Some Redesigning

So here I am, stuck in my 5 hour intermediate computers class. This clearly calls for some blog redesign to match the website I'm working on. Nothing's live on the site yet, but I'll be sure to share when it is.

Personas!

For those Firefox users out there, you should know what personas are. Regardless, you should see my custom personas. And if you're also a designer, or do computer artwork stuff, you should make your own and let me see!

Someone Tells me to Shoot Things. And I Listen.

I have a new old hobby- Photography!

Thanks to that flickr account, and The Daily Shoot. I have an endless supply of inspiration for my photography needs.

But this is not a big ad for my Daily Shoot photos.

(They can be found here.)

Now Showing Indefinitely on Delkab Street

I have made it to the local scene of design.

I know this because I am now the proud father of a sign outside of O'Neill Graphics in Bridgeport.

I could go into how I designed it to look unique and easily readable, extending the second "l" and duplicating the dot of the "i" to create the '.

But I won't.

Here's the pictures to see for yourself.


And of course, should you ever want a shirt, you now know who to ask.

Flickr It!

Hello there, bloggy. You've been in neglect ever since I left Rome, and my life no longer seemed noteworthy. But, alas, my life carries on.
And here's what's new!

Flickr!
Thanks to the fun and amazing World Wide Photo Walk I attended last Saturday, I made a Flickr account. It can be viewed here. Right now, it has only 5 photos from the walk. At some point, out of sheer boredom, I will transfer all of my Digital Imaging photos from Rome on Shutterfly over in neat and organized piles on Flickr. (This may also mean that I remove them from Facebook, but I haven't decided fully yet.) I would like to keep Facebook for candid pics, and use Flickr, now, for more "artistic" shots.

Comics?
Don't hold your breath, but I do have BIG plans for the dormant M-Comics. I am writing out the premise, so I can get my "script" straight. This should make it easier for me to draw enough comics in the coming month to last the fall semester.

New and fun stuff!
This will help me get back on track with taking pictures. I highly reccomend it to nyone with a camera who just doesn't know how to get motivated.

And Then It All Came to an End

I've been home for a few days now, and have finally gotten around to doing a post for my last week in the Eternal City. All I can say is that I could not have wished for a better last week. I guess it all started when I went running on the Ancient Appian Way- 43:30. It was one of the most liberating experiences I've had. The weather was perfect, the trail was beautiful- there were ruins just kinda strewn about along the trail- it was AMAZING. The following day I went to the Colosseum and Roman Forums (the link to the pictures are at the bottom of the page), and made sure everything was packed.

The last day I was able to get to the Vatican Museums, the Capuccian Crypt, and Campo dei Fiori, where some fire jugglers were performing. Here's some video:



And here's some pics!

Now that I'm back home, this blog will most likely shift towards more design topics and photography. Hopefully I can stay up with it. So until next time...

Venice & Padua

So the last full weekend abroad I was fortunate enough to go to Venice and Padua with Sara. We saw all that there is to see in Venice, including St. Marco's Square at 5:30 AM. In Padua, I dragged Sara along until we found St. Anthony's Basilica. it was nice to see the final resting place of my namesake. In this last week in Rome I hope to do some last-minute tourism. Until then, you'll have to settle for the photos from Venice and Padua, which can be found here. I didn't take many photos throughout the week, so I'll add them to last week's photos when I get the chance.

EDIT: I got the chance. Here you go.

A Sorta Witty Title

Yeah, so I was in Sorrento and Capri the past weekend and enjoyed it. Here's the highlights:

1) Getting awesome pictures of cliffs, water and the Arco Naturale on Capri
2) Sitting on a small beach in Capri
3) Going to the same restaurant I went to in 2007 and being served by the same waiter
4) Running along the cliffs of Sorrento at 6AM
5) Eating and orange picked fresh from the tree outside our bungalow.

As for the rest, I'll let the pictures do the talking.
And here, they talk about the rest of last week.

I Can Relate to Australians Now

I went to an Italian zoo today. They had the usual menagerie; giraffes, monkeys, kangaroos and your typical assortment of birds.

But one animal struck me as exceptionally unusual: the North American Deer. Yes, this rare and exotic beauty comes from the far-away, almost mythical land of North America, where it roams freely today to become tomorrow's roadkill.

That's when it hit me. This must be how Australians feel when they go to ANY zoo anywhere. "Oh, you have kangaroos? We have special guardrails on our cars so they can survive impacts with those things. Crocodiles? Ha. That's not a croc..."

