Architecture Studio

I only have one semester left! Last semester, I completed my comprehensive studio (the hardest part) with an entry into the Air Force Village Chapel Design competition in San Antonio, TX. We were divided into partners for the project, and I worked with a friend from Indiana, Kyle Keaffaber. I will post images of our project as soon as I'm allowed. (The competition will not allow entries to be published until after the results are announced in January 2010).

Next semester, our studio will be doing independent, self-defined research projects. My project will focus on the importance/impact/history/future of the design of sacred spaces in Protestant America. More on that later....

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all!

Summer Break

As many of you already know, since we have returned from Italy, Lindsey and I have moved to Clemson for my last year of graduate school. I'm on track to graduate in May 2010 with a Master's Degree of Architecture. Why do I need a Master's Degree? In order to become a licensed architect (which is ultimately the goal of all of this), you must hold an accredited professional degree. Yes, my Bachelor's Degree was in Architecture but, being a "4+2" program, it was not an accredited professional degree (it would have had to have been a five year program for that...also, Clemson doesn't offer that option). So as the "+2" part of my education, here I am, halfway through graduate school, on summer break.

I started back at Neal Prince Architects (the firm I have been with between bouts of school since my summer internship of my Junior year of undergrad - 2005) for the summer. Before I left to get married on July 19th of last year (remember, I left a little early to go on that road trip with Brad Dalton and Travis Selman. See the pictures here: 1, 2, 3, 4), we discussed me coming back for the summer after my first year of grad school. That was before the economy bottomed out. After initially thinking they would only be able to provide me with a part-time position (due to industry-wide lack of work), they landed a commission with Converse College for a new dormitory. It was slated to start up as soon as I got back from Europe; perfect timing. So this summer, I have been working in downtown Greenville on a fun project (which is thankfully in Revit and NOT AutoCAD) and spending some quality time with Lindsey at our first version of a home-home (aka- something longer than a 4 month lease).

We are having a blast and feel continually blessed, even with the country (and world) in this current economic state. 

Hopefully, after I get some of my side projects finished (I'm designing a web page for a friend, and painting some canvases for decoration in our apartment), I can get back around to processing the rest of my pictures from Europe (I still have 5 more countries to go!). Until, then, consider yourselves updated.

I'm back in business!

Finally, finally, finally.....I have a computer again. I had already set up my desktop on one of our old kitchen carts in the "office" of our apartment. It was, however, almost impossible to do any work at it because there was no place for the mouse or my legs. The solution? Obvious....get a desk. The problem with this solution is that we haven't exactly had any money to spare this summer and all the desks (at least the ones that were large enough) I found were in the "few hundreds of dollars" range. Last week my mother informed me that her old office (they recently moved into a new building) would be auctioning off all the furniture left behind during the move. It would be a "silent auction" closed to the public: employees only. The actual bidding was held this Tuesday and she invited me to tag along to see if I could find anything useful.

Because the auction was closed to the public, only about 10 people showed up to bid on anything. With such little competition, it became apparent that almost everything could be "had" for very little money. I had a few items that I knew we needed for the apartment. I bid on several items and, in the end, won four of them for a total of about $25.

I needed a desk and won a very large one with plenty of storage for $10!!! The other items I got were: a metal 2-drawer file cabinet for $4, a black leather chair for $9, and a gray cushioned stool with rollers for $2!!!

(notice the filing cabinet)

(pretty good for $10)

(this thing has lots of storage)

(this chair is awesome, although I think I may change the frame...I don't like the wood color)

My parents got a good bit of stuff too and they let me load it all in my grandfather's truck (which they had borrowed for the evening) and I took it to our apartment, unloaded what I could, and they came over later that night to help me wrestle the desk up the steps.

Bear with me...

    As many of you have probably already read from Lindsey's blog, the past two weeks have been crazy for us since returning from Italy. We have been back and forth from my parents and Lindsey's parent's house....all while taking trips to our new apartment moving things in. My dad has taken two evenings after work in which we loaded up his truck and trailer (to the gills) of stuff from their attic and from the storage unit that Lindsey's parents rent. We usually didn't get loaded and on the road until 8:30pm, or get to the apartment until 9:00, or unloaded until 11:00, or back before midnight. (With both of us having to work the next morning...whew) After those two loads, and with the one that Derrick helped me with yesterday, we finally have everything at least sitting in the floor in the living room. We really like our apartment and its location in Central....just minutes from Clemson's campus, downtown Pendleton, and downtown Central. I'll post more details once we have moved in...including pictures of the progress of unpacking.

     About this blog: Towards the end of the semester, we ran out of hard drive space on Lindsey's laptop, and my classes began to pick up with everything due all at once, so....all my pictures since spring break haven't been processed yet. I haven't even looked at them yet. Once I am able to unpack my computer in our new apartment, I can return to posting pictures on Facebook and blogging about the rest of the semester. After the semester abroad has been sufficiently documented, I plan to begin a series of posts based on various themes that will either keep you riveted to your computer screen....or.....bore you to tears. haha! We'll see.

