AAAALPS!

This past weekend was incredible- I took a bus with 20 other students to the Italian/Swiss alps and snowboarded for 2 and a half days in Breuil-Cervinia and Zermatt on massive mountains with huge rocky peaks, glaciers, and no trees due to lack of oxygen! Unforgettable. Here's some shots.

mozart & me- i took a ton of pics of this big guy!

matterhorn

ridin'



snow-eating siesta w/ tim

checkin out the switzerland view
and chucking snowballs into the valley

being in the alps makes you feel veeeery tiny!
(those specks are people)

getting on the glacier paradise tram

see where it took us?!?! (top right)
i thought i was going to die

i sprinted up the stairs.

making the climb to 12,736 feet

of course my batteries died as soon as we reached the top!
(i had to borrow this picture from someone!)
after checking out the view, we rode down that :)

our crew at the highest liftable peak in europe!

the last day was very very windy.
i had to stop and cover my face when it blew too hard.

one last slobbery kiss from MOZART before leaving!

<3

Week Three

The pictures I'm posting are mainly taken this week as part of my Digital Imaging class assignments. It's been gorgeous out here this week, and this morning I got to see the Colosseum and Roman Forum for the first time- breathtaking! We did a photo assignment shooting the ruins and practicing getting good depth of field and exposure with our cameras.

anti-postcard shot


shmorsies @ the colosseum


he was trying to kick the pigeons


roman forum




i made a friend!


kate took this :)


roman forum


good ol' dome of Constantine


nice view- from Musei Capitolini


eek!

Our digital imaging assignment for this week was to pick a spot, take a picture, then walk 11 steps, take another picture, and repeat until we have 20. I went to the Trionfale open-air market right down the street from where I live. It was also a good chance for me to practice my italian - i had to tell the vendors that I'm taking a photography course and ask if it was okay to take their photos. It's been wonderful to walk through every morning, such a treat with all of the foods, colors and activity. Here's a few to give you an idea.

woman carving priscutto




some vino bianco






octopus


this guy was very proud of this fish!


mmm... SLIME


the market is the best place to go for fresh produce.

Today I also got to visit the Olympic stadiums as part of an excursion for italian design- we didn't get to see too much since the main soccer arena was being used for a soccer game tonight, but we did get to see some of the facility and the original swimming pool. The Olympics were held in Rome in 1960, and the facilities have since been expanded, and a much larger soccer arena added. Hopefully sometime next month I'll have a chance to go see a game.

I also relaxed for a bit in Piazza del Popolo yesterday. I'm going to try and do a painting at some point. It was nice to people watch for a bit.

kids throwing confetti for Carnivale


grumpy fish statue!!!!!

I should have another post for you all on Monday or Tuesday... I leave in an hour to get on a bus and head to the ITALIAN/SWISS ALPS!!! Breuil-Cervinia, Valtournenche, Zermatt here I come!

xoxox

Walkin' the Wall

So, I don't really feel so guilty anymore about eating pizza everyday since I've been here. Today, in 8 hours, I took about 30,000 steps and walked 14 miles in a journey which followed the remains of the ancient wall surrounding central Rome.

The walk was lead by historian/archaeologist/man-of-genuis and TURome professor Jan Gadeyne, a very entertaining and knowledgeable Belgian dude. He had our group of 120 students trekking all through all parts of Rome. He told us that by the end, he expected that our bowels would shoot out of our bodies from all the walking. Intense. When we all finished though, we were happy to hear that he was "almost a little bit proud" of us!

Jan Gadeyne, he's been on the history channel,
and he's all over google!

So here's some of the pictures from the day. Some of walls, and some not. You get the idea.

wall and stuff



graffiti



a well-preserved portion of the wall


one of the 14 original gates to Rome


i found this lazy guy during our coffee break :)


ancient bathroom in the wall. ewww.


a bust of Alexander the Great in a portion of the wall


Ferrari. Italian trash.


Kids in the park at Villa Bourghese


carnivale




ooh, pretty church.


some important-looking building




tiber river


st. peter's & the vatican - craziness




at the top of the bowel-splitting climb


thankfully nobody yelled at me for
taking pictures of their kids


carnivale confetti everywhere


did you know there's pyramids in Rome?


more wall goodness


most important gate-
made of marble


the masses


"stupid tourists."