Bamboo frame bike.... sweet.
Friday, September 4, 2009
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
ill see you soon...
There is only nine days left. and i cannot/can wait. theres this uneasy feeling of returning to america after being gone for so long but while thinkinh of these things im instantly filled with the rejoice, knowing ill be able to see family and friends very soon.
sooo this past weekend i went ot visit le kef, in the west of tunisia, to see zeineb and her family. le kef was nice, the but there was not:
think 20 year old greyhound across the desert/hottest place on earth, with not air conditioner. the ride was four hours...
i really enjoyed it, the food was good (couscous and sherba (soup)) made by zeineb's mother and we ate at her aunts for lunch. out side her house there were cattusas!! baby ones and two big ones... i had a photo shoot with them. above is one of the best (i think)....
now i am just counting down the days, wasting time at the beach, shopping for souvieners and eating all that tunisia has to offer.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Where I am now?
I’ve been many different places the past six months. I’ll begin when I left America in January.
Studying abroad is an experience many students enjoy. As the typical architecture student does, I went to Rome, Italy to study abroad—four months at the American University of Rome, and some of the best times and greatest people I’ve ever met. I was able to discover calcetto (five a side soccer) and explore the city of Rome. The geographical proximity of Europe allowed me to travel inexpensively to countries I’ve never been. During my time there I visited (in no particular order): Barcelona and Madrid, Spain, Dublin, Ireland, Assisi, Pompeii, Palermo, and Venice, Italy, Paris, France. Although I would have liked to travel more, the time I spent in Rome with my friends was priceless.
Rather than going back to America at the end of my time in Rome, I wanted to prolong my time abroad. Although I missed my family and friends, I knew I most likely would not be able to get an internship at an architecture firm (my main goal for this summer) and I was already over here (across the Atlantic Ocean) I figured I’d push my luck and try to get an internship at AMIDEAST in Tunisia. Last year, in the spring after school, I travelled to Turkey and Tunisia with University International Scholars Program (a group fronted by Jim Savoie and Marcella McCoy) with 13 other students and 7 professors. The goal of the program was to encourage us to travel and be open to new experiences. AMIDEAST was one of the places we visited and with help from Jim I was able to successively gain an internship with the English school. So, that’s where I am. I’m in living in Sousse, Tunisia. It’s been two months and I have one more left. So far, it’s been great.
I have left a huge gap of where I started, America in January, and Tunisia in July… I’m working on recalling and updating this large gap. I’ve done a decent job visually documenting everything (as far as the sights) which is edited and shown on sarahall.shutterfly.com.
Studying abroad is an experience many students enjoy. As the typical architecture student does, I went to Rome, Italy to study abroad—four months at the American University of Rome, and some of the best times and greatest people I’ve ever met. I was able to discover calcetto (five a side soccer) and explore the city of Rome. The geographical proximity of Europe allowed me to travel inexpensively to countries I’ve never been. During my time there I visited (in no particular order): Barcelona and Madrid, Spain, Dublin, Ireland, Assisi, Pompeii, Palermo, and Venice, Italy, Paris, France. Although I would have liked to travel more, the time I spent in Rome with my friends was priceless.
Rather than going back to America at the end of my time in Rome, I wanted to prolong my time abroad. Although I missed my family and friends, I knew I most likely would not be able to get an internship at an architecture firm (my main goal for this summer) and I was already over here (across the Atlantic Ocean) I figured I’d push my luck and try to get an internship at AMIDEAST in Tunisia. Last year, in the spring after school, I travelled to Turkey and Tunisia with University International Scholars Program (a group fronted by Jim Savoie and Marcella McCoy) with 13 other students and 7 professors. The goal of the program was to encourage us to travel and be open to new experiences. AMIDEAST was one of the places we visited and with help from Jim I was able to successively gain an internship with the English school. So, that’s where I am. I’m in living in Sousse, Tunisia. It’s been two months and I have one more left. So far, it’s been great.
I have left a huge gap of where I started, America in January, and Tunisia in July… I’m working on recalling and updating this large gap. I’ve done a decent job visually documenting everything (as far as the sights) which is edited and shown on sarahall.shutterfly.com.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Busy
Well, with classes in full swing and everything to see and do life has been rather busy. I think I may end up updating weekly or twice a week at least. That will be what I aim for.
