Preparation and Anticipation

Whew! Part one is done! I just completed my oral exam/presentation with Julia and Tom for Italian. Tomorrow we will sit for the written part of the exam. I am not thrilled with my performance but I might be over critical. We (along with three other groups) chose to present on the grotesque and I talked about La Bocca della Verita and Baroque/Mannerist grotesque things. Since I have a passion for the art world I am disappointed I couldn't express my points as well as I can in English. Oh well. I have to continue studying for my test tomorrow. 

On top of my anxiety for my presentation today and exam tomorrow I also need to start prepping for my Florence trip tomorrow!!!!! We get out of our Italian exam at 6pm and then (after a kebab stop) head for the train station to catch our 7 o'clock train! Hooray!! Aven, Pepperoni, Mattly, Tom, Julia, Gatto ed io are all going to spend Friday and Saturday in Firenze.

Ok time to backtrack, I had a great morning! Wednesdays are simple because I have a field study at 9:30 but then nothing until Italian at 4:30. Today for Renaissance and It's Classical Heritage we visited Santa Maria Aracoeli in Piazza Venezia. These past two weeks I have become a pro at catching the 40 to Piazza Venezia in the mornings. First things first we had to get to the church which involved climbing a monstrous staircase (why didn't I have coffee this morning??).

Santa Maria in Aracoeli
Altar in the Sky

How normal people see it

How it appeared to us

I felt accomplished after the climb because I wasn't out of breath (though FYI my attempt at Butt and Gut last night definitely worked, ouch). Once at the top Pier Paolo help us orient ourselves in the city and described how having this church in the middle of the city life and how it opens out into the city are indicators that it is a Franciscan church. The Dominicans and Franciscans dedicated themselves to lives of poverty and helping in the community instead of isolating themselves in cloisters. Interesting distinction for me to learn about. Inside the church was really wide and open like the Roman basilica plan, also the church today is a revised and enlarged version of the original. There were many columns and marble blocks stolen from pagan sights around Rome, so yay for recycling! boo for stealing from priceless treasures! This church was built on a spot where, according to legend, Augustus had a vision of Mary and built her an altar. This was an attempt to Christianize the pagan emperor who ruled at the time of Jesus' birth. The altar is real (though whether he built or not is debatable) and looks like a baptistery. There is the original altar hidden underneath the superstructure of the altar to St. Helen (mother of Constantine).

Altar to St. Helen/Virgin Mary

Original Altar to St. Helen

Naive of Santa Maria in Aracoeli

 Another tourist/pilgrim attraction in this church is the floor. Many rich nobles paid to be buried inside the church under elegantly carved sarcophagi in the floor. So watch your step if you visit this church because besides the uneven marble these sarcophagi are really deeply carved into the marble. I might have almost tripped over one.

Rich dead lady
(They seem kind of short to me)

Rich dead dude

 The main attraction in this church is the Chapel of Bufalini whose frescoes are painted by Pinturicchio. Pier Paolo worked his magic and we were allowed to enter this chapel in small groups of six, while it is normally off limits to the public. Thank you Pier Paolo!!!! I enjoyed his lecture and descriptions while we were looking into the room but it was ten times more marvelous getting to examine the works up close! Also I learned two new saints today, Helen and Bernardino! What beautiful colors and linear perspective in this chapel. It was restored about a decade ago and is looking good for it's age. We also didn't rush around to multiple churches this morning so I could really get my fill of the frescoes and altars we looked at today.

Chapel of Bernardino

St. Louis, St. Bernardino, and St. Anthony

Death of St. Bernardino

After Renaissance I came home to eat lunch and work on my presentation. First I had to stop and grab some veggies because I was running low!! Oh no! I certainly miss the veggie overload I get at IC and at home when  the boys aren't home. That was most of my day. Now I am studying for the written test and packing for Florence! I'll be making some dinner soon. I'll update you all on my weekend after I return, stay well!

Tuesdays Come and Tuesdays Go

Nothing too special to report today. Julie and I didn't want to get out of bed this morning but forced ourselves to wake up and catch the bus to Piazza Venezia for our Baroque field study. We actually ran into Tom on the bus which was a nice surprise! Our class went to Galleria Doria Pamphilj which I already visited with friends earlier in the semester (Read earlier blog post here!) Federica gave a great overview of the tradition of collecting art and the history of the Doria and Pamphilj families. Her explanation and narration throughout the morning added a lot to my previous visit, but we were very short on time so I am happy I had a chance to wander and explore without the time constraints. Sadly I didn't get to listen to Prince Jonathan's silky voice however Pepperoni managed to rummage up the juicy family gossip/rumors somewhere.

