Whew.
As in a sigh of relief.
Because I'm finally in Roma!
After 3 weeks of very little sleep and very large amounts of schoolwork in Torino, I and my classmates arrived here in Roma on Saturday. I'm sorry I haven't been posting much, but I've been so busy settling into the apartment here in Roma and finally relaxing a little bit. Plus, classes have started for us, so that's a bit of a time-suck as well.
I promise I'll post with pictures soon, but for now, here's a little distance comparison:
I live....
10 seconds away from the daily fresh market in Campo de' Fiori
1 minute away from the place where we have most of our classes
7 minutes away from where Julius Caesar was killed
10 minutes away from the Pantheon
12 minutes away from the Pope
30 minutes away from where my Italian class is held
Just to give you an idea of my location. It's pretty great, especially compared to the Torino housing.
More details on the apartment and photos to come, along with pictures from the notorious first two weeks of travel.
Thank you to everyone who has been commenting and sending me e-mails! I love hearing from you all!!
Love,
Rachel
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Friday, September 19, 2008
Studio - Torino Style
So, I'm sorry I haven't been updating too much, but the "study" part of "study abroad" has really been hitting me and my classmates hard. School here is an interesting contrast to school in the States. At our university in New York, we archies (short for "architecture students") have an entire building to ourselves. In said building, each year of archies has their own rooms, known as studios, where each student has a large drafting desk, chair, and workspace where he or she can keep belongings of an architectural nature, leave out unfinished work, and work at any hour of the day or night, any day of the week.
Here in Torino, no one has a designated desk. There is no place for students to keep their architectural belongings at school. There are simply large classrooms with rather vague rules about who may occupy them at any given time (for example, during a class, there may be people who are not enrolled in the class camped out in the back of the room doing work and chattering). In addition to this, the entire school closes at 7 P.M. every weekday, and is closed on weekends. So students have to work from home. It's a completely different way of working than that to which we studenti americani are used. So, of course, we establish our own rules and bend things to our will. We are architects, after all.
Our place of residence is odd. I have no idea what to call it...it's a collection of buildings containing dormitory-esque rooms, and it's run by priests -- we've been fondly referring to it as "the Cloister" due to the midnight curfew and other odd restrictions, or "the Eagle's Nest" due to its location at the top of 270 concrete stairs. The 22 of us live on two floors of on of the buildings of the Cloister, with various other random Italian students. On one floor of our building is a large circular computer room (I'm actually sitting in said room as I type). When we got here, the room contained a few mismatched desks and chairs, some ancient desktop computers, and four hardwired connection ports. Now the room is outfitted with a wireless router (we bought it ourselves) and many more desks and chairs, dragged from our bedrooms and crammed in alongside one another.
This tiny room has become our makeshift studio. At night, we all squeeze in here with our laptops to work on the massive project we've been assigned. Many of the Italian students with whom we are working on the project join us too. It's like the condensed version of studio - very loud (at least two people are blasting music at a time, and everyone is discussing projects at the top of their lungs, over the music), very tightly packed (2-4 people to a desk, no room to move around the desks), and very pungent (most of the Italians smoke, and about half of all of the students are drinking some sort of alcoholic beverage as they work). But it's pretty cool. I've always enjoyed the studio culture of American architecture school, and this "studio" we've created merely shows our persistence to get things done on our own terms.
Sorry about the lack of pictures this post. The internet here is quite sluggish (perhaps it's because we have thirty people on one router?) and it's tricky to upload pictures. Not to worry, though, they're on the way.
Keep the comments coming! I want to know what everyone who reads this thinks about what I'm doing!
Ciao,
Rachel
Here in Torino, no one has a designated desk. There is no place for students to keep their architectural belongings at school. There are simply large classrooms with rather vague rules about who may occupy them at any given time (for example, during a class, there may be people who are not enrolled in the class camped out in the back of the room doing work and chattering). In addition to this, the entire school closes at 7 P.M. every weekday, and is closed on weekends. So students have to work from home. It's a completely different way of working than that to which we studenti americani are used. So, of course, we establish our own rules and bend things to our will. We are architects, after all.