Lets see... since February first quite a bit has happened. I visited many places in Rome: the Pantheon (its seriously breathtaking), Piazza del Popolo, Trevi Fountian, Old Trastevere, and Piranesi's only built architecture, to name a few. Ive also elected to not bring my camera to some places due to the rain. Its been raining for the past two weeks and its just a let down. I have organized and purged all my photos though so I can now keep track of everything on Adobe Bridge, its pretty convient. We have gone out a few nights. After the Guilda experience we were a bit weary but Lauren and I went to Zar Bar, 10 euro for 3 drinks was not a bad deal. That was a fun small spot. Then last Friday we went to Old Trastevere for dessert and drinks at this cute place Artu, then we went to a local bar/pub and had more drinks and snacks. It was overall pretty good. Last night Lauren and I went back to Old Trastevere and went out to dinner at a small family resturaunt. I have Trasteverian gnocchi and tomato salad it was pretty good. We also had a bottle of Dolcetta rosa vino, that was a very good wine. Otherwise we've been eating at home or on the run: pasta, pizza, and such. Mmmm.... suppli, fried rice balls with cheese in the middle and the pastries from the shops are amazing!
To combat my eating habit I've been walking everywhere and running 3-5 days a week. I run in the parks or Lauren and I run by the river. The park is beautiful, Villa Pamphilli, untouched formally private gardens of a villa, I may go there and take pics today before I boysit. I dont think running is a good idea today. I play on the calcetto team here at AUR and we had a game on Wednesday night , Im still very sore. Calcetto is awesome, its a five a side game similar to futsal, played with a dense ball and kick ins on a basketball sized feild. I play centro defensivo. We have two more games left before the tornament. We recently beat the second place team 2-0, I love it. Next game is on Thursday.
Classes are classes but I really like my sketchbook class, we go to a museum and draw for four hours, not so bad. But getting there is a pain. The last museum was the farthest away, by Termini Station and I had to leave at 8 to be there by 9. I hate being up early and around people. Ive also been trying to read more, theres our sometimes interesting book on the architecture of modern italy and my ishmael (for fun). I just finished The Architecture of Absurdity which is the first book I've finished in a very long time. I'm proud of myself.
Ive also been working on my Italian, I try to talk with the other lady that is a boysitter (shes polish and speaks italian attempting to learn english) last week we talked about our boyfriends and I asked her about sport. It was nice. Calcetto is also helping me learn too, our coach, Silvia only speaks Italian and I can understand what shes telling me to do. I haven't really learned anything new this week :( but my goal is to go to a resturaunt and speak Italian the entire time by the end of the trip. Hopefully it will work.
I may go on a day trip this weekend, somewhere new. Ill research things tonight and evaluate wether or not I want to spend money. It all depends. And the most important part of the past two weeks: Heather had here baby! Aowyn Rose Murphy born a few (the 7th or 8th) days ago, 9 pounds and 21 3/4". Uncle Sean says she's a heavy one but she is adorable.
Monday, February 2, 2009
lazio v. ac milan !
Saturday, January 31, 2009
cop out
we went to guilda last night... 15 euro/drink and creepy men, never again. so today we woke up and went to meet others at a resgrad event where we'd go to visit the bone chapel. and it was going to be cool, until we lost our group at the trevi fountian and finally arrived at the chapel during their lunch break. So... we had lunch, i had gnocchi it was good. then we went to the bone chapel. i was so excited and we go through and its kinda cool, the walls are a little too white to be old. then we read the story and see that it was a recreation of what might have been, and thats b.s. to me. COP OUT! lauren and i walked home through old tresevere and found this good 2.55 euro wine on our street, so the day turned out okay.
