Wrap Up

First off, I have like 3 half entry drafts that got interrupted or disconnected and for whatever reason never finished. So anyway, I’ll try to go back and add those in (once again after the time already passed) just so you can get a sense of what I was thinking, and hopefully see some pictures of what I was doing . Thought this would be a fun entry though, I’m just gonna post some overall things I think you’d like to see. Fun stuff that’s all. Just a Wrap Up like I said.

Number 1, our Newark project was a ton of fun to work on and the video editing that I was able to practice was really helpful and at the same time fun to be doing something completely different than “architectural drawings”. This is a Blooper Video from that project.

In addition, here are some concluding pictures from the plane ride back, the airport, final days in Rome… etc…

View from Our Dorm Window - The ONE Day it Decided to Rain
Palio Day	Palio Day	Palio Day .../Night
Tempietto	Cassel - San Angelo
View over Rome from on top of a hill		Mountains - Flying Over the Coast of France

Rivals

Hey all, sorry I haven’t posted much recently, the fact that we are actually involved in a school program I think has caught up to all of us, and admittedly to me.  But the simple fact is that I am still here in Italy and the experience is really what I am learning from, and I know that is as good as any education.

So yesterday was our group “field trip” to Florence.  The trip, although we’ve been to Florence before on that most interesting night on the way to Venice, was a great experience, and really reminded me of some thoughts I’ve had on the city and cultural context we’ve been experiencing.  I remember thinking, at the top of the Sienese Duomo wall that we could easily be in Florence instead.  Over time, one little decision or event or experience can really create a drastic effect.  The butterfly effect is really what I first related this to, and the fact that the plague destroyed the city of Siena, not to a point of no recovery but forced it to recede to second place in a the Tuscan region that they once were on top of.  Other cities like Venice, that decided to (as we’ve been saying) “whore” itself out to tourists, gave us a terrible vibe even though the city was a very interesting man made almost paradise. Rome is a historical city while Naples is very business oriented.  The culture is really affected by little decisions and events which can even be translated architecturally in the way that Brunelleschi went about winning over the city of Florence and its Cathedral.

Obviously the trip was much more tahn this (a decent amount of sightseeing from the top of the Dome) I really got to see a good deal of things I remember learing about pretty vividly.  I think this more than anywhere else we’ve seen was somewhere I could really relate to with the knowledge I have somewhere along the line accumulated.  And the 430whatever steps were totally worth it.

Martedi

So today, a little less eventful than the previous couple days, was basically just another Tuesday hence the title of this entry.  But the good news is the internet works.  At least I can be free to log this entry and have a quick chat with everybody at home and let them know that I’m ok.  But thats pretty much it for the day, the good news from yesterday is we got to hand in our Analytiques which went very well and we really started to get a little more in depth in our mapping exercise.

Still livin mostly off pizza and storebrand pasta but we did get to go out for a real dinner tonight that included some very delicious veal steak with a salad and of course the house wine.  It was a good little change, and I am planning on going to nearby Monterigioni to get at least one more good meal in before headin back home.

Other plans for this week include really workin on these assignments and basically stayin in to watch the Palio and all its festivities this weekend and planning for the following weekend and ultimately the trip home.  Its lookin like it’ll be really busy couple days at the end but it’ll be hopefully a great end to this trip.

Will have more to share tomorrow…

QP

This post is going to have to be a really quick one.  Apparently the one place we had internet privalages  has decided to kick us out if we don’t buy anything.  As expected.  But maybe this is a good thing, because we have been getting somewhat attached to the internet that we didn’t think we would need here in Siena.

Anyway this past weekend was a nice time to check out Siena itself as I’ve mentioned and I think next weekend will be pretty local as well, with the Palio and all.  They have all the bleachers up and even put the dirt down on the Campo today! But I had to do something beyond that this weeknd so I took a nice little day trip to Pisa, which was a little longer than a daytrip should be but it was totally doable, just a little shortlived with having to catch the train and bus and not get stranded in Florence… again.

Pisa: There really isn’t much else in Pisa besides an awkward, misplaced tower alongside a pretty nice Duomo (as are many in Italy though) and the Baptistry.  The city is fairly small but was nowhere near as touristy as Venice.  In fact, in walking the 20-30 min from the train station to the Tower I only saw a handful of tourists, despite how packed that plaza area was between the trio of sights with people pretending to hold up and push over the tower in pictures.

Panoramic of the 3 things to see while in Pisa

This really hasn’t been quick so far so heres a few pictures.

