April 28, 2009
had my Architecture in Italy exam in the morning. The exam was super hard, largely because I had missed so much information while I was sick.
After the exam I had to rush over to Casa della Creativita to meet up with Hardy, Em, Nadia, Kelly, and Bari to prepare for the auction. Then we had to go back to studio to meet with our teachers one last time before rushing back to Casa della Creativita to continue setting up. The place really looked nice once we had all the artwork displayed. I was impressed by how much artwork we actually had since we had almost nothing as of Sunday.
The auction went pretty well. The live music was really good. A decent number of people came, but they were mostly our friends or friends of Bari's, so not too many people who would actually be bidding on artwork. Bari also put way too much emphasis on the music, so people weren't looking at the artwork and bidding while the music was being played. So the actual auction part of the night wasn't a huge success, but it definitely has the potential to be a bigger success in future years. We figured out all the logistics of how the evening needs to work, so the students who organize it in future years just have to worry about obtaining artwork and attracting bidders. We had the disadvantage of having only about three weeks to organize the whole thing in the midst of preparing for all of our finals and pretty yucky weather the night of the event.
As soon as everything was cleaned up, Nadia and I sprinted back to our apartment to grab our things and meet up with Nikul and Pat to go to Cinqueterre. We had to catch a train that left Florence at 12:37.
April 27, 2009
Our final project for Architecture in Context was due today. Architecture in Context is kind of like Studio, except our projects are more about the idea than the details of the project. This presentation was true competition style. We didn't have to do any sort of presentation, just prepare one board with all the information we wanted to show. We couldn't even put our names on the boards so it was like a real architectural competition. The judges were really harsh when they announced the results, though. Rather than only announce the winners, they announced every project from worst to best and explained why each one was eliminated, so all we heard were the bad things about each project and not any of the good things.
After the winner announcements, we all went downstairs to the High Bar for aperitivo, and then Hardy, Em, Kelly, Nadia, and I had to go back to studio to finish our preparations for the auction the next day.
Our final project for Architecture in Context was due today. Architecture in Context is kind of like Studio, except our projects are more about the idea than the details of the project. This presentation was true competition style. We didn't have to do any sort of presentation, just prepare one board with all the information we wanted to show. We couldn't even put our names on the boards so it was like a real architectural competition. The judges were really harsh when they announced the results, though. Rather than only announce the winners, they announced every project from worst to best and explained why each one was eliminated, so all we heard were the bad things about each project and not any of the good things.
After the winner announcements, we all went downstairs to the High Bar for aperitivo, and then Hardy, Em, Kelly, Nadia, and I had to go back to studio to finish our preparations for the auction the next day.
April 25, 2009
went to a club in La Cascine Park. This club called Central Park was having its opening night, so we decided to go. It's a seasonal club, because it's supposed to be an outdoor club, but when we got there, it was all inside. It was really huge, with lots of different dance floors and bars. We didn't leave the main room so that we didn't loose anyone, so I guess there might have been an outdoor part somewhere, but it didn't really look like it. I was definitely disappointed that it wasn't outside.
When we went in, we were told that girls were free, but they had a card system. When you enter the club, you're given a card. Every time you buy a drink, they punch the card. At the end of the night you have to bring the card up to the cash register on your way out. Then you have to pay for whatever drinks you've bought and any entry fee before you're given an exit ticket. The bouncers at the exit check your exit ticket to make sure you've paid. If you lose your card or your exit ticket you have to pay 50! euro. Luckily I didn't lose my card, but when I brought it to the cash register, the woman told me I owed a euro. I asked her why, but she didn't speak English, so she grabbed another woman to talk to me. This woman told me that the euro goes to the CI (I don't know how it's spelled but it sounds like the letters C and I). The CI is the government sanctioned mob group that all events have to be registered with. They're also the ones who give out dancing licenses. That's right. You have to have a proper dancing license to be allowed to even have people clapping their hands in your establishment. So that one euro I had to pay to get of the club was basically a dancing tax. Italy definitely has some strange laws.
went to a club in La Cascine Park. This club called Central Park was having its opening night, so we decided to go. It's a seasonal club, because it's supposed to be an outdoor club, but when we got there, it was all inside. It was really huge, with lots of different dance floors and bars. We didn't leave the main room so that we didn't loose anyone, so I guess there might have been an outdoor part somewhere, but it didn't really look like it. I was definitely disappointed that it wasn't outside.
When we went in, we were told that girls were free, but they had a card system. When you enter the club, you're given a card. Every time you buy a drink, they punch the card. At the end of the night you have to bring the card up to the cash register on your way out. Then you have to pay for whatever drinks you've bought and any entry fee before you're given an exit ticket. The bouncers at the exit check your exit ticket to make sure you've paid. If you lose your card or your exit ticket you have to pay 50! euro. Luckily I didn't lose my card, but when I brought it to the cash register, the woman told me I owed a euro. I asked her why, but she didn't speak English, so she grabbed another woman to talk to me. This woman told me that the euro goes to the CI (I don't know how it's spelled but it sounds like the letters C and I). The CI is the government sanctioned mob group that all events have to be registered with. They're also the ones who give out dancing licenses. That's right. You have to have a proper dancing license to be allowed to even have people clapping their hands in your establishment. So that one euro I had to pay to get of the club was basically a dancing tax. Italy definitely has some strange laws.
April 24, 2009
finally talked to the doorman! One of the buildings that we often pass has a doorman who's really friendly. At the very beginning of the semester I made it my goal to befriend him, but by the time I worked up the courage to say hi to him, he disappeared. A different, much less friendly, doorman replaced him. A couple days ago, I noticed that the doorman changed again. Nadia and I spent several days trying to decide if it was the original doorman or a third one. We finally decided he was the original, so we struck up a conversation with him and took photos with him. He was very friendly and disappointed that we only met him now, with only a week left in Florence.
went to dinner at Bari's with Em, Hardy, Kelly, and Nadia. Bari is the woman in charge of Creative Campus, the organization through which we were organizing the auction. It was kind of neat to go to dinner in an Italian apartment. Bari's American, so it wasn't quite a traditional Italian meal, but it was still interesting.
finally talked to the doorman! One of the buildings that we often pass has a doorman who's really friendly. At the very beginning of the semester I made it my goal to befriend him, but by the time I worked up the courage to say hi to him, he disappeared. A different, much less friendly, doorman replaced him. A couple days ago, I noticed that the doorman changed again. Nadia and I spent several days trying to decide if it was the original doorman or a third one. We finally decided he was the original, so we struck up a conversation with him and took photos with him. He was very friendly and disappointed that we only met him now, with only a week left in Florence.
went to dinner at Bari's with Em, Hardy, Kelly, and Nadia. Bari is the woman in charge of Creative Campus, the organization through which we were organizing the auction. It was kind of neat to go to dinner in an Italian apartment. Bari's American, so it wasn't quite a traditional Italian meal, but it was still interesting.
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