"Deer? Ha. That's not a deer."

The Holiest of Holy Weeks

If you're going to be in Rome for Easter Week, you might as well go to as many churches as you can.
That's what I did on Good Friday. My self-guided "Church Blitz" lead me all over Rome. I started out at noon at the closest church, Santa Maria d. Grazie and ventured eastward from there, saying at least a decade of the Rosary in each. Here's the full itinerary:
1. Santa Maria d. Grazie
2. San Giovanni d. Fiorentini
3. Santa Maria degli Angeli a di Martiri
4. Santa Maria Maggiore
5. San Passede
-qick stop of at the American Seminary for Confession-
6. Ss. Ambroggio e Carlo
-quick stop for the main meal of the day (pizza)-
7. Chiesa Gesu e Maria al Corso (for Veneration of the Cross)
8. Basilica San Giacomo
9. Santa Maria d. Montesanto

When evening came, I went to the Colosseum for the Pope's Stations of the Cross. They announced each station in several languages (as seen in the video below). The candle-lit ceremoy was a nice end to the day.



While Good Friday was sunny and warm, Easter Sunday was rainy and cold. But Mass in Piazza di San Pietro (St. Peter's Square), was still on. So at 7AM Lauren (a fellow Tyler artist) and I went to wait in line to get into the Square at 8:15. We got to our seats around 9, ready for Mass at 10:15 between a sea of umbrellas and make-shift cardboard umbrellas. It was a wonderful celebration, mostly in Latin and Italian, but represented several languages through the readings (Second reading was in English) and intercessions. It was quite cold and wet, so Lauren and I left right after the Mass was done. By the time we remembered that the Pope gives his Pascal Statement we had alrady left or seats with no way back. But according to my roomates, who managed to stay report that nothing notable happened (Just the usual call to help less fortunate Nations). Below is a video of a beginning bit of Mass, with the revelation of the Icon of Christ as Savior.




Here's Pictures! Week 12 | Holy Week

There's Nothing Quite Like a Two Hour Long Mass

For Palm Sunday, I decided I would save the Vatican crowd of the big show on Easter. So it was off to Basilica San Paolo (St. Paul Outside the Walls). There are two things about Palm Sunday you should know.

The first thing is about the palm branches. They are actual branches from what seems like the lesser-known palm bush.

Not a single strand of Palm leaf to be crafted into an origami cross. Just palm twigs; to be carried around and nothing else.

The second thing, at least at San Paolo, was that they like to sing. And by sing I mean Gregorian chant style.

And what do they sing?, you might ask. They sang the entire Passion of Christ according to Luke. In Italian. In monotone. For an hour.

With no palm leaves to fold into origami crosses.

Week 11 photos can be found here.

A Quickie in Haiku

Bought my camera
It's portable and it's good
Here's last weeks photos

Frank in Florence

It's official: Art History Professor is the best job I will never have. With that in mind, I present to you the top ten things I learned in Florence from Frank Dabell, our British Art History professor.

10. Frank was born in Paris.

9. Frank almost saw The Beatles perform live. He also almost had JRR Tolkien as a professor at Oxford, but Tolkien died 2 semesters before he could.

8. Frank can get you into the Uffitzi Gallery, for free.

7. Frank knows EVERYONE even remotely related to the art history profession, and they all seemingly owe him a favor.

6. Frank lived in Florence in his teen years, and would jump off bridges to the support beam just out of view to frighten tourists.

5. When you and the rest of the table offer to pay for his 12 Euro meal, he will insist on leaving the tip; of 10 Euro.

4. According to Frank, the Medici crest once killed an Australian man.

3. Frank was on the scaffolding for some of the restoration of the Sistine Chapel Ceiling.

2. In some Florentine restaurant, Frank is now known as "Mr. French" because he mocked their translated French menu.

1. Frank is the only man able to speak fluent Italian in a British accent.

Ultimately, the experience was great, not just because we were studying in Florence, but because we were studying in Florence with someone who knows everything there needs to be known about Florence. And that someone was Frank Dabell.

Of course I have pictures from my trip, as well as pictures from Week 9.

Make Friends Not Photos

I have discovered that I can make friends simply by sitting in a park and drawing. This is a good thing since I don't drink. In fact, it brought abut a revelation: Making art in public spaces makes you cool.

At the beach, when you make a really neat and complex drip castle, people walking by notice enough to comment. In the park, when you're sketching with an ink brush, people walking by notice enough to comment... in Italian.

