Time seems to be passing in an unending blur. One moment its January and in the blink of an eye it's already March. I've been on two breaks and I'm about to leave for "Spring Break" in France tomorrow - is this real life?! By the time I get back on the 20th, I will be home in less than two months. I look around my apartment these days thinking about what it was like to see everything for the first time in September, and now I'm trying to figure out what stays and what comes home with me. I feel like I've never had to deal with this before - it really makes you consider what possessions you really value. Anyways, enough with the philosophical sentiments; it's time to catch y'all up to speed.
In my almost two months of absence, I've been quite the busy bee. I've been to Italy, Hungary, and Southern Spain - all were amazing places with their own unique qualities and memories. I traveled to Naples and Milan with my partner in crime, Maya, back in the end of January. Both were lovely cities, although the "beach-side" vacation we pictured in Naples ended up being somewhat dreary and cold (cold for us being 50F...), not to mention the Blue Grotto we planned to see in Capri, a small island off the coast of Naples, was closed for the season - turn down for what? Travel lesson learned: always check the "off season" for beach-side places. Despite the disappointment, we still had a lovely time.
In my almost two months of absence, I've been quite the busy bee. I've been to Italy, Hungary, and Southern Spain - all were amazing places with their own unique qualities and memories. I traveled to Naples and Milan with my partner in crime, Maya, back in the end of January. Both were lovely cities, although the "beach-side" vacation we pictured in Naples ended up being somewhat dreary and cold (cold for us being 50F...), not to mention the Blue Grotto we planned to see in Capri, a small island off the coast of Naples, was closed for the season - turn down for what? Travel lesson learned: always check the "off season" for beach-side places. Despite the disappointment, we still had a lovely time.
Afterwards, I went to Budapest, Hungary for a week-long travel workshop analyzing the evolution of architectural styles in the city led by a professor from the University of Illinois at home. What an AMAZING city! First of all, the food is cheap, like "I can buy a gourmet meal for under $10" cheap - music to the ears of any college student. The city had a lot to offer architecturally as well. I thoroughly enjoyed filling my sketchbook with sketches of architectural details of the buildings we visited. I made a collage of them all for the final deliverable for the workshop, and my project along with some of my fellow Budapest-ers will be on display in the Temple Hoyne Buell Hall Gallery at UIUC in April!
After Budapest, I traveled with some fellow archis to the Eternal City - Roma. You can never spend enough time in Rome to see it all, especially three days. Still, I got to see a lot of the main highlights. My two favorite buildings were the Pantheon and the Tempietto. It's very surreal to see buildings from your architectural textbooks come to life before your eyes. I still can't believe I got to see the Pantheon whose famous oculus has provided inspiration and precedent for many of my studio projects. I also got to make my pilgrimage to the Vatican. Seeing a rainbow from the top of St. Peter's Basilica was absolutely stunning. Needless to say Rome left a lasting impression on me that I won't soon forget.
And that was two weeks of traveling. It is unbelieveably exhausting. I hate living out of a backpack for 15 days - you're always moving; always on the go; always wearing the same 4 or so tops (I did do laundry at one point, mind you); always trying to fit in as much to see as possible; always in constant motion. Yet, how else can you see all that this amazing continent has to offer in such a short period of time!?
...but there's more. After two weeks of travel, we had two weeks to get settled into our routine of classes for the semester before heading off on another short-lived adventure, this time to the cities of Seville, Cordoba, and Granada in Southern Spain. It was a super fun ladies weekend with Maya - gotta make the most of it before we split off on our separate grad school adventures. ¡Qué lástima! That's a story for another day though. Back to Spain. I think I can safely say I'm in love with Southern Spain. I don't know if it was the flamenco, the weather, or the ridiculous number of orange trees, but it was hands down my favorite trip of the year thus far (and that's saying a lot since there's really only two trips left)! The Moorish architecture that characterizes the region was breathtaking. The pictures I have don't even begin to do them justice, so you must go see it for yourself.
...but there's more. After two weeks of travel, we had two weeks to get settled into our routine of classes for the semester before heading off on another short-lived adventure, this time to the cities of Seville, Cordoba, and Granada in Southern Spain. It was a super fun ladies weekend with Maya - gotta make the most of it before we split off on our separate grad school adventures. ¡Qué lástima! That's a story for another day though. Back to Spain. I think I can safely say I'm in love with Southern Spain. I don't know if it was the flamenco, the weather, or the ridiculous number of orange trees, but it was hands down my favorite trip of the year thus far (and that's saying a lot since there's really only two trips left)! The Moorish architecture that characterizes the region was breathtaking. The pictures I have don't even begin to do them justice, so you must go see it for yourself.
So. Now that I've FINALLY gotten around to getting the blog up to speed, I'm off on another adventure. The students of the IASAP-BV are off on Spring Break tomorrow! Well, technically it's a field trip...in spring...to France...with the main destination of Paris...with some sketching and educational reading involved...good enough to be Spring Break in my book! Eventually I'll get all those pictures up, along with my travels through Spain, Italy, and Hungary. But, to quote one of my favorite movies, "Up," "Adventure is out there," so off I go!