Our place of residence is odd. I have no idea what to call it...it's a collection of buildings containing dormitory-esque rooms, and it's run by priests -- we've been fondly referring to it as "the Cloister" due to the midnight curfew and other odd restrictions, or "the Eagle's Nest" due to its location at the top of 270 concrete stairs. The 22 of us live on two floors of on of the buildings of the Cloister, with various other random Italian students. On one floor of our building is a large circular computer room (I'm actually sitting in said room as I type). When we got here, the room contained a few mismatched desks and chairs, some ancient desktop computers, and four hardwired connection ports. Now the room is outfitted with a wireless router (we bought it ourselves) and many more desks and chairs, dragged from our bedrooms and crammed in alongside one another.
This tiny room has become our makeshift studio. At night, we all squeeze in here with our laptops to work on the massive project we've been assigned. Many of the Italian students with whom we are working on the project join us too. It's like the condensed version of studio - very loud (at least two people are blasting music at a time, and everyone is discussing projects at the top of their lungs, over the music), very tightly packed (2-4 people to a desk, no room to move around the desks), and very pungent (most of the Italians smoke, and about half of all of the students are drinking some sort of alcoholic beverage as they work). But it's pretty cool. I've always enjoyed the studio culture of American architecture school, and this "studio" we've created merely shows our persistence to get things done on our own terms.
Sorry about the lack of pictures this post. The internet here is quite sluggish (perhaps it's because we have thirty people on one router?) and it's tricky to upload pictures. Not to worry, though, they're on the way.
Keep the comments coming! I want to know what everyone who reads this thinks about what I'm doing!
Ciao,
Rachel
Monday, September 15, 2008
Munich's Olympiapark & BMW Welt
Hi everyone!
I'm continuing the photo-upload madness. Enjoy!
27 August, 2008
On our third day in Germany, my three (architectural) comrades-in-arms and I went on a jaunt to Munich's Olympiapark, followed by the BMW Welt ("welt" is German for "world") and the BMW Museum. These boys like BMWs. The day was sweltering, with humidity adding a lovely overtone of oppression to the heat. Sunlight made sweat trickle down our backs and forced us to squint at everything. But it was amazing.
Fresh off the subway, Heath and Lyndon attempt to read a map to try to figure out how to get to the Olympiapark. Little did we know, it was immediately behind the gigantic building that was right in front of us:
The building turned out to be the BMW Welt, designed by Coop Himmelb(l)au architects, but we didn't realize that at the time. We just thought it was awesome and thus took pictures.
Another shot of the BMW Welt.
Yet another.
Lyndon takes pictures like this. He looks ridiculous, but apparently having the camera strap wrapped around him allows it to lend stability to the camera, similar in theory to a tripod. I still laugh at him though. =)
After we found the Olympiapark - a faraway shot of the stadium and other buildings, designed by the firm of Behnisch and Partners.
Super awkward/blurry photo of me in front of the far-off park.
After quite a long walk along some shaded paths, we finally approached the main Olympic buildings.
The Olympic Spire and a bit of tensile structure. Trivia time: The Olympics were held in Munich in the summer of 1972. They were supposed to show the world a new, lovable Germany after that whole World War II debacle. Unfortunately, though, the entire Israeli Olympic team (11 athletes) was assassinated during the games by Palestinian terrorists. It was pretty horrific.
I was actually sitting on this support beam to take this picture. It was very hot.
The large, horizontally oriented piece of stone in the center of the photograph is a memorial to the athletes who were killed during the games. It isn’t attached to the beam above it.
The same beam – this is where it goes.
Lyndon and me under the steel-and-plexi-glass, tensile covering. This photo was taken by Heath on his camera.
This tensile structure is beautiful, and although it seems fairly tame nowadays, it was entirely ahead of its time.
Lyndon, me, and Brandon, enjoying the shade under the structure. This photo is also from Heath’s camera.
The sky was gorgeous.
Just checking out the structure, like a bunch of architecture geeks. Notice how huge that support is in comparison to the boys.
The Olympic Stadium. We had to pay 2 euro to get in. It was extremely hot and we had no water. But it was beautiful! So we walked all the way to the other side and then back again.
View from the other side of the stadium. The seats are varied in color, and the effect makes them look the exact color of the grass. It’s hard to tell in this photo, though.
You could pay an exorbitant fee to go up this crazy ladder and walk around the edge of the roof. It sounded very hot and very terrifying, but awesome. We didn’t go, though, because it was by appointment only.
Around the front of the stadium there was this lake and gorgeous landscaping, complete with the hill shown in this photo. See the highest point of green? That’s where the guys decided we needed to be. So we went up this massive hill, with me in the rear, wheezing heavily with exertion.
The view was totally worth it. (Click on this, or any, photo to see it full-size)
The BMW Welt from far away. Check out that vortex.
