have enough time to eat enough food for breakfast, but onward I went.
I am going to say something that I don’t think a lot of people will agree with, but I haaaate tours. I hate having to follow someone with a stick, being stuck in a group of strangers, and listening to what nonsense they have to say about the hospital we are driving by.
I did what I had to do. I got to roam free at the destinations. But oh my lord… that bus y’all…
I had one kid sleeping on me the entire time. And mind you, the travelling part of the 15 hour day took up 12 hours. Constantly moving. I did not get boat sick which was honestly amazing considering the water was insanely rough at one point. I did get completely soaked.
Anyway, I wandered. I had a woman roll her eyes at me for—get this—ordering food! The views were gorgeous, and the weather was very comfortable. I still very much enjoyed by day even though it didn’t go how I had planned it to go.
It was around 10:30 when we got back. The guide said that it was safe to walk at night, and we got dropped in the Borghese Park. I started walking into poorly lit, empty sidewalk thinking I was going to be scared the entire 30 minute walk home until I realized that a dad and his daughter who I had been speaking to (his other daughter went to USU!) were walking the same direction as me. I consider myself to be very lucky for this, because they ended up staying on the same street as me so they quite literally walked me the entire way home. I also got catcalled in the park in their presence and I was so grateful to not have been alone in that moment. If they were not there, it would have just been me and that man alone under the flickering street lights. Scary scary scary. I don’t know how safe it actually is…
I was very sleepy but I had a good day!
In order:
1. Good view from the stop in Cassino
2. This teenager sleeping on me
3. cliff side!
4. Drenched
5. Foggy, I love a view like this. In Positano
6. Positano rocky beach
7. Amalfi church
8. Same teenager, but night time now!
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May 31- Beach day?
Today was our trip to Ostia Antica, another preserved port city similar to Pompei (that was just abandoned, not buried under ash).
I won’t lie, I enjoyed it much better than Pompei. There’s no lack of mosaics, frescos, and there is a fantastic lack of: CROWDS! One thing I’ve been hating is the absolute crowds of people everywhere.
I really liked it here. The weather was kind, the places here were really interesting. Like the insulas, which was cool to see some ancient Roman “apartment-style living” spaces.
Anyway, afterward we went to the beach. The sun came out for us, and I sat and re-read my book while the people I was with swam in the water.
In order:
1. Me taking photo of little house
2. Little house
3. The amphitheater!
4. Mosaics in the baths
5. Horses!
6. Great great great book
7. What… scary kids place is this?
8. Get this text from my sister and I’m … is this not sisterhood?
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May 30- happy birthday mom!
I started today with a midnight FaceTime call to my mother, who wasn’t thrilled to have started her 59th birthday 8 hours early. I was sad to not see her, but I decided I’d have fun for her and she was kicking it up in Moab regardless.
We began at the Palazzo Barberini around noon. So I slept in! Yay! I am not a morning person so it was nice to start later.
I enjoyed this place. There were a couple more paintings I was itching to see that I saw. Titian and Caravaggio and there were some great animals and ceilings!
I had another unfavorable interaction with an Italian woman who was guarding the door up and down the stairs with her life against me and Max ONLY. She was letting people walk in and out and back in without asking for their tickets, but me and Max was where she was drawing the line. Once we had our tickets sent to us, I was kind of snappy back at her. But we got back in and I got to see more! That’s all that matters to me!
Afterwards, all of us except for two of us went to Cinecitta. I’m not even in the film class but I love a good little movie and I loooove film history. I mean after all, I obsessively googled for an hour trying to find the name of that silent film at the Cinema Odeon (thank you McKenna, she found it! And when I asked her how she said, “I have a degree.”)
It was fun! My classmates “memorialized” me in the grass. I can’t lay down and relax without someone doing something weird. It was funny though. We went home after and did more homework.
In order:
1. THE COLOR!!!!!!!!!!!!
2. pocket lion
3. Antonia Corradini’s The Vestal Virgin Tuccia, 1743
4. Caravaggio’s Judith Beheading Holofernes, 1598-1599
5. Titian’s Sacred and Profane Love, 1515-1516. This one I was aching to see!!!!
6. Cinecitta
7. Abby standing in the green screen room haha
8. Jack couldn’t handle the ringing noise
9. My memorial!
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May 29- Emperor stuff
(Family)
I thought I was going to roast today, but the sun was fairly forgiving. I felt nasty and disgusting because my shirt had mysterious green stains on it (I’ve since decided I think it’s sunscreen) but I just had no choice but to walk around looking like a child.
