As I have been preparing to leave for home tomorrow evening, I have felt so many conflicting emotions. I have been home sick for a little while now and am so looking forward to being home, but the departure date approached so quickly and I am also very sad to be leaving. I have made so many amazing friends here, had so many unforgettable experiences, and have learned so much. I am anxious to see how my experiences here will affect life at home and what I will continue to learn from them. I am antsy about the travel part of the returning home. I am looking forward to some of the little things I have missed from home and am already missing the little things here I know I won't have at home. I miss friends and family and home and I'm already missing people I'm with here. It is really hard to believe this semester is almost over. I was admittedly scared of coming to Riva at first, not knowing many of the people who were coming who already knew each other so well, but it was honestly the best thing I could have done for myself. I've decided I need to do a few things that scare me.
I look forward to seeing everyone at home and am so excited to be returning. I just wanted to write one last blog entry to commemorate the semester in a way. I hope everyone who has been following it has enjoyed reading and got to feel like they were experiencing the semester with me at least a little bit.
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Exhibition and Lugano
On Friday evening, from 5 to 7:30, we held our exhibition to show the work we have done throughout the semester. It went over quite well; The Mayor, our travel agent and her husband, our Italian professor, two ladies from the post office, the owner of the local bar/restaurant San Giorgio, the landlord of one of the apartments, some of the students from the architecture school in Mendrisio and their professors, the family of one of the students here, as well as our staff here at the villa and the business students all came to see the work. It was nice that everyone seemed so interested in our projects; It is also not often that we explain our projects to other students who aren't in architecture, so speaking about our projects was a learning experience too. We will do another exhibition of our work back in Blacksburg this Spring Semester; It is actually a requirement for the travel groups to put on a display of their work.
Afterwards, we went to San Giorgio with some of the students from Virginia Tech spending the year at the Mendrisio school until it was time to meet at Frank's apartment for a late dinner. Three of the guys, Chris, Ryan C., and Matt cooked up the sauerkraut and sausage which was served with bread rolls and wine. I never thought I would like the sauerkraut, but the home-cooked version was wonderful! It was a very well done meal and a nice, relaxing way to spend the evening after setting up and putting on the exhibition.
Yesterday afternoon, we, Kristina, Ashton, Danett, Megan and I, went to Lugano. We just wanted to spend a relaxing day wandering, enjoying all the busyness of the Holiday shopping, and getting a nice cup of coffee and/or hot chocolate. It was a beautiful day and a perfect way to spend the Saturday afternoon of our last full weekend here!
Now we have only to finish up our seminar project, pack, celebrate a few birthdays, and await the surprise Frank has for us on the 10th.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
December
As we near the end of the semester this week, we have been working on a number of miscellaneous assignments and have also had and will have a few celebrations. Our Italian class is now over; we took the final exam yesterday. We've been working on preparing for our exhibition, which will be held on Friday evening, to showcase the work from the semester. We've been cleaning out the studio space to use for the exhibition; the business students and people from the town are all invited. It should be a nice way to display and celebrate our competition boards, photos from our trips, sketchbooks, and preliminary work.
December 3rd, yesterday, was, of course, my Birthday! It was an amazing day all around, despite having to study for and take the Italian exam. In the morning, when I went downstairs for breakfast, there was a note for me saying "Happy Birthday Louisa! Go to the fireplace room." I was confused, but, when I went in, I found Chloe and Ashton with a fire in the fireplace and playing Christmas music. They had set up a wonderful breakfast of homemade granola (courtesy of Chloe), a yogurt from the grocery story my sister tried while she was here, swiss hot chocolate, orange juice, bananas, bread, and nutella! I obviously couldn't have everything, but stuck with the granola, yogurt, and hot chocolate. It was such a nice way to start the day and made the stress of the Italian exam that was to occur later in the day fade away. It was so Christmasy and warm; I couldn't have had a better start to my Birthday! When I came back to my room, my roomates had set up snowflake Christmas lights on my bed with some chocolates and the gift David sent with my mom; they, of course, also had Christmas music playing!
