Back to work

Well its Sunday again. I can't believe its been a week since I last posted anything. I also can't believe that I arrived in Rome only 2 weeks ago. It feels like I left months ago and I already feel like I live in Rome.

This week we have all been adjusting to being architecture students again. All of us had full time jobs last semester (co-op) and we haven't been students since last April. Its all a bit of a shock to get used to things again. The life of an architecture student consists of working for 20 hours on a project that we take 10 minutes to present and then being berated and criticized for not thinking enough about the project and not taking enough time to look at one certain detail. We had all learned to handle it by the time we left for co-op but we lost that tough skin after 6 months of actually getting paid for our work.

Our first project was due on Friday. We got together in groups to research different aspects of the city. We are trying to inform ourselves of the urban context of Rome before we begin our individual projects of designing a building in Rome. Our professors told us that we would have 5 minutes to present a set of 4 slides. My group prepared a pretty good slideshow, only to be torn a new one (excuse my french) by the critics. Apparently a 5 minute presentation translates into 15 minutes and we didn't do enough work. Ah...what a warm welcome. Thank goodness it was Friday, my anger was washed away with that first gulp of beer.

We went out on Friday night. If my memory serves right (which it may not), we got to bed around 5am. I slept until noon and sat in the apartment doing homework for the rest of the day. I haven't slept a full 8 hours since I got to Rome. Its a combination of jet lag, partying, and pure homesickness. So while everyone else went out last night, I caught up on my Gossip Girls and One Tree Hill. I'm not sure I can watch them again, it just increased my homesickness. Sitting in my empty apartment, watched those shows on my laptop doesn't quite compare with sitting by a roaring fire with my mom and sisters, gasping at every soap opera moment.

I finally went to bed around 11.30, was woken up by one of my roommates calling me, drunk of course, at 4am. At that point, I took a sleeping pill and went back to sleep for 7 hours. I am crossing my fingers that I'm caught up on sleep and will be taking a Melatonin pill tonight to try and regulate my sleep cycles. You know its bad when your Italian teacher comments on how big the bags are under your eyes.

Today I will be doing homework all day. Correcting the slideshow that was not good enough, and doing some sketching at a Piazza down the street. I will be attempting to fight off homesickeness for the next week or so, until I can get used to Rome a little better, although it never completely goes away. I hope everyone is well at home and in Boston, or wherever you are in the world.

Love you all and hope you're having fantastic days.

Ash