We started our day at the Capitolium. I’m not an uphill walk fan, but we got to sit in the little square and people watch while we waited for the professors to show up. Then Elsa did her presentation on the Marcus Aurelius statue (remake), and we made our way down to Trajan’s Column. It was pretty cool to learn about. Our society and the behaviors of leaders haven’t changed much, in theory.
We wandered to other places and landed at the Pantheon. What a surprise to find Raphael’s tomb. And that dome is impressive. Afterwards, we had a few hours to mess around before meeting at the Ara Pacis museum.
I was with a couple people and we almost got spat on by a random man. One of them got pigeon crap on her face too. She shed a few tears but we were all laughing.
Then we went to the Ara Pacis and it was very white in there. It was cool to see something like that too! And again reaffirms the importance of art and monuments in political affairs.
Anyway, went home and did homework the rest of the night. Nothing cooler than what I did during the day!
In order:
1. Column of Trajan
2. Kitty!
3. Doves above Raphael’s tomb
4. 3-D printed copy of a bronze piece in a random church
5. Statue of a goddess, copy, and baby hand!!!
6. Video I sent my classmates with the caption “final stretch!”
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May 28- restoration 101
Today was Saint Peter’s basilica day! Which should have gone off without a bump in the road! Traveling there was insane. The metro had the most people on it ever. Someone totally could’ve gotten super rich off of people’s wallets if they had been trying. I could’ve but I did not because I’m nice.
We did wait in the long line that surprisingly moved quickly. The clouds were kind and shielded us from the sun up until the moment we went inside. Once we were inside, I was sad to notice that Bernini’s Baldacchino is under restoration. We just wandered and listened and looked at what was around it. Then we learned that Michelangelo’s La Pieta was ALSO under restoration. And what if I tussle with a stranger over this? I’ll go back and get this done. Someone hand me a wet rag and I’ll get it done in an hour.
When we looked at Bernini’s statue of Longinus, I was looking closely at the grooves and it kind of took me off guard and made me think “wait. Yeah. Someone literally just did this.” And I could feel like weird out-of-body thing starting to happen so I looked away. When it comes to certain sculpture I just have a hard time imagining the craft. It’s like it’s so, I don’t know, insane for me to think someone is so talented that they can carve out these things from stone. Much more difficult for me to really understand from a different point of view.
Well, I hope I’ll be back someday to see what I could not see.
In order:
1. Booooo!!!! Bernini, it’s nothing personal to you!!!
2. This, how does it look so light? I feel like if I was underneath that drapery that I could hold it up like linen. Uh, no. I’d be crushed.
3. Saint Peter’s throne. And that stained glass… mmmm
4. Longinus, the emotion is palpable
5. Michelangelo’s dome
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May 27- AAAAHHHH!!!!!!
When I read through the list of churches to present on before leaving… I absolutely jumped on Santa Maria Della Vittoria SO. FAST.
But that was the last place we went so, I’ll get to it. I’ll get to it.
Today was a big church day. Something about the “sexy wine” from the dinner the night before must’ve made me wake up at 7:30. Good thing Ella did too. Class at 8 and we have to make a 30 minute walk? Not happening. Luckily we hopped up and got going within fifteen minutes. It was insane how fast we ran through the streets to get to Il Gesù.
It’s always the first church that I think has weird energy. And it’s definitely because it’s early and usually there aren’t many people around. But I did like this church. We were in there for not that long, but me and another student were talking briefly with one of our professors about the theatricality of the ceiling here and baroque art, and “respecting the craft”.
The next church we stopped at was San Luigi dei Francese. This church has three Caravaggio paintings about Saint Matthew. I looove Caravaggio. He hits all the notes for me. I love an unhinged punky man doing his thing and doing it well. Getting to see his works in person have been a definite highlight of this trip.
I also really enjoyed the Caravaggio [Pilgrim’s Madonna, 1604] that was in the Sant’Agostino. Unfortunately and unsurprisingly, the Trevi Fountain was so busy and also being cleaned. So I will look at it better at an earlier time and different day. Also unfortunately and unsurprisingly, the San Andrea al Quirinale was not open either so that was off the menu too.
