MAXXI

Oh ya, got a picture outside. So we tried to really hurry this picture before the security guard of the apartment complex we went into would yell at us. We were unsure if we were allowed in, slash a car was coming, slash he was heading towards us to smoke. It was all confusing and Italian and I don't know. So I visited MAXXI today, and obviously you can't take pictures. But then, once I got outside I was like "Oh take a picture of the building," then I realized something... my memory card was not in the camera. Therefore no pretty pictures & this lovely picture of me in my new Zara clothes, was taken on an iPhone. So again this shirt was seen on a post I wrote earlier this week. I really love it but in this picture, it makes me look like I have a severe gelato gut. I did get gelato today though at my favorite place, the Frigidarium. I got Bacio and Mint Chocolate Chip dipped in a hard chocolate shell. SO GOOD! I am limiting myself to one gelato per week, two lunches out per week, and if need be, one dinner per week. I don't think I have really spent a lot of money, the first couple weeks yes because we didn't really know how to cook and went to eat out and had to buy stuff for our apartment. Now, I am trying to spend less than $30 a week for food, which is honestly not going to be hard, its just a scrambled eggs and cereal, grilled cheese, pasta, and chicken or ground beef with frozen peas kind of lifestyle. No complaining here! :] If you know me, you know I have a huge guilt complex, and since my lovely parents are paying for my food over here, I feel bad wasting money (well wasting money on anything for that matter). I would rather starve and ration out my food, then spend more money. So far, I am doing okay, (hopefully), I just need to use cash a little more- stupid overseas credit card fees!! Anyway, MAXXI was interesting, I am not too thrilled for contemporary art, but the huge drawings and political statements by William Kentridge in his Vertical Thinking exhibit were pretty interesting and cool. So it was a good day, off to do some studying for an Italian midterm on Thursday & some drawings of the Ara Pacis Augustae building! Ciao!

Edgy Neutrals

So if you didn't see my last post, you wouldn't know that I got these beautiful clothes in Rome. I am obsessed with this jacket and scarf! The scarf can be wrapped so many times & is just the perfect amount of volume to make a simple sweater look so chic. I definitely wish I had a bigger, non curvy, mirror; or a professional photographer to take my photos outside in the beautiful city of Rome. Tomorrow I am going to MAXXI, another modern art museum for class and will put up tons of pictures, if possible. I am pretty sure that museum doesn't allow pictures.... well this will be interesting... Hopefully I will have time/a good outfit post for tomorrow. Have a great day everyone!

Macro

Same old, same old. Packing for 4 months is hard when you only have one bag! Basic Banana Republic black long sleeve, Aeropostale (old) scarf, & INC straight leg jeans (old)

My beautiful and trustworthy shoes for Rome. I got them back in the States & they were mighty expensive, but they are great for those who have terrible flat feet or need extra support. Yes, you can purchase cute shoes at an orthopedic footwear store. Case & point.

On Friday I visited Macro, a modern art museum. We looked at two exhibits, one by Jimmie Durham & one by Pascale Marthine. Both were interesting. It is hard to appreciate modern art when you don't understand the meaning behind the pieces. It is good that I understood the background of the artists as well as what their art installations and pieces meant. Though I am not a fan of modern art, the meaning and messages that these artists were showing were pretty powerful.

This was a sound installation by Jimmie Durham. On the ladder there was a rock & the sound was breaking glasses. The significance was about how nature (rock) is unbreakable versus material and man made objects (broken glasses on floor & sound of glasses breaking). There must also be some meaning why the rock is up high on a ladder, probably that nature is higher and greater than material objects.

Also by Jimmie Durham, this Arc of Triumph emulates the great arcs within Rome or other cities, that were built for emperors, etc. when they did something amazing; i.e. winning a war. This one is, as the title said, "for personal use," hence the wheels to carry your personal triumph with you wherever you go. 

This was a huge graffiti wall with a red line running through it. It is by Pascale Marthine. There is a door that is drawn and the red line stops there. I guess that the line is holding back all the people and objects depicted from the door. Maybe something to do with moving on in your life and letting go of the past? I am unsure.

Clearly you can tell I liked this piece. This is by Pascale Marthine and called "Black Diamond." Marthine is from Cameroon, and as a child he was forced to work in the diamond mines. This piece represents the diamonds as cages, like the forcing of children to work in the mines with no escape. The small stones at the bottom represent the little that they would receive from the prison of the diamond mines. Again, I could be interpreting everything wrong, but with what my class discussed, and several people's research, I believe we are pretty accurate. 

