Gelato, anyone?

Yes, everyone. We tried many places. I liked the chain Blue Ice. They gave you the most ice-cream for your 2.50 euro. We tried a famous place that I can't remember the name of, mostly because the gelato wasn't that delicious. It could also have to do with when I asked for no peanut butter gelato, the Italian man went straight for the peanut butter with enthusiasm. My further explanation of my impending death from it made him only more excited to scoop it onto my cone, I think. In this picture, we had just visited the Vatican after a long day of touring. The odd shaped thing Abby is enjoying is a Nutella filled crepe that she got at every opportunity she could. I never tried it, personally, but it looked delicious.

Pompeii

This day worked out in our favor. The storm was kept at bay for the majority of the day, but the looming overhead clouds, with the breaks in the sunlight reflecting off of the puddles throughout the ruins really set the mood for what we were seeing. It also helped that we had a tour guide who regaled us with stories, probably fictitious but all the better, about the people of Pompeii at the time. It was extremely interesting to walk around the ruins and see the way in which people of the day lived. Aside from technological advancements, I don't think that man-kind has swayed too much in their habitual lives. It's definitely a site to see.

That's not the Christmas Spirit

If you'll notice, they were putting up a Christmas tree... which turned out to be a multi-colored, tree-shaped, light post which isn't... um, Christmassy. But even the Vatican's Christmas display was weak. It wasn't even lighted, and the manger scene still hadn't been put up completely by the time we left which was on the 20th. Of all the places in the world to go all out on Christmas, you'd think the Vatican would be one of them. I'm just guessing that they probably aren't having funding problems, so what's the excuse? I'm not sure.


To the left is a picture of the Vatican. Actually, is it the Vatican or St. Peter's Basilica? St. Andrew? One in the same? I clearly care. See if you can find the Christmas Tree. OH you can't, because there are no lights on it hardly. Please ignore my shoddy camera skills... apparently the combination of night time, unsteady hands, and rain made it nearly impossible for me to get a good picture. Anyway, Merry Christmas, the Vatican.

Trevi Fountain

This was one of the first "famous" sites I saw in Rome. At first I didn't even realize what it was because it wasn't what I was expecting. It was surrounded by buildings and didn't have the space around it that a site typically would have. Pictures are deceiving. It was still beautiful though. I didn't make a wish, I didn't throw any pennies in... is that even what you're supposed to do? I'm not sure.

360 view from the top of the Duomo: Florence, Italy

Assuming this video works, This is the view from the top of the Duomo in Florence, Italy. If I remember correctly, which is questionable at best, we climbed nearly 600 steps to get to the top of the Dome. Yes, I broke a sweat, and yes, I almost fell backwards several times. Apparently the Stairmaster at the gym has been either A, lying to my face, or B, not a very good stair climbing simulation. Regardless, I made it to the top with my classmates, and it was definitely worth it, as you will, or possibly will not, agree. Luckily for me, I don't have to hear what you think, but if you'd like to share, get your own blog.

Florence: My Favorite

On our class's 10 day adventure, we saw and visited many places in Italy. We began in Rome, but visited Pompeii and Florence, and saw all there was to see in between. Although we only spent a day in Florence, it was immediately my favorite. I felt right at home the second we stepped foot off of our four hour long bus ride from Rome. It wasn't as busy as Rome was and seemed to be less touristy. I also really enjoyed the purse and scarf vendors that greeted me enthusiastically as I stepped off of the bus. Luckily for me, and my professors, their math skills weren't as proficient as their selling skills, and I walked away with some great deals :) The picture I've posted is a picture I took of the River at twilight. I thought the sky was beautiful and the lights and reflections on the water were gorgeous. I will definitely go back to visit Florence. I feel so lucky that we were able to take a day trip there.

Wait... What?

We were completely lost when we read this blog. Create an exhibit. Ok, seems easy enough. What's all the other blabber for? Well, as it turns out, the Scrolls aren't real and we have to come up with a theory focused around these fake scrolls that might, perhaps, portray Rome as it was and possibly correlate it to the United States today...? Does that even sound right? We're not sure.... but we're making progress in A direction, whether it's the right one or not, we'll have to find out. The way we see it is, we can come up with whatever theory we want as long as it's plausible because it's completely ficticious as it is. I think at this point, it's best for us to assume some character roles, and play it out from there. I do love to act...

Problem Based Learning Experience #2

The Museum of Religious Antiquities in Bangkok would like to exhibit the Carthaginian Scrolls and the museum is looking for teams of skilled communicators knowledgeable in History, Religion, Architecture and Engineering, to create the exhibit.

The scrolls were discovered eleven years ago in the Catacombs of Rome, by three Argentinean archeologists. It was believed that the two well-preserved, but hitherto unknown, scrolls date from the early days of the Catholic Church. The scrolls were carbon-dated and it appeared they were written about 380 AD, just after Rome was sacked by the Vandals. The Roman Empire collapsed shortly thereafter.

The scrolls discuss in detail the many excesses of the Romans, concluding that their communal bathing habits and centrally-heated homes led to a moral laxness that the church needed to eradicate. The scrolls lay out a plan to eliminate all vestiges of Roman engineering and ingenuity from areas under its control.

From the historical record, we know that after the Fall of the Roman Empire, which many modern historians do attribute to a moral laxness and softening of will, Europe was plunged into a millennium-long dark age. The civilized world’s focus shifted to the Arab world where the arts and sciences flourished.

Many archeologists and historians believe that these scrolls are forgeries. They claim that they were created less than 15 years ago, to “show” that the Fall of the American Empire, and the movement of science and the arts to Asia, was due in large part to the US government becoming a Theocracy in 2015, banning research in biology, medicine and cosmology.

Board Game

Learning Experience #1

The purpose of our first learning experience, in a nutshell, was to create a way to get kids interested in learning about the Roman Forum. We came up with a board game, similar in concept to Cranium and trivial Pursuit (if you were to mix the two games together), in which the kids/students move around the board and try to answer one of each type of Question. Our topics were Art, History, Architecture and Construction, and Culture.

Although it may sound as if our initial assignment was straight forward and easy to figure out: It was not. I don't have the original PBL to post to show all my followers, but essentially, it was very open ended and it took a while before my group and I were able to figure out what exactly it was that the assignment was requesting we accomplish. After exploring our thoughts through tools like C-Maps and good old fashioned pen and paper, we discovered what our goal was. This was the longest process, and it was what our professors liked to refer to as "diverging".

The rest began to fall into place after we had a clear vision of what it was we wanted to accomplish. We had a very interesting and diverse group; majors varied from all over the UC Campus. I myself had the least useful major: Accounting. It didn't matter though, we each contributed in our own ways and successfully completed the project with almost no group issues, in my opinion. We worked very well together.

Welcome

Welcome! The purpose of this blog is to chronicle my discoveries about Roman Architecture, Construction, and Culture which I will learn through a course that I'm taking. The course culminates in a trip to Rome at the end of the quarter, and I will be documenting things I learn and discover along the way. Enjoy :)