Nearing the end of our class day, we popped into San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane which was smaller than I expected. It was beautiful and super… delicate? Yet extremely expressive and also had super weird stairs and interestingly designed open space.
Then… my church. I’ve been excited the whole time to see this and truly have no excuse as to why I didn’t go before this day (Rome has been difficult in ways I can’t verbalize) but I was so so so excited to see Bernini’s Ecstasy of Saint Theresa. There’s just something so special about her personal account that pulls me in to it and to see this marble recreation of what Bernini would visualize for her just tickles something in my brain that nothing else can. It is so god damn gorgeous, I want to steal it. But I can’t without taking the whole chapel with me. They all work together too well to separate. But oh my god I need to look at this every day.
Anywho… rest of the day was chill. I went with a group of girls back to the UNIQLO store and then to dinner. I ate a pizza with a ton of tomato sauce (of course I didn’t know it was going to have an entire jar on it….) so everyone should be proud of me. Or don’t because I’m a baby and ate it with like only 10 complaints. So maybe everyone should be proud of me for not complaining 11 times. A win is a win.
In order:
1. Ceiling in Il Gesù. Sooooo theatrical.
2. Caravaggio’s The Calling of Saint Matthew, 1599-1600
3. The ceiling in San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane
4. Weird stairs
5. AAAAHHHHH!!!!!
6. Giant Calico Critters at the toy store next to the UNIQLO… why were we in a toy store? Why not? We live a little. We look a little. We love a lot.
7. Big fluffy dog in the UNIQLO store awww
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May 26- free Sunday to (mostly) myself
(Family)
There’s something so special about being constantly surrounded by the same 16 people, and surrounded by people in general. I feel like a lot of the work I’ve done in therapy in how to handle relationships has come to these moments. I am using those tools I’ve learned.
Because we came from an Utah school, a group of students went to the “local” (it was very much not close to where we are staying) Mormon church. They said they wanted to join me and my friends Ella and Jack at the flea market so we planned what time we went around them. Shocker to no one, but they didn’t go and didn’t tell us they weren’t going until we were leaving it. I knew they weren’t going when they didn’t text us to drop a pin. It was “too far” to go to, even though they ended up going to an orange grove that was five minutes from the market anyway? I don’t know.
So we ended up trying to go home. We had people cleaning our flat who didn’t allow us back inside so we walked around. We sat on the curb for a while and some of the church girls stumbled on us and they wanted to go to a park. I wanted to go shopping and they knew this. So when I stood up and sent them the pin that Jack had sent me (he went to scope it out to see if it was worth it) they asked why I wasn’t going.
I said, “just not what I wanted to do today” and I literally… got scoffed at. We all ended up walking in the same direction for a couple more minutes and only Ella turned to say goodbye to me. So that was fun and awesome and I went and had more fun without them!
I took the metro by myself which is something I was terrified of doing alone since I was positive I’d take myself the wrong way. I didn’t so that was nice. I just walked around and went into a bunch of different stores and treated myself. I bought my mom one of the shirts she likes from UNIQLO and got some hair accessories I needed since my bangs have been driving me wild. Dark hair + hair covering your forehead + the sun = dying.
I ended up taking too much time to go back before our group dinner. So I stuck around in the area, breezed by the pantheon, and walked to Miscellanea for dinner. Everyone else complained about their food after, but mine was good. Not overcooked and like almost no tomato sauce. Literally my ideal pizza. I had some good conversations with Laura, and David, and Alvaro.
I told David that I watched Fight Club kind of out of spite, and I really liked it. I told him it was kind of c***y (naughty slang word that’d require too much explaining so I’ll censor and apologize) and he laughed because 1. I’m right 2. He knows what the word means in the context I said 3. I’m right!!!!! I also learned he dislikes Baz Luhrmann movies too, so that’s validating. Headache films.
I don’t even want to dive into the LDS drama that occurred during the dinner. It’s just a bunch of the Mormon kids being sensitive about any commentary (can’t say anything about anything to them or else it’s a personal attack on their belief system) on the institutional decisions of a church organization they are a part of. They are blowing it way out of the water and one girl wants to contact the dean. She’s also upset that we have been focusing on Catholic art. Which makes me want to laugh.
