I've been out less than two weeks and I've already been working at my summer job full time for over a week. There hasn't been too much resting yet since classes ended, I jumped at the chance to get to work early so I can start to save up money for the fall when I will be abroad in Rome. It's really hard to believe I'm leaving so soon, just a couple months. I've been working on getting all the paperwork together, like my student VISA and flight forms, etc. There's a lot to arrange and get squared away before I can leave. I'm still waiting to hear on more information about the actual program. I haven't received the package from La Magia Institute yet, but I've attached a link to the school's site on the housing. We will be living in a converted convent on the Tiber River! It's all really exciting, and I still haven't really processed it all yet. I'm going to be visiting all these amazing places for a whole semester!

http://www.lamagiainstitute.com/Pages/La%20Magia%20Services/Apartments/Student%20Housing/Santa%20Maria%20in%20Cappella/SM%20in%20Cappella.htm

Please feel free to ask any question or leave comments!

A few days ago I got offered a full time position at my internship at Fletcher Thompson, Inc. for the rest of the summer! Apparently, they just landed a big project that'll keep me busy with work right up until I leave for Rome in the fall. My responsibilities there have increased over the past few weeks as well, as I start to get a feel for what is expected. For the past few days, I've been working on developing site plans for two high schools that are proposing renovations by using composite aerial images and maps, including building footprints, topography contours, groundcover and treelines, street maps, etc. I also am acting as a 'liason' -so it's been called- between the firm and a consultant company for the design of a playground for an elementary school, working to compile and develop a set of drawings and images to submit to the state for approval. It's all very exciting, and I'm learning a lot. Most of my work is on AutoCAD, and I've already gotten a lot faster at it.

On top of this, I've been working at my summer job on weekends and I'm about to start going there a few nights during the week too, so my schedule's been pretty full. But I did manage to sneak away a couple weeks ago for a short weekend retreat. I arranged for some friends from Northeastern and a couple friends from home to take a camping trip at Hammonassett State Park in CT, which was a really great time. It was great to relax with everybody and enjoy the beach and sun for a couple days.

I'm also hoping to go to the Guggenheim within the next month or so to see the exhibit on Frank Lloyd Wright's life works. I looked into it the other day and it seems like an opportunity that I definitely don't want to miss out on considering how close I am to NYC. Because my work schedule doesn't allow for any extended vacation, I'm hoping these little trips will help my keep my sanity this summer.

Time's going by so fast its hard to believe the summer's halfway over. I just mailed my application for my visa for the fall. This semester in Rome has always seemed so far away; it's really hard to believe it only weeks away now. There's still a lot of paperwork and planning to do in the meantime, but it's gonna be time to leave so soon!

(Hammonassett Beach)

As always, feel free to ask any questions

I'm entering week four now in my mandatory semester abroad in Rome to continue studying architecture. I really can't think of a better place to do so, everything is incredible...has some historical importance and is just gorgeous.

I was very much exhausting during the first week or so (between jet-lag and the very packed orientation schedule), but I was able to do things like sit in the Pantheon for hours just sketching…and I’ve been at least probably like a dozen times already. It’s so close to studio and its just amazing, no other words for it.

I came in with this kinda stereotypical image of what everything would be like, but I figured I was just being ignorant…it really is so much like I pictured. The streets wind in a maze-like web, with a conglomerate of richly colored buildings packed into the city blocks. The hues are so rich, so much orange and yellows. You can see the history in each building’s façade, the peeling away and eroding of time as the paint fades or chips away to reveal the layers beneath. There are so many balconies and terraces covered with potted plants, so many brightly colored shutters pushed open, so many rooftop gardens, so many ivy-covered walls. There’s such a history, a past that is so evident in everywhere you look, its very moving and humbling all at once. Everything has a significance, a past that just seems to full. I don’t know how I won’t leave here without a significance perspective gained for my architectural future and cultural awareness, even historical awareness. Rome is an ancient city, there’s no confusion there. It represents so much, and its painted across the urban fabric of the city. I honestly don’t know how to capture it, for my initial impressions are far better than I imagined. It makes you realize how small your life is when you look at structures that are from over two thousands years ago, but are still enjoyed today for their romantic appeal.

It’s a city of evolution, one thing piled a top another. And I really imagined more contemporary buildings, more of a touch from the hand of the 21st century. But it truly seems pure, it is represented by the ancient, the medieval, the renaissance, and the baroque…it doesn’t seem to go much farther past that. I guess why mess with an urbanism and an architectural culture that has worked for centuries to foster a successful urban space for the public masses.