WEEKEND IN ROME

These are pictures from last weekend, a trip I went on with my drawing class for intense sightseeing, drawing, and observing what Rome, Italy had to offer us. We saw the Sistine Chapel, the School of Athens paintings by Raphael, lots of churches, the Moses sculpture, many amazing fountain sculptures, and tons more. The first day (Friday) was the busiest day. We walked an incredible amount and saw an overload of amazing things.


This is one of the apartments we stayed in, in the middle of Rome. We had two apartments for the girls, and one for the guys, and this is the guy's apartment where we all met up for dinner on Saturday night. This is just a glimpse, but this place was GORGEOUS and looked like it belonged to some wealthy family. Just down the street and around a corner or two stood the Pantheon, and the best gelateria around.

On Saturday night, a group of us decided to walk to Pantheon after dinner and gelato. The Pantheon always amazes me, and was absolutely stunning at night in the soft spotlights. I sat at the fountain infront of it and let it carry me away. There were plenty of people out sitting at nearby outdoor restaurants, taking pictures, and enjoying the sight as well.


This is the group sitting in a piazza surrounded by 8 intersecting streets. We did a panorama drawing by standing in a circle facing each other, turning around, taking three steps, and sitting. We had to talk to the person next to us to see from what point we would start our own drawing and what point we would stop. It was sooo cool sitting there drawing as tourists walked by taking our pictures. I was feeding off of the energy of the students around to me to complete my drawing. Just knowing that I was contributing to something bigger made it so much better.


This is part of a sculpture we stopped at that was part of a fountain. I liked the irony.


This is our director Matt Doll. Here he is giving us some insight from his journal. He usually has some great things to challenge us with or encourage us with. He made the trip so much more sufficient with information and things we could apply to ourselves and our own work. He and his family are key to this program, and so great.

Matt Doll took us to a great spot where we could overlook all of Rome. Here is a group of us while we relaxed and took a break from the intense traveling. I was going to say we were "giving our eyes a rest" but that is hardly the right phrase. In Rome, your eyes never get a rest! That is being said in the best way possible.


Here is a sculpture we walked by on the way to a sight that gave us the best view of St. Peters.


This is the stairwell on the way to the Sistine Chapel.


"When the water in Rome runs dry, Rome is dead." There are fountains everywhere, always flowing. These are a few of the students refreshing themselves with some water on our travels.


St. Peter's... none of these pictures really do any justice to what it all looks like.


I liked this little alley-way that was strung with ornaments. I have soo many other pictures, but sadly it takes forever to load them and forever to choose what few I should post.

Since that trip, I've been TRYING to update this blog, trying to write back to emails, trying to do homework, and trying to squeeze in everything I need to do in the time I have. It's been great, don't get me wrong. The weather is getting warmer and Italy is getting even more beautiful. I find myself walking around in the mornings, occasionally speaking to the people of the community in Italian, and finding some nice place to sit in the grass under the sun and listen to music. I have been walking a lot, trying new flavors of gelato, getting closer to my friends here, and soaking up the experience. I try to write in my little journal at least once a day, and every day I have something else to say about how much I'm growing and learning. God is good.

This morning, I sang in the Italian mass that I've been going to, and took part in their Palm Sunday traditions. We started outside with olive tree branches in the bright sun, with tons of people around. The priest said a few words, as well as other church members, and then we had a procession into the church singing a song. The church was decorated with these white flowers on tall, green, windy vines. It was beautiful. I couldn't stop smiling the entire time.

Everything is beautiful.