1. We are covering hundreds and hundreds of years of religion and art and life here. Catholicism is the prevalent religion in Italy AND the biggest section of Christianity. It is engrained in the fabric of this country, it is a part of nearly everything we have seen.
2. She’s upset that we haven’t visited the LDS temple as part of our class curriculum, but the BYU students she met at church have. Well, USU is not a church school. It’s a state school and church and state are separated. Also, the temple was completed less than ten years ago so obviously our class isn’t going to go there. Maybe if we were in the Eastern/Midwest on a study “abroad” trip about religion in America, it’d make more sense to include it in the curriculum.
I feel sorry that she has been ruining her own experience by not understanding the content and context of what we are seeing and reading about for the classes she’s paying for and signed up for. She’s such a nice girl, and I think if she wasn’t so tunnel-visioned right now, she’d be enjoying herself more.
Anyway, I’m fine! Just really enjoying my headphones and the time I’m able to spend alone. My day walking around was really nice and I got some really cute new clothes. And a couple vampire movies to watch.
In order:
1. The Tiber! Imagine naming a baby Tiberius
2. Jack wearing his “skater” hat
3. Giant cat I need
4. I wanted this but had no cash
5. I found the Italian Diary of a Wimpy Kid!
6. Giolitti🥰🥰🥰 post dinner gossip sesh with a side of chocolate gelato
7. Came home to “clean” sheets. I don’t know. I just peeled them back and this was here. Legend has it that I’m still sleeping on it because the linen cabinet is locked. Legend is factual.
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May 25- Pompei day, missed my first train!
(Family)
It was a 5:45 a.m. day. And I was expecting it to be a not so easy one. But I was wrong. I think this trip has definitely heightened my anxiety and I’ve had to learn how to cope differently since I can’t be alone. So thinking of navigating and traveling stressed me out and rightfully so. The Napoli Centrale station is a nightmare. We missed our second train. Luckily it only cost 3 more euros to re-buy the ticket but I was so mad.
It was cloudy which I was grateful for. I’m so tired of the sun beating down on me and frying me alive. My hair is so dark and I hate hats so I struggle outside. We walked twenty minutes from the station to the site. Once walking in, we immediately got to walking around and exploring. All we had was a map and our previous knowledge of Pompeii from one of our professors. We don’t need a tour guide!
We walked back towards the train station and got some good gelato before sitting and waiting for our train back. I enjoy the trains when I’m not sitting by someone I know. I just get to sit and listen to music and read. I’m currently re-reading Bones and All by Camille DeAngelis. It’s a good book. A comfort book. So it was nice to chill out for an hour.
While I was gone, two rooms got bug-bombed and the mold got cleaned. So that’s nice, for now.
I was fairly high energy getting home. I’ve found myself to be giggling more here, which I think is a weird observation. The people I’m with are so funny and we all get along so well. One of the three toilets broke completely right after I got back. The other one is still not working well.
We went and got gelato again (why not?) and then went back home. Me and Ella did a little dance together and we laughed a lot. And now, as I’m writing this, I’m watching Fight Club for the first time. Comfort media. I needed to chill out, read a book, listen to my music, and watch a new movie.
Good day!
In order:
1. Kitty we saw upon entering
2. Mosaics. Ugh they’re great
3. Beautiful marble
4. Casts… sad
5. This kid let everyone in to touch the bronze statue! He’s so kind!
6. probably the prettiest colored flower I’ve ever seen. I pressed one in my notebook
7. Jewelry!!!
8. The famous mystery stain on my bed is getting changed tomorrow! Yay!!!! Celebration photo to say goodbye
9. Us… dancing….
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May 24- Hadrian’s Villa and fountain moment!
For the rough start that Rome has been… today was SO relaxing. Every time we go out somewhere far from the city, it’s like a reset. Show us a mountain and something green and we are instantly relaxed and chill again.
I fed some fish today. I have been loving seeing animals too. Birds we don’t have at home, fish, tadpoles too. So many tadpoles! It makes me think of the frogs I used to catch in the ponds on the golf course. Just a lot of peace and reflection while learning about these spaces I am in.
Hadrian’s villa was massive. I wonder what his parties were like. He really did have a pretty lavish place, and I am jealous of what he got to see every day. Crazy what money does for people, right?
