coffee and temple

Just a quick post to show you how happy coffee is in Italy and how pretty temples are. in case you'd forgotten

Quick sweden

Ok, so there will be more of this, but just to give everyone a taste of Sweden:

10 friends in a cabin in the mountains in northern Sweden. One of the best trips I've ever taken.



8 of those friends again


and the view. Yup, that's the slopes. They were amazing.


more pics once the others have sent me some...

real, not real

So I won't lie. Life is good. Exhausting as it may be, life is good. Here is a series of pictures, though, to contrast imaginary 'John life' and real John life


IMAGINARY: this is the place I stayed in Venice. Really it is. But I did not stay in this room. Nor did the walls and ceilings of my room have art like this. Rather...


...they looked like this

ok, what is the appropriate title for this image? "séance with orb in hand and man being born out of right knee of scary woman?"

Then of course, there is the rest of Venice. all that F&$@ing water. so ugly


and more water...oh wait, that's not Venice...


but that is! Ok, well that's mostly Mary, but Venice is all around here...can't you tell? look how much she loves it!


...things like this. it's not ancient, but I think it's important or something. Some Doge lived there, right?


Oh, and they had this big canal...i forget what it's called...


but one has to return to work, right...


yeah, not quite as glamorous, huh?
eh. I'll make it somehow...

sneeze

turn up the sound on your computer to about mid-level, press play and watch / listen. Pandas are hilarious.

At work

So I've been working a little bit and thought I'd put up some pictures of the work I'm doing. Just to give some people an idea of the objects I'm working on, here are a few shots of me measuring the Capitoline Temple, one of 4 buildings I'm dealing with in my dissertation.

on top of a foundation wall. big, huh?


Just to prove that's me and not someone I took a picture of...


counting blocks...fun!!!


yeah, don't you just look at these and think "DUDE I WANNA DO THAT!" the thrill of it all!


Thanks to Erik for being such an amazing companion for a day of measuring and for taking such great images (he took like another 100 more than the ones posted here, but they are REALLY boring. Useful as hell, but boring as f%$*).

Merry Christmas and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

or as they say in Italy, BUON ANNO!!!!

It's been over a month since my last post. What can I say, I'm not a born blogger. But here are some new year's eve photos.

I think Lisa (Sanditz) summed it up best when she said "This is so Italy. There's not one organized fireworks event, they just all set off their own fireworks randomly." I freakin' LOVE IT!

Hope you are all well!

xoxo,
J.

The big fireworks you see in the foreground are just for our neighborhood. they were all over the city. really ALL OVER the city...for like 30 minutes straight. you can see some of the other neighborhood's fireworks in the background of my pics.












Mama with a sparkler (on the far right)


Me and Papa in front of St. Peter's

out of touch

So I've been incredibly out of touch, primarily because I've been working hard, moving around town a lot and anticipating the arrival of the genitori (parents) in a few weeks. YAY!

It looks like I'll be excruciatingly busy for awhile, so I thought I'd post a few pics to let y'all know that I'm still alive, things are still spectacular and that Rome is beautiful even in the late fall.

Hope everyone is well!

xoxo,
J.

View from My bedroom window at sunset...fall


Praeneste, view from Theatre


Praeneste, view of Theatre