First Weekend Exploring

These are the pictures from the first weekend that we were in Rome and went out exploring.

First we went to studio to find where it was...

Entrance to the building our
studio is in

We found out that this was the House of the Cenci family who believed that they were an important family in Rome and changed their family name over the years to prove that their lineage went back to the old royal families in Rome.

House of the Cenci's

This is the fountain that is in front of our studio.  It used to be a few blocks away but was moved by the Cenci family.  There are paving stones which mark the footprint of where the fountain used to be.

Fountain in the Piazza

Also, on the first day of classes, we went on a tour of the neighborhood around our studio and one of our professors, Pia, told us about one of the last heads of the household of the Cenci family.  Apparently, the father was very abusive especially to his daughter and her step-mother so they planned to poison him and kill him.  They went through with their plot but were found out.  The Pope was in charge of the country at the time and decided to have her killed to show that it was wrong to kill no matter how bad the circumstances are.  The people protested because they thought that a girl as young and beautiful as her should not be punished, however, the Pope still insisted and used this as an example to the people.--This is just one of the crazy stories I've heard so far...

Creepy face in the fountain...

After we found out where studio was, we decided to go out and explore the neighborhood.  Not too far away we found these ruins among some of the 17th century buildings.

Portico d'Ottavia and
Theater of Marcellus

In the Middle Ages, they were running out of room for new building developments and other places to put things because the area was so dense.  As a result, part of the Portico d'Ottavia was used as a graveyard and graves were dug into the floor of the main hall.

Remains of Portico d'Ottavia with additions
from the Middle Ages

The theater of Marcellus is one of the three theaters in Rome and has a similar design to the Colosseum.  It was also the largest theater in Rome built by Augustus in 13 BC during the Imperial Age.

Theater of Marcellus

Interesting carved capital in on of the old buildings

Theater of Marcellus

This is a giant marble staircase leading up to one of the churches.  Sarah and Maggie decided to climb halfway up them and then have a picture taken.  They're the tiny little dots just to the right of the door. 

Steps leading up to
Santa Maria in Aracoeli

Then they decided that I should join them at the top... After getting up there-we decided it was worth it. 

Looking out over the city

Also on top of the hill was the Monument to Vittorio Emanuele II.  It's a grand white monument that has been turned into a museum.  Out front is a big grassy piazza and just to the east are the remains of the old Roman Forum which we had no idea was right next to it.

Monument to Vittorio Emanuele II

Cool coffers decorating one of the arches

Maggie being held hostage because the Roman soldier
claimed that he loved her and did not like that
she has a boyfriend

After exploring the area close to studio, we ventured off a little further and thought that we would stop and see the Fontana di Trevi.

First attempt at going to see the Trevi Fountain.....

We decided to come back another time......

Barely getting to see the Trevi Fountain...
we'll come back another time...

Then we thought, let's go see the Pantheon...

Attempting to see the Pantheon the first few days...

Again, bad idea, but we did come back the first week of classes to draw there.

Again, it's a really bad idea to try and see iconic
architecture on the weekend...

On our way back, we crossed the Tiber near the old castle where the Kings of Rome used to live.  It's a big fortification surrounded by walls on all sides and was later made into a museum.

Castel Sant'Angelo

Castel Sant'Angelo and the St. Angel Bridge

We had a general idea of where we were and what direction we had to go to get back to the apartment.  However, we had no idea that we were right next to St. Peter's!!!

St. Peter's at night

We finally made it back home and had our first group supper which we continue to have at least once a week!

First group supper

Pictures of Our Apartment

My Bedroom 

My Closet/Wardrobe shared with Sarah!

Kitchen with two stoves-one doesn't
work but has stayed
and become a workspace-ish....

Kitchen table and pantry
(we have to pull it out to fit all of us)

Living Room with Lauren S.

Clothes drying rack in the living room...