Panoramic of the 3 things to see while in Pisa

dublinPOST

So I am sitting here right now on a Saturday night, still in Siena after 2/3 of the weekend, stealing Internet from an Irish Pub because it appears to be the only working internet in the city right now.

Good News: I’ve got a beer and a friend by my side (no, they are not one in the same)

Bad News: This “analytique” drawing project that we’ve all been suffering over isn’t done yet… But…

Good News: It’s almost done and I am planning on going somwhere tomorrow anyway.

So tonight I decided to dive full force as much as possible into the European Culture.  Yep, I went to see a professional (Soccer) Futbol game.  Apparently the small city of Siena has a Serie A squad, that isn’t too terrible.  On this night they were terrible, losing 3-0 in quite a poor overall effort.  The black and white striped jerseys brought back memories of my club team during high school, the Goodfellas (I think I still have that jersey somewhre in the closet).

Although it was a pretty boring day, much of the time taken up by a single school assignment, I think it was alright.  I am beginning to feel like I am a citizen more than a visitor.  Now I only have to get crackin on this Rosetta Stone and learn the language.  It feels comfortable though, which is an interesting feeling after having spent so much time here already.  And this morning I had half an intellegent conversation in Italian (where I said all of about 6 words of course and listened to the rest) but it is cool to see how things have developed.

I know I owe you pictures from the other day and I will get to them, just as soon as I can pull up a better location than the Dublin Post.

Il Duomo

Today – ok yesterday – was all about sightseeing.  Although sometime should have definitely been spent on schoolwork, it just didn’t work out that way, and there is plenty of time for that later.  So we didn’t see all of Siena in one day, but we checked out what might be the coolest panoramic view in the city, the top of an unfinished wall of the Duomo.

Background: Siena and Florence competed basically for the rights of Tuscany, ie: to be the main city in the region, since the day each city was concieved.  At some point Florence won out, somewhere around the plague in 1348 which pretty much halved the population of Siena.  After the building of the famous dome of the Florence Cathedral (San Giovanni?) Siena tried to expand their own Duomo to make it the largest in Tuscany.  Long story short, they never finished.

Experience: So what would have been the front wall of the new Duomo is now just a wall rising up probably 80-100 feet from the top of a hill none the less, with an open view of the entire city.  We started in the church itself, which is an absolutely beautiful Gothic style Cathedral.

We then moved on to the Crypt.  This wasn’t that great but it was cool to see the foundation of the church we were just in, and look up at people looking down at us.

The Wall: Lastly we moved into the museum and up onto the wall.  The Museum had some cool statues and paintings, most of which related to Siena and the Duomo of course, and overall was pretty cool to see, but clearly the best part was the panorama.  It was amazing.

Campo: Of course after a long day of being tourists we made dinner and wound up once again at the Campo.  It was a very relaxed night no more parties, at least not that we know of yet, but I’m sure there will soon be one because the Palio preparation is taking effect everywhere you look.  Today they started putting the bleachers up on the sides of the Campo.

Siena: Settimana Due

So the wireless is down, no clue why but we probably should’ve expected it.  Means I get to use this phenomenal Italian keyboard again <àò<è€+è<<< …  Anyway, the second full week in Siena has officially come to a close, at least for school.  We have all been somewhat busy this week trying to keep up with the demands for our studio and of course these damands have not been bet so far which means this weekend will probably be spent somewhere nearby.  There is not too much work to be done but there is plenty to be seen around this town as well – not to mention I have to do laundry – so maybe something like Pisa is not out of the question being just a 2 hour ride away for a day trip.  This will allow for school work to be finished, sleep to be slept and still places to be toured and tons of pictures taken.  Speaking of pictures, throughout the enitre party last night (the final one at the Contrada del Nicchio – the Shell) I somehow managed to not even consider taking a single picture, which means there is once again no evidence that I was ever there.  But it was definitely fun, lots of dancing preceded by a few drinkies and we still made it back before curfew. 

So that’s the update for today… I actually did a little sightseeing yesterday morning but I cannot post any pictures until the Wi-Fi comes back, and I will explain about the Fortezza Medicea and the Enoteca Italiana at that time.  We also went into the Palazzo Publico on Wednesday (thats the main government building on the Campo, which is apparently still in use) and although we were not allowed to take pictures, I managed to sneak a few good ones.  I hope I can post those up soon, it was a really cool experience.

Oh, one more thing!  I know this is a really long entry for no pictures, but today they started setting up for the Palio, fencing off the center of the Campo, and setting up some stands and seating between the buildings.  This is gonna be a huge week with all the preparation. 

