Palazzo Altemps

Yesterday for one of my drawing classes we went to the Palazzo Altemps which is one of Rome's national museums.  Most Palazzo's in Rome used to be the palaces of aristocracy and rich people and have now been converted into museums.  The Palazzo Altemps has a lot of ancient statues that were excavated in the museum.  One of the most famous pieces in there is a huge sarcophagus from the 2nd century A.D. that was excavated in almost perfect condition.  The sarcophagus shows a battle sequence of the Romans destroying the barbarians.  We got a quick tour of the museum and then we had to spend 20 minutes drawing the sarcophagus, and then whatever else we wanted.  Drawing the sarcophagus was really difficult because there was so much going on and we only had 20 minutes to work.  
The sketch class is harder than I thought it would be because our professor pushes everyone to draw really fast instead of focusing on details.  I feel like everything I do is terrible haha.  It is good, though, learning how to work quickly and just getting basic ideas down.  I only drew a corner of the sarcophagus so afterwards, a drew a bust of a Roman goddess, a bull from the Egyptian period, and then a sectional of a goddess's robes.  There is another Palazzo/museum that I want to go to called the Palazzo Farnese, which used to be the home of one of the Pope's, but apparently it is really hard to get into so I don't know if I'll be able to.

Bust

 Sarcophagus 

 Corner bedroom in the Palazzo

The other art class I am taking is a figure drawing class.  Each class there is a model, which is kind of awkward but I haven't been noticing the awkwardness as much lately.  The class is a lot harder than I thought it would be.  Sometimes we do a lot of short length drawings and other times we spend the whole 3 hours working on one drawing.  The past two weeks we have been using charcoal, which is really difficult.  Our professor has us color the whole page black and then we erase out where the light is to make the body.

Fifth Week in Rome and Tivoli

Last week has been busy, and the internet in our apartment is broken so it has been hard for me to get online.  Luckily there is an cafe with free wifi across the street but every time I use the internet there I have to buy something.  The weather has been great - its around 60 degrees here now and tourist season is approaching so the streets have been a lot busier and restaurants I didn't even know about now have outdoor seating.  
For my ancient art history class this past Thursday, we went to the Ara Pacis museum.  I liked the building a lot.  It was a completely white modern-style building and inside was the ruins and reconstruction of the Ara Pacis which is an ancient altar dedicated to the god of peace that built during Emperor Augustus's rule.  Augustus's mausoleum is across the street from the Ara Pacis, but it was difficult to see well since they are doing new excavations there.  
Over the weekend I went to Tivoli with one of my roommates and our other friend.  It was only a 3 euro train ticket and we got to sit first class on the way back haha. In Tivole, we went to the Villa D'este which is the old home of one of the son's of a Pope from the Late Renaissance period.  We walked through the house, which has beautiful frescoes in each room.  The gardens and fountains outside were amazing and it wasn't too crowded so inside was really quiet.  There is another villa in Tivoli called Villa Hadrian, which is from the ancient period.  We didn't have time to go, however, but hopefully I will find some time to go back.
I went to the Basilica di Santa Maria in Trastevere yesterday as well.  It was much bigger inside than it looks from the outside.  Apparently, the mosaic above the alter features the first depiction of both Mary and Jesus on the throne together.  The marble inside was taken from parts of ancient buildings and the capitals on the columns inside are mismatched.

Ara Pacis

Basilica di Santa Maria

Villa D'este in Tivoli

Musei Capitolini

For my Ancient Art history class, we have been meeting at different sites each week and either going into museums or walking around different parts of Rome.  My favorite museum so far has been the Musei Capitolini which is on the Campidoglio or Capitoline Hill, one of the seven hills of Rome.  The Campidoglio was considered to be the center of the world from Ancient times through the Renaissance.  The piazza that is there today was designed by Michelangelo.  The Musei Capitolini has some of the oldest Roman art and underneath, there are still ruins of an ancient temple.  My favorite pieces were the Constantine head and feet and the original Marcus Aurelius statue.  There is a Marcus Aurelius statue in the middle of the piazza but it is a replica.  Since the museum is on a hill, we got to go into the courtyard and there was a great view of the Rome skyline and the Roman Forum.

