Week 3 of Classes

I have a lot of updating for you! This week has been full of classes, drawing, and battling the internet connection in my apartment! It is working now (finally) so I can finally let you know what I’ve been up to.

This week we focused on sketching space and the movement of people. On Monday, we were supposed to draw at the Pantheon, but it was raining and FREEZING cold, so we went back to the studio to draw indoors… it seemed so boring after two weeks of drawing out in the city! On Tuesday, we went to Trajan’s market, the ancient shopping area of Rome, to sketch scenes of movement through space. The space inside the museum is not heated, so it was pretty cold and a little miserable there too, but it was fun to draw architecture finally!

Then, on Wednesday, my modern design class took a trip to the Ara Pacis Museum (one of the only modern buildings in the entire city of Rome) to see the “Designo” exhibit. It was an exhibit full of designs that have won the Golden Compass Award throughout the years. It was so much fun to see the huge array of things that need to be designed, and the things that we use everyday without ever realizing that someone designed it to be that way! Some of my favorites: The spiral noodle, which was designed to be “al dente” (the outside of the spiral gets soft and the core holds it all together and stays crunchier! Brilliant!). I also liked the espresso machine that directs steam from boiling water through coffee and into an upper chamber. There were also cars, lamps, shoes, and furniture, among a lot of other things. I want to design something awesome like one of these things someday!


Espresso maker that won a design award in 2004


A wall full of patents

After the exhibit, I headed over to the train station to sketch people moving through space. Then, on Thursday, my drawing class went to Campo di Fiori (a square that holds markets during the day and restaurants/bars at night) to continue drawing people in space. At the market, there was a stand selling dried fruit and the man kept giving me different kinds of fruit to try. My favorite was actually a dehydrated tomato! I was so surprised since I hate fresh tomatoes! Mom, when I get home we should dehydrate some tomatoes together!


My class's drawings at Campo di Fiori

Then, today I went on a history walk with my history teacher. We learned about the Jewish Ghetto area of Rome and went to the Crypta Balbi Museum, which houses so many artifacts of ancient Rome within the Jewish Ghetto. There was even pottery with the paint still on it!

Crypta Balbi Museum

So far, Rome is great! I love living right in the city, there are always so many things to do!