Axiom Article

            How does one begin to describe the education of a semester in Italy? How can I tell you what I learned sipping countless cappuccinos gazing at valleys combed with olive groves, singing in frescoed churches, picnicking on forbidden towers overlooking the Mediterranean, or wandering through the narrow streets of cities that bustled since before the birth of Christ? Perhaps I should tell you of the bonds I formed with incredibly unique people while building a fort out of linens and bed frames in my room while my roommates skied  the Dolomites, sitting next to each other on dozens of train rides, or (my favorite) waxing philosophic about life and design over a glass of wine after dinner.    

Let’s face it, 98% of what I learned abroad cannot be found in a textbook or explained in a studio review, but that 2% was significant, not in quantity but magnitude.  Italians and Europeans in general have a very different view of architecture from Americans.  Being abroad, changed the way I think about the art of creating permanence and the role of architects as community builders rather than glorified CAD monkeys and pawns of the client’s bottom line.  Now I want to curb that last statement with a disclaimer.  I love the US and I do not intend for this to be an article about how Europeans get it all right and America is somehow inferior. There is a tremendous amount of influence on both sides of the Atlantic, and each has important perspective to bring to the table.  However, I embraced the design culture in my foreign environment and hope that we can all learn from the Italian architectural paradigm.

The Italians know how to create great art and architecture and keep it around for centuries, even millenniums.  Perhaps it is the availability of durable materials like stone or maybe the revenue generated by tourists who come to see their ancient structures makes people more protective of their relics, but the answer is not that simple. Certainly preservation and conservation has been built into the Italian psyche.  I had heard of this permanence before I went, but it didn’t really hit home until I walked on the walls of a 12^th century castle still privately inhabited just a few miles from where we lived.  I am so accustomed to our mobile, disposable society that invented the Ziploc bag and the drive-thru, I found it humbling to think of the number of generations who had once dwelled within those walls. Who wouldn’t want to create buildings like that?  I hope that this attitude of architectural durability will translate into the buildings I work on in the future, not just in helping to preserve what we have in the US, but also by seeing new buildings as potential, multi-generational investments.   

Italy is not all charming tile roofs and window boxes.  They have their fair share of modern urban sprawl.  I had the privilege of meeting a group of talented designers who were working to improve some of Rome’s more troublesome public spaces.  These people came together outside of their day jobs as normal architects to research problems they had observed and develop fresh solutions.  If the solutions were researched thoroughly and seemed feasible, the group would then make a proposal to the affected community and local powers in the hopes of making their ideas reality.  Instead of waiting for a client to come to them with a need, these great minds were volunteering their time and intellect to improve their communities and possibly create future business.  This proactive type of architectural practice is ingenious.  It turned my concept of the traditional design method upside down.  The people of Romalab, the name of the collective program, made urban planning seem like more than just a vocation.  It was a vehicle for expanding design thought process and contributing to a higher cause.  I found it enthralling. 

So, in a nutshell, Italy was fabulous and learned more than I could ever fit in an Axiom article.  My architectural perspectives were challenged and my life was deeply enriched by the entire experience.  I highly recommend it and if anyone wants more information about Tuscan cuisine, forbidden towers, forts, or just study abroad in general, come see me and we’ll go get cappuccinos… or should I say cappuccini?      

NOTE: I am over my photo limit for the month, so sadly no photos for this entry.  However the good new is all my stuff is at www.katherinesolether.myphotoalbum.com.

3-22-06

Here I am on the train again.  Prague was a cool city, not as cool as Vienna, but let’s face it, Vienna was a tough city to beat. 

We arrived in Prague on Monday afternoon.  After getting situated, we went exploring and hit all of the main touristy spots, Old Town Square, King Charles Bridge, Our Lady Before Tyn Church, and the grounds around the old castle. 

I didn’t realize just how touristy Prague was until we got on the King Charles foot bridge and were suddenly in a mob of English speaking tourists (mostly English with a British accent). 

We withdrew money in Czech Crowns.  The conversion is 28 crowns to one euro or 25 crowns to a dollar, making every purchase a mental math exercise.  We were all really paranoid about getting ripped off. 

For dinner we went to this pub like restaurant recommended by the clerk at our hostel.  It was pretty much a chili’s Czech style with a hockey game projected onto the wall and a lot more beer.  The food was really great.  We all split a traditional Czech platter with duck, sparrow, ham, dumplings and Sauer kraut.  Good thing we’re all adventurous eaters. 

That night Lindsey and I had a sing-along in the girls’ showers.  I belted some Nat King Cole and we sang the Green Song as well as other random show tunes.  I love Lindsey!

The following morning there was tension at the grocery store.  I think being in the same group day after day started to wear on us.  After much debate we picked out food for lunches and dinners.  The problem with being in a group all the time is that every decision involves compromises and negotiation.  It gets tiresome, but I think it’s good for us.  I guess marriage will be a bit like this.

We saw the ethereal and magnificently gothic St. Vitus Cathedral as well as taking a tour of the inside of the old castle.   The castle was also gothic and had the most incredible rib vaults in what seemed almost like flower patterns on t he ceiling. 