Friday, January 30, 2009
you down with o.p.p.?
yeah you know me! today we went to see the university of arkansas' architecture program present their aite analysis of the same project we're doing, so we saw other people's projects. its always interesting to see what others do. Only a few of us stayed until the end, then we (ben, mel, sarah, lauren and i) went to lunch and moseyed back to campus to visit the library. then i had to babysit. i picked him up from school and took him to swim, we found tons of treasures on the way, it was awesome. Betsy, Renee and Julianne met me down in Trestevere for dinner at an italian resturant, it was good. Then we went home.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
we were a running...
so today i only had design. Lauren and I went to buy tickets for sunday's Lazio v. A.C. Milan game (!!!) at the tabbachi bar by trestevere station it looks like we have okay seats at the south end of the stadium it should be awesome. After that we walked to design, class was a lecture then break. We got a cappuccino and I loved it! After our break we did work until the end of class. We planned on running in the park after class but it was dark and they close at dark. So Lauren and I ran around the city, we found the pyramid and a castle on our 6.2 mile run. We had no idea it was this far until we got hungry around mile four, this was probably because the beautiful scenery we were passing. We realized that although rome is densely populated , they still have a beautiful clear sky. We ran home and renee had dinner ready, it was good: chicken, potatoes and green beans. Then we booked spring break: bacelona, madrid and dublin. We also booked Paris for april and i looked into venice for when sean comes :)
FUN!
SOOOO... I must admit, I haven't been posting at all, but I've been keeping a little jounaly thing here's the past x days, i'll post some photos tomorrow perhaps:
jan 22 THURSDAY
we finally got out to explore the area. still jet lagged, i slept in until noon and then did nothing until abour 3pm. AUR had a neighborhood tour that we all went on, we rode a bus and took the tram all over trastevere and monte verde. it was cool to see how everything worked and we got a general feeling for the layout of the neighborhood and bus/tram system. at about 7.30 we headed home and decided to have dinner at the pizzeria/resturante located next to our apartment called di Bruno ai 4 Venti. It's a cute little restaurant that always seemed packed. Luckily we beat the dinner crowd and we were able to get out waitress' full attention. The menu was in italiano of course so I asked the waitress to get me what she recommended, I was hellbent on having something besides pizza. She gave me this roman specialty (which I don't remember the name of) that was your choice of pasta in a sweet sauce, egg or tomato and prosciutto (sp?) I chose rigatoni with tomato. I must admit, it was pretty good. I also had the house rosso vino (I've been trying all sorts) and it is the best I've ever had (not that im a connoisseur). After dinner we had desert Betsy had this flakey pastry with confectioners sugar and chocolate sauce, Renee had Tiramisu (sp?), and I had this egg based custard with caramel sauce (I really wanted a cannoli). I can say I wasn't particularly fond of any of them. The food was very good though. We the called up the boys (Steven, David, Greg, and Ben) and visited their apartment, they are on a busy street off of a large piazza (Piazza Dunaut) Our apartment is better. We drank wine/I got rid of the wine I did not like. Then we walked home, it was midnight and lots of people were still out.
jan 23 FRIDAY
today was orientation! we got up early (kind of) and headed up to school at 10, they told us about stuff. after orientation we went to the colleseo (click here to see what I liked best)!! we took the bus and got off at the roman forum, it was awesome to finally see it! i took about 600 pictures and we didn't even go into the buildings. my fascination with pictures which i like to call head/butt pictures also started (click to see more). We spent about 4-5 hours out walking around and taking pictures, i absolutely loved it! We met up with the boys (David, Greg, Steven, and Ben) to have dinner at di Bruno ai 4 Venti, tonight we would have pizza. We all got something different then what we had the night before, I got fried mozzarella ball (mmmm!) and brushetta (sp?) that had olives on it (that was an accident, I hate olives!) for appetizers and pizza and of course rosso vino, my favorite. and the best part this evening was the dessert! i ordered cocco gelati AND IT WAS MAGNIFICENT COCONUT! i was so happy and content i actually shut my mouth. it was too good for words :) After dinner (which, may I add is a 2-3 hour affair) we showed the boys our apartment, I love it.