Sarah making her dramatic entrance
in the doorway

Bathroom I share
with Lauren S. and Alex

Tiny box shower and sink
for our bathroom

The Beginning of My Journey.....

Let me just start with the fact that the beginning of my trip did not start out at all like I had planned.


Kyle and I started out on my little venture a little after seven the morning that my flight left (Wednesday, Jan. 4).  Everything started out fine, and it wasn't until we stopped to get gas and got back on the road when the problems started to occur...


We started back on the road and a little while after we noticed that Kyle's car started to hesitate but we didn't really think much of it.  By the time we got to Dunkerton, it had died without any clue as to why.  Luckily we were able to get it started back up and ran all the way home to switch cars.  


Now, almost 8:30 we hit the road again and when we made it through Dunkerton without any problems we thought we were doing pretty good.  We even made it to the O'Hare airport without any further problems and Kyle had none on his journey back home.  My problems, however, had only just begun to start happening.


The flight to Madrid was wonderful.  I flew through Iberia which is a Spanish airline so let me just point out that the food through European airlines are much better than those from American...  I was served chicken with yellow rice, steamed spinach and carrots, a crab salad accompanied by a leaf of lettuce, tomato and black olive, along with a dinner roll with a wedge brie, and finally tiramisu for dessert.  I must say it was probably some of the best airplane food I have ever had.  And, on top of it all, we had an atypical breakfast of a croissant filled with ham and cheese, a fruit cup of the best honey due ever, a mini muffin, and a KitKat-what could have been better?

Madrid-Barajas Airport

Upon arriving in Madrid, Sarah and I were amazed at the interior of the airport.  The ceiling was constructed of these curved wooden panels that were repeated throughout.  It quickly became one of our favorite airports.  After the initial awe, we noticed two ladies from the airport standing at the end of the hallway directing people to their connecting flights.  There were no gate postings anywhere that we could see and so we tried to follow their directions but we soon found out that their airport is almost impossible to navigate.  After running up and down three floors, we finally found an Italian couple on the same flight as ours to attempt to follow through the airport.  We managed to catch our connecting flight even though everyone else was already boarded.  Then the flight attendant decided that my carry-on was too big and checked it beneath the plane.  This was no longer our favorite airport...


When we finally arrived in Rome, I waited by the door for my carry-on bag just to find out that I needed to go to luggage retrieval to get it.  Sarah and I arrived and the luggage carousel and there was hardly any luggage there.  A few minutes later another group of bags arrived, none of which of course were ours.  After a few more times, my carry-on finally showed up along with the rest of Sarah's bags, but unfortunately, my checked bags were not among them.  We waited for ten more minutes before making our way to lost luggage.  Luckily, the man at the desk spoke English and I was able to fill out all of the necessary paperwork and give an address for the delivery.  

Keys to My Apartment!!

Finally, we were able to leave the airport and take a taxi into the center of Rome.  After we drove through the Aurelian walls it finally hit us-we were in Roma!!  We checked in with the housing office, got a taxi to our apartment and everything seemed to be getting better.  That is, until we got to our door....

I'm on the second floor of our building which technically means that it's the third and you have to go up half a flight of stairs before you even reach the ground floor.  So let's just say that dragging my luggage up the stairs did not seem like the best idea so instead I took the elevator which was barely big enough for myself and my carry-on bag.  Then we get to the door.  

The entrance to our apartment is an older style, wooden, double door with a very complex locking system.  One key (the huge long one) unlocks a five bolt system in our door while one of the others does a dead bolt above that.  Unfortunately, we didn't know the little tricks to unlocking the door and probably spent about fifteen minutes trying to get in before we finally gave up and knocked on our neighbors door since we heard a kid inside and knew someone would be home.  She thankfully showed us the tricks to the locks and we were able to get inside where we found a note from our other roommates who said it best-"We're in Italy!"

Lauren going through the first gate

Main entrance to our building complex 

Entrance to Building B

Door to our apartment

Lock for our door...