Shopping in Rome

Yesterday I went to Porta di Roma, a shopping mall that is huge in Rome! We barely went through the entire mall, but I managed to buy some things. Recently, I have been leaning towards neutral colors, simple silhouettes, and a more "grown-up" style. I really like the idea of less is more, and would rather wear something that is more polished and timeless than what is in trend now. I would describe my style to be minimalistic, simple, and chic. Though I may not have all the wardrobe components to complete my desired style, I am working on obtaining more clothes. Though this sounds materialistic, I take careful planning to purchasing clothing articles, looking at prices and quality of the clothes, as well as factoring in if this is an essential item for my closet, or an extra that will be forgotten and discarded in a few months. With the help of my Pinterest style board and the Stylebook app, I have created a visual shopping list that helps me realize what my closet really needs, versus what I want. To be honest, this helps a lot, though it seems very tedious. I actually go through all my Pinterest boards on a regular basis to make sure I put things on I actually like, will read, or will do/make. It is a very OCD process, but cleaning out something like a visual list makes my life feel less stressful. 

Okay so lets get to the clothes;

 
I got this awesome edgy jacket from Pim Kie. I love the faux leather sleeves and the irregular zipper. It looks really cute open as well because the sides drape really nicely. 



I got this really soft and silky smooth top from Zara, which is definitely my new favorite store. This will look great with dark jeans, and could be casual or dressed up. I love the smooth and soft texture, it feels so nice on. 



This is a really nice, neutral colored sweater at Zara as well. I love the color and the cute little zipper detail in the back. It will be great for layering and with scarfs.



I really wanted to get a classic black & white striped long sleeve shirt, and this one is totally awesome. Zara has many other colors too. This one is organic cotton, though any cotton is fine with me. It will also be great for layering.



I also got this basic crew neck cardigan at Zara to go with many blouses I own, or to be worn on its own. I love having basics in my closet like black, tan and navy cardigans, to match any blouse or tee I have.



If you know me, I love grey. I love wearing grey too. This scarf at Zara was just calling my name. And it is better than wearing a plan grey tee shirt and calling that a complete outfit. Also, I hate how ridiculously priced scarfs are but this was just under $20 when converted from euros. I really like it and wore it over my long sleeve white tee today, and I put on my snazzy new jacket and looked super edgy and super European.  

My next goal for Italy shopping is to find some great fitting pants. I have four pairs of jeans here, and I would say one and a half fit well. I am also searching for pants that fit length wise, hip/waist, and flatter my non existent curves. I really want to find a better fitting black skinny jean, and at least one dark wash skinny. I have a pair of dark wash straight legs that I really like, but they don't fit right in the waist or length. I will probably try to get them fixed. My other jeans I have with me, one fits well, but is fading fast, my black jeans are not too great, and the last pair just aren't very comfortable fabric wise. Pants are definitely the hardest things I have to buy, I normal get frustrated  buy the pair that seems to fit, and then complain on my blog about how I hate my pants so much... Oh material objects...

Musei Vaticani

Today I visited the Vatican Museum. It was so huge, grand and amazing! I didn't expect the museum to be so full of statues and paintings, but it had thousands of things piled into room after room. The ceilings and walls of each room were so beautiful architecturally and were painted with frescoes or had some pretty detailing. Everything was so beautiful. Sistine Chapel was very nice too, it was weird because I expected it to be much bigger, but it was still awesome. I expect a lot of things to be huge, but in reality they aren't as big as I pictured, then I feel let down... Like the Laocoon sculpture pictured above and the chapel. But the one sight in Rome that moved me the most and brought tears to my eyes was the Trevi Fountain. I am definitely going back soon and will sit and stare at it for hours.... Overall I had a great day, some great gelato- mint chocolate chip & bacio (SO YUMMY), went shopping - bought nothing, and ate a lot of food; therefore I am stuffed and happy. Tomorrow I am going to Macro, a modern art museum for one of my classes. Again, I will try to post outfit pictures when possible, my outfits just don't seem too exciting though..

Valentine's Day & England

Sweater (old) Similar | Skinny Jeans Similar | 

On Thursday, a.k.a. Valentine's Day, I left for England with my friend and roommate Shani. We had an amazing time! We stayed in Cambridge and visited areas around there, including King's College and Suffolk County. We also went into London. It is so different seeing another European city after living in Rome for a month. I really liked London, but I would definitely have wished to be there for a couple of days to see more museums and historical sites. But, it was very nice and a good vacation away from Rome. Oh and the beautiful rose is not from a sweet Italian boy, but from another roommate, Lucy. She got all of us a red rose, so sweet!! The outfit above is my typical warm/plane ride outfit; thick sweater and skinny jeans with tall black boots. Perfecto.

Here are some pictures from London and Cambridge:

And that was Cambridge, Suffolk County & London in a nut shell... 
Now I am back in Rome... pity on me.. :]