Annibale Carracci's Landscape with the Flight into Egypt

The ruffles on this bust won me over

Bernini is such a gem

After class Julie and I walked back to IES for our second classes of the day, mine was Forma Urbis with Gianni! This week we are studying the Valley of the Colosseum and Domus Aurea. I learned today that the Colosseum was not the original name for the amphitheater but rather the Amphitheatrum Flavium. Only after the colossal statue of Nero was moved (in order for Hadrian to build a temple) after the demolition of the Domus Aurea closer to the amphitheater was the name changed informally. I really like our textbook for this class but because there is so much information is can be daunting and technical at times. Hopefully I'll find a use for it in the future (future trips back to Rome??).

After classes Pepperoni, Tom, Julie, and I headed to our apartment to prepare for our Italian oral exams which are tomorrow and the written which are Thursday. Also, I was starving so I heated up some lunch (no microwaves here by the way). Work work work, nap, then Italian class! My teacher, Anna, is the definition of organized chaos so we understand each other very well. She offered to bring in comic strips for us to read because all of the newspapers are in the conditional tense (it seems that, it appears that, etc) so as to avoid libel and comics are in simpler tenses.

After class I decided that it was too close to dark to run, even though today had the nicest weather! So instead I came back and tried to remember as much from Butt and Gut as I could. We'll see how that feels tomorrow. Then more homework and an easy dinner. Everyone is getting studious with midterms right around the corner. Back to the books for me! Ciao tutti.

10/10/2011 Impossible to be Confused!

From the beginning of my stay I've tried to adjust to the European date format which is DD/MM/YYYY rather than in the US where it is MM/DD/YYYY. I write the Italian dates on all of my notes and for my little financial chart I am using to keep track of how much I spend. My favorite days are when the month and date are the same, like today! There is no possible way to get confused!

Starting back with Sunday, I began my morning after a nice sleep in by skyping with some foolish friend who was still awake at 4:30am their time. It was funny because we were both tired and in PJs still but on opposite ends of sleep. After that I made a quick brunch and started my Napoli blog post. I did a little bit of homework yesterday and laundry and when it was midafternoon and I had sat on my bum all day I bundled up for a jog. It is so different putting on my yoga pants and long sleeves to go running compared to in the beginning when I had to wait until the day was cool enough that I wouldn't melt when I ran! I feel so good after a run and stretching out, I'm really glad I pushed myself to go.

After my run I had to jump in the shower and get ready to go out to La Botticella, the Steelers bar in Rome!!! I met up with Caitlin and Kacie, two girls from IES, to watch the game at 7pm our time. I met Caitlin at the Pittsburgh airport before we flew to Philly together and then Rome. Our seats were always close together and she is a sweet girl whose company I enjoy but I rarely see her. She is in a homestay in Trastevere. At the bar we were surrounded by Pittsburghers or Steelers lovers from across the US! We made friends with Chris a Californian studying abroad for the semester. His classes are held in a building very very close to IES so I am curious about his program. The four of us grabbed a pizza between the halves and returned to the bar to watch the Steelers stomp on the Titans. It was an ecstatic atmosphere in the bar with every sack and touchdown pass. I am glad the Steelers showed up yesterday instead that team that was posing as us for the first 4 games this season! We all went our separate ways after the game but promised to meet up again for the next one.

Steelers girls! (thanks for the earrings Mom)

This morning was another delightful Monday morning of classes. I am very happy with my teachers and my subjects. We spent Conservation class discussing different kinds of light that can be used (infrared, visable, xray, UV) for analyzing works and then talking about the different elemental bases of pigments and how they react to the light. It was a very science filled hour but brought back memories of Chem with Kerry Lee and Elaine Kuo! Oh Ithaca thank you for passing me through those science classes! It's a great reminder of what I can look forward to in the Spring semester.

After classes I came home and made a quick salad for lunch and dropped by the grocery store. I am considering an attempt at apple pie in the near future if I can figure out how I'm going to provide a crust. I don't trust myself to make one even close to my mother's standards and I'm trying to find somewhere to buy a  premade crust. It's funny the things we have in the US that are nearly impossible to find in Italy. I'm sure the reverse will be true when I get home and cannot find biscotti con panna or nutella down every aisle. How will I survive without the Prati market?!