Unfortunately everything was freezing and crowded with Italian (of all things) tourists so we didn’t linger too long. 

We had lunch on a bench in the Castle gardens.  We’re getting pretty good at assembling our own sandwiches on park benches. 

In the afternoon we walked along the canal until we found the famous Frank Gehry building nicknamed Fred and Ginger because it looks like a man and a woman dancing. 

That evening we cooked another meal for ourselves in the hostel kitchen.  Oddly enough we met more people from Australia.  This time it was a cute young couple.  Unlike our friends in Vienna, they were both educated, but decided to take a year off and travel the world.  They were hitting every continent but Antarctica.  They were really cool and they got a big kick out of the fact that I used to work at Outback Steakhouse.  They laughed especially hard when I told them about all the Australian clichés we were required to use when working there. 

After dinner we went out to see the astronomical clock one last time before we left the next morning.  We saw each of the Apostles come out of the clock and shake their heads at us on the hour. 

This morning I awoke to Megan whispering at me to look outside.  I opened my eyes to thousands of whirling white flakes outside our window.  SNOW! We did some extra bundling and got on the train bound for Munich.  Germany here we come!

3-18-06

Today was marvelous! We arrived in Vienna at 8:30 this morning after having spent the night on a train bunk.  We felt dirty and not particularly well rested, but excited to be in a new country. 

We found out about this cool farmers market going on in town that even had a flea market on Saturdays.  It took us a while to get there, but it was well worth the walk.  Plus experienced Vienna's main shopping Avenue Mariahilferstrasse (I can't believe I ever complained about the Italians and their long names).  The market was teeming with activity.  The smell of fresh bread and grilling meats was overwhelming.  The farmers all had their fruits and vegetables arranged in crates making a brilliant patchwork of reds, oranges, yellows, and purples.  There were flower, spice, vinegar, wine, cheese, and meat stalls.  It was crowded and noisy, but truly unique.  We bought stuff to prepare for dinner and snapped tons of photos.  I unfortunately only took photos with my SLR so these digitals are Meg's. 

I wanted to see the Mozart apartment museum really badly, but when Lindsey and Megan found out that it cost 7 euro, they were not too thrilled.  So the two of them went shopping while I learned about Mozart.  I couldn't imagine going to Vienna and not seeing something apart of classical music history.  I thoroughly enjoyed the tour, but it was probably best that Lindsey and Megan didn't go. 

That night Megan was desperate for a shower and I was desperate for dinner so I went ahead downstairs to the kitchen in our hostel and started preparing vegetables.  It felt unnatural to be quiet while I was in kitchen so I started a conversation with two guys and a girl cooking next to me whom I found out were Australian.  The group of them had graduated from high school a year and a half ago and have been exploring Europe ever since.  It blew my mind to think of doing that.  I love being in Europe, but I can't imagine being away from home that long going from odd job to odd job, not actually working toward some sort of goal.  Anyway, they were pleasant and colorful company.

Our dinner was the first that the three of us had cooked on our own since leaving the US.  It was very good and cheap!  As we ate our creation we listened to another guest at the hostel play old Beatles songs on the piano.  It was a really fun hostel. 

We fell into bed as though we hadn't slept in days.

3-19-06

We arrived at the Schonbrunn Palace before the crowds.  We took the grand tour of all the lavish Imperial apartments preserved in their original Baroque and Rococo splendor.  All of that wealth is such a foreign concept to me.  My favorite room was the porcelain room all in blue and white. My mother would have been swooning. 

After the Palace we visited the Hundertwasser apartments.  Hundertwasser was a famous painter and architect.  His buildings were very playful and colorful.  They reminded me a bit of Gaudi.  He believed that it was unnatural for man to walk on artificially flat surfaces so the ground plain in all of his designs were never flat.  I honestly wasn't a huge fan and didn't feel like paying another 7 euro to see more of his stuff in a museum so I went for a walk while Lindsey and Megan did the full tour. 

In the afternoon we found "Old Town" on our way to another Hapsburg Palace.  It was a massive clustering of important monuments like the State Opera House, Theater, Town Hall, and a bunch of other gorgeous structures whose functions we were clueless. There were also large parks in between the major buildings where countless numbers of people were spending their Sunday afternoon lounging in the sun or playing Frisbee.  We decided to join the natives and do some lounging of our own.  We found a sunny spot, basked in the afternoon glow, and watched the people pass by. 

That night we ate at an authentic Viennese restaurant.  It was bland, but a good kind of bland; lots of potato dumplings, sauer kraut, and ground meat.  It was hearty and satisfying. 

We collapsed into bed wiped out again from an entire day of walking.  Prague is next.  I hope it lives up to all of Lindsey's hype.  Vienna far exceeded our expectations. 

Interesting things about Vienna/Austria

1.  We blended in beautifully and were often mistaken for locals.

2.  The people were HUGE.  I would guess the average height of a woman to be somewhere around 5'8" and the men were proportionately taller than that. 

