The Constant Search for Shade

---

The first week of classes was basically a week’s worth of walking and sightseeing (as I’m sure most weeks will be, now that class has really started…but at least I’m getting a little Mediterranean sun!).

Monday was my first humanity’s class - Urbs Aterna: Rome in Literature. We discussed Livy’s “The Early History of Rome”. This summer, I was kinda bothered that I had to read so many books that didn’t really interest me, but now that I’m here, I feel like I have a lot of extra knowledge about the city that will come in handy, so it was definitely worth all the work.

Tuesday, we had our first Art and Culture of Italy class. Emilio lectured for a little while, and then we were off to the Capitoline Museum. The Piazza there was designed by Michelangelo - something else we’ve studied in history class for the use of perspective and continuity. Inside the museum was several pieces of art work that I had studied in art lecture last semester - like the Colossal Head of Constantine, the She-wolf and the Twins (which copies and images of can be found all over Rome), and the huge statue of Marcus Aurelius. There was also an exhibit of the architect Alberti and Rome in the 1400’s. The sketches were inspiring!

That afternoon for studio, we visited the site we will be working with this semester. There’s a lot going on with it - I’m pretty excited to get started! It’s an urban renewal project at a place where the city realizes it needs a little help. It would be pretty cool if we could do some proposals nice enough to actually present to the city.

Wednesday is my day off - yippee for a day of no classes! I’m glad my schedule worked out so that I can have a free day during the middle of the week (that and I’m glad I’m not taking the Italian class, because everyone was exhausted after going four hours, non-stop).

Thursday, for the Architecture of the City class, we met at the Capitoline Piazza again. Then Davide gave us a tour of the Forum. Later that day we also toured the Coliseum and Palatine Hill (plus Brent, Nathan, Brandi, and I mixed it up a little and had lunch with the four of the humanities students. It’s nice to be around people who don’t talk about columns and facades all the time. We ate Indian food for lunch - delicious!). The whole day, I’m just walking around, amazed that I’m seeing things that are so old - and still standing. There was such quality and craftsmanship to their work. I think that today we’re too fast paced to take the time and care to build like the ancient Romans did. Not that I’m saying we should - technology has advanced so much for the better - but there are aspects we should strive harder to emulate. For example, there was a greater amount of care in their brick-laying, as well as everything they did that has allowed the structures to remain for centuries. Will our modern day cookie cutter brick homes last that long? Maybe a better question is would we want them too?

Today, we went to Pompeii and Mount Vesuvius. It’s a beautiful place - nothing like I had expected. I had accidentally found some pictures from last semester’s trip to Pompeii that were still on the server at the school, and I was a little worried that I wouldn’t be able to handle it. But it wasn’t really like what I had imagined. It was creepy a little creepy - they were able to cast molds in the ash of the people - you could see them, suffocating, trying to escape. There is a very distinct sense of the tragedy that happened, but there is such beauty and admiration of the preservation. The whole city was covered by ash when Mt. Vesuvius exploded, and it was covered for centuries until the architect Fontana accidentally discovered it while constructing a tunnel. Then the excavation began. Its awesome how things like this, a whole city and even the life within it, can be uncovered.

---