     Oh yeah! By the way, I also have plans to finally develop my own personal portfolio website online. I have set up one of those standard "under construction" pages in the meantime...more on that later (click here for the link: www.jonathanedens.com). Now that I own my own domain name, I have moved my blog over as a subdomain. You can still get to my blog by typing in the old address: jonathanedens.blogspot.com, but it will redirect you to the new, official one: blog.jonathanedens.com!

It's crunch time.

I just took a 3 hour afternoon nap following an all morning-long presentation, which I stayed up all night long to finish. Three classes down, only studio to go. We have our final presentation on Tuesday....which means no weekend for me. I have decided to take tonight off to enjoy some part of my last weekend in Italy...and start back on the project tomorrow morning. After writing a ten page research paper on Italian Rationalist architecture, preparing a presentation for the professor, writing a 15 page paper of the urban analysis of 5 piazzas in Genoa, preparing a presentation for that professor, and completing a portfolio of all the semester sketches....I haven't had time to blog, as you can probably imagine. However, our studio maintains a class blog (of which Lindsey is the editor-in-chief) which has descriptions of all our trips thus far this semester. Each contribution is written by a different student and it is pretty interesting to read. (You can click on the name of the student in the column on the right side of the home page of the blog to jump directly to their particular entry)

So, until I get back to the States and can catch up on my travel blogging, check out our site:

Click here to read the Clemson in Genova Blog

We fly back on the 3rd and Lindsey and I are looking forward to seeing everyone next weekend!!!!

(a photo from the presentation of our first studio project last month)

Video from the Tate Modern

While visiting the Tate Modern in London, England, we recorded a video message that I was able to post to the blog directly via email. Click here to view it!

Spring Break 2009 - Berlin: Architecture with a history lesson

We landed in Berlin, Germany late and hungry. We muscled our way through the process of figuring out the railway system to get from the airport to our hostel. Emerging from the subway, we were presented with two fantastic late night options for some grub: a kebab at the little Greek munchies stand, or a Curry 36 (think American fast food: burger and fries, only instead of a burger, you get a huge, spicy German sausage). Lindsey went with a kebab (I think she is addicted to them) and Derrick & I swung for the sausage. Talk about good...I don't know if it was actually good or if we were just that hungry, but I found myself wishing we had a Curry 36 in Clemson.

After supper (at midnight), we wandered the streets for a bit looking for the hostel. Luckily, it was located in a nice part of town and the streets were deserted...not sketchy. After we checked in, we crashed hard because we knew we had to be up early the next morning for breakfast (and we hadn't been getting much sleep since the beginning of the trip) and a full day of exploring Berlin.

The next morning, after a sparse breakfast (we overslept and arrived after they had already shut things down), we set out on an ambitious agenda that would include most of Berlin's major architectural hotspots, historical landmarks, and inspiring monuments. We spent the morning exploring one of the fastest growing areas (both in terms of development and popularity) of Berlin: Potsdamer Platz.

The Sony Center at Potsdamer Platz.

The masterplan for the re-development is being spear-headed by the Italian architect: Renzo Piano (his architecture office is actually in Genoa...you may know him as the designer of the newest wing of the High Museum in Atlanta, GA) and it features so very interesting buildings designed by some very famous architects. Naturally, I was in Heaven.

We me up with our professor, Bernhard Sill, (his girlfriend lives in Berlin and he was in town to visit her and her family) for lunch and he showed us around the city for the rest of the afternoon. It worked out great because he used to practice engineering in Berlin before teaching at Clemson and we wasted no time getting lost (which is what would have happened had we tried to find everything on our own). We visited many sites...too many for me to simply list here, so I will only mention my favorites. The Holocaust Memorial by Peter Eisenman (think architect that designed the stadium for the Arizona Cardinals) was incredibly moving.

Holocaust Memorial.

Later that day, we visited the Jewish Museum by Daniel Libeskind. I won't bore you with the architectural details and significance, but I will say that it was an extremely educational experience and someone could spend a week there to see everything they have relating to the struggle the European Jews went through during World War II.

"Fallen Leaves" installation at the Jewish Museum.

The intersection of the three axis in the Jewish Museum.

After that action-packed day, Berlin ranks among my favorite cities and I would love to come back later to see the more of it. Alas, however, in order to make it to Dublin in time for St. Patrick's Day, we could only afford the 2 nights and 1 full day....

Upon leaving the museum, we ate some great steak at a cheap steakhouse (reminded me of something we would have in the States) and went to bed. Another early flight had us up with the sun....Ireland here we come!!!!!!!!!!!

Lindsey and me in front of a section of the Berlin Wall earlier in the day.