jan 24 SATURDAY
last night was just one of those nights, i slept in till 12.30 without even knowing. It was a rough night, I just couldn't fall asleep and at 9.15 am when my alarm rang I was in disbelief. After finally getting ready we went up to AUR for their welcome BBQ, ate some food and talked with friends. I fell in love today too. I don't know what it is but Italy's tastykake version of snacks are DELICIOUS! I was feenin for something sweet and wanted to try something new, I got this coconut chocolate piece of heaven for .90 eurocents, it was damn amazing. Then it started to rain, hard. We went home after. I also got to meet the family I was babysitting for. I googled how to get there and had some trouble, mainly due to the rainstorm I struggled in on the way. I finally found their street and building. The family is super nice, I got this job mainly thanks to being recommended by S.Deez. The mom introduced me, showed my momly things and left me alone with the boy (he's 6 or 7) while the daughter (11) went to her friend's party and mom and dad went to a movie. We played then I read him 2 books (Nate the Great) before putting him to bed, after playing around, he finally fell asleep. Then mom came home around 10pm and I left. She gave me money to take the bus home since it was late (I liked that).
jan 25 SUNDAY
MALL TRIP! today we went to Europe's largest mall, Parco Leonardo. All the girls went, but Lauren, Renee and I stuck it out. 7.5 hours of shopping till I dropped. During January Italian stores have sales, I bought stuff. A new purse (with a gypsy proof zipper), due pairs of boots (one brown, one black), and a cute top. It was good to see what they had to offer. I had a blast. we also took the train for the first time, that was interesting. It was a double decker! it only cost 2.60 euro for round trip.
jan 26 MONDAY
first day of classes and i wanted no part of it. i decided to start running again, trying to offset this eating habit i've developed. I ran in villa pamphili because apparently no one runs in the streets. It was amazing, its just beautiful I ran around a lake and before I knew it I had run three miles, on my way home i bought some bananas, I was hungry. i went home and showered. and off to class... i only had design and survey of the history of ancient rome. The studio is nice, we all crammed in this small space to learn about our new project, were designing a new transit station in the archeological heart of rome (piazza venzia). the history class was pretty cool too, the teacher is an adorable german man, he had an accent and funny mustache. He makes me laugh. I made dinner tonight, pasta, chicken, peas and garlic bread!! (Mmmmm) I bought wine too, it was blush and reminded me of good old Carlo Rossi, it sucked! the bad thing in design is this charette the professor scheduled the week after spring break (when my mom is coming) so I wouldn't be able to spend time with her. I don't understand why we couldn't have notice, it is just rediculious in my opinion. I'm trying to talk to her to see if I can put in more work during the earlier days so I can go away with my mom. on a better note, i will be babysitting tuesdays and fridays! tomorrow i learn the ropes!
jan 27 TUESDAY
second day of class, and although i only had one class it was a long day. we had history of modern architecture in rome, it was awesome. the professor is practically a book. we went to the top of this hill, giancolo, and saw almost all of rome. he told us everything about the spot we were on and pointed out the buildings. then it started to rain. that sucked, it rained on my notes. i gave up and decided to put up my umbrella and just listen. next time ill need to bring my other coat and camera. so after class lauren and i dropped our stuff in the studio and went running. we ran in the park across the street from the school. it was raining and we ran. it felt really good, we thought we'd do an easy long run, but the park was really hilly so we did an intense 2 mile bootcamp-esque run in the mud. i almost fell down a hill, i dont know how i caught myself. so after our run we stopped back at the studio then walked home. people were looking at us funny, we were a bit sweaty. so i went home thinking i had alot of time, showered then napped (15min) and went to meet the boys mom to pick him up from school, and basically learn where everything was. i met her at a bar and we walked together to his school and swim practice, and i walked him home. I'll do this every tuesday and friday. every once and a while ill stay late on fridays too when the parents go to a movie. i rode the bus home and then ran home, i decided i wanted to try soccer. i made it late to meet for practice but it was okay. it was all right but practice is 8-10 pm tuesday nights with games late too. i just didn't/don't want to make a commitment to a team, not here not now, since ive been playing forever. then, i came home and ate dinner (some banging fish betsy made). then i tried to shower and the hot water stopped, it was cold... i couldn't handle it so I quit and went to bed dirty.