The Olympic Spire – it has a revolving restaurant on the top, apparently.
Another photo from Heath’s camera – he set it on a step, put on the shutter delay, and ran into the picture with us.
Another use of Heath’s shutter delay. Gorgeous.
Tired after the hike to the hilltop. Note the extremely German man in the background.
After hiking all over the Olympiapark, we found the front of the BMW Welt.
Random shot of the BMW corporate building and the museum, which is that bowl-shaped thing to the rightish. These buildings are across the street from the Welt.
Complete with lovely, awe-inspiring vortex.
Brandon wants to know why exactly I’m snapping a shot of him as he crosses the road. The vortex is cool.
The inside of the vortex was a car showroom, with a ramp spiraling up the sides. The ceiling was odd – this is it.
Brandon, Lyndon, and Heath ogling an engine. Priceless faces.
This is inside the main part of the Welt. Pretty cool.
There was a big display of BMW bikes inside the BMW Welt. Needless to say, we tried them out. This is Heath, by the way.
Brandon looks just a little too happy…..
I could get used to this. =)
A shot from the ground floor of the Welt, looking up to where the bikes are on display. Great massing.
There was a bar that sold bottled water inside the Welt, and we’d been parched ever since the Olympiapark. We took a break on this oddly curving, leather sofa.
I have TONS of pictures of cars, but I think this one is the coolest – the Hydrogen 7, the car that runs on hydrogen.
Proof.
Another shot of the inside of the Welt.
One final exterior photo of the BMW Welt, taken from just outside the BMW Museum.
After the day before at the BMW Factory and the whole BMW Welt experience, I was completely sick of cars, and more specifically, boys talking about cars. So I sat on a posh leather couch in the museum lobby while Lyndon, Brandon, and Heath paid an exorbitantly high price to walk around and see a bunch of old BMWs. Albeit they were in beautiful condition, and there were rare ones, and the building was really cool, I just didn’t have it in me, hehe.
Later that night, we attempted to find a restaurant that was listed in Heath’s Munich guidebook. We took a subway to this oddly suburban, residential area of Munich, and then we wandered around, marveling at the quiet emptiness of the whole neighborhood, still looking for the restaurant. Finally, after much wandering, we found the place tucked away behind a fence. It was a biergarten, fully outdoors, complete with a football-field-sized area crammed with picnic tables, shaded by huge trees, that contained what seemed like most of the neighborhood. Everyone was drinking beer and eating ribs and having a grand old time. The food was amazing (I had half of a roasted hen!, the boys had ribs). We spent a long time there, hanging out and enjoying the ambience of the place. I wanted to take a picture, but I didn’t want to photograph a bunch of people I didn’t know and psych them out, so I settled for this:
If you go to Munich, go to the Taxisgarten.
Thanks for viewing, and thank you to everyone who has commented so far!
Love,
Rachel
I'm continuing the photo-upload madness. Enjoy!
27 August, 2008
On our third day in Germany, my three (architectural) comrades-in-arms and I went on a jaunt to Munich's Olympiapark, followed by the BMW Welt ("welt" is German for "world") and the BMW Museum. These boys like BMWs. The day was sweltering, with humidity adding a lovely overtone of oppression to the heat. Sunlight made sweat trickle down our backs and forced us to squint at everything. But it was amazing.
Fresh off the subway, Heath and Lyndon attempt to read a map to try to figure out how to get to the Olympiapark. Little did we know, it was immediately behind the gigantic building that was right in front of us:
The building turned out to be the BMW Welt, designed by Coop Himmelb(l)au architects, but we didn't realize that at the time. We just thought it was awesome and thus took pictures.
Another shot of the BMW Welt.
Yet another.
Lyndon takes pictures like this. He looks ridiculous, but apparently having the camera strap wrapped around him allows it to lend stability to the camera, similar in theory to a tripod. I still laugh at him though. =)
After we found the Olympiapark - a faraway shot of the stadium and other buildings, designed by the firm of Behnisch and Partners.
Super awkward/blurry photo of me in front of the far-off park.
After quite a long walk along some shaded paths, we finally approached the main Olympic buildings.
The Olympic Spire and a bit of tensile structure. Trivia time: The Olympics were held in Munich in the summer of 1972. They were supposed to show the world a new, lovable Germany after that whole World War II debacle. Unfortunately, though, the entire Israeli Olympic team (11 athletes) was assassinated during the games by Palestinian terrorists. It was pretty horrific.