Spring Break 2009 - The First Leg: Milan, Athens, and the Acropolis

On Saturday, we arrived in Athens, Greece via an EasyJet flight that circled the beautiful Greek islands at a pleasantly low altitude before landing. It occurred to me immediately that 1 night in Greece would not be enough to experience everything this country had to offer (which I kind of already knew, it just didn't hit me until I saw those islands), and I began envisioning a return trip later in life (when/if I can afford to come back to Europe). We were a bit tired from the night before, having caught the last train from Genoa to Milan (it took us FOREVER, to pack all that we would need for the entire trip into one backpack each). Once we arrived at the train station in Milan (which is located in the city) we had to catch a shuttle to our hostel (which was outside the city, closer to the airport). Arriving at the hostel around midnight on Friday, we had supper (yes, the hostel had a restaurant that was held open just for us so that we could eat...the Italians are the most courteous people you will ever meet) and slept for a whopping 3 hours. We had to leave at 4ish in the morning to make it to the airport on time to catch our flight to Athens. Luckily, the hostel provided a free shuttle to the airport at insane hours, so it didn't cost us anything to get there.

Because we were flying on budget airlines (the no-frills kind that charges you extra if you check bags), we only had carry-on bags (backpacks....and not the hiking kind either, I'm talking about the smaller kind you use to put your books in for school) which ended up being very nice because we could simply blow right past all the check-in lines to go directly through security. Once we were settled on the plane, seat belts fastened, iPod on, overhead light off, it was time for a quick nap....we were headed to GREECE!!!!

After stepping off the plane at the Athens airport, we took a convenient (and relatively cheap) bus to the area of the city where our hostel was located. We walked down a crowded (in a good way) pedestrian street that was lined with interesting shopping and restaurants, occasionally navigating around an ancient temple or two (that the city grew up around, incorporating them directly into the street systems....it was very cool), we found our hostel with relative ease. During check-in, we noticed that the guy at the desk was natively Italian, and when I handed him my passport, I accidentally held open the page with my Italian Visa. He mistook it for the main ID page and got all excited assuming I was Italian. Which has been happening to me a lot while over here (I guess its the black hair and black jacket...haha). Our room had been double booked, so they took it upon themselves to upgrade us to a suite. It was a great hostel, and the guy at the desk offered to unlock the roof-top patio for us. From there we had a fantastic view of the Acropolis....yeah. Previously, we had only seen this in our textbooks. What an incredible first experience!

The view of the Acropolis from the roof of our hostel.

After unloading our luggage, we set out looking for a place to grab some lunch. On the way, Lindsey found the store she had planned to look for while we were in the city: The Poet Sandalmaker. This guy, and his father before him, and his father before him handmakes sandals in several historical Grecian styles. He sells them at very affordable prices (considering what he could charge all the tourists that come through his doors) so Lindsey got a couple pair.

Lindsey getting fitted for her hand-made Greek sandals.

We waded through the market and finally happened upon a quaint outdoor cafe right on the main strip. Across from our table was the fence that bordered the ancient Athenian Agora and we had a clear view of the Acropolis. The weather was so beautiful, conversations so interesting, and people-watching so entertaining, that we decided to spend the afternoon there. By the time we got up, we had eaten lunch and dessert over the course of about 3.5 hours!

Sitting at the cafe for lunch.

We found out that the Acropolis was open on Sundays with FREE entry, so we decided to spend the rest of Saturday exploring the areas near the Agora. We had a great supper at Greek restaurant and went to bed with anticipation for what we would see the next day.

The Temple of Hephaistos in the ancient Agora.

On Sunday we set out relatively early to explore the Agora and the Acropolis. It was so interesting and, again, the weather was PERFECT. Our pictures turned out great and the experience was one for the ages.

Heading up to the Acropolis.

Standing in front of THE Parthenon.

Heather left us around 5pm (to head out on her own to Turkey and Israel) and Lindsey, Derrick, and I spent an hour or so relaxing in the hostel lobby (with me trying hard to repack our souvenirs into our already overloaded carry-ons!) before hopping onto the bus back to the airport.

It was so nice to breeze past all the lines again at the airport (carry-on only is the only way to fly...I'm convinced) and we boarded our next flight to Berlin with ease.

Spring Break 2009 - The Plan

Each semester in the Genoa program, architecture students are encouraged to use their week of spring break to travel around Europe. In fact, Clemson even calls it "Independant Studies", dropping the "Spring Break" moniker altogether. The goal is to see some architectural/artistic masterpieces, whether they be buildings, urban plans, paintings, sculptures, you name it, that you are individually interested in.

Naturally, having never travelled to Europe prior to this semester, Lindsey and I wanted to plan a trip that would allow us to see as much as possible in the 10 days we had available. Derrick, one of my best friends from undergrad, was planning on traveling with us, along with a few other classmates off-and-on. So, with my primary travelmates being Lindsey and Derrick, we sat down to plan out what we thought would be a Spring Break for the ages. We knew we didn't want to waste a lot of time traveling, so we tried to avoid booking any of our travels by train. In Europe, there are many budget airlines that allow you to fly all over for less than dinner for two at Red Lobster (yeah, thats right). So, the three of us planned a trip using Ryanair and EasyJet airlines. We were interested in all sorts of places on an individual basis, and this, along with the cost of each option for airline tickets, governed our decision making process for where we would go. For example: Lindsey wanted very badly to see Ireland, I specifically wanted to go to Berlin, and Derrick was down for whatever as long as he didn't repeat any place he had already been (he had studied for a semester in the Barcelona program Clemson offers during undergrad).

