The Time of My Life

Incredible. Wonderfully and completely incredible. These are the only words to describe my trip to Roma this summer. These last two months have been the most eye opening, jaw dropping time of my life. I've seen some of the most beautiful countryside I will probably ever see in my lifetime, and experienced some of the most beautifully crafted architectural spaces of all time. From the moment we arrived in Rome, jet lagged as all hell, Matt led us unknowingly right into Piazza della Rotunda in front of the Pantheon which happened to be just a couple of blocks from our apartment! My jaw completely dropped, and I could only stand there in the rain in wonder. I had no idea that it would only get better, and better, and better....

From our field trips to places like the Amalfi Coast, Assisi, Orvieto, and many more to the walking tours (grazie mille Tom, Scott, and Jeffrey, they were awesome) that helped us learn so much about such a phenomenal city, to the informal and impromptu tours given to us from our professor Matt Brehm, it was the single most incredible thing that I've ever done. Hands down.

There are so many things that I'd like to say about this trip, but I'll try to sum it up and keep it as short as I can. First of all, I'd like to thank the people that really created this program and made it happen. Thank you to the University of Idaho Administration. Thanks to Professor Roman Montoto for all of your criticisms and suggestions. You gave me some very critical advice and pushed all of our designs that much harder. I'd like to thank the students who came over here, Matt, Andy, Hermanio, and Staci in particular for twisting my arm and ultimately helping me make the decision to come over here. I would like to thank last year's students for helping shape this year's program, it was so amazing, and I'd like to thank the TA Timbo for all the advice and help when we were so confused and lost, and for the time I wound up at the cat place when I was looking for Campo Di Fiori. Lastly I'd like to thank our professor, Matty O'Matt, he did a great job of building a program that helped us to define some of the historical context of the city and to relate that to our studio projects. Overall we saw so much, in only two months, and I don't know if it could have happened without him.

Like I said earlier, this trip has been the most eye opening experience of my life and I mean that. I honestly never thought that I'd do something like this, and even when I made the decision to come over here I didn't know if it would be worth all the hassle of getting the loans figured out and jumping through all of the hoops that were necessary to make it happen. It was. For anybody interested in this program or even making a trip on your own, do it. If it's something you really want, do whatever is necessary to make it go through, you'll thank yourself in the end.

Overall I'd like to end this with a little haiku:


How I like Pigeons,
They Are Such Noble Creatures,
One Day I'll Catch One.

-P.C.