jan 22 THURSDAY
we finally got out to explore the area. still jet lagged, i slept in until noon and then did nothing until abour 3pm. AUR had a neighborhood tour that we all went on, we rode a bus and took the tram all over trastevere and monte verde. it was cool to see how everything worked and we got a general feeling for the layout of the neighborhood and bus/tram system. at about 7.30 we headed home and decided to have dinner at the pizzeria/resturante located next to our apartment called di Bruno ai 4 Venti. It's a cute little restaurant that always seemed packed. Luckily we beat the dinner crowd and we were able to get out waitress' full attention. The menu was in italiano of course so I asked the waitress to get me what she recommended, I was hellbent on having something besides pizza. She gave me this roman specialty (which I don't remember the name of) that was your choice of pasta in a sweet sauce, egg or tomato and prosciutto (sp?) I chose rigatoni with tomato. I must admit, it was pretty good. I also had the house rosso vino (I've been trying all sorts) and it is the best I've ever had (not that im a connoisseur). After dinner we had desert Betsy had this flakey pastry with confectioners sugar and chocolate sauce, Renee had Tiramisu (sp?), and I had this egg based custard with caramel sauce (I really wanted a cannoli). I can say I wasn't particularly fond of any of them. The food was very good though. We the called up the boys (Steven, David, Greg, and Ben) and visited their apartment, they are on a busy street off of a large piazza (Piazza Dunaut) Our apartment is better. We drank wine/I got rid of the wine I did not like. Then we walked home, it was midnight and lots of people were still out.
jan 23 FRIDAY
today was orientation! we got up early (kind of) and headed up to school at 10, they told us about stuff. after orientation we went to the colleseo (click here to see what I liked best)!! we took the bus and got off at the roman forum, it was awesome to finally see it! i took about 600 pictures and we didn't even go into the buildings. my fascination with pictures which i like to call head/butt pictures also started (click to see more). We spent about 4-5 hours out walking around and taking pictures, i absolutely loved it! We met up with the boys (David, Greg, Steven, and Ben) to have dinner at di Bruno ai 4 Venti, tonight we would have pizza. We all got something different then what we had the night before, I got fried mozzarella ball (mmmm!) and brushetta (sp?) that had olives on it (that was an accident, I hate olives!) for appetizers and pizza and of course rosso vino, my favorite. and the best part this evening was the dessert! i ordered cocco gelati AND IT WAS MAGNIFICENT COCONUT! i was so happy and content i actually shut my mouth. it was too good for words :) After dinner (which, may I add is a 2-3 hour affair) we showed the boys our apartment, I love it.
jan 24 SATURDAY
last night was just one of those nights, i slept in till 12.30 without even knowing. It was a rough night, I just couldn't fall asleep and at 9.15 am when my alarm rang I was in disbelief. After finally getting ready we went up to AUR for their welcome BBQ, ate some food and talked with friends. I fell in love today too. I don't know what it is but Italy's tastykake version of snacks are DELICIOUS! I was feenin for something sweet and wanted to try something new, I got this coconut chocolate piece of heaven for .90 eurocents, it was damn amazing. Then it started to rain, hard. We went home after. I also got to meet the family I was babysitting for. I googled how to get there and had some trouble, mainly due to the rainstorm I struggled in on the way. I finally found their street and building. The family is super nice, I got this job mainly thanks to being recommended by S.Deez. The mom introduced me, showed my momly things and left me alone with the boy (he's 6 or 7) while the daughter (11) went to her friend's party and mom and dad went to a movie. We played then I read him 2 books (Nate the Great) before putting him to bed, after playing around, he finally fell asleep. Then mom came home around 10pm and I left. She gave me money to take the bus home since it was late (I liked that).
jan 25 SUNDAY
MALL TRIP! today we went to Europe's largest mall, Parco Leonardo. All the girls went, but Lauren, Renee and I stuck it out. 7.5 hours of shopping till I dropped. During January Italian stores have sales, I bought stuff. A new purse (with a gypsy proof zipper), due pairs of boots (one brown, one black), and a cute top. It was good to see what they had to offer. I had a blast. we also took the train for the first time, that was interesting. It was a double decker! it only cost 2.60 euro for round trip.