At the end of our planning session, we emerged with an incredibly exciting itenerary that satisfied everyone's wishes for travel, plus some. We would take a train to Milan on Friday, March 13, spend the night, and get up early to head to the airport. From there, we would fly to Athens, Greece to see the Acropolis (with our friend Heather Bachman). After one night there, Heather would leave us for Turkey, and we would fly to Berlin, Germany for two nights to see all the great architecture in the city (or as much of it as we could fit in). On the 17th (Saint Patrick's Day) we would fly to Dublin, Ireland just in time for the festivities. Spending three nights there, taking in the city and some of the surrounding countryside, we would fly to London, England. In London, we would meet up with two of our friends who will have been traveling all over Ireland, Scotland, and England: Heather Nelson and Lura Blumenfeld. The five of us would then stay 3 nights in London, seeing the city, and taking a day trip out to Wiltshire to see Stonehenge. Early Monday morning, we would fly back to Genoa to arrive just in time for lunch. Whew.

With all this flying, we would never once spend more than $40 on a plane ticket, and never waste any more than 3 hours travelling. Lindsey would see Ireland, I would visit Berlin, and Derrick will have been new to all the cities we were visiting.

I will be posting summaries of each day of travel as we go, so keep checking back for stories and photos!!!!

Let the journey begin!!!!!!!!

Cutting my losses

     Ok, as you can probably tell, it has been almost a month since my last post. I have been busy with school and our travel schedule, thus leaving me little time to blog. I have recently finished weeding through all the pictures from our first 10-day trip (also a month ago...haha). I had planned to post a description of all the things we did and saw, but, alas, it may be impossible at this point to remember all the details. After posting the pictures to Facebook, I have decided that they do a decent job at telling the story of the things we saw (which is why I am just going to post links here to those photo albums for all to see -even if you're not a member of Facebook). As for the experience of it all, I was finally able to see, in person, some of the greatest works of art and architecture I have been learning about through textbooks in school. Florence was incredible for its Renaissance art (and gelato). We saw Michelangelo's David, Brunelleschi's Dome, and Leonardo da Vinci's Annunciation to name a few. Hotel Constantini, the fantastic little place we stayed at while in Florence, was within sight of the Duomo (the green building in the sketch below).

     It rained in Siena, our hotel ceiling leaked onto our bed, the "greatest piazza in all of Europe": Il Campo was almost completely empty, it rained the whole time, the restaurant was annoying, aaannnnnndddd that's all I have to say about Siena. 

     Rome was absolutely incredible!!!! It's one of my favorite cities so far. We visited Vatican City, saw all the major historical sites, our hotel was one block from the Pantheon (which we walked past everyday upon leaving the hotel), ate some great food, and I found a new architect to add to my list of favorites. Overall, the trip was a blast. 

     Since then, we have been chugging through studio on our current project: a lookout tower and cafe for the side of the mountain here in Genoa. We visited Milan (more details to follow) and took a 4-day roadtrip through Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, and France (I drove the car...yikes....Europeans are CRAZY drivers!). I have a lot of photos from that trip, and it may take years before anybody sees any of those...haha! Lindsey and I celebrated our first San Valentine's Day together as a married couple (you can read her description of the weekend on her blog). This past friday night, we had our Spring Villa Party (each semester, the students get to throw a party and invite friends from Italy), which was a lot of fun. Lindsey and I haven't danced that much since Josh Boltinhouse's wedding...haha!

     Sorry to all my readers for the huge lapse in coverage...I hope you can forgive me. Here are the links to my photos from the 10-day trip through Florence, Siena, and Rome; Enjoy!!! :

Florence - Part 1

Florence - Part 2

Siena

Rome - Part 1

Rome - Part 2

Rome - Part 3

Rome - Part 4

Back from our trip

So....I'm back from my first 10-day trip of the semester. We visited Florence, Siena, and Rome and I have something like 1400-1700 photos to process for Facebook (so y'all can see them). Also, studio started right back up as soon as we got back as well, so again I find myself a busy man. It would be stressful if I hadn't spent last semester studying in Charleston (the most stressful semester of Architecture school imaginable). 

As part of our Field Studies requirements, we have to sketch the things we see during our travels and today we had to present our sketches to the class. As we toured Florence, Siena, and Rome, we stopped from time to time throughout each day to sketch the various buildings and works of art we were learning about. Because I had to compile them for class today, I decided to go ahead and put them up on Facebook. Here's the link to the album (which I will update with new sketches throughout the semester): Study Abroad Sketches (Remember, that you don't have to be a member of Facebook to view any of the albums I link to from my blog.)