And the Villa d’Este was insanely gorgeous. Hiking up and down that garden probably could’ve ended my life, but that would’ve been just fine with me. To have a theme is right up my alley, and these fountains were not only just extremely beautiful, but the mist was so relaxing in the heat of the sun. I could sit there for hours if I had a book or something to do.
Also the rooms inside were pretty too. A lot of the paintings were lacking some skill or maybe they just were so worn down, but if you look at the rooms as a whole and not at the individual detail, it’s very pretty!
Theme of the day: peaceful. Which is what all of us needed. Even though we were all kind of worrying about bed bugs since quite a few of us are covered in bug bites that are not from mosquitoes…
Triggering for me also, yet I have no bites. When we got back, I checked and didn’t see anything. My consensus is that the beds are just gross and the sheets are not washed. I mean, I do have a giant mysterious yellow stain on my bed that appeared out of thin air.
So today was peaceful, definitely equalized some stress for some of my classmates. But I stayed unbothered because there’s nothing you can do about your bed when you’re sitting in a beautiful garden looking at a fountain.
In order:
1. Gorgeous poppy field from the bus window
2. Jack practicing his contrapposto
3. Doggy fresco
4. You could walk behind this one!!!
5. It reminds me of Call Me by Your Name, which I find boring. But so pretty!
6. Fish at Villa d’Este
7. Pegasus fountain?!
8. Like seriously so gorgeous. Beautiful place to hang out and walk around
9. Feeding the fishies at Hadrian’s Villa!
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May 23- Ruins and birds and this one place… I think it’s called the collar seam? uhhh… colosseum???
(Family)
This is my second time writing this. I know this is for Thursday, May 23rd. But let me start with the rest of the day on the 22nd.
There was a lot of tension before the Vatican museum. I was mostly fine. There have been a lot of issues with our flat that we are staying in.
14 of us share two showers and three bathrooms. 17 of us share the kitchen. Two toilets are broke. Two of four a/c units are broken. There was black-colored mold in the shower. I set my hair towel on my bed for an hour and a giant yellow stain appeared on my bed. There’s a bug infestation of some sort that is biting a bunch of us.
It hasn’t been easy here. We have all been struggling with how inconvenient our place is. It’d lighten the load if things worked and we weren’t told to just “hit the wall” to fix the toilet. Someone should just fix it.
So basically two of the girls who have struggled the most organized a pobev for all of us. For my family members who don’t know what that is, it’s a USU event that they hold once a month during the school year. It’s poetry and a beverage! People get together and share poems and songs and eat a snack and drink a drink. So we themed our pobev on our struggles with our study abroad so far. It was very funny, very very therapeutic, but of course didn’t fix our problems. But it did make it easier to advocate for ourselves.
So when we trekked out to the forum and colosseum, we were in lighter moods. Or at least I was.
The site was beautiful. It was also super cool to see how they reconstructed it. They definitely didn’t just find it there like that of course.
I’m trying to have more of an interest in this stuff. I’m more into the museums and the churches than the ancient sites. Luke would be disappointed haha. I just have a harder time trying to take myself out of the modern day. But I do think it’s beautiful. I can’t imagine it’s prime.
The flowers, mostly poppies, were so pretty to look at. There also were a bunch of lizards and really pretty crows. And huge seagulls. We watched one attack this kid when he wouldn’t share his food. My professor Laura and I fed him some pretzels as a reward, haha. He caught mine in midair when I tossed it to him.
Then we headed over to the colosseum. That was way cool. I learned a lot about game and entertainment surrounding this place in my classics in video games class. So all I have to say is: viva Las Vegas!
In order:
1. Forum
2. Game board! AAAH!!!
3. View from the top of palatine hill (I think that was the right one if I remember correctly)
4. Crow!
5. The colosseum. It’d have a board and a ton of sand over the top of it.
6. The seagull we rewarded
7. The birds were reminding me of this photo from 2011. I sent it to my dad and he didn’t say anything!
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May 22- Vatican Museum, hm…
This day started off pretty rough for everyone else. Personally, I was just so tired from having to be there at 7:45. It is not close to us. It was a 5:30 a.m. day and I am NOT a morning person.
Everyone was pretty grumpy. I didn’t really complain the same way they did. I was just mad that the Vatican line security man forced us across the street. Not a very nice man… but he was doing his job, I guess. Regardless, there was a lot of tension and I did kind of bark at a man trying to sell us scarves. Gabriel told me I was mean (he was joking) but it did make me feel bad for snapping at this stranger. It’s not his fault he has to do that job, so sorry to that man. Good start to the day.
