My Life In Rome

Okay, so I slacked off a bit (okay, a lot) on my blog updates for my last couple weeks of my trip. As soon as fall term started... I got really busy... and no time for blog. It was especially daunting because I had a few pictures to search for to include in this last post of Rome... to make it sort of a sum-up of my life in Rome. We'll start with an apartment tour. We lived on the Campo di Fiori, which is in the "heart" of Rome. Our apartment was on the fourth floor (aka the "third" floor in Europe) with the ground floor being Joe Rivetto cafe... serving moderately good brioche in the morning.

This first pic is of my apartment's light & air shaft. It is the first thing you see when you come in the front door (and look to the left). It was a very important part of our place, because when it got really hot (every day), we could open up those french doors to let in even the smallest breeze. To orient yourself: going to the left of this image is a long hallway, which leads to the first bathroom (which has its own balcony, and the vital washer & dryer - very rare). To the right is the main living area, which is the next stop on our tour...

The view of the living room as you enter our apartment. These couches were very uncomfortable... but had the best internet reception in the place. You can see the first of two refrigerators (with microwave on top). Our apartment is typically rented to students at the Rome Center (home of the U of Washington's Rome Study Abroad) so it came with lots of tourbooks. You can see them stacked in the corner. As you turn to the left, you can see...

Our kitchen & dining room. It is the same room as the living room, so it is a nice, big space (for a house of 8 girls). The cabinet on the left holds all the dishes, while the back wall has the sink, stove (with oven below), and 2nd refrigerator. The long shelf above is our "pantry" of delicious Roman foods (the nearest grocery store is 2 blocks away, and the market is right downstairs). Our dining table was looking good at this point, because we had just had people over the night before (and I cleaned up) but it is typically covered in cooking ingredients, etc. Just past the dishes cabinet on the left is the door to my room. We had three girls in our room, but we also had our own bathroom. To the left are two doors leading to the other two bedrooms. They had nice views of the Campo, but they were also blessed with the noise of the Campo at night. I don't have pictures of my room, because I was taking pictures during siesta, and my roommates were sleeping... but I wanted to give you an idea of my living arrangements.

These are all the girls of the apartment, taken during the main course of our progressive dinner. I think the candles in the wine bottles was a nice touch. To my left is one of our professors, Kathy, who was just one of the ladies. (When she was not taking care of her energetic son). It was pretty much the best night in Rome. We began with appetizers provided by our professors, then had a pasta course at one of the boys' apartments, then came to our apartment, then went to the other boys' apartment for dessert. Then...

We went about serenading the city with our friend Max on guitar, who made up a song about the Campo, and also his own rendition of Beyonce's "Single Ladies." We made a whopping 35 euros, not including the money we used to buy roses. It was a good night.

This is Max singing to the magician, who comes to the Campo almost every night, always yelling out "Guarda!" which means, "look!" He had some nice tricks, and I gave him one of our broken roses, which he put in his vest as a boutonniere.

The following pictures are of what I thought would be my last visit to the Vatican, to hike to the top of the dome. It was a bit disappointing (after hiking the Brunelleschi dome in Florence, which was more impressive) but still a must-see.

This a clock that we would pass by leaving the Vatican, which I just thought was hilarious. We finally made it to the Hard Rock on a visit to the Villa Borghese, and it was worth every penny. I never realized how much I liked hamburgers until I went two months without them. My bacon-cheeseburger came with fries, as well as FREE water with ICE served with lemon! Such a nice surprise! Oh, and the ceiling of the Hard Rock had typical Baroque clouds with cherubs... holding guitars. Funny.

View from the top of St. Peter's dome, looking towards the Square. Pretty nice design, Bernini. The people look like little ants! The green space straight ahead is the curve of the river, and the Campo is out of the picture, to the left (across the river). You can kind of see the Castel St. Angelo at the end of the axis, on the left side.

This is a view of the statues along the front edge of St. Peters. They were huge! We walked around the top of the roof after coming down from the top of the dome. It was cool looking down into the tops of St. Peters many domes. Also, random fact: there are stores on the roof of St. Peters. A cafe and a souveneir shop. Its own little shopping mall. I was a little bit shocked. And I resisted the urge to step inside them. I'm sure they had some high prices.

This is the view from St. Peter's roof, looking up towards the dome. I'm pretty sure that cross at the top is about 10 feet tall, but I didn't get that close to it. The window to the right is one of the lanterns of the domes. They have to be pretty tall to get enough light into the domes, and it is quite dramatic.












