Window shopping, studio, and chocolate

Yesterday, I decided to spend the afternoon exploring the city. I ended up taking a very long walk north of the Piazza Navona to Via Condotti, an exclusive shopping street that is a condensed version of fifth avenue. Apparently, the shops in Italy are not doing so well given the current economy, so every store was advertising very large "saldi" of 50% or more. However, I don't think that I will be buying a 4,500 Euro coat any time soon, even if it is on sale. After touring Via Condotti and the Spanish Steps, I walked over to the Termini Train Station to take more site photographs and to sketch.

Later, I discovered a very interesting shop only a few blocks from my apartment. The store, Perla d'Oriente, is run by a very nice Italian man who makes his own glass jewelry. The store was chock full of all different types of beads, earrings, bracelets, necklaces and ornaments that the owner makes himself in his own glass workshop. We had a very good conversation half in Italian and half in English.

Today, we had our first architectural analysis class. The class seems to have a strong focus on abstract architectural theory, but we will get to take field trips to a lot of architectural sites to see how ancient sites influences modern masters like Louis Kahn and Corbusier. On Friday, we are going to spend the day touring Hadrian's Villa as a field trip for this class. Our professor is also the head of our Rome program.

For lunch, I went to the Caffè Doria, the caffè just around the corner from our studio. The studio had wonderful hot chocolate in all different flavors. Although it was expensive (4 Euro), I think that it was worth it- I was surprised with a huge vat of essentially melted chocolate (photo). This is the second time that I've gone to Caffè Doria, and I have yet to find a better hazelnut chocolate croissant as well!

In the afternoon, we had our first real studio class of the semester. Our studio faces the wonderful Palazzo Doria-Pamphilj. The building where we are also houses a famous gallery which I have not yet had the chance to tour but has apparently has a great collection of Caravaggio, Raphael and Titian. The photos below are the view out the window next to my desk and the inside of our studio.

On Monday, I took an Italian placement test and was placed into the advanced section of Italian. We had our first class tonight. There were supposed to be seven people in our class, but four people dropped down to the intermediate level so now there are only three of us-- myself, my friend from Penn State, and another girl studying abroad in Rome from Ole Miss. Because so many people dropped out of the class, we now have to count it as an independent study class, which means it is essentially the same, only a little shorter. The class is going to be a literature class, and the syllabus includes reading Pinocchio and Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino in Italian. It should be fun to have an italian class that explores a little more than just grammar, and we will certainly get a lot of one-on-one attention with only three people in the class.