Once inside the museum and outside of the sun, things got better. Earlier, I mentioned crowds. There was honestly an alarming amount of people in this museum, but just pretending it was fine and walking like a snail was fine.
It was very cool to see things that set the basis for other works later on both in history and in the museum itself. I personally loved the little animal statue section. I am a sucker for a creature and the tiny mosaics on the walls above them were soooo cool. If the building started burning, i’d be taking something from there and running with it. With how many people were in there, I wouldn’t have made it out alive with it anyway…haha…
Raphael’s rooms were gorgeous. He really is a remarkable painter. I really really wonder what exactly he could have been capable of if he had lived to old age. He has such a talent for creating such engaging and beautiful figures. It’s also so fulfilling to see these famous works with my own eyes for once. It makes me feel smarter than most people in the room when I am able (in my own head 99% of the time) to pull apart and understand what I am looking at. This is what I am made for!
I wish I could’ve gotten a picture of the Sistine Chapel ceiling. Stupid restoration people and content rights and whatever. The room was smaller than I had expected, but just looking up at that and looking at his Last Judgement was an incredible experience to end on. The absolute talent that goes into doing something like that, and to know he hated doing it is beyond me. It doesn’t seem like a fun task by any means, but wow. Wow wow wow.
In order:
1. Augustus in the flesh?! No, but he’s incredible to see
2. Jaguar
3. One of those tiny tiny mosaics. Also a scene I’m seeing a lot. Lion attacks cow. Over and over again
4. I’d rip this out of the floor and take it home
5. Uhh… who is this?!
6. Raphael’s School of Athens, 1509-1511
7. Raphael’s Fire in the Borgo, 1514
8. This man posing for his wife’s (I think?) photo in front of the Laocoön
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May 21- More churches, a little rain too
We began our day underneath some light sprinkling rain right outside San Clemente. It’s nice to start our days so early because usually the first, and maybe second, place we go to tends to be not busy at all. It’s nice to visit these places when there are considerably less people around. I have been going mad being in the types of crowds I have been in, so the quiet and cool mornings are peaceful for the time being.
San Clemente was very cool. It’s interesting to come to a new city and see what they do differently when it comes to church design. To just build on top of older things seems like such a goofy decision. But after going to the top of the church in Siena, it was nice to go underneath for a change. No photos allowed, but it was cool and occasionally mossy. It gets difficult for me to imagine what life looked like for people existing in spaces where nearly nothing remains the way it did when they existed there. This was a place I was stretching my imagination. Up in the church, it was fairly small, but had a very beautiful mosaic on the arch at the front.
Yet it was a small sharp sentence from one of my peers that altered the rest of my enjoyment for the day. I think everyone was on edge and tired after travelling to Rome. I decided to talk less to avoid stepping on people’s toes and also trying to enjoy these places on my own. Finding privacy in these places is not easy, but doable and honestly helpful in grounding myself.
Next was San Stefano, a round church with some very cool (yet violent) frescos of martyrdoms circling the wall. Being a round church, the walls walk you around to tell these stories. They also had resident cats, and despite being told not to touch them… I pet one. I am flealess at the time of writing so I regret nothing. Also, it poured on us so that definitely washed me clean, right?
It was at San Giovanni in Laterno that I was able to find some privacy. I walked around this massive church mostly alone, took the place in on my own, and ended up finding a small chapel room where there was no one else. I sat for a moment and breathed, and it truthfully was very helpful. It’s difficult to find privacy anywhere here, so finding a room where it could just be me was very refreshing. And getting to look at art while doing it was therapeutic in the way I needed.
I was able to regroup and get some lunch with Ella and Jack after and not feel socially drained. So yay!
In order:
1. San Clemente’s mosaic
2. Resident kitties (I did not pet these ones… why would I disturb their sleep?)
3. roundness
4. Martyr by lion?
5. Lateran Obelisk. I love a good Egyptian work but GET THAT OFF THE TOP!!!!
6. San Giovanni in Laterno, so beautiful
7. The private room, with a gorgeous Mary Magdalene
8. Ella took this picture of Jack after we watched this wife take the exact same photo of her unamused husband
9. Our sodas -clink-
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May 20- Rome travel day
(Family)
This was the beginning to two rough days.