Then they offer you food, and invite you to partake in their picnic birthday celebration. Then you get to draw ink sketches of them, and pretend your on a photo shoot as they model for you.

But when you're just walking around with a camera, legitimately "making art"; you're labeled as a creeper. People don't gather to see your photos. In fact they usually ask you to delete the picture. Nobody asks you to erase a pencil sketch.

Anyway, here's photos from week 8, and Spring Break part one.

EDIT: Spring Break part two.

Holy Translation Batman!

When one sees a sign indicating that the Villa Adriana has "Vigilance Divisions", one can only picture an eclectic group of individuals running around in prismacolored (or black) spandex, defeating criminals for the sake of justice. Sadly, Batman nor Robin were to be found on the premise.

Oh, and here's last week's photos.

Cinematic Adventures

I went and saw "Alice in Wonderland" at Cinema Metropolitan last night. This is one of the movie theaters in Rome that show films in their original language with Italian subtitles. It also means that Italians have to read the entire movie while I get to just watch.

There's something about theaters in Rome: they have assigned seats. I, an American used to obnoxious American movie theaters with their sticky floors and overpriced popcorn, did not know this.

About 5 minutes in, I had to move after being told that the I was in the wrong seat by the person with the right ticket. Then I had to move again, since I was now sitting in one of his friend's seats.

But I didn't mind.
I didn't have to read the entire movie.

Hey Photos!

I managed to get the Week 6 Album up on facebook. Here's the link.
And the other one.

Temple Has Influence over the Italian Government

Rome has a law about soccer games. Only Roman residents can purchase tickets. This way hideous riots can be avoided. In order to allow students to attend the game, Temple petitioned to have the law changed. Now only Roman residents and foreigners can go to soccer games and buy their 4 Euro hot dogs, as the Roma fans constantly wave their big obnoxious flags and sing their long obnoxious Roma Roma song all game long.
Those Cantania fans sure missed out.

(Side Note: Facebook is being stupid and making it impossible for me to upload new photos. At some point int the future I will have weeks 6-7 up.)

Mass at the Pantheon and Tourists

This Sunday, I attended 10:30 Mass at St. Mary and all the Martyrs (aka the Pantheon). It was interesting to see the ushers shooing all the tourists away so Mass could start, which followed with the placing of the barricades in front of the entrance, enforcing the one hour the Pantheon is closed for Mass. Mass went as usual, except for the rather confused pigeon that was flying from one fake window to the next in the large circular building. On the way out, there was a moderate crowd of people waiting to go in, inspiring the following list of "how to not act like a tourist".

1. Travel light. Nothing says "tourist" like a person with 50 different bags, a map and a camera around their neck- maybe even holding a water bottle.

2. Dress in dark colors. For whatever reason, the city of Rome doesn't like dressing vibrantly. Black, shiny, down coats are all the rage.

3. Do more than, show up, take a picture, then leave. Try getting different angles of whatever you're looking at. I try to keep a rule of never putting myself in the picture because I know I was there, hence the picture's existence.

4. Don't go to restaurants near any place that might even be remotely a tourist attraction. Unless you speak Italian fluently, and look Italian, you'll be shoved in a the corner tourist section. This is the section of crappy food and high prices.

5. Don't buy crappy souvenirs. Honestly- do you really need that pope bottle opener for twenty Euros? Again, for me the souvenirs are the pictures I take. The ones without me.

6. Don't speak. Ever.

7. And lastly, don't feed the birds, pay the gypsies, and don't look like you enjoy being there. You'll find that you'll start blending in with the rest of the Romans.

Bonus: Don't try to not act like a tourist. You are what you are. But do try to avoid the traps.

Here's the latest from my collection of souvenirs.

The Pope Made Me Late for Mass

It's true. Because he adresses crowds of people at 12 noon on Sundays, I had to wait in a long line to pass through the security checkpoint to get into the Basillica to get to 12:15 Mass. I didn't have my camera on me, but he was awfully small-looking from his window.

In other news, I succeeded in making the best home-made dinner for myself as of yet in Rome. It started with some Romanesco Broccoli, which tastes like a cross between cauliflower and broccoli, and looks like a 3D Sierpinski Triangle. Then I had pan seared steak, fresh from the local open-air market. Of course, i had to sear it in olive oil, because that's really the only option I had. And garlic. After the pan was cleared from the steak, I put on my home fries (also fried in olive oil), which came out very crispy and very good. And while that would've been plenty, I ended the meal with nutella covered strawberries, also fresh from the market. This culinary contraption only further supports the research that nutella can make any dessert 100x better.

