Insert Unintelligible Noises Here

Ugh.

Ok, I have to say more than that. The past week has been everything from amazing and beautiful to horrible. Maybe a part of that has to do with eating all our meals in a very moldy smelling kitchen that looks like a crypt/cave/dungeon. Sorry, I know, I'm not supposed to complain (my desktop for the past month has been the Dowager Countess from Downton Abbey with the subtitle "STOP WHINING") but the greatness of studying abroad comes with its downsides. I've been doing quite a bit of introverting this week. One of my roommates was just talking about the depressing sound of a baby orca cry and how that expresses so much on bad days. It really is a pathetic sound. Anyways, enough about depressed baby orcas, here's the week in brief.

Monday morning I when to Campo dei Fiori and bought some fruit for breakfast. It began to rain and the market sellers exclaimed "Eccolo!" as it began pouring buckets on the canvas umbrellas over the fruit and vegetable stands. It stopped shortly after that but continued to be horribly muggy.

The day was a bit rough. We were tied down with school related things from 10 AM to at least 6 PM. Studio was especially rough because we're working on this project with starchitect (yes, that's an arkie term) and 2012 Driehaus Prize winner Michael Graves. This Michael Graves:

Portlandia...like the crazy TV show.

Looks like he was looking at Cambridge, eh?

He is confined to a wheelchair now and currently is on some accessibility board in Washington D.C. so it will be interesting to see how he gets around Rome with us. He studied in Rome in the 60's and well, you have Wikipedia.

Anyways, we're working with some fourth and fifth years from the University of Miami and Mr. Graves will be arriving not this week but next. We are working in teams throughout this project so there are pros and many cons to that. It's slightly terrifying to think that we'll have to present what we're working on right now in front of him.

I was going to fill in the details on the week but they have seen blended together into a mush of exhaustion, happiness, and troppo frustration. If the past two days were a color they would not be a pretty color. I knew before I left that the beauty of Italy would come at the price of a lot of stress and that has kicked in early on in as many various forms as the causes. I really started craving some Avett, Mumford, and King Charles as stress reducers. Drafting in studio actually helps too but I don't have enough to do right now and drawing frustrates me easily because I'm not that great yet.

I forget what day some of my friends and I went to the Pantheon at night to draw. It began raining so we sat under the portico and it was very peaceful. Speaking of...there has been this cellist who plays Bach outside the Pantheon and I've seen him on two occasions. That always makes me happy. I've had a spontaneous obsession with cellos for the past few weeks so if you have any favourite cello pieces send them my way.

On Thursday I attempted to go to Mass at the Gesu at noon. I was unaware that Mass is celebrated in a side chapel off in the wing through the gift shop so I actually missed Mass and walked in just as everyone was getting out. That was frustrating but the chapel was beautiful and, of course, the Gesu is as crazy as you can imagine from pictures. I remembered being there before as a child.

The right arm of St. Francis Xavier

The ceiling of the side chapel where Mass was.

Later that day I went to Mass at Santa Maria Sopra Minerva...and ran into an old acquaintance from CUA of all people. I approached him after Mass and we talked for a bit and then planned to meet up on Sunday for Mass and then lunch. That was today and we went to S.S. Trinita dei Pelligrini, the FSSP church in Rome. It was a welcome bit of home for me to be at a church where I could understand the Mass because it was in Latin. Afterwards we got lunch at Bar Valle because that's the only place I could think of and the guy who works there knows me and will immediately ask "cappuccino?". We got absolutely drenched on the way over there though because it was down-pouring during Mass and I had forgotten my umbrella in studio.

(No, I did not have my camera with me when I went to either of those churches. Sorry.)

The night before last night I walked with some friends to the Coliseum. We passed the Roman forum ruins where a play was being performed. It was really neat, they had the ruins lit and you could clearly see and hear the actors and audience below. The Coliseum itself was stunning, of course, and a few stars were visible in the sky. I still have never been inside though I saw it for the first time many years ago. It's a mix of amazing and sobering.

Today since it was raining all day long I popped into the Pantheon and looked up at the oculus. One of the most simple, fascinating and beautiful things was to watch the rain come through that stone opening. It's a bit mesmerizing. I wonder what it's like when it snows.

Tomorrow my class leaves for a field trip to Tuscany. We'll be spending some days in Siena and some in Florence. I haven't decided whether or not I'm going to bring my laptop...we'll see. I probably won't be blogging in that span of time anyways. Blah. I hope all of you are doing well. If you could pray for a special intention I would be very grateful.