Once, I get my photos processed and safely backed up on our external drive, I will post about the highs and lows of our trip...until then, enjoy the sketches and keep checking back!

Trying to keep up..

Today we had a studio review...so after returning from our weekend excursion to Torino to ski, I have been working non-stop on school stuff. On Tuesday, we went on our second day trip to Pavia and Vigevano (both are small towns in Italy). That took the entire day. Tomorrow morning at 6:30am, we are leaving for our first 10 day trip. We will be traveling to Florence, Sienna, and Rome. So...after our studio presentation, a viewing of this week's episode of Lost (from a classmate's iTunes on the projector screen here at the villa, since we have no TV), supper, and packing; I find myself sitting here at 2:30am trying to finish weeding through my pictures from our day trip this Tuesday in a desperate attempt to get them up on Facebook before we leave. (Knowing that, having visited Florence -The Uffizi- and Rome, I will have several hundreds -maybe more than a grand- of photos to sort out when I get back) With that said, I will provide you with a few links, and then you won't hear from me until we get back...

Since I haven't had time to post about our recent adventures, I will direct you to Lindsey's blog on the same subject (click here).

My Facebook albums from Torino and the second day trip:

Torino - Ski Weekend

Torino - 2009 Winter Olympics    (click here for some videos too!)

Day Trip 2 - Part 1

Day Trip 2 - Part 2

Some Photos

I haven't had a chance to sit and write anything this week because I have been working on getting my pictures up-to-date and posted on Facebook... We are full into classes and have even gone on our first day trip of the semester. This weekend, a group of us (12 in all) are traveling by train to Turin (Torino) to see some sites on Saturday and ski on Sunday (the same slopes where they held the recent winter olympics...yeah). So, when we get back, I'll post something longer. In the meantime, here are some links to my photos on Facebook (if you click these links, you don't have to be a Facebook member to view the photos):

Genoa, Italy - Part 1

Genoa, Italy - Part 2 (in progress of adding photos)

Genoa, Italy - Day Trip 1 - Part 1 (the tour of the port)

Genoa, Italy - Day Trip 1 - Part 2 (the tour of the port)

Friends from FIU and a Pick-Pocket!

This weekend we made some new friends from Miami. We were out at the "nightlife" areas with our trusty tour guide and friend, Luca, mingling with the local Genovese. It was Friday night and the weekend after exams for Genoa University. Everybody under 35 was out and about (and I mean EVERYBODY) and the streets were crowded like the gates at Death Valley just before kickoff. We had to push our way through the throngs of Italians just to get anywhere. The plan was to meet up with Luca because he had some new places to show us. At one point, we all convened at this one little open area (that was kind of elevated), to wait for everybody to arrive, and we nabbed this photo:
So...you can image how long it took us to travel from the spot the picture was taken to the opposite end of the square to find a bathroom when Lindsey and Leslee said they had to "go". We pushed and shoved through the crowd trying to stay together. Once we reached the opposite side, we discovered that the place we were aiming for actually didn't have a bathroom. Yeah. While we were standing there we overhead another group say something about looking for a bathroom...but they were speaking in English. So, Lindsey moseyed over to them and introduced herself. We all got really excited when we found out we were "fellow Americans". They were here for the semester from Florida International University in Miami, FL for European studies. We all decided to continue our search for a bathroom together. They knew of a bar about halfway back that had a bathroom so we followed them to it. 

   On the way back through the crowd, an old guy was pushing through the crowd along side of us. I thought it was strange that this older guy was out and about, alone in the midst of all the youngsters so, naturally, I assumed he was a perv. He was a little too close to Lindsey for my comfort so I reached around her while we walked so that he couldn't "brush up against her". He looked down at my arm and then moved up the line, all the while we were all pushing through the crowd towards the place with the bathroom. Sketchball guy ended up between Alexis and Andrea (two of our new friends from Miami) and then, out of nowhere, turned around and went back the other way. As soon as we arrived at the door, we found out what this guy had been trying to do. Andrea reached into her jacket pocket to discover her cell phone had been snatched. I felt so bad for her and Alexis and I were royally ticked off that this had happened right in front of us and he got away with it. Luckily, no one else got "hit" by the stinkin' pickpocket. (I keep my wallet inside my zipped-up jacket pocket). Next time though, we will be a little more street smart in a crowd like that. (The South Carolina in me wanted to push back through the crowd to find this guy but they convinced me that it would take all night, and he was probably already long-gone by now)....

The rest of the evening was spent consuming Gelato and visiting a place called the "Beautiful Loser" which sported a disco dance ball in the main room and three "themed" rooms in the basement: a red room, a blue room, and a yellow room. The interior design of these spaces was very interesting. We had a good time with our new friends (see Lindsey's Blog for a picture of the group) and they got along well with Luca (he speaks fluent spanish and a couple of our Miami friends are native South Americans). We exchanged cell phone numbers and hung out again on Saturday night....

