Don't know much about history...

Thursday, August 17, 2006

Early morning wakeup today, 7:45 AM, (Riva time) and it was the first of many I predict. After a quick hygiene routine (shower, brush, floss, etc.), I walked over from my apartment (view from front door seen here) to the Villa (Yellow building on the far left) for some buffet style breakfast.




The food is great! They have all kinds of stuff to choose from, such as my staples: milk and cereal; oj; iced tea; coffee; yogurt; assorted fresh fruits; and freshly baked bread with choice of fruit jam or gnutella spread.

Anyway, after colazione(Italian for breakfast) everyone met in the main classroom for Orientation part 1. In this portion of orientation, we were given a plethora information on the history of the house and its ownership, the reason the region I am now residing in is a part of Switzerland and not Italy, how the abroad program ended up in Riva, and a bunch of other cool things about the local culture. Here are a few of the things I remember.

The abroad program CESA, or the Center for European Studies and Architecture, started off in Salzburg, Austria and was pretty successful for a few years. The professors wanted a more central location, however, and attempted to first move to North Switzerland. Because the location was in the city, the students never got a chance to connect to the culture, as they were constantly seeing different faces, and the learning experience dropped a large amount. So in the following years, they moved back to Austria, and then finally, down here to Riva in 1991, which is a very small town about 5 miles from the border of Italy.

Originally, the school was only an architecture program. It was changed to include business in 1993, and has continued here consecutively until now into its 13th year of existence.

The building itself was built in 1756 at the latest, at least that's what the owners can guess based on old records passed through the library that show it has existed. Regardless of definitive concrete age, the building is at a minimum 250 years old and is surprisingly in AMAZING shape structurally. It was bought in 1991 with no heat or water from an 80 year old couple who had lived here for several decades.

At the time, it was tattered and decrepit, but the staff here worked hard with the community and completely renovated the building. It looks great now, complete with refurbished paintings designed to give the appearance of three dimensions on a flat ceiling.







Oh, and one more really surprising thing. Virginia Tech President Charles Steger is the one that we students, professors, and assisting staff can thank for continued occupancy of the Villa in Riva San Vitale. He started the VT foundation for the Architecture department, and its funds pay the salaries and servicing fees associated with all things having to do with maintenance of the program.

The rest of today was spent continuing through the class portion of orientation, rules and regulations of the house, and fantastic meals provided by our in house chef, Luigi. More on that later...

For now, mind your Peace and Q's with love,
B Ezie