God Bless night trains.

Bonjourno everyone! I hope life is going well for each of you. Since my last post we have traveled to Florence. I must admit that I do love me some Florence. Mom and Dad if you come to visit this is where you should go. Antiques and art is everywhere. I love all of the paintings and artwork that people are doing on the streets etc. We went to the Uffizi art museum where we saw so much amazing art including Da Vinci and Rebrandt van Rijn. The art was incredible. I know you will hate to hear me say this Dad, but I want to go back to New York and see the Met. Sorry I was such an illiterate child. ha! The last few days we had Reviews over our project which went very well, followed by a day on the beach, and a night of travel time to Florence. Other than that, life has been pretty boring. haaaa... joke. One thing I have learned to love are the trains. Why not ride in a train when you can enjoy the beautiful tuscan view? When we got to Rome for a layover between trains, I got to see Angela, Courtney, and Lauren! So fun. It was so great getting to see them, especially in Italy. Hilarious stories from their trip. Loved getting to catch up and have some coffee at the train station with my friends. Tomorrow we will see the Florence Cathedral and have time to enjoy the city a bit. After that, we are headed back for Verona. Hope I have found you all in good spirits and that you are enjoying your weekend! 

Mack have fun at home and keep LJ and Daddio under control. 

Love you all! 

Morgan 

field of creativity

This is the project that I did this week in Sicily. If you double click the picture it should get larger. Here ya go! More pictures tomorrow:) 

give me the simple life.

Hello dear friends and family!
I hope you all doing well today on this glorious Sunday. We started class yesterday and have steadily worked since. Leisure time is over and it is back to reality. It is a love/hate relationship, but I must admit that it is much more enjoyable when you are sitting in Italy working while it rains outside. Not much other than school has been going on, so I decided to give you guys a little sneaky peek into my humble abode. One thing that I have learned to love is the simplicity of Italy. They have what they need and that is all. The people here do not dwell on greed and wealth, which I must admit is a huge relief from the US. It is not about how much you have but truly who are you surrounded by and the relationships that you create. My Mom always said that once you leave the country you realize two things, how blessed we are with what we have and how greedy we are at the same time. I hope that this idea of simplicity and self worth is something that stays with me throughout my life. Embracing a new culture has truly taught me more than I ever thought it could and I have only been here about two weeks or so. Much more growth to come I hope! Sorry Meagan and Mackenzie, but I do believe that every college student should study abroad. It truly teaches you to cherish the life you have but in a very different way. You are not cherishing it because of how much better it is than another's, but instead because of it's real worth. The worth of your family and friends rather than what is in your bank account. On that note, I love you all and I cannot thank my parents enough for this experience.

My bed in the butterfly room (check out the chair:) haha

The "water closet"

oh yeah.... we have one... the little old man showed us what it was and I lost it laughing. Then he gave us ice cream bars! He looks just like dad with white hair:)

My "trolley" for 7 days. Yes, that is ALL I brought. 

The street outside of our hotel 

Our studio (the one with the green doors) 

My breakfast. Croissant and cappuccino. My friends told me that I was limited to only one a day now. 

Channing and I having breakfast

Door next to my desk in studio

My desk in studio 

This is my project from today. We will continue working on this same project for a few more days but this is the progress from today.

"I have never seen a Texan before! Only on television!"

Sorry for the delay... this is Italy not America.... bad internet

The last few days I think I have walked about 25 miles total. We spent one day in Mantua and two in Rome. We saw EVERYTHING we could in Rome and did not stop until we took our night train to Sicily. The architecture that we saw was indescribable. First, in Mantua, we saw the St. Andrea. This was the first church that we traveled to. The serenity that is felt within this space is magnificent. I have never been a place that was so serene and quiet.

Next, we traveled to Rome on a train. Rome was interesting. I would call it the New York of Italy. However, it is a little sketchier and dangerous than the other towns that we have visited. The boys that travelled with us made us walk on the inside and herded us onto the subway. They were very good at keeping us alert... you're welcome dad. 

I have always been told how immense the cathedral's in Rome are and how you will never experience it until you get there. I can now understand what all of my professors meant. Walking into St. Peter's was an experience that I will never forget. As we walked in, a mass was going on and the people were singing. It was literally like you were in a dream. God was in this place. I could have stayed at that one place all day because of it's majestic beauty. It is something everyone should experience. You truly feel the presence of the Lord in a space like that. The pride that these individual's took in their work is what amazed me the most. The beautiful details that were carved and thought through truly make the space what it is. However, the way that the sounds echo in the space create a sense of peace. 

I know this should be a serious discussion about the cathedral's and everything, but I have a funny story. So....Channing, Andrew, and I were sitting on the floor at the back of St. Peter's admiring it's beauty, and a little bird flew over us. "Oh guys look it's a bird! Cool place to live." So the bird lands hiiiiiiigh above us because of the incredibly high ceilings. About 5 second later.... splat. Yes, we were pooped on in St. Peter's. I am not sure if that was bad luck or not? Pray for me. 

The next day we saw Renzo Pianos Parco de la Musica. This building is more contemporary. We then saw the Maxxi Museum by Zaha Hadid. This was one of the most incredible contemporary buildings I have ever seen. The way that the forms worked together and created movement throughout the building was very impressive. The lighting that they used truly brought the space together as a whole and finished off the structure nicely. Jeremy, you would like this building! The glass work was incredible! 

The night train was an experience! We have become fast friends with Professor Perbellini's 9 year old daughter. Yes, Mason.... I am hanging out with the children. Big surprise I know! She asked if she could stay in our room on the train, so we had a little slumber party. Around 12 Perbellini knocks on our door and says that someone booked that bed and was supposed to sleep there, so she had to get Celeste. The lady who is supposed to stay then walks up.... we will just be nice and call her a hippy. Perbellini sees this and is now arguing with the woman and the train guy outside our door. Italian arguments. AWESOME. So, being my Mother's daughter, I am grabbing everything and putting it in my purse and, sorry for the information, sticking my wallet and passport in my pants. They argued for awhile.... then, the train conductor comes back and just tells us to lock our door. The hippy never returned again.... and by hippy I mean maybe a gypsy. 

We got to Sicily and checked into our precious hotel! We are in the butterfly room. I will take pictures! We grabbed a croissant and headed straight to the beach where I may or may not have gotten a sunburn. Oops. We just had our first class meeting. We are having an architectural "battle" if you will. Each of us has a battle name that they specifically gave to us and mine is Aurora, meaning, "light display in the sky". We are studying with an architect from Rome, who travelled with us to Sicily. He is really interesting! Very vivacious to say the least! 

On that note, I have to go eat dinner but I hope you all enjoyed this post! 

Window at the Vatican

Vatican

Staircase at the Vatican

Outside of St. Peters 

Pictures do not do it justice.... St. Peters

Dome at St. Peters

Spanish steps

Spanish Steps

Parco de la Musica_Renzo Piano

Parco de la Musica_Renzo Piano

Maxxi Museum_Zaha Hadid

Maxxi Museum

Maxxi Museum

Street chaulkin "chalkin" my favorite painting! 

Bridge in Rome

Pantheon_Rome

Pantheon Dome

Roman ruins

Roman ruins

Coliseum

Coliseum (camera ran out.... i'll post more later)

Beach in Sicily

Beach in Sicily

Take a warm shower for me... Ciao! 

Morgan