Video Bloggin'

Yeah, that's right, we're going to be video blogging too!

    We headed down the mountain the other day to get cell phones (Clemson requires us to get a phone for safety reasons and such) in town. Verizon and AT&T don't exist over here, so we got a phone with one of the largest European cell-phone providers: Vodafone. Here's a video of the journey from the Villa to the store (remember, we have to walk back up all those stairs to get home).

(People in this video that blog: Jonathan Edens, Lindsey Edens, Derrick Simpson, Drew Cheatham

Classes Begin

    For the past several days we have been on a crash course on the Italian language. In all, we will have devoted ten days (straight through, including weekends) to learning the language and culture as quickly as possible. Hopefully, by the end, we will have enough to get us started so that we can spend the rest of the semester learning from casual conversations with the locals. Our teacher was sent over from the main campus in Clemson to live here in the guest room while she teaches our class. She is acting as the interim chair of the school of language and is also an Italian professor for Clemson. With 4 hours of class each day, we have had plenty of time to go out into the city and explore. That will probably end today (well, at least during the week days) because studio is kicking off. Prof. Sill (our studio professor) is a German engineer who has worked all over the world under some big name engineers. He will be focusing our architecture studio on the details and technicalities required to produce good design. I'm looking forward to this because many of our studio classes in undergrad focused so heavily on design that we didn't learn much about the art of design the small parts of the building. These minute details are what separates the "act of building" from "architecture" itself.

We will find out today what the focus of the semester will be about (as far as a specific project is concerned) so I will post about that when the time comes. 

    Also, we have been taking lots of pictures, and have several albums to post to Facebook (both Lindsey and myself) as soon as we get the chance to do it. When we do, we will post links on our blogs to those albums so you will know when to go check them out (and so that those of you who do not have Facebook can view them as well). In the meantime, here is a teaser:

(I took this shot on one of the first days we were here. 

This is one of the old gates of the city.)

I've heard of Rome, but where is Genova?

For all you history buffs out there, this post is for you. Many of us in the USA have heard the stories of Rome's greatness, the "fluid" streets of Venice, the latest fashions of Milan, and the Renaissance treasures of Florence. But not many Americans have ever even heard of Genova (or "Genoa" in english). So, an introduction to my adopted city seems appropriate:

Genoa is a major port city located on the northwest coast of Italy.
(represented on this map by the big black dot:)

(Click on the image to enlarge)

Genoa is 311 miles (501km) north of the birthplace of civilization: Rome (think Caesar, the Roman Empire, running water, sewers, the coliseum, etc.) and just 88 miles (142km) south of the fashion capital of the world: Milan (think Dolce & Gabbana, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, etc.).

The man given credit for discovering the "new world": Christopher Columbus (yes, that Christopher Columbus) was born in Genoa. (in fact, we have visited what is believed to be his birthplace and childhood home) The city is surrounded by a series of Medieval walls built to protect it during its long history of foreign invaders. During the Renaissance, Genoa was one of the largest and wealthiest cities of Europe. Its influence (via sea commerce) stretched as far as the Middle East.

The city began as a port for the Ligurian people around the 6th century BC, and traded with the Greeks and the Phoenicians. Although the city is on the Mediterranean Sea, the section of the sea directly adjacent to the coast is called the Ligurian Sea (getting its name from the ancient people group that founded the city).

Genoa was destroyed in 205 BC by Carthage for its loyalty to Rome. In turn, Rome played a major role in rebuilding the city. During the middle ages, Genoa spread its control of the sea to the neighboring islands of Corsica and Sardinia. It defeated its only competitor in the region (Pisa) in a series of battles leading up to a victory at Meloria in 1284. After that, Genoa established colonies in North Africa and the Middle East and continued to flourish during the Crusades. During this time, many Medieval castles were constructed all over the hillside facing the port. The majority of those castles are still standing today, and the area where our Villa is located is home to many of them (that is why our "neighborhood" is called the "Castelletto" section of Genoa). Having grown into a major player in sea-faring trade, Genoa aroused the angst of another major port city in the Mediterranean: Venice. The two cities fought tremendously for many years. Venice finally gained the upper hand in 1380 with a naval victory in Chioggia. After this, Genoa never fully recovered.

Over the next several hundreds of years, the French, Austrians, and Milanese each had control of the city at various times. The city was subsumed into "Piedmont" in the 1800's and became a French Province. This link established a future for the struggling city.

During World War II, Genoa was bombed very heavily by the Allies for Italy's support of the Nazi Regime. (Although, our friend Luca has told me that Genoa was the only city in Italy that did not support Hitler and, instead, boasted a majority of its population in favor of the Allied efforts...interesting). But during the decades following, the city rapidly rebuilt itself once again into a major Meditteranean port.

So, now you know....