That’s it, talk to you soon…

4/8/09<<<

This is technically a blog for Aug 4, if I can continue to post once a day, but its after midnight IT time.  Anyway, lets discuss the present today.  Most of the day was occupied with studio work.  Not exciting at all I know.  But its not that bad, the week is pretty busy with this stuff but the weekends are free to catchup or go out or whatever might be the case.  So today wasn’t all about studio and beginning the Italian analytiques, starting basically when we set off the fire alarm.  And then the trip with Lorenzo, an Italian friend of Jim’s and a founding member of Stalker, who is working with us this week while the big guy is out of town.  We took a “walk” with him, no big deal right?  But then why do I quote it?   Well the walk consisted of exploring each and every possible corridor, cave, and construction zone along our path.  We probably could have died or got in some major trouble but apparently “studente architectura” is enough to get out of anything.  It was definitely a good new way of looking at the world.  Very openly.  Do anything basically.

To go back in the past once more, lets talk about that friday night that got jammed into 5 sentances in the previous blog.  It was pretty crazy.  Not only did the night simply include the expected sights of Rome, and some fun clubs… well ok that was pretty much it, but it was much more intersting than it sounds.  The night probably started at about 9pm, at the Colleseum.  When you walk out of the subway and look around you immediately realize that it is directly in front of you, and it is very large.  The Arch of Constantine, the nearby monument of Victor Emanuele, and some other ancient ruins were only what you would expect.  We soon headed to the Campo dei Fiore where we encountered a ton of people, a quite amusing magician, and best of all cheap beer.  Of course, Italian beer is not the attraction but needless to say, it was quite enough.  Later, we were taken by surprise to a nearby club that was not worth half of the hype.  Eventually we stumbled in the door around 4am and I woke up the next day before I realized I’d fallen asleep.

Funny Statue in front of The Arch of Constantine

…More pictures from today will be uploaded soon and the rest of Rome should be recapped by tomorrow night.

golB

In a way I guess its good that we are kinda overloaded with work during the week, it gives me time to catchup and recap the Blogs I never did.  Kinda like go back in time, which is why this is titled backwards.

Anyway, heres another image from Venezia from the past weekend:

It was actually really cool, like I said I really enjoyed actually paying and going upstairs inside.  The enitre cieling is a mosaic of squares about the size of my fingernail.  Wish I had a picture of that but we were not allowed to take any inside.  There was a sort of museum set up to which was interesting to get a taste of Venetian History as well as a little insight on good old St. Mark.

A quick recap, moving forward with our experience in Rome, the first weekend was pretty intense, and there was a lot to do.

Thursday: Had a tour during the day, with Peter and Jim.  Highlights include the Circus Maximus, Caracalla’s Bath Houses (Thermae), a view of Nero’s Palace, as well as some others.  Met Alberto, who we would be working with on a project for the following week, Laurentino38, and were invited to a fashion show at his school the IED

Palace of Nero

Friday: Met at IED for an introduction and some lectures, went out at night and saw the historical Rome that we would think of, ie: the Collesseum, and checked out the night life.

Saturday: By some miracle most of us were able to wake up pretty early.  Took a tour, led by Aris of a series of churches throughout Rome. Took up the majority of the day just laid low for the most part that night.

Sunday: A bit of recovery and also some investigation on this so-called project that we were doing on Laurentino38, a large housing project in the outskirts of Rome, that was in pretty poor condition.

I know that is a lot for a single entry but it is a pretty big recap, and I needed to do it if I plan to have any chance to catch up. Will continue and possibly expand on some of those…

Il Pasado

I haven’t uploaded any pictures from Venezia yet, so I’m gonna do a quick retroactive post.  This one is gonna be the best I can recall from the day we got here:

The plane ride and 2 hours of sleep was a little rough and we didn’t waste any time gettin into the swing of things.  The first stop we made was Ostia Antica, which is basically a similar condition to Pompei.  It was a quick tour, I got to do a little sketching, and a ton of picture taking and really learning how to use my camera.  The day didn’t leave much time to get settled in, as we soon got back to the Hotel Derby and were quickly back out to tour Garbatella, our area of Rome.  It was a more residential area so definitely not what I was expecting of Rome – a lot dirtier, there was graffiti everywhere but it must have been discouraged less and some of it was very impressive – but was very comfortable.

That night was mostly about recovery, but we got to check out our part of town and try the food from the excellent restaraunt across from our hotel, along with sample the local beer and house wine.

All in all: pretty successful start but still not didn’t know what to expect at the time.