I started it with packing my stuff up. My suitcase is full and I have bought like… hardly anything. I don’t know and it stresses me out. We had to be out of the hotel by 10 but our train was at 1:45. So we left our luggage at the hotel.
I went to Cinema Odeon to do homework. I did none. We went there on our first day and they were playing a collection of Baz Luhrmann movies. We walked in on his 1996 Romeo and Juliet with Leonardo DiCaprio. I don’t really like Baz Luhrmann’s movies… they are visually assaulting and give me headaches. But Leonardo DiCaprio was a good thing to see first.
For the last film, they were playing silents. I spent my entire hour there trying to figure out what film they were playing. I recognize the actress. I googled and googled and gave up. I was actually more sad to leave this place now that they were playing silents… you can’t spoon feed me film history and then shove me on a train. Not fair. Not fair at all. I still don’t know what they were playing and I need to know so I can watch the whole thing on my own time.
We travelled to Rome and I guided us to our place. Instead of all of us in different hotel rooms with 1 person, we are all in one place. 14 in one apartment, 3 in the one across the hall (but no kitchen for them so we all technically share). Insane. The a/c works for no room except the one I’m in and the kitchen. The toilet perpetually flushes in another and they told us to just hit the wall instead of fixing it. The shower has black stuff in it and the pressure is awful. Everyone’s losing it about drying clothes after washing them. One of the other shower doors is broken.
My boyfriend said that you give up comfort in Europe, but things could be a little better. It’s also just difficult to be around people who are high stress and unhappy with their surroundings and aren’t getting along with their roommates. Mine are fine!
I had someone dish me attitude and I shushed him without even thinking about it. So that ruined my night here. I was asking him for help and he snapped at me. I felt kind of bad but a couple other people said he was unnecessarily rude to me.
And that was the end of the day. Rough day to start in Rome. High stress but the theater… I will miss it. Thanks for the recommendation Kyle.
In order:
1. Mystery silent at Cinema Odeon
2. The view of the screen from the bookstore part of the theater
3. A man threw this fake flower at me at 6:45 in the morning when I was going to Venice. I said no and he chucked it at me. I found it two days later right before leaving. Still don’t know why he did that to me.
4. The view of the courtyard from the hall window outside our flat.
5. Ella using a paper map in Florence! What?! A paper map?! (She was successful!)
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May 19- Sunday in Florence
(For the family)
So glad I didn’t do an overnight in Venice. I got the hotel room all to myself (even though I get along very well with my roommate) and got to sleep in for the first time in what feels like ages. I never really felt jet lagged at all though so I’ve felt fairly rested every day. Walking around makes it hard to not nap, but overall well rested!
I will have to preface that I have not really written about my evenings outside of class time on this account. I just don’t do a lot of interesting things. Here’s a brief list of things I’ve done:
1. I’ve been mildly disappointed in the food. I’ve had good food, but nothing standing out to me at all. I did have a good carbonara in Lucca but it was very rich and too much to eat
2. I’ve bought a couple things. I bought gifts for my close friends and mother and father. I found a vintage store twenty minutes out of the main city in Siena that I found a Diesel shirt for 6 euros (almost cried) and a gorgeous black dress. Such a cool place and I’m glad I walked so far to get to it.
3. I’ve just walked around a lot. I don’t know! I haven’t had wonderful interactions with Italians. So that’s been nice to deal with. I hate feeling stupid but I try to shrug it off.
I’m having fun. My mom told me that she couldn’t gauge what I was feeling about the trip. I won’t lie, it’s difficult to travel to a country I’ve never been to in this setting. There’s a lot of work to do for class and find time to explore too. So far class time has been my favorite. It’s what I’m here for. And my interactions with Italians makes me want to avoid talking to anyone.
Anyway, I’m very grateful to be here. But I won’t lie, it’s not easy by any means.
In order:
1. Found the flea market, had no cash. I love dolls too… which people don’t like about me. I am really sad I couldn’t get one ):
2. Beautiful cabinet. I want it. I need it. Ugh. I worried about it when it rained later in the day.
3. The restaurant (the fourth one we tried and the only one who didn’t reject our reservation/hang up on me for asking for a reservation on the phone) charged me for an extra water so we took it and obviously a weird thing to do but we are constantly dehydrated!
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