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)