The rest of the day itself with dedicated to our Italian exam and cleaning up studio some until it was time for our fancy, belated (Italian) Thanksgiving meal. We all ate together in the main classroom and enjoyed a 'fall' salad, turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, and a 'semifreddo' dessert. I wasn't expecting them to serve the individual ice cream birthday cakes that are normally given to people on their birthdays, as it was such a big and nice meal to prepare for so many people. I was definitely surprised when Kristina, one of the servers for the evening, came in with one; they had a single candle lit and sang Happy Birthday, the tradition here at the villa. It was a little overwhelming with so many more people at dinner, including our professors. I was glad that the Thanksgiving meal happened to be on my Birthday though; it was nice for everyone to be excited to get dressed up and enjoy a meal together.
After the dinner we had to do a little more work for the studio exhibition, but after went over to the girls' apartment to hang out and have some fun. Lindsey and Will had prepared a version of Jeopardy with questions all relating to us here in Riva. There were categories like 'Mi Casa e Su Casa' for things that happened in the villa, 'On the Road Again' for things during our travels, 'Shin' Diggin' for the celebrations we have had, a 'Miscellaneous' category, and one called 'Birthday Girl' with questions about me. It was so much fun to look back on some of the things we've done throughout the semester; even though we are all looking forward to going home at this point, it did make us a little sad to think that so soon we won't be living and experiencing this together.
Overall, it was an amazing Birthday! Everyone put so much time and thought into everything; I couldn't have asked for more!
The next few days we are finishing up the seminar project, of course having the exhibition, celebrating a few more Birthdays, and enjoying the rest of the time we have here as much as we can! Tonight, we get to roast chestnuts over the fire again!
December 3rd, yesterday, was, of course, my Birthday! It was an amazing day all around, despite having to study for and take the Italian exam. In the morning, when I went downstairs for breakfast, there was a note for me saying "Happy Birthday Louisa! Go to the fireplace room." I was confused, but, when I went in, I found Chloe and Ashton with a fire in the fireplace and playing Christmas music. They had set up a wonderful breakfast of homemade granola (courtesy of Chloe), a yogurt from the grocery story my sister tried while she was here, swiss hot chocolate, orange juice, bananas, bread, and nutella! I obviously couldn't have everything, but stuck with the granola, yogurt, and hot chocolate. It was such a nice way to start the day and made the stress of the Italian exam that was to occur later in the day fade away. It was so Christmasy and warm; I couldn't have had a better start to my Birthday! When I came back to my room, my roomates had set up snowflake Christmas lights on my bed with some chocolates and the gift David sent with my mom; they, of course, also had Christmas music playing!
The rest of the day itself with dedicated to our Italian exam and cleaning up studio some until it was time for our fancy, belated (Italian) Thanksgiving meal. We all ate together in the main classroom and enjoyed a 'fall' salad, turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, and a 'semifreddo' dessert. I wasn't expecting them to serve the individual ice cream birthday cakes that are normally given to people on their birthdays, as it was such a big and nice meal to prepare for so many people. I was definitely surprised when Kristina, one of the servers for the evening, came in with one; they had a single candle lit and sang Happy Birthday, the tradition here at the villa. It was a little overwhelming with so many more people at dinner, including our professors. I was glad that the Thanksgiving meal happened to be on my Birthday though; it was nice for everyone to be excited to get dressed up and enjoy a meal together.
After the dinner we had to do a little more work for the studio exhibition, but after went over to the girls' apartment to hang out and have some fun. Lindsey and Will had prepared a version of Jeopardy with questions all relating to us here in Riva. There were categories like 'Mi Casa e Su Casa' for things that happened in the villa, 'On the Road Again' for things during our travels, 'Shin' Diggin' for the celebrations we have had, a 'Miscellaneous' category, and one called 'Birthday Girl' with questions about me. It was so much fun to look back on some of the things we've done throughout the semester; even though we are all looking forward to going home at this point, it did make us a little sad to think that so soon we won't be living and experiencing this together.
Overall, it was an amazing Birthday! Everyone put so much time and thought into everything; I couldn't have asked for more!
The next few days we are finishing up the seminar project, of course having the exhibition, celebrating a few more Birthdays, and enjoying the rest of the time we have here as much as we can! Tonight, we get to roast chestnuts over the fire again!
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