summer in ames: un gelato!

ciao amiche!

Today was another big day to explore the city. I had a studio orientation meeting in the morning which consisted of the faculty explaining some things about Roma. Highlights included... Going to markets to buy stuff, get robbed, and then buy the same thing back only to realize its a brick in the box instead of what you thought you bought; police officer scam artists dressed up and asking for your money and ID; angry gelato (ice cream) sellers; drunken stabbings; and lots of overall love. Ferro one of our main Roma faculty insisted that cops were mean no matter if you were in Roma or Ames, and Karen, another faculty, resisted and told her side of Roma. Basically the underlying theme was... Dont get drunk because Italian culture really looks down on it, and dont do anything stupid, and if you do one of the above then be nice to the police so they give you a phone call so one of the faculty can save you. They we split into studios, I am in Chris Klings studio first. Chris is a resident of Roma and is teaching a studio about urban space, specifically the market environment. Our first assignment is to walk from studio to different assigned spaces, ours being Santo Stefano Rotondo. This space is interesting because its the first christian example of a centralized plan, built in the 5th century AD. They didn't give us any more detail then that.

Afterwards Ben and I decided to walk west towards the Castel Sant'Angelo which sits just east of the Vatican City, right on the Tiber. This building was erected in 139 AD originally to house the remains of Emperor Hadrian. Right out front is the Pons Aeilus which is a bride with angels holding aloft piece from the Passion of Christ. In 401 the mausoleum was turned into a fortress to defend against the Gauls (french) under Alaric. They succeeded in conquering Roma in 410 and looted large amounts of the mausoleum. In the 14th century it was converted into a full out fortress and connected to St. Peters Basilica for pope refugee purposes. It is now converted to a museum and has phenomenal views of all Roma! We arrive at the upper terrace at sunset and stayed until it was dark and the city was light, it was breathtaking. Roma, is a large city.

I wont want to attack this... can you find me!

Another thing to note is how American culture is represented in Italy. Americans themselves are not highly regarded, however most of the music I have heard is American Pop songs. And Will Smith has his picture all over the place, including buses. There are a lot of American made products, pharmaceuticals, foods... There is definitely a strong American influence.