Our new friend Luca

Last night (2008.01.09) we went out with a "friend of the villa": Luca (I may not be spelling it correctly, but it is pronounced: loo-cah). He was very nice and hospitable. He spoke english very well and took it upon himself to show us the town. Being a native of Genova, he took us to a place he said served the best pizza in all of Genoa...and he was probably right! The pizza was fantastic! He then took us around some of the areas where only the locals go (no tourists), which we would have never been able to do without him (mostly because we would have never found this places). The last place he took us was one of the coolest little "pubs" ever. It was a quaint setting in the interior when you first walk in...lots of little tables with couples or small groups of italians huddled around candlelight, wine, and conversation. (Luca and his friends know the owner and are regulars) He then led us to a tiny set of stairs leading down this tiny passage. The stairs were in the middle of the room with only a low wall to surround the other three sides of the hole in the floor. If you hadn't been shown them, you would have never even known they were there!! The stairs led down into an old well under the floor that was about 6'x12', with a glass floor looking down into the lower half of the well (that still had a little water in the bottom that was lit by a soft blue light). It was mostly dark except for the 50 candles they brought in to light up the room. It was a fascinating interior space with walls of stone and plaster that were hundreds of years older than any of America's "historical" buildings!!! There were no chairs, everyone sat on pillows around the perimeter, facing inward towards the glass floor. At first, there were about 14 of us (students), Luca, and two of his friends. Later, everybody trickled home to the villa leaving only 5 of us and about 20 Italians (all friends or acquaintances in some way or another). (only Derrick, Heather, Ryan, Lindsey, and myself were there until 3:30am with these graciously friendly Italians) We sat for hours just talking to each other, learning Italian, teaching English, learning little nuances about each other's cultures. It was a very rich experience and already made this entire trip very worth it! Graci Luca!!! I met a couple of guys who were super friendly (and interested in the American slang from the movies) and chatted with them most of the night. One of them, Mario, is in computer science at the university here in Genova. So, we were about to talk about web design (a common language we shared! PHP, HTML, etc..) like huge nerds for a while....haha! Anyways, Lindsey took lots of pictures, so when she gets a chance to post them on Facebook, I'll come back and update this post with a link to the album so that you can see this place for yourself. Ciao!!!

Exploring the city

Today, we explored the city all day. Lindsey and I woke up late (we slept in a bit to catch up on the loss of last night's sleep) and went with Derrick down the hill a little bit before lunch. We had to be back at 13:00 (7:00am EST) for lunch, so we didn't venture out too far. We snapped a few photos and found a nifty shortcut back up the hill to the villa. Well, I say "hill", it is actually a mountain. Genoa is a major port city for the Mediterranean Sea and is nested on the sea-facing side of a mountain. Practically the entire city is navigated via steep steps, cobblestone streets, and plenty of switchbacks. The villa is located is the Castelletto region/neighborhood/area (I'm not sure which yet). It gets its name from the unusual amount of castles that still exist all over the hillside (this information is compliments of the friendly cab driver who dropped us off from the airport). The Castelletto area is especially steep because it is located so far back from the water (and likewise, so far up the mountain-side). I'll post more information soon about the history of Genoa for all of the history buffs out there...

At lunch, we were served a fantastic pasta with salad, fresh bread, and green beans. It was all very good, and I can tell that I am going to like the food while I am here. After lunch I played a little ping-pong (we have a ping-pong table, but no TV) with Derrick and Kyle. Then, all 14 of us (there are 17 total, but as of that time, three had not yet arrived) went on a hike towards the water. We passed through some outstanding shopping areas, which we plan to go back to later when we aren't so curiously (and quickly) walking through the pedestrian streets (yes, Europe has tons of streets that allow only pedestrians to walk on them, isn't that great? It's a good way to stay in shape, and probably safer too). This took all afternoon and we came back to the villa around 17:30pm. A group of us hung out in the studio until supper and talked (basically, getting to know each other a bit). Derrick made friends with Angela (the cook) earlier in the morning and, because she has a huge crush on him (not really), she had already showed him how to heat up the supper she had cooked for us before she left for the day. He fixed dinner at around 18:30 and we all sat around a table for 3 or 4 hours eating and talking about all kinds of things. I really like everyone that is over here this semester, and it looks like we might get by with another (relatively) drama free studio (cross your fingers). I'll add some pictures from the trek into the city today when I get them transferred from my camera.

**UPDATE**20080110**Derrick snapped a cool shot of Lindsey and me walking down one of the small streets in the shopping area: here's the link**UPDATE**

After cleaning up the dining room and kitchen, we all have been lounging around the studio talking to friends and family on webcams, eMailing home, blogging, etc. Our orientation is tomorrow and then classes start after this weekend. I'll keep you informed...

Greetings from Italy!!

