Cinque Terre

Blog # 2 Well, It’s already going way faster then I had planned. I’m already three weeks into this Roma Experience, but I’m doing the best I can to take advantage of every second. We started the rest of our classes and every single one of them is extremely interesting. We have one Rome walking tour class with a teacher named Yaun. He assistant teaches for us and five other schools, including Harvard. He is extremely smart and knows more then three languages. He honestly makes learning about Rome very interesting in the way he describes the history. This class is so informative on all that has happened in the last 3,000 years in Rome and helps me understand so many things like the small streets and rail systems. Another class I am enjoying is the drawing class. Its nice to get back to drawing by hand for once rather then having a computer pressed up to my nose 24/7. It also reminds me one of the reasons I was driven to be an architect in the first place. Currently, we have been sketching and prepping for bigger drawings, but for right now we are sketching Tiber Island, where our project is located. Our last class this semester is introductory to Italian. It’s a class twice a week that helps us pick up on the language and helps us communicate in Italian better. The instructor for this class is Claudia. She does a great job of helping us communicate with other Italian people. I am actually progressively getting better with simple conversations and feel comfortable doing small tasks in Italian like shopping or getting directions. Finally, my studio teacher Francesco has been a great teacher because he has an Italian background in the architecture field. It’s nice to see a different position from someone who studies the same thing from the other side of the world. Last weekend was spent in Rome again. Friday night was the Disco Tecas, and Saturday we celebrated a landscape friend’s birthday at the same G bar we usually go to. I have a lot fun going to the bar to meet people our age who have grown up in Rome. It is very intriguing to me to hear the stories of them growing up in Rome. A typical day during the week for me is rolling out of bed around 7:00 A.M. Hopping in the shower followed by a good breakfast. Then I get on the tram at around 8:30 to go to studio. We usually have class everyday till 12:00 then have an hour lunch. Sometimes I pack lunch or sometimes I get pizza. Pizza here is different then in America. It has no red sauce, just cheese, bread, and toppings. These pizzas tend to be very affordable and filling. After lunch we have class till either 4 or 5 then head home for the night. The main thing I wanted to talk about this blog is about our vacation to Cinque Terre. WOW! Another amazing place Italy has to offer. We took off Friday morning from the train station in Rome. The trains here travel around 80-100 mph and the train to La Spieza was around 4 hours to get there. Once we arrived we settled into our hotel/apartment and went out for a drink or two, but we knew we had a long day ahead of us on Saturday. I guess before the trip I had no idea what to expect, maybe a couple mountains with some small towns in them, which sounds cool in itself, but it was much more then that. We arrived by train to the first town (Riomaggiore) where we started our hike. I’d be lying if I didn’t admit the hike was a little tough at some points, but whenever it started to get a little tough you could just look up at what was ahead and it gave you enough energy to make it to the top. What a sight it was. I can sit here and type page after page of what the experience was like but words and pictures will never describe to you how beautiful those mountains and sea were. The Mediterranean Sea was so large but calm the same time. It stretched across the landscape and reached out to more mountains in the distance. As it stretched afar it quickly rolled into the mountains on which we were standing. The mountains towered over the sea that crashed below. Some places you could sit and listen to the sea pounding against the rock on the shore. It was mesmerizing to sit there and listen to the sound that the site in front of you gave. This place was so surreal it felt as is you were experiencing it through a dream. The hike consisted of climbing up and down the mountains to the five cities that were positioned along the coastline. These cities existed here because of the harvesting of grapes on the mountains. I did my best to capture some of the moments in the pictures. The last town we made it to was Vernazza, where we watched the sun go down. After that we had dinner and unfortunately made our way home. I am still in awe of the hike we went on and hope someday I can visit it again. One last thing that topped off my great weekend was I arrived home to see I had a new Nephew! I’m so excited for Tasha and Michael and quite honestly myself. I love Jackson and Addie and the time I get to spend with them, so I am looking forward to the new one. I am thankful that everything went well for Tasha, Michael, and Asher. Prayers are definitely being answered. Hopefully this got everyone caught up well enough. If anyone has questions let me know and I’ll try to catch you up or answer them for you. Also, thanks to all the family and friends who keep wishing me luck or contacting me! I am an extremely blessed individual.