A bag full of bites from heaven

I went back to IES this afternoon for a presentation on Afghanistan with a photo exhibit. The presenter used to be an ISC before she spent 5 months in Afghanistan working on development projects as a civilian with the Italian military. I was eager to meet this young women because not only has she accomplished a lot with her life but she is Nico's sister! She named Syria! She described the geopolitical and social conflicts and gave a brief summery of the past decade of war in Afghanistan along with her personal experiences while she was abroad. She was working there back in 2008 but her program has since lost funding due to the growing danger. Her story was very interesting and I hope we get to meet with her and perhaps have her over for dinner some night. While she has not had any photography training the photos she took were marvelous! A lot of landscape and genre photos along with a couple of the Blue Mosque which my eyes could not soak up fast enough. Islamic designs can be so breathtakingly complex and simple at the same time. Maybe I'll take some non-Western art history classes when I get back to IC.

Tonight I am hoping to cook up a yummy dinner and start reviewing for my Italian midterm. My oral discussion with my professor will be on Wednesday and the written exam will be on Thursday. Thursday night after my exam I am leaving directly for the train station!!! A group of us are going to Florence for the weekend!! After a semi-successful train excursion to Naples I'm ready to try out my first hostel and see Giotto's bell tower OF COURSE! I'm very excited for this coming weekend. Florence then a week of midterm exams then fall break (Dublin, Edinburgh, and Nice) and then maybe some time remaining here in Rome during November to save on money and explore my città.

Napoli!

Saturday morning came very early. I didn't sleep well Friday night and Kat had been out late with friends. We were up and out the door by 7:15 and made it to the train station by 8:06! Perfect timing for our 8:30 train to Napoli. Sara had a little more trouble getting to the station but still made it in time for a coffee at the bar. At 8:30 we hopped on our train and headed South. We stopped at the Termini station for a very very long time, then proceeded to go backwards. We apparently got on the wrong train and it took us right back to Ostiense where we started. Oy! So we got off and checked the board for the next train to Napoli. We ended up taking a train that was 2 hours later than our original but that was ok because getting to Naples by 1pm still gave us plenty of time. This was my first time on a train as far as I can recall and I am impressed with them. Simple, comfy, and they get you from point A to point B.

In Napoli the first thing we did was go to the information booth to get a map. Of course they didn't have any. They had just run out of maps but we could examine the poster/map on the wall and get our bearings. Thankfully just outside the station are tons of hotels and I popped in one and asked for a map which the nice Italian behind the desk gave me. So far the "scary dirty dangerous" city was extremely friendly!  A couple confusing moments later Sara, Kat and I were headed off to the Duomo and Museo di San Gennaro to meet up with Sara's roommates who had caught an earlier train. When we met up our first task was to eat some lunch because we were starving! Sara's roommates had already eaten so they went to find locations from Breakfast at Tiffany's instead and we found the best little pizzeria! We found a space to sit down, they had tons of choices of pizza ranging from 4-8 euro (very inexpensive for the enormous size of each pizza) and brought our food out within 5 minutes of ordering. It was incredible! I had the artichoke heart pizza which won out as the best selection! Neapolitan crusts are more bread-like than Roman and I enjoyed the change of pace (but my heart still lies with Roman crusts). Lunch was great!!

Pizza!

After lunch we walked right next door where the Sotterranea tours started. We tried to check out the price for a tour of underground Napoli but couldn't find an easy way to go on a tour. They took about 2 hours and there were other ways we wanted to spend our one day in Napoli. While we waiting though we got an amusing show, there were two little dogs fighting over a potted plant. One would urinate and then the other would sniff and urinate over it and then the first would go back, etc.  This went on and on and on and everyone was laughing at the spectacle. After lunch we just wandered the streets looking at pizzerias and gift shops and lots of jewelry stores! We found a little nook of a shop on some random side street that had a great collection of earrings and wooden carvings. Kat bought a pair for 3 euro which is a good deal for how nice they are! We ran across Santa Chiara on our way down to the port and took a peek inside as far as the ticket counter. It is a beautiful church complex which according to the signs had a museum. The price to get in was a little steep considering we didn't know what we would be getting for it, but the garden area we could see from outside was  just as breathtaking as the enormous building itself.