Well, we finally made it! Here's a recap of our two-day adventure:

We took off from Greenville Spartanburg Airport on the 6th at 2:25pm. It was a small jet, 4 seats with a narrow aisle down the center. My carry-on bag was too big to stow in the overhead compartment, so I grabbed my Frommer's Italian Dictionary & Phrase Finder (compliments of the Larges) and checked it from the tarmac. The goal was to introduce myself to some Italian before we made it over there (so I could attempt to communicate, right?). Well, I tried memorizing a few useful phrases (basing what I thought was important on the French that I had retained from undergrad & high school: "I don't know.", "Excuse me/I'm sorry.", "Do you speak English?", "Does anyone around here speak English?", "Pardon me, do you happen to have any grey poupon?, etc."), but after about 10 minutes or so, I woke up the captain's voice announcing that we were landing in Washington DC. Oh, well, maybe on the flight to Rome...

From DC (Dulles International), we boarded a massive jet (2 seats on the outside of two wide aisles, with 4 in between) bound for Rome, Italy. We sat on the tarmac for about 45 minutes waiting on a large group of students to arrive from a delayed flight from Chicago, and this is where our troubles started. Departing 45 minutes behind schedule, we took off for Rome (arching north towards Greenland and on across western Europe). At times, we were flying at altitudes of more than 35,000ft, speeds of 600mph, through tailwinds of 130mph, and in outside air temperatures of -79 degrees Farenheit!!! During this flight we sat directly behind an Italian couple with their baby. This baby must have just learned how to wave, and became infatuated with us because we knew how to smile and wave back. Lucky for us, it was the most adorable baby ever and, to prove it, I snapped the following picure:

The sun rose just as we were landing in Rome, and we got our first glimpse of the Italian countryside:

Luckily, or so we thought, we made up some time in the air and landed in Rome only 30 minutes behind schedule. We made a quick stop at the WC (Europeans call the restroom a WC, which is short for "water closet") and began the long trek to our loading gate. Of course, as international travel would have it, we had to wait in a long line at passport services, and an even longer line at customs/immigration, and all of a sudden we found ourselves 50 minutes late for our plane. (as you can imagine, when we arrived at our gate, the plane was no longer there). So, then we had to head over to the Air One Customer Service desk to work out our problem. Guess what, another long line. The lady there was very helpful however, and booked us on the next flight to Genoa, with no questions asked. This plane was leaving at 12:25pm (6:25am EST, remember, our bodies are still operating on this schedule). We grabbed a quick bite to eat at the sandwich place nearby (16.50 Euros-cash only, again compliments of the Larges: they gave us their leftover Euros from their honeymoon), and waited for the plane to begin loading. Well, it kept getting pushed back until we finally loaded at 1:45pm and began what we assumed to be the final leg of our journey. But that would have been too easy....right?

We (myself, Lindsey, and Derrick) crashed on this flight (asleep, not "crashed" literally, like in an airplane) and woke to the captain spouting something in Italian, to which the Italians all looked at each other and laughed. Then, the other guy came on and translated to say that we were waived off of our landing grid (due to weather) and would have to circle and try again. He also said that, if the second attempt didn't work, we would be forced to divert to the nearest airport: Pisa, Italy. Well, the second attempt didn't work, shock, and we landed in Pisa about an hour later.

Once we landed in Pisa, the pilot sat on the runway for a bit while he tried to figure out how the airline was planning on getting us to Genoa ("Genova" in Italian). The result? We would all unload and hop on an "autobus" (basically a Greyhound) to Genoa. The only problem? We all go into the airport to retrieve our luggage only hear an announcement that it was still in Rome. Hahahaha...yeah. So, another line to get a piece of paper to use in Genoa to file a claim to get our luggage from Rome...

After that, we all loaded the bus to Genoa (with only our carry-ons in hand). It was dark outside during the drive, so we only got to see the parts of the country side that were lit. It became evident very quickly that the "weather issue" that kept us from landing in Genoa: snow. It was beautiful (it almost made me glad we drove the bus). We were on the bus for two hours, and it dropped us off at the airport in Genoa. We all breezed through the worst screening process ever (all of our bags went through a metal detector, setting it off repeatedly, and we all stepped through a metal detector, setting it off repeatedly, but no one stopped us...worthless), and got in line at the luggage lost and found. While we were waiting, Derrick noticed that, over in this other empty section of the luggage ramps, there were some bags still sitting by the conveyor. We held his place in line while he went over, just for kicks, to see if they were our bags. Sure enough, all of our bags had somehow made it to Genoa (we think they got put on that very first flight we missed from Rome) and were waiting quietly over in the corner. With renewed spirits we grabbed them up (as all the Italians in line realized that the Americans had found their bags, and started swarming the hidden pile) and went out looking for a taxi. At this point, I was able to use my recently learned Italian to ask an airport worker where we could find a taxi. He ushered us over to the taxi area, where the three of us hopped in a mercedes wagon taxi. The driver was very nice and felt obliged to teach us some Italian while we drove up the hillside to our destination. He drove us right to the door, helped us with our bags, and wished us good luck for the semester.

The villa at last...12 hours later than planned....but here nonetheless.....

(click here to read Lindsey's version of our experience)