I randomly took this picture during one of our tours. It shows the two sides of Rome: its old architecture, and MANY scooters (this is the back of one of them). They are everywhere. I think they are nice because of the super narrow streets of the city, but they like to zip around pedestrians like madmen. They come out of nowhere!







This is a view from our apartment's window (from my roommates' room), looking across the Campo. It was just after one of our larger rainstorms, and the clouds were ominous. When it rains, it pours! We were always jealous of the rooftop terraces of our neighbors. They are on pretty much every roof of the city... except ours.







This was from one of our many excursions over to the Pantheon. It was only ten minutes away from our house. I took this from the huge front doors, looking out towards the piazza. The Pantheon is closed at night, but its portico is still a lot of fun to explore. We even did the column test... it took four of us to wrap our arms around one of the columns, and they are made of one giant piece of marble. Intense.





A typically palazzo in the city (this one was close to the Roman Forum, if I remember correctly). There are tons of buildings all around that are covered in plants. But they are not overwhelming, in fact, it looks like they were meant to be there. I like the contrast between the old building and the greenery.







We saw these signs all over... this one was at the Colosseum. We just liked the graphics, quite dramatic. It was easy to get the gist of what the sign means, something like "prohibited to enter." However, I looked it up on freetranslation.com (a great site) and it says "forbidden the entrance to the not employees to the intense activities." I'm not sure what kind of intense activities are going on, but I'm glad I know what the red circle with the line through it means.










After spending a month in Rome, I was talking to one of my classmates about how there are no gas stations in Rome. They would look so out of place, I said. Then he responded, saying that they are all over, they just don't stand out very much, because they are just on the side of the road. Well, do you see it? You can hardly notice it without looking, but yes, that little stall is a gas station. Very sneaky.





One of the few Sundays I stayed in the city, I walked over to the Vatican to finish a sketch I had started a few days before. When I was walking up towards it, I heard a lot of cheering, and then I noticed a TON of people. The entire square was full. Then I looked up towards the Pope's apartment, and there he was! The Pope himself. He had just finished giving his Sunday morning "blessing" on the people, so the people were applauding him. I reached down into my bag to get my camera, and he was gone! But I still got a picture with the window open, and the tapestry hanging down. It was exciting, I just wish I had gotten there a bit earlier.







This is my favorite picture I took all summer. The Pantheon is my favorite building in the world, and I just love how the light comes through the oculus. I didn't get to go inside this place as often as I had hoped, because it always seemed to be closed when I went by (either that or it was packed with people). But everytime I did, it was an awesome experience. I heard it was even more amazing in the rain, but I never got to see it then. Apparently you can see each raindrop as it comes through the oculus. It'll just have to wait until my next trip...








This is the famous statue on the west side of the Campo d' Fiori, Bruno (I can't remember his whole name). We pretty much only saw the backside of him, and from this angle he looks pretty creepy. People are always sitting around the base of him, following the shadow as the sun passes. It is even more busy at night, when all the young people (high school kids) gather around it, smoking and drinking.











This is one of the many water fountains that dot the streets of the city. Rome has one of the best aquifer systems, and these fountains are always running. And the water is nice and cold, too. I usually filled my water bottle up here every day. There is also a small hole on the top of the faucet, so that if you stop the main hole with your finger, it shoots up like a drinking fountain. Unfortunately, the first time I tried this method, the drinking fountain I was using had ultra-pressure, and the water shot across the Campo, soaking a group of guys standing ten feet away. I was so embarrassed, but one of them just replied, "That's okay, it's refreshing!"







A view toward St. Peter's at sunset. It took me a while to figure out that I could see St. Peter's from our school building, but we had a pretty nice view, don't you think?










Okay, so pretty much every piazza in the city has musical acts. Mostly at night, when the restaurants started to fill up their cafe tables and the more wine they drank, the more willing they were to part with their coins. Most of the acts were not that spectacular (especially when you listened to the same song every night), but some of them stood out. For example, one evening I was reading in my room, and I heard drums. I went to the window, where my roommates had gathered, and this African group was drumming, chanting, and generally having a great time. It was so different than anything else we heard all summer, that it definitely made it to the tops of the charts in our books.

So by the end of the summer, I got used to spending time around those drinking alcohol. Dinner was usually accompanied with wine, and I spent a few nights in bars. But never fear! I was always prepared with my water bottle... which I could use to fill up a glass or... whatever. Care for a pint?












