Ciao ragazzi! Last night Erin, Christine, and I met up with our new Italian friend Giulia! She is a university student from Verona studying architecture in Rome. She brought us over to her flat for dinner and made lasagna and a potato and mushroom frittata-like thing. It was really good! We met a few of her friends from school and everyone was quite friendly and interested in us. Not all of them spoke a ton of English, but Giulia made it obligatory for all of her friends to try that night. She speaks English really well because she was a flight attendant for a few years before starting college. We talked a lot about eachother, about Rome, and also about America and they all got really excited when the conversation turned to Obama. They talked about how much they like him and even started saying, "yes we can!" It seems to me that every time we meet people here and they discover that we are American, the conversation always quickly turns to Obama. I think it's wonderful that he is getting such a warm reception in different parts of the world, and it's great to see that our perception as a people might also be changing! The girls and I had a great time and are so happy that we've made some local friends. We made plans with Giulia to have her and her friends over to my apartment to reciprocate. Hopefully my cooking is up to par!
Today in class we visited the Galleria Borghese! the villa was set in a huge park and the grounds were beautiful. The Galleria is filled to the brim with amazing art...but no pictures of course, rats! But in any event, here are the highlights of what I saw today:
Bernini's
Apollo and Daphne. Amazing!
Titian's
Sacred and Profane Love
Bernini's
David.
Raphael's
Deposition of Christ. This is the painting I compared to the Caravaggio version in the paper I posted! I finally got to see both of them!
Bernini's
Pluto and Proserpina.
Caravaggio's
Madonna of the Palafrenieri.
Caravaggio's
David With the Head of Goliath. The head of Goliath here is Caravaggio's self-portrait!
Caravaggio's
St. Jerome in his Study.I really loved the Galleria. As an art student, I'm truly in heaven in this city!!! Here are some pictures I took around the grounds:
The Galleria
Erin, Sam, and MacKenzie!
CHIDlets!
Tonight Erin, Joella, and Brandy (two other girls from our program) are coming over to have dinner with Sam, MacKenzie, and I. I'll make sure to take pictures of our little dinner party!
Ciao!
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