Just a quick update...
We spent the past 10 days in Brugge, getting back to Trastevere at 10pm Monday night. I posted some photos a few days back - check out the link listed as "Rome" under "My Photos" on the right of this page (also reached by visiting bit.ly/kellenrome). We had a wonderful time, and we also made it to Brussels, Ghent, and Antwerp. I have enjoyed some of the best food so far since the Friday before, including seafood such as fried cod next to the tiny Santa Maria Barbara (on via Giubbionari), and in Brugge: smoked salmon, a pan-fried whitefish (perch, if I remember correctly?), and steamed mussels. Brugge is a living fairytale city; I experienced some of the best urban spaces ever in Belgium at large, and the whole trip has left a big impression on my education.
Kristie and I cooked dinner last Wednesday for all of us in Brugge, and right before our professors arrived to eat, we happened to turn the TV on to BBC just before the white smoke came out! The bells filled Brugge. Tuesday, we are going to the Papal Inauguration Mass at 9:30 am (i.e. 6:30 am). How fortunate that the one day we are back in Rome, we get to go see Pope Francis! I am having lunch as a guest of the Pontifical North American College afterwards, and then we have a postponed history class and trip prep with Dr. Rowland. Wednesday morning we leave for Malta, and will be in Sicily until Sunday evening (Palm Sunday; fastest Lent ever, by the way).
Two weekends ago we went to Naples, Casserta, Sorrento, Capri/Anacapri, and Pompeii. I wanted to go to Herculaneum and elsewhere; there's always next time. Look for a more detailed post or two...soon!
I am trying to get my summer figured out; the end of February was spent updating my portfolio and applying to internships and arranging my final year in school, and I will continue looking for a summer job when I get back from our next field trip. We have also been working more in studio, having become more intimately familiar with Rome than when we first arrived. However, I have been able to read for pleasure (I am halfway through The Fountainhead) a bit in Belgium and hope to continue in Malta and Sicily. I should be reading Jane Jacobs and some other classics right now, too...
It has really been a whirlwind.
Monday, March 18, 2013
Sunday, March 3, 2013
Team Roma
Alora. I mean, "okay." I need to go to mass in English.That thought led me first to Fr. Jim's recommendation of the Venerable English College, but I wasn't ready in time so I went with Rodrigo to an 11am service at Caravita, near Sant'Ignazio. (Officially, Oratorio of San Francesco Saverio “del Caravita”). Caravita is small inside, and it likely was an ancillary chapel to a larger church such as the nearby Sant'Ignazio.
It turned into a very pleasant day, so after lunch I read a bit on the balcony of our studio before attempting to catch up on my blog posts. Errands and other things to do outside of class led me back to the apartment for a few hours, where Rodrigo was cooking orange and lemon pasta he bought back in Sorrento. I myself bought chili-flavored pasta, and made a spicy dish earlier last week. It wasn't quite all'Arrabbiata, but it (and Rod's) was delicious nonetheless!
Weeks earlier, Billy, Rodrigo, and I bought tickets to the Roma vs. Genoa soccer game. They were only twenty euro or so, and the stadium is in the old Olympic village after the northern bend in the Tiber. The public (and super-crowded) bus going past it picked us up across Ponte Sisto, and dropped us off right by our apartments at Piazza Trilussa in Trastevere.
Saturday, March 2, 2013
Concert at the Pantheon
I have been looking forward to sleeping in for a while. Traveling usually means waking up around 6:30 or 7, and going to bed around 11 or midnight. In Rome, I typically don't wake up until 7:30 or 8, but usually I've gone to bed always later than I had hoped. Our week since Naples had not been exceptionally taxing compared to others (more walking with Ingrid, but less overall in terms of miles around the city). But even so, I was excited to have a weekend where we were in Rome without anything exceptional to do.
Of course, living in Italy is exceptional enough. Going to school by the Pantheon, seeing the dome of St. Peter's from Ponte Sisto every morning and night as I cross the Tiber to and from Trastevere, and being immersed in such a rich city is a blessing and an experience barely describable in my posts. But still, I wanted a relaxing weekend relative to the week. So today, my to-do list involved sleeping in, doing laundry, and applying for internships. I technically should have been reading and working on school projects, but I also technically shouldn't be prioritizing my blog over homework.
It was a beautiful day--mostly spent inside, sadly--so our windows were open and it was for once a pleasure to go to the washing machine on the roof next door. I've usually done laundry at night, with my phone as a flashlight, for the time left after school is after dinner in the darkness. The terrace on which the washer sits is very nice, but if it's cold and there's no light bulb in the tiny room off to the side, doing laundry is not exactly a pleasant experience. We have no dryer, so clothes end up being hung around cabinet doors and railings afterwards in our apartment...for a few days. Today, however, I stayed for a few extra minutes in the sun and checked out the views of neighboring homes in Trastevere. You can see a few foreground buildings (important, architecturally significant ones such as churches and the American Academy atop the Gianicolo, or Janiculum Hill). For the first time I noticed you can also see the tip-top of the lantern of St. Peter's Basilica, right from our roof. It's hidden, mostly, by a few trees and some other buildings to the north. But what a sight! Normally, I have to cross Ponte Sisto to see the dome.