I was actually sitting on this support beam to take this picture. It was very hot.
The large, horizontally oriented piece of stone in the center of the photograph is a memorial to the athletes who were killed during the games. It isn’t attached to the beam above it.
The same beam – this is where it goes.
Lyndon and me under the steel-and-plexi-glass, tensile covering. This photo was taken by Heath on his camera.
This tensile structure is beautiful, and although it seems fairly tame nowadays, it was entirely ahead of its time.
Lyndon, me, and Brandon, enjoying the shade under the structure. This photo is also from Heath’s camera.
The sky was gorgeous.
Just checking out the structure, like a bunch of architecture geeks. Notice how huge that support is in comparison to the boys.
The Olympic Stadium. We had to pay 2 euro to get in. It was extremely hot and we had no water. But it was beautiful! So we walked all the way to the other side and then back again.
View from the other side of the stadium. The seats are varied in color, and the effect makes them look the exact color of the grass. It’s hard to tell in this photo, though.
You could pay an exorbitant fee to go up this crazy ladder and walk around the edge of the roof. It sounded very hot and very terrifying, but awesome. We didn’t go, though, because it was by appointment only.
Around the front of the stadium there was this lake and gorgeous landscaping, complete with the hill shown in this photo. See the highest point of green? That’s where the guys decided we needed to be. So we went up this massive hill, with me in the rear, wheezing heavily with exertion.
The view was totally worth it. (Click on this, or any, photo to see it full-size)
The BMW Welt from far away. Check out that vortex.
The Olympic Spire – it has a revolving restaurant on the top, apparently.
Another photo from Heath’s camera – he set it on a step, put on the shutter delay, and ran into the picture with us.
Another use of Heath’s shutter delay. Gorgeous.
Tired after the hike to the hilltop. Note the extremely German man in the background.
After hiking all over the Olympiapark, we found the front of the BMW Welt.
Random shot of the BMW corporate building and the museum, which is that bowl-shaped thing to the rightish. These buildings are across the street from the Welt.
Complete with lovely, awe-inspiring vortex.
Brandon wants to know why exactly I’m snapping a shot of him as he crosses the road. The vortex is cool.
The inside of the vortex was a car showroom, with a ramp spiraling up the sides. The ceiling was odd – this is it.
Brandon, Lyndon, and Heath ogling an engine. Priceless faces.
This is inside the main part of the Welt. Pretty cool.
There was a big display of BMW bikes inside the BMW Welt. Needless to say, we tried them out. This is Heath, by the way.
Brandon looks just a little too happy…..
I could get used to this. =)
A shot from the ground floor of the Welt, looking up to where the bikes are on display. Great massing.
There was a bar that sold bottled water inside the Welt, and we’d been parched ever since the Olympiapark. We took a break on this oddly curving, leather sofa.
I have TONS of pictures of cars, but I think this one is the coolest – the Hydrogen 7, the car that runs on hydrogen.
Proof.
Another shot of the inside of the Welt.
One final exterior photo of the BMW Welt, taken from just outside the BMW Museum.
After the day before at the BMW Factory and the whole BMW Welt experience, I was completely sick of cars, and more specifically, boys talking about cars. So I sat on a posh leather couch in the museum lobby while Lyndon, Brandon, and Heath paid an exorbitantly high price to walk around and see a bunch of old BMWs. Albeit they were in beautiful condition, and there were rare ones, and the building was really cool, I just didn’t have it in me, hehe.
Later that night, we attempted to find a restaurant that was listed in Heath’s Munich guidebook. We took a subway to this oddly suburban, residential area of Munich, and then we wandered around, marveling at the quiet emptiness of the whole neighborhood, still looking for the restaurant. Finally, after much wandering, we found the place tucked away behind a fence. It was a biergarten, fully outdoors, complete with a football-field-sized area crammed with picnic tables, shaded by huge trees, that contained what seemed like most of the neighborhood. Everyone was drinking beer and eating ribs and having a grand old time. The food was amazing (I had half of a roasted hen!, the boys had ribs). We spent a long time there, hanging out and enjoying the ambience of the place. I wanted to take a picture, but I didn’t want to photograph a bunch of people I didn’t know and psych them out, so I settled for this:
If you go to Munich, go to the Taxisgarten.
Thanks for viewing, and thank you to everyone who has commented so far!
Love,
Rachel
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Leipzig Pictures!