Weekend in Paris!

I went to Paris over the weekend to visit my friend Lesley who is studying abroad there.  I was kind of nervous about traveling by myself but it ended up being really easy.  The day that I got there (Friday) it was actually the best weather they have had there yet - I think about 60 degrees.  The next day it was cloudy and rained a little but it was still nice.  I ate a total of 3 goat cheese salads when I was there and each one was delicious.  We went to an area called the Marais which is like smaller streets with shops and restaurants serving Falafel and then went to an amazing chocolate/pastry store where I got a caramel macaroon.  It was amazing.  I am not sure if they have them in Rome but I am going to check.  Then we went to Notre Dame cathedral, walked along the Seine, and got ice cream.   The next day we walked over to the Eiffel Tower and then over to Sacre Coeur, which I had never seen before and it was so pretty.  Lesley told me that from the distance, Sacre Coeur looks like whipped cream on the skyline.  We went to the Tuileries, as well, where I had a nutella crepe but then it started to rain so we headed back to Lesley's apartment.  
Paris is much more expensive than Rome - a cappucino there costs about 4 euro and in Rome it is only 1.  Also I felt as though Paris had a much more metropolitan and urbanized feeling to it.  The streets were a lot bigger and everything seemed so fast paced.  It made me realize that I appreciate how everyone in Rome is so relaxed and how I can walk into certain areas and forget that I am in a huge city.

Naples Pictures

Here are some pictures that I took in Naples.  I didn't post them last time because sometimes the internet here is really slow and it takes forever.

 There were dogs everywhere in Naples.  Some were strays but it is also really common for people to not put their dogs on leashes and just let them wander around.  This happens a lot in Rome as well.

 Naples is supposed to have the best pizza in Italy but I am not sure that I agree.  They make really thick crust pizza there, as opposed to Rome and the more northern regions where the pizza is thin crust.  I like the thin crust pizza better.  We also talked to some Italians from Rome who said that people from Naples like the pizza their but in Rome, everyone likes the thin crust pizza.

First Weeks in Roma

Hello!
It's taken me longer than I thought to finally getting around to making a blog about my study abroad time in Rome.  I have had a pretty busy first few weeks but I will try to post as much as I can.  I am living in an apartment in the Trastevere section of Rome, where my school is.  It's a really nice area with a lot of small side streets and everything has cobblestones.  It's also a less touristy area so the stores and restaurants are less expensive.  My apartment is actually in a pretty good location.  We are only 10 minutes away from school and we're also close to the Tiber river, which is where all the main tourist attractions are.  Campo di Fiori, which is an outdoor market during the day and then has a big bar/restaurant scene at night, is across the river too.  The Pantheon is only about 5 minutes away and the Colosseum and the Roman Forum are about 15.  We're about 20 minutes away from the Vatican too.  Since everything is so close I haven't had to take the metro or bus that much which is nice.  
I am taking 5 classes here: Figure Drawing, Rome Sketchbook, Ancient Art History, Italian Cinema, and a history class on Italy under Mussolini.  I like all of them so far.  Two of them are on-site so we get to go to museums and different sites which is amazing.

Last weekend I went on a day trip to a small town in Umbria called Orvieto.  It was so beautiful.  There was a big duomo in the center of the town as well as one of the oldest clock towers in Italy.  Orvieto is also built on Etruscan ruins so we got a tour of the ancient underground caves that they used to store food and cook in.  

The weekend before that I went to Naples and it was a lot different than I expected.  It took about 3 hours to get there by bus.  I thought that it would be a more small town environment but it was actually a pretty big city.  It was kind of dirty though - a lot of the statues were broken and there was graffiti everywhere.  There is definitely a lot more to do in Rome and seeing Naples made me appreciate where I am more.