So as you all might know... the Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix came out in July while I was in Rome. Luckily enough... there happened to be a movie theater right across the Campo from our house. I got really excited when I saw the movie posters up in the window (I think it got released a bit later there) so we finally went to go see it. The movie experience was a bit different in Italy, or at least at this theater. Most importantly, the movie was played in English, and they had headphones for those who wanted to hear it in Italian. And, there were no previews, but it went straight into the movie. There was no concessions stand, but halfway through the movie, they had an intermission, and a guy walked around selling snacks (no popcorn, unfortunately).





This is a view of Jeff & my final presentation. We spent a majority of our time in our last two weeks working on it... and I think it looked pretty good! We had limitations on how big our printed stuff could be, so we did a mostly hand-drawn presentation. After our presentation (where we snacked on delicious cheese, crackers, and juice) we went and ate dinner at the restaurant that is currently located at our design site, just around the corner from the Campo.




Studio! Yes I know I was in Rome all summer, but we did occassionally do some work as well. And this was where it was done. It was a nice space, in a beautiful old building. We even had a lounge work space on the Campo side of the building, where we had a nice view of the Campo, and St. Peters in the background. This was on the day after our final presentation, where we were cleaning up, and preparing to mail our work home. After spending so much time in here, it was sad to leave, but I was glad to have finished my work. It was a stressful day (I also had to pack and clean my apartment) and I was trying to fit in all the things I wanted to see before leaving.






My desk! I had a nice spot by the window, but even with the breeze, it got a bit hot in there in the afternoons... but we could just go two floors up to the computer lab... where there was air conditioning. However, we were already on the fourth floor, so I avoided going up any more than I already had to. (except for when I was diligently writing my blog, of course). We did have an elevator in the building, but it was very small, and rickety. And I definitely wanted to avoid getting stuck in it by myself. But towards the end of the term... well... I got lazy.


So in trying to figure out how to spend my last afternoon in Rome (I was leaving that evening for Pisa), instead of going somewhere new, we walked towards the Vatican. My roommate recommended a really good gelato place right next to the Vatican Museum (a gelato place I hadn't been to yet? - shocking). So I was savoring my last Roman gelato, and we just strolled over to St. Peters.











It was a confusing day... because I was excited and nervous for my next week of traveling throughout Europe, and sad to leave this beautiful city. St. Peters was an appropriate last stop of my trip; it represents almost all parts of what the city of Rome is about (even though, ironically enough, it is not even in the same country as Rome). Of course it is the center of the Catholic faith, it represents quite a bit of history, being designed by Michelangelo, Bramante, and Bernini (the square), and it is, without fail, packed with tourists.


Piazza Navona. It is only a five minute walk from the Campo, and has even more tourists (classier ones). It is known for its many expensive places to eat around its edges (because look what a wonderful view you'll get while eating there). During the day, it is full of artists' displays for sale, and many of them are really good. I ate at one of the cafes one lovely afternoon... and paid the most I ever did for a gelato: 10 euro. It was quite a bit pricey, but it was one of the most delicious things I have ever eaten. And it was so beautiful, I almost didn't want to eat it (but then it started to melt... ). The center of the piazza was covered in scaffolding during the first half of the summer, but thankfully they were removed. This piazza featured promenantly in the movie Angels and Demons, with the site for the altar of water (the fountain at the center, with the obelisk topped with a dove).



Okay, a couple more pictures. This one is an overall shot of the Campo, during high-market time. I wasn't sure if I had posted a picture of it, so there you go. My favorite thing to buy was peaches, and asian pears. Yumm. We will never forget the vendor who would yell out "Prego, free taste. Hello!" ten times a minute. Ah, the memories.






Our apartment building! On the bottom floor is Joe Rivetto cafe, and our apartment was on the fifth floor (the fourth floor by European standards). They are the two windows just below the little balcony. At one point during the term, one of the administrators of the Rome Center told us that we should close our windows during the day, when we are not there. We were confused. How could anyone get up to our window? So thus began the long-running joke about the gypsy children who would climb up our building's wall. You never know.

Well that's it! I'm sure this blog is going to get seriously tweaked because it is so long, I just hope the comments slightly line up with the photos. Just because I finished my Rome adventures, I still have a few more posts in the making. Because I'm sure you want to see my other photos! For a hint: Pisa, Cinqueterre, Stuttgart, Basil, Paris, and London are to come!