3.  The entire city was immaculately clean and pristine especially the subway.

4.  They had almost as much gelato as Italy and nearly as many pizzerias.

5.  The people were friendly and hospitable.

6.  Way more people spoke English than in Italy.

7.  There seemed to be music everywhere.  Even our hostel had musical instruments for us to use.  

8.  The German language doesn't sound nearly as harsh as we expected.

9.  Hardly any of the buildings were stone and most everything had a clean coat of stucco on it in a pastel color. 

10.  There were way more fat people and joggers and weight-watchers and frumpy clothing.

So let's just face it.  I'm way behind on entries and I'm tired of playing catch up.  If anyone's interested in hearing about Pompeii, Naples, Genoa, or 80's night I can tell you about it later.  I'm just gonna start with the last two weeks.

3-17-06

So Venice was incredible and I am completely in love with it!  AFter Rome and know how touristy it its, I expected to be disapointed.  The city blew me away and left me longing for more. 

Our first day there, we got a tour from a little Venetian woman who spoke perfect English with a British accent.  She was by far the best tour guide we've had and she showed us some the back streets where most tourists don't often venture. 

That afternoon we met up with you'll never guess who.  Andy Manoushagian!  I love that kid!  We met with him on the Academia bridge.  Lindsey squealed when she saw him and we all hugged him.  I was so good to see a fresh yet familiar face.  He was on springbreak from studying in Dusseldorf Germany.  We all had dinner together and afterwards the boys (Andrew, Mark, and Andy) smoked Cuban cigars on the Realto bridge.

Our second day was the official tour day.  We had the same lovely guide through the Doge Palace Museum.  It was an interesting variety of things, lavish senate halls, antique weapons, chastity belts, and prison cells.  Then we saw the sparkling Church of St. Mark.  I've never seen so much gold leaf and glass mosaic in my whole life.  It was stunning.  The sunny St. Mark's Sqare was sunny and bustling with tourists and vendors and swarms of pigeons. 

After lunch we saw the Peggy Gugenheim Museum.  There were lots of interesting modern artworks; a few Picassos and Dalis.  All of which as contained in a house along the Grand Canal.

Then we went on a Peter (studio prof) of all of the Carlo Scarpa architecture around the city.  Peter tours are always interesting.

Yesterday, our third day in Venice, we went on yet another Peter tour.  This time of a new modern apartment development on Judeca Island.  He also took us to the College of Architecture at the University of Venice.  A supposedly very prestigious school of design.  I feel sort of dumpy and uncultured when I see European designers.  They have grown up in a world completely saturated with quality art and design.  I grew up in a Texas suburb where builders think their Palladian arched windows constitute good design.  Anyway, enough of my whining. 

That afternoon we found our way to the vaporetto (ferry) and went to the little island of Burano, a fishing island famous for it handmade lace.  All of the houses along the main canal were different bright colors.  I honestly think that it must have been some sort of rule that you had to paint your house and shutters a different bright color from your neighbor.  It had a sort of Disneyland kitchiness to it, but it was all legitimate, not a stage set.  We walked from lace shop to lace shop, even a lace museum and bought gifts. 

Last night we spent our final evening in Venice riding the number one vaporetto all along the Grand Canal.  Abbey, Sarah, Norma, Lindsey, Megan, and I made sandwiches out of salami, mozarella and rolls we purchased at a local supermarket.  It was messy, especially with the juice from the fresh mozarella that we had to drain over the side of the boat.  We were careful to do it in between stops so that it would be too dark for the conductor to see.  We sat a the front of the boat to get the best view of the palaces along the canal.  Since it was dark out, you could see inside the buildings; their incredible chandeliers and richly painted ceilings.  It was so beautiful.  It was truly a once in a lifetime dinner. 

This morning we got on a bus bound for Vicenza and left the most romantic city I have ever seen.  We visited the city made famous by Palladio, but before we got there we made a pit stop in a little cafe that was once frequented by Carlo Scarpa.  The cute little old woman who owned it told Megan and Lindsey and I she thought we were beautiful and handed us free postcards.  Being an American girl in Italy has its perks!

In Vicenza we saw all of the important Palladio buildings like the Basilica and the ever famous Villa Rotunda.  They were really cool. 

Now we're sitting in the Vicenza train station.  It's 10:30pm and we are about to embark on what Megan has deemed the "zenith of our semester abroad."  We've slowly adapted to the Italian culture and a bit of the language.  But now we're hurling ourselves into completely new territory where we know absolutely nothing about the people or the language.  Vienna is our first stop.  We'll see how it goes. 

2-23-06

1.  Made eyes with cute Italian boys in military uniforms on the metro.

2.  Nearly lost 4 euro in a ticket buying fiasco.

3.  Walked through the Vatican museum for over four hours on one of the most boring tours I’ve ever been.  

5.  Ate a cheap lunch with Andrew as my only company.  Probably not the greatest of ideas.  

6.  Got asked to a discoteca by the hotel maintainence guy who came to fix our lights.

7.  Attempted to splurge and treat myself to a pastry, but in the process infuriated a disgruntled waitress.  

8.  Saw the coliseum lit up at night in the rain.

9.  Made my own dressing out of oil and vinegar to put on a 4 euro salad the size of a saucer.  

IT WAS A LONG DAY.