It's Saturday, which is lovely. Today is the first day in three weeks that I (or any of my classmates) have been able to sleep in and not worry about any kind of structure in our day. Of course, we have a very large assignment due Monday, but that's just what architecture school implies. We're used to it. =)
26 August, 2008
On my second day abroad, my friends and I took a day trip from Munich to Leipzig, to have a guided tour of the BMW Factory Plant, the central building of which was designed by the rock-starchitect, Zaha Hadid, who is probably the most prominent female architect in the entire world. The building was quite beautiful, but unfortunately we weren't allowed to take photos anywhere inside, except in the lobby. In addition to that, our tour ended about a minute before we had to catch a bus back to the train station, so we had almost no time at all to take exterior photos either. All that aside, this building was pretty incredible - I won't go too far into the hairy architectural details, but I think some of the photos I have convey a bit of the genius. Basically the central building houses administrative and other desk-job-type personnel, and connects the three other plant buildings: body shop, paint shop, and assembly. Because it connects all of these buildings, completely silent conveyor belts carrying cars in various states of assembly crisscross the ceiling of the central building, so that all of the personnel there are constantly aware of what is going on in the buildings around them. A very cool concept. On to the pictures!
(if you want to see a photo a bit bigger, just click on it!)
To get to the BMW Factory from the Leipzig train station, we had to take a tram and then a bus. It took a very long time. These are my boys on the tram.
In the main lobby of the central BMW building.
Sneakily trying to photograph deeper into the building, while still technically standing in the lobby. The ramp-type thing curving in from the left is a walkway, and the two large ramp-like things in the top right-ish are both conveyor belts.
How can you pick an architecture student out of a crowd?
A 125i on display in the lobby.
The round thing is a turn in the conveyor belt - it rotates the cars around Zaha's curvaceous design.
Some bodies in white on the conveyor belt - on their way from the body shop to the paint shop.
Zaha is famous for her curves.
Exterior shot - under "the Bridge" which connects the body shop and central building.
Under the Bridge - body shop to the left, central building to the right
The front of the building. (as I took this picture, the bus that we needed to take to get back to the train station was revving its engine at us...)
Continuing to take pictures, despite the revving bus.
One more, right before booking it to the bus.
"Aw, why did we have to leave the pretty building?" Lyndon on the bus.
Leipzig train station.
That's all for now!
Love,
Rachel
26 August, 2008
On my second day abroad, my friends and I took a day trip from Munich to Leipzig, to have a guided tour of the BMW Factory Plant, the central building of which was designed by the rock-starchitect, Zaha Hadid, who is probably the most prominent female architect in the entire world. The building was quite beautiful, but unfortunately we weren't allowed to take photos anywhere inside, except in the lobby. In addition to that, our tour ended about a minute before we had to catch a bus back to the train station, so we had almost no time at all to take exterior photos either. All that aside, this building was pretty incredible - I won't go too far into the hairy architectural details, but I think some of the photos I have convey a bit of the genius. Basically the central building houses administrative and other desk-job-type personnel, and connects the three other plant buildings: body shop, paint shop, and assembly. Because it connects all of these buildings, completely silent conveyor belts carrying cars in various states of assembly crisscross the ceiling of the central building, so that all of the personnel there are constantly aware of what is going on in the buildings around them. A very cool concept. On to the pictures!
(if you want to see a photo a bit bigger, just click on it!)
To get to the BMW Factory from the Leipzig train station, we had to take a tram and then a bus. It took a very long time. These are my boys on the tram.
In the main lobby of the central BMW building.
Sneakily trying to photograph deeper into the building, while still technically standing in the lobby. The ramp-type thing curving in from the left is a walkway, and the two large ramp-like things in the top right-ish are both conveyor belts.
How can you pick an architecture student out of a crowd?
A 125i on display in the lobby.
The round thing is a turn in the conveyor belt - it rotates the cars around Zaha's curvaceous design.
Some bodies in white on the conveyor belt - on their way from the body shop to the paint shop.
Zaha is famous for her curves.
Exterior shot - under "the Bridge" which connects the body shop and central building.
Under the Bridge - body shop to the left, central building to the right
The front of the building. (as I took this picture, the bus that we needed to take to get back to the train station was revving its engine at us...)
Continuing to take pictures, despite the revving bus.
One more, right before booking it to the bus.
"Aw, why did we have to leave the pretty building?" Lyndon on the bus.
Leipzig train station.
That's all for now!
Love,
Rachel
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