For the past month or so I've been searching for some summer opportunities, which kept me inside where the glare of the sun wouldn't render my computer screen unreadable. There are some incredible portfolios out there, but many firms are outside of Cleveland. As I consider where I might end up on graduation, in the back of my head I want to settle down in Northeast Ohio some day. To some extent, that consideration is encouraging the explorations of cities where I might go until I come back to Cleveland. But financially speaking, it would be nice to avoid extra rent payments and stay in town for this summer. We shall see what happens.
Later, Rodrigo and I visited the Pantheon. There was a 6pm concert ("Silencio") from a German group accompanied by strings and winds singing mostly Gregorian-style music and chants, with a new-age twist ('oh's' as replacements for lyrics). It lasted about 90 minutes, poked only by some odd poetry read in both Italian and German. Since I cannot understand either, my eyes would wander around the rich detailing of the Pantheon especially lit for this concert. And I thought--while seeing the mob of Italians and tourists playing musical chairs the whole time around our seats--how incredible it is that the dome of St. Peter's is equal in size to the Pantheon. The hundreds of people at the concert alone could fit below the tip-top lantern I was drooling over earlier in the day.
Dinner was at a rather upscale restaurant in Trastevere: Rod generously treated me and Tony to one of the best meals we have had in Rome. I ordered the classic Roman dish Bucatini all'Amatriciana after practicing the pronunciation (and butchering it upon our waiter's arrival). Until that point, the waiter had been delighted to converse with Tony and Rodrigo in their fluent Italian. Anyway, it arrived in a the pot it was cooked in. We had a cheese plate and some wine before our food came, and by the end of the meal I was so full I had to lay down.
Life is pretty great right now. I should be paying more attention to studio, but frankly with a 16 day tour of Belgium and Sicily beginning in 5 days, I'm content putting off homework for one day.
Of course, living in Italy is exceptional enough. Going to school by the Pantheon, seeing the dome of St. Peter's from Ponte Sisto every morning and night as I cross the Tiber to and from Trastevere, and being immersed in such a rich city is a blessing and an experience barely describable in my posts. But still, I wanted a relaxing weekend relative to the week. So today, my to-do list involved sleeping in, doing laundry, and applying for internships. I technically should have been reading and working on school projects, but I also technically shouldn't be prioritizing my blog over homework.
It was a beautiful day--mostly spent inside, sadly--so our windows were open and it was for once a pleasure to go to the washing machine on the roof next door. I've usually done laundry at night, with my phone as a flashlight, for the time left after school is after dinner in the darkness. The terrace on which the washer sits is very nice, but if it's cold and there's no light bulb in the tiny room off to the side, doing laundry is not exactly a pleasant experience. We have no dryer, so clothes end up being hung around cabinet doors and railings afterwards in our apartment...for a few days. Today, however, I stayed for a few extra minutes in the sun and checked out the views of neighboring homes in Trastevere. You can see a few foreground buildings (important, architecturally significant ones such as churches and the American Academy atop the Gianicolo, or Janiculum Hill). For the first time I noticed you can also see the tip-top of the lantern of St. Peter's Basilica, right from our roof. It's hidden, mostly, by a few trees and some other buildings to the north. But what a sight! Normally, I have to cross Ponte Sisto to see the dome.
For the past month or so I've been searching for some summer opportunities, which kept me inside where the glare of the sun wouldn't render my computer screen unreadable. There are some incredible portfolios out there, but many firms are outside of Cleveland. As I consider where I might end up on graduation, in the back of my head I want to settle down in Northeast Ohio some day. To some extent, that consideration is encouraging the explorations of cities where I might go until I come back to Cleveland. But financially speaking, it would be nice to avoid extra rent payments and stay in town for this summer. We shall see what happens.
Later, Rodrigo and I visited the Pantheon. There was a 6pm concert ("Silencio") from a German group accompanied by strings and winds singing mostly Gregorian-style music and chants, with a new-age twist ('oh's' as replacements for lyrics). It lasted about 90 minutes, poked only by some odd poetry read in both Italian and German. Since I cannot understand either, my eyes would wander around the rich detailing of the Pantheon especially lit for this concert. And I thought--while seeing the mob of Italians and tourists playing musical chairs the whole time around our seats--how incredible it is that the dome of St. Peter's is equal in size to the Pantheon. The hundreds of people at the concert alone could fit below the tip-top lantern I was drooling over earlier in the day.
Dinner was at a rather upscale restaurant in Trastevere: Rod generously treated me and Tony to one of the best meals we have had in Rome. I ordered the classic Roman dish Bucatini all'Amatriciana after practicing the pronunciation (and butchering it upon our waiter's arrival). Until that point, the waiter had been delighted to converse with Tony and Rodrigo in their fluent Italian. Anyway, it arrived in a the pot it was cooked in. We had a cheese plate and some wine before our food came, and by the end of the meal I was so full I had to lay down.
Life is pretty great right now. I should be paying more attention to studio, but frankly with a 16 day tour of Belgium and Sicily beginning in 5 days, I'm content putting off homework for one day.
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