Concerned

Italians are supposed to be ahead of us in the fashion world by 2 years, correct? So why is it that they seem to be 20 years behind?

I have seen way too many hammer pants than are good for the environment in general and my eyesight specifically. How do they walk? What is their escape plan if there is a sudden zombie uprising? They're not going to be able to run anywhere. Perhaps I should surround myself with people wearing these pants in order to distract the zombies while I escape. Good plan, except my eyes would suffer tremendously.

Also have you met the puffy jacket? Well have you seen the Italian version? Can you please tell me why that is acceptable? Some people even belt them. What is the point of belting a puffy jacket? I saw one the other day, and I really wish I had taken a picture of it because it was puffy, purple, shiny, and I kid you not, faux snakeskin!

Please Italy, these trends were never meant to make it to the light of day for another decade. Put the pants and the jackets in the rag pile and we'll pretend this never happened.

I have to Learn?

Pops has told me that I should write about my classes here in Rome because I'm not just here to hang out for 4 months. So I've decided that you will learn what I'm learning as far as the interesting stuff goes.I had my first on site class yesterday, which means I had to find my own way to a place in Rome and meet my class there. Sounds simple right? Right. To be honest the hardest part was having to wake up at 7:45AM to be able to get there on time. That part was painful. Below is a view of Rome from a balcony.




"Architecture of Modern Italy" is the name of my on site class and they place we had to meet is called Piazza Campidoglio. It was designed by Michelangelo in 1538, but was not finished being constructed until 1650, and wasn't fully complete as far as Michelangelo's original design until the 1940's. It has sloping stairs that lead up to it, so that horses would easily be able to ascend it for parades and civic ceremonies (although that means in the rain it gets tricky to walk up and some American students wearing her beloved converse tend to slip- how embarrassing). The piazza was built on top of the ancient Roman temples of Jupiter and Minerva, and 3 statues from them were incorporated into the stairwell of the main Palazzo. The bronze statue of Marcus Aurelius stands in the center of the piazza, he would have been melted down for weaponry, but because back then the Romans thought it was Constantine, he was spared.

We walked around the city stopping a various ruins and then we go to a palazzo that houses the walkway that you see in the picture to the right. It was designed by Francesco Borromini, master of illusion. The patron wanted the place to look larger than it actually does and Borromini placed a series of columns that reduce in size. If you were to walk back to that statue you would see the columns at the end are no larger than 5 feet and the hall is less than 30 meters long. You would appear to be growing in size to the people watching you walk back, kind of like that scene in Willy Wonka where the door starts shrinking, but they think they're growing. Of course, no one is allowed back there,(see the chain?) so even Willy Wonka would probably get tackled before getting to the statue.

Now I know what you're thinking, "Modern Architecture?? But, Clara those things you just showed were built during the Renaissance! How is that Modern?" The answer is that architecture experts classify the Renaissance as Early Modern, so that the modern era began 400 odd years ago. You're Welcome.

Lavatrice

A few days ago one of my roommates unplugged our washing machine in order to blow dry her hair and she plugged it back in afterward. She didn't realize that she had started a washing cycle. The next night my other roommate and I were making dinner and she decided to open the washing machine to see how big it is. Mistake. Gallons of stagnant putrid water came flooding out and onto the kitchen floor. It smelled like a combination of plague and death. (Almost as bad as that Easter someone left a hard boiled egg under some books on the landing of the basement stairs and we didn't find out what it was until someone straightened up the books in June.) We grabbed some extra towels and cleaned it up, then started pushing random buttons until it started again, hoping the rest of the water would drain after a cycle. Yesterday the water was still in there so we called housing to deal with it.

It turns out we had set it to the wrong letter. On the dial there are no words, not even in Italian, only letters A through H and putting it on "A" causes the water to sit there so that if you're not home your clothes won't get wrinkled before you can finish the cycle and get them out. You have to put the wheel on "F" in order to drain it. Of course if you forget to put it on "F" for 3 days, your clothes won't be wrinkled, but they'll be moldy and smell like whale breath, after its had hundreds of fish rotting in it insides for 2 weeks. Well done makers of European washers. I think I'll go put up signs that say "Set It To F" around the apartment.