So, I'll go ahead and say that nutella will definitely be on my list of "Things I Miss from Rome". That and walking a good 5 minutes in the Basillica to get to the front portion that's celebrating Mass.

Another Week in Rome

Well, the second week of classes are now complete, with the exception of the mini trip to the Treve Fountain for some print viewing. Some miscellaneous stuff to start off with: I got my Metro pass for the month of February, which will come in handy when meeting on location for Art History, Rome Sketchbook and Digital Imaging. Laundry was a pain because everyone's just starting to realize that they no longer have clean clothes, which was the indirect result of me finishing the last of the non-school related books I brought to read. But that's alright, since I now fill my free time with watching the D-Town podcast- a podcast by he same guys who do PhotoshopUser TV, but for Nikon camera users. It's given me a lot of good tips for litle-known settings on my D90, and a pretty good idea about what lenses and flashes are out there, should I ever want to get something like that.

So the week in review:
Monday wasn't too eventful. I spent most of the day at school working on my linoleum print, and of curse Italian class where we learned that the Italian word for gypsy is in fact "zingaro".
In a very rainy Rome Sketchbook on Tuesday, we were drawing inside a church courtyard, and then in St. Augustino's, working in conte and focusing primarily on perspective. fortunately my school schedule Tuesdaykeeps me inside the dry Temple Rome building until 9 PM, when the rain had stopped. On the way home, me and a few fellow classmates I know from Tyler stopped off at the 24 HR bakery, where I got a fresh panino (sandwich) and un canolo (you're probably more familiar with the plural "canoli".)
Wednesday started off with a nice trip to one of he first churches erected in thonor of Mary as the mother of God, and St. Cicilia's Church, the final resting place fo the incorrupt (and out-of-view) St. Cicilia. It also had some well preserved frescos by Cavalini. This brings us to Thursday, where in Digital Imaging, we went to the digital camera shop, and the Vatican for some depth of field and lighting shots. I also ad my first Italian test/quiz on some basic question phrases, definite / indefinite articles, and the verbs to be and to have.
With the exception of a tiny bit of a sore throat and a stuffy nose today, this trip has been going quite well. I even had time to draw the picture at the bottom. It's a study of a comic style for a personal graphic novel work-in-progress that I will reveal more as I get more done. But for now you have that, and the link to the photos from this week that include shots from today's digital imaging class. At some point I'll get around to posting artwork from printmaking and rome sketchbook.
Photo Link

Classes and Tuscania

Well, week one of classes has gone by, and I'm still here. Monday was a light day, just having Italian 2-3 with the fabulous Chrisitano Gentili- an eccentric Italian man with long silver hair. With only one class Monday, I decided that it should double as laundry day. Our washers and dryers here at The Residence aren't the top of the line, but they still operate.

Tuesday is super marathon day, starting at 8AM with Katherine Krizek for Rome Sketchbook, and ending at 9PM with Frank Dabell for Early Renaissance Art History. In between is Italian at 2, and Survey of Printmaking with Mario Teleri Biason. Rome Sketchbook is a bit more dictated and structured than I had imagined, but she had reassured us that this is only the case for the first few classes. Survey of Printmaking isn't too bad; we'll be going through serveral different printmaking techniques, one of which involves using the 100+ year-old printing press. And the Art History is entertaining, or rather, Professor Dabell is entertaining as he explains the subject matter with his English accent and habit of making sure what he says has no way of being misinterpreted. (i.e. he wanted to assure us that when he uses the term "pagan" that he's not commenting that the art is worth any less than that with religious themes.) It's better Wednesday mornings when we're out and looking at various landmarks and not in the classroom looking at slides on his archaic slide projection devices. (circa 1970s).

Wednesday starts off with Art History at 9 AM, as I mentioned, but outside, basically doing a fancier guided tour that we'll be tested on later. And with an English tour guide, it makes it all the better. For the first go-around, we started at the Pantheon and then made our way to one of the museums that overlook the Roman Forum, looking at the classic architecture, to give the context of the interest the Renaissance had in it. Then is Italian at 2- the last class of the day.

Thursday starts bright and early with Digital Imaging, where I learned all about my SLR camera's manual mode and how to properly set the Aperture, shutter speed, and exposure. I got a few neat shots, that I will put up on the web at some point. Then I have Italian at 2 and Survey of Printmaking at 7:30 again.