Continuing down the hill we finally reach the port! Sadly no matter how hard we tried we couldn't get very close to the water for a good picture, the cruise ships were in the way!  It started to sprinkle on us so we stopped into a cafe and got a coke while admiring the view of Napoli and chatting among ourselves. After a while we wandered towards the Castel Nuovo which punctures the modern facade of Naples. It was strange seeing these two or three great stone structures rooted into the ground with modern hotels and skyscrapers around them! Rome and Naples have very different appearances. We started the climb back uphill on the opposite side of town from the train station peeking into stores and shops along the way. I bought a nice Christmas gift for a relative.

Sara and Kat taming their hair in the breeze

Kat and I at the port

Random small old closed church by the port

We wound our way up to Piazza del Gesu where the Gesu Novo church is located. I sort of tricked Sara and Kat into this direction and then nudged them towards the decision of going inside. I would love to go to Napoli sometime and have the time and money to see every museum and Herculaneum, but that isn't possible right now so I wanted to get my fill of churches at least!! Gesu is a very Baroque church but so elaborate. I can not get over the intricate marble carvings!! The outside of the church looks a little goofy because the building used to be a palace and then never changed the front, but I like the contrast between the simple ordered outside and crazy gaudy inside. We spent a good 20 minutes or more in this church taking a short break from walking, or in my case admiring every nook and cranny. There were no pictures allowed inside so I pulled quite a few from the internet but to see every interesting feature there are many that look similar. Please put up with my detail orientated posts :)

My favorite statue in the entire church!
Check out the veins on her arms!!!!!

Two walls of a chapel were COVERED with small angelic figures

  in gold and under-lit, overpowering

The naive

The exteria

Facing the exit

Looking up at the dome!

Elaborate chapel

The Virgin has a light up halo of stars
Reminded me of Lady Liberty
Also note she is standing on a sphere of lapislazuli!

The organ pipes were above the entrances to the side chapels
and had beautiful green and yellow marble

This gives a better idea of the aisles and size of the church

After Gesu we were all feeling a little wiped out and decided to stroll back in the direction of the train station. We checked out some more stores and I bought a little something something plus a gift for mia cugina. We got turned around on our walk and stopped in a bar for ask the nice man for directions. He was very very very kind and showed us on the map where we were and gave us directions down to the station. Such a sweetheart, once again disproving the bad rep for Napoli. We walked to the station and checked train times, finding a couple earlier than our 9pm departure. We found a restaurant close to the station to sit down for dinner, but because we were all still stuffed from our delicious lunch we decided to split one pizza between the three of us. We got the eggplant pizza and it was incredible. The Neapolitans really win you over with the simpler pizzas. We looked into two more jewelry stores  walking back to the station before catching a train at 8:20. 

Since it wasn't our original train, when the man checked our tickets we had a little bit of explaining. Even though he wasn't pleased with us nothing came of the conversation and we all went back to napping or, in my nerdy case, listening to Freakonomics podcasts and playing solitaire on my ipod. At Termini Sara caught her bus home and Kat and I grabbed the 40. On the bus ride home we overheard a couple with heavy Southern accents sounding lost, so Kat and I tried our best to help them but they obviously didn't know anything about the bus system or where their hotel was. We did our best but we were tired, so I hope they made it back safely. Once we got off the bus we were almost immediately approached by two (German?) gentlemen who were asking for more directions from us. Thankfully they had a very simple problem... but didn't seem to believe our directions. "Go down the street on this side and you will see signs that say BUS STOP. It takes only 2 minutes or less." They seemed so confused. Oh well, again I hope they made it safely. 

We walked in the door to a pleasant crowd in our apartment: Julie, Ginny, Sophia, Aven, Mattly, and Jordan Julie's sorority sister from back home. She is an au pair in Northern Italy and came to Rome for the weekend.  They all headed out for the night and Kat collapsed into bed while I got online to Skype with my dad! It's always nice to hear from home and I certainly miss my parents and family in Pittsburgh. Hi to Gran and Gramps! We chatted for a good long while and after all was said and done I followed suit and passed out in bed for a good long rest. I have lots to say about today! so in the near future I will have to catch you up all about my awesome Sunday! Goodnight from Roma! Baci per la notte

More Napoli Pictures:

Me at the port of Napoli

Lots of pictures of streets!

Walking down to the port

The column in front of Gesu

View from the port while we had our cokes