Transitions from private to public realms and viceversa...

It's interesting to see how easily our private lives have been invaded by society when we are least aware of it because of how quickly we tune everything out around us. The two men talking on the phone both in the car and at the phone booth did not take notice to my presence because they were too wrapped up in conversation, however, I still felt guilty for essentially eavesdropping on their personal lives. I felt sort of uneasy knowing that these two men have no idea that they were ever photographed by me because it makes me wonder how often people are watching my every move. I remember one time I was sitting in a restaurant with a girlfriend of mine watching a woman try to parallel park her car while in the process hitting both cars parked in front and in back of her. We chuckled to ourselves...because somehow it made it all the more funny knowing that the woman in the car didn't know that we saw how terrible of a driver she was. Same case scenerio occurs all the time. It's a very scary thought. The image of the mirror was interesting to me because I personally am affected by it. The security guards have the ability to watch my every move from the moment I enter and leave the residence with the reflections of this mirror. However, when I'm in the comfort of my own home I don't ever have to worry about whether I stumble up my driveway or something else that is embarassing because there's no camera or mirror capturing my every move. On the reverse end of things, the park benches show how what was once public is now private. Now I presume that only certain people, perhaps those living in or visiting the establishment built here. I never saw a park bench enclosed...usually they are meant strictly for public purposes. I'm accustomed to seeing finer furnishings within an enclosement.

Invisible Cities...

My impression of invisible cities are aspects within a city that often times go unnoticed. So far I feel like my stay in Roma has been consumed with the array of beauty that exists in the landscape and architectural design,the unique cultural/social trends, and the Italian language. So I chose to take the more simple route in depicting what I think of when I hear invisible cities. I feel like it's the little things that most often get overlooked. I wanted to be able to shed some light on these invisiable cities that exist in our everyday encounters.

Two dogs (interesting how they are opposite one another in color) stare out the window of a parked car. They didn't make any noise, which was surprising to me because I've rarely seen a dog that doesn't bark when people are around. Much to my astonishment out of all of the dogs I've seen roaming the streets with their owners (which is very common I'm finding) only a select few have made the slightest sound. I was beginning to wonder if the people in this city have their dogs ingest some sort of relaxation medication haha. The only reason I happened to notice these two intriguing set of eyes was because I caught the motion of their heads hanging out the window.

Clearly the driver of this vehicle must either be a pet lover, or a woman. haha. I can't imagine a man putting a stuffed animal on his dashboard....it just doesn't sound very masculine. I chose this image because again when your walking down the street you don't typically have the incentive to look inside every car...but yet this stuffed animal says alot about the owner. From the gestures I've received from most Italian women, I wouldn't picture them to be so sentimental, which is kind of the impression this stuffed animal conveyed to me about the owner. Most women here come across as very aloof. In fact, I was kind of hoping the owner might have walked by while I was snapping the picture.

This photograph caught my eye because I found it intriguing that rather than tossing this piece of paper/trash on the ground (as most Italians seem to do since trash cans aren't very easily accessible here) he or she chose to stuff it behind this pipe. Was it put there with the intention of trying to conceal it? Was this person trying to be crafty? or maybe there wasn't any meaning behind it at all. In either case, it's not the typical place you would find a piece of paper.

Here I chose to take a picture of the reminents of a bird. First of all, I feel like birds themselves often go unnoticed in this city because although I hear them chirping in the wee hours of the morning I rarely see them flying or perhaps I'm just not looking hard enough. But in Philadelphia I feel like I'm practically dodging pigeons because they seem to "own" the streets of North Philadelphia. So I found this feather interesting because to me its like a trace of the never before seen...haha not quite. But you get my point.

Technology in Roma...

I found it interesting to track some of the, what I call, "foreign" technology I have discovered in Roma. By foreign I mean in some cases totally unique/original to anything I have ever seen before and in other cases I'm intrigued by how engraved this technology is into the culture here. It's part of their way of life.

This camera I discovered at our residencia just reminds me of this discussion we have been having on "public vs private." This image is a perfect example of how we live our lives in the public realm more often than we think. While it serves a useful purpose of protection, it also is in a sense a technique of spyware...your every move is captured on tape. It makes me feel violated when I think about it because I feel like the meaning of the word privacy is quickly fading until eventually the private realm will be nonexistent.


When I first looked at this technological advancement I was uncertain exactly of what it was. Come to find out, it's a wheelchair accessible system. It's interesting because you would never see something like this in the U.S. with so many buttons and so ackwardly shaped. It just goes to show how much more advanced our country is.




Although we have vespas in the U.S. they definately aren't as prevalent as they are here in Roma. I find this to be ironic because in most cases the U.S. is ahead of other countries with technology. I feel like Vespas are just now starting to become popular in the U.S. In Philadelphia students are just beginning to purchase them over cars. Here Vespas are clearly more practical since the streets are so narrow making it easy to navigate through the city.

I found this image to be especially intriguing because first of all although they have stop lights here, they aren't as heavily enforced as in the U.S. I once witnessed intentionally run a read light and in the process almost collide into an oncoming train. Also I've found that green does not actually mean walk here...it means "walk at your own risk"..because cars don't always stop and yield to padestrians. It's also interesting because to signal when people can cross the street they have these people in the stop light as seen to the left. In the U.S. it's different...we have the audio sound of the chirping bird that you press or sometimes a separate flashing light.

What I carry with me...
A trillion pens ...lie stashed within the front pocket of my bookbag at all times. I seem to have an obsession with writing utensils because I have the worst short term memory, so I' m constantly misplacing my pens. To compensate, I'm always purchasing more and grabbing a handful of all the free-bees I come across. But, since I have a habit of chewing on the ends of my pens half of my collection has become useless. But rather than throwing them away I end up tossing them back into my bag, which only creates more of a headache for myself.I end up having to repeatedly perform "trial and error" everytime I try to write with one.

This habit might very well mislead people into thinking that I'm a very unorganized person, when in fact I rely almost entirely on my weekly planner. My trip in Roma has been a perfect example of this. I made it a point the second night I was here to sit down with my roommate Julie and plan out the dates for each of our trips over the course of this summer abroad period. Although we've made some adjustments here and there our friend Brandon is amazed at how well we are on top of things. From Venice, to Capri, to Barcelona we have arranged a trip for every weekend so that we can make the most of our time and experience here. I am anxious to begin our first journey to Ostia this weekend where we plan to soak up the sun by day and party on the sandy shores by night ...and the party won't stop until seven in the morning. Admist all this bliss I will be thinking to myself life can't get any better than this.