Friday is typically a free day, but this week it was filled with a Rome Sketchbook specific trip to Tuscania, a small town in the Lazio province, and NOT Tuscany. It had some nice Medieval architecture to draw, until it became extremely windy and cold. But aside from all that it was very beautiful.

Saturday I used as a day to go to the Italian Market, and get some of my artwork done- specifically Printmaking, since I have to use the special Lino cutting tools that are only at school. I also went to Mas in english at Santa Susanna, using the walk back to take care of some Digital Imaging homework which involved taking a picture every 11 steps until I reach 20 pics. I then had a panini, canoli and gelato for dinner as I walked down the Spanish Steps to get back to school to finish up a little bit more of my linoleum print. Tomorrow I will be walking along the outer walls of Rome with other students.

So let's recap: two of my classes involve walking around Rome taking pictures or drawing, I'm learning Italian from a real, live, Roman, I'll be using a printing press that's over a century old and we had Art History class in the Pantheon. And that's leaving out the home life of going to an Italian Market to get fresh prosciutto and salami for my lunch, and the occasional "Non lo so" ("I don't know") uttered in response the the Roman native asking me where something is. Yeah, I think I can handle this for another 3 months...

Photos

Todi Excursion / Complete First Week on Facebook

With the exception of some select panoramas, my first week in Rome can be seen here.

The Todi excursion was fantastic. It reminded me a lot of Assisi; hilly, narrow streets, and prett much nothing but churches. (Fortunately one of those churches had a service.) The best part was the lunch at the Titignano Manor. It was a truly wonderful Italian start off for the next tree and a half months.

Markets, Parks, and Experimenting in the Kitchen

Today was a learning day. I learned Italy does, in fact, have Grocery Stores. I learned that it's all the rage for young Romans to make out obnoxiously in public parks. And I learned that I can make a steak dinner with no more than a fork and knife, a pan, and a small gas stove with only two burners.

So, first lesson: Grocery Stores.
There are two places I have gone as of yet to gain the various supplies to keep myself from falling into the clutches of starvation. The first is the Italian Market, which is basically an open-air warehouse of Italians selling and buying Italian salty cheeses, fatty meats, and fancy breads. Very busy and very Italian. And by very Italian, I mean nobody forms lines. But the Market is for another day. I want to expose the possibly lesser-known Italian-style ACME. It has a name: GS, which, from what I can tell simply stands for Grocery Store. They have carts, baskets and everything you would expect to see in a standard grocery store; with two exceptions. Exception #1: the aisles are designed to resemble the floor plan of the garden maze from the Tri-Wizard Tournament. Aisles are not all neat in a row; they dead-end, they intersect at strange angles, and they have no detectable system of food organization. They are there and if you can find what you are looking for, then YOU WIN!! Exception #2: The produce is to be labeled by the customer. This exception is something I believe that US stores can adapt. In the produce section there are little scale stations, where you put on what you want, press the numbered button and the little bar code label prints out. Of course I figured this out AFTER I had waited in "line" (remember, Italians don't form lines) for 20 minutes.

Second lesson: it's okay to makeout in public in Rome.
After getting our cell phones, Jeremy, Cal and I went to Villa Bourgese; Rome's equivalent to Central Park. While it was nice to see people enjoying the park's many acivites such as the dog park, the bike rental, and the views of the Piazza del Popolo (pictures to come later), some people were enjoying the open grass fields and park benches a little too much. Regardless, the Villa Bourgese is one of the nicest and greenest spots I've found that's in the Roman city.

Last lesson: I can cook steak!
While it wasn't quite as successful as my Penne experiment last night, it was still edible. Of course given that our apartment has no stove, and only two gas burners, it's a miacle we eat anything remotely warm at all. I was also short on seasonings, so I worked with what we had: Olive Oil, Salt and Crushed white Pepper. Fortunately I also had a garlic I could slice up. To compliment my seared olive oil steak, I boiled up some broccoli, and fried up some home fries. Of course I had to wait until the steak was done to start the home fries, since we have only one pan.

We're off to Todi tomorrow. Hopefully they'll have some sort of Catholic sevice going on when I'm there.