jan 26 MONDAY
first day of classes and i wanted no part of it. i decided to start running again, trying to offset this eating habit i've developed. I ran in villa pamphili because apparently no one runs in the streets. It was amazing, its just beautiful I ran around a lake and before I knew it I had run three miles, on my way home i bought some bananas, I was hungry. i went home and showered. and off to class... i only had design and survey of the history of ancient rome. The studio is nice, we all crammed in this small space to learn about our new project, were designing a new transit station in the archeological heart of rome (piazza venzia). the history class was pretty cool too, the teacher is an adorable german man, he had an accent and funny mustache. He makes me laugh. I made dinner tonight, pasta, chicken, peas and garlic bread!! (Mmmmm) I bought wine too, it was blush and reminded me of good old Carlo Rossi, it sucked! the bad thing in design is this charette the professor scheduled the week after spring break (when my mom is coming) so I wouldn't be able to spend time with her. I don't understand why we couldn't have notice, it is just rediculious in my opinion. I'm trying to talk to her to see if I can put in more work during the earlier days so I can go away with my mom. on a better note, i will be babysitting tuesdays and fridays! tomorrow i learn the ropes!
jan 27 TUESDAY
second day of class, and although i only had one class it was a long day. we had history of modern architecture in rome, it was awesome. the professor is practically a book. we went to the top of this hill, giancolo, and saw almost all of rome. he told us everything about the spot we were on and pointed out the buildings. then it started to rain. that sucked, it rained on my notes. i gave up and decided to put up my umbrella and just listen. next time ill need to bring my other coat and camera. so after class lauren and i dropped our stuff in the studio and went running. we ran in the park across the street from the school. it was raining and we ran. it felt really good, we thought we'd do an easy long run, but the park was really hilly so we did an intense 2 mile bootcamp-esque run in the mud. i almost fell down a hill, i dont know how i caught myself. so after our run we stopped back at the studio then walked home. people were looking at us funny, we were a bit sweaty. so i went home thinking i had alot of time, showered then napped (15min) and went to meet the boys mom to pick him up from school, and basically learn where everything was. i met her at a bar and we walked together to his school and swim practice, and i walked him home. I'll do this every tuesday and friday. every once and a while ill stay late on fridays too when the parents go to a movie. i rode the bus home and then ran home, i decided i wanted to try soccer. i made it late to meet for practice but it was okay. it was all right but practice is 8-10 pm tuesday nights with games late too. i just didn't/don't want to make a commitment to a team, not here not now, since ive been playing forever. then, i came home and ate dinner (some banging fish betsy made). then i tried to shower and the hot water stopped, it was cold... i couldn't handle it so I quit and went to bed dirty.
jan 28 WEDNESDAY
today was long day, 3 classes: sketchbook images of rome, design, and hist of ancient rome. our sketchbook teacher is probably the cutest ever, shes irish and old and adorable. anyways the class seems awesome, she's an artist who is getting us into museums to draw. and she seems 100% supportive. we're also having all classes on site, so we'll get to see stuff. then for design we had a site visit piazza venezia, we went atop the highest monument in rome. i took tons of pictures, i still have to edit them all. julianne made dinner tonight, it was good. no running today because I overdid it yesterday.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Roma!
We finally made it to Rome. I do truly hate plane rides and cannot wait until I can be transported. Any way, we got to Rome at about 8.30 am, got our luggage and waited for the AUR housing people to find us. So at about 9.30 we all hopped on a bus to our apartments. 20 minutes later we were at our apartment. The guy from AUR told us that the people in the condominiums here were paying about 450,000 euro to own and that is rediculious. So our apartment is pretty sweet, I've yet to take any pictures though. We have a huge terrace, 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a living room, and a kitchen. So we're making out pretty good. When we got here we moved our crap in and ventured out to the discount supermarket, Todis. We bought a bit of food so we could survive, but we ended up eating out twice. I napped from 1-3.30ish then unpacked. Around 8pm we went out for dinner, our destination was Il Vascello, it was just pizza. We tried potato, rosa, and mozzarella. Renee liked the potato best, I liked the rosa. We walked around for a bit more discovering that most stuff was closed and then headed home. It was peaceful and still night in the high 40s so it was rather enjoyable. Our Italian is lacking but I'm trying to get better. Today, I have been up since 4.30am (I went to bed at 10pm) and I decided to stop fake sleeping at 5.30 and got up. We have to go to campus from 10-4 to do our stay permesso thing, we were going to try to get there early, then explore. Click here for more apartment pictures. Ciao!
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
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