Out on the Town

Yesterday I went on a walking tour with one of the Temple Rome Staffers. We ended up doing about 9 miles (14.5 km) total, from The Residence and back and hit up most of the local tourist spots. Here's the google maps rough estimation of our trip that I worked out: link And you can see all the photos I took here: photos


We started out at Temple Rome, which is right on the Tiber River, and after exploring some of the local neighborhood, we made it to the Piazza del Popolo. After a short rest, we headed onward to the Piazza di Spagna (the Spanish Steps). From there we checked out the Anglo-American Bookstore where I'll be getting my books for class, and continued down to Area Sacra, a Roman ruins site where stray cats live and are fed by old Italian women. The stairway to go down was closed off, but there was a cat up by street level who was basking in the sun. We then came up behind the Pantheon, and took a peek inside to visit the remains of great artist (and later Ninja Turtle) Rafael. We then set out to Piazza Novona, and then to Piazza Campo de Fiori- an open market by day and American bar hangout by night. Our tour guide then left us off at Ponte Sisto, where the majority of students went with herto the Metro, while Cal and I joined three girls from Tyler (Tina, Jo Anne, and Melissa) to explore some more residential Rome in the area. We ended up in Garibaldi, giving us a chance to take in the incredible view of Rome below. After a bit of walking around mapless, we got back on track and found our way to the front of the Vatican, where Cal and I left the other three t their apartment, and headed back to The Residence.

It was a great trip, I got 179 pictures, including about 8 panorama shots. It was also nice to get off the beaten tourist path, and see some of the lesser exposed areas of Roma.

Photopost: The Room

Well, I've survived Rome for three and a half days. Classes still haven't started, so we've been able to get out and see a lot. So for this first week, I'll try to post something everyday, but once classes start up, I'll try for once a week / whenever I feel like it.

So in my first Photopost, I shall show off our humble living quarters for the next 4 months.
We (that would be me and my two roomates Jeremy and Cal), are in "The Residence", the typical housing complex Temple Rome uses for it's students. It's not all bad, but you can judge for yourself:

This is what you see when you walk in, nothing major: a small kitchenette and rather spacious living room. Of course more space also means more space to heat, which apparently is not a priority here at The Residence. (I'd also like to add that we all agree that these shots make the room look A LOT better than it actually is...)





Next is the obnoxiously large bathroom, complete with a shower/tub, sink, toilet, and the legendary "bidet". (aka a sink for the tush) Where the room lacks in heat, it makes up in hot water. And by hot water I mean "an uncontrollable stream of boiling, liquid fire". But once you note that "C" indicates "caldo" for hot, and get used to the shower's EXTREMELY sensitive nature, it's not bad at all.

Last, and probably least, is our sleeping room. As you can see we have to put up with
some bunk action (I got bottom), and a floor-to ceiling, double-door, two-sectioned, closet with extremely shallow drawers. But so far we've been able to handle the challenge, since apprently we're "lucky" to have a bunk bed that Temple Rome convinced The Residence to purchase for their rooms (as opposed to sentencing a roomate to the couch/bed.) Whatever.



That about takes care of The Residence for now. I'll try to get the 90+ photos from today's excursions about Rome organized for a post tomorrow. Until then, Ciao!

In Rome

I've been in Rome now for almost two days. So far its been really great. My first plane ride alone wasn't too bad, I met some other Temple students who were also Rome-bound (despite the heavy Syracuse presence). Long plane rides never really bothered me, reading, sudoku, even a little drawing:
We arrived, and the fellow temple students and I stuck together, got our luggage, and were driven to "The Residence" were I and the rest of Temple Rome's students are staying. The appartment isn't much, but it fits me and my other two roomates (Jeremy and Col) and is very cold. (prompting this picture)
But so far, the 30 minute walk to campus isn't too bad. There's a lot of bars (as in tiny cafe-like shops that have snacks) on the way as well as the market, featuring many booths of fresh Italian veggies, fruit, cheese, bakeries, meat, everything good. Campus itself is rather reminiscent of the old Tyler School of Art at Elkins park as far as renovated old buildings for Temple's schools go. Tomorrow they're taking students out into the city on mini staff/students-who-were-here-in-the fall hosted tours, and I plan on going, since it's really rainy and bland today. We (roomates and I) did stop off at the market to buy some break-fast stuff for tomorrow today, on the way home from the Orientation. I'll be posting more pictures and maybe sketches later, but for now it's time for a nap and some lunch.

A Semester in Italy

Just updating to inform anyone reading that this blog will be mostly used to report back home my adventures in studying abroad. I hope to maintain it at least once a week with photos and fun stories.

See everyone on the other side of the internets!