Rome, Day 4
Started off my day with another crappy shot of espresso, but it was worth it because our first media visit was my favorite one yet. We visited Arkage, a section of Art Attack Group. It’s a creative advertising and content marketing agency, and their office is the epitome of a creative office – plants, colors, artwork, and more all jumbled together. The pictures do NOT do it justice, but check them out to get a visual:
You should also check out their website if you’re into creative things and can appreciate a well-designed website: Art Attack Group – Arkage
This presentation was absolutely amazing, and I was so captivated the entire time. Three men presented to us – the cofounder, the chief executive officer, and the creative director. They had a great presentation prepared visually, and they all had such wonderful things to say. This agency is one of the top in Italy, despite being extremely small (40-some people!); some of their notable clients are Universal and Versace (pretty big deals!!!!).
I’m so tired writing this right now, so I really cannot do these guys justice, but they were so passionate and genuinely seemed to love their jobs so much. It’s so inspiring to see people talk about their jobs and how much they just love them. Mauro (center picture), the creative director, was literally busting at the seams while talking about his work, but not like a cocky prideful person, but like a child showing his crayon artwork to his parents after getting home from school. Federico (left picture), the CEO, was also so in love with his job, and him and Mauro seem to really work well together. (They kept joking about the right and left sides of the brain and how they are different but have to work together.)
Their agency inspires me, because they are actively trying to keep their work ethical, getting real people (not actors) for their content and making changes in their office to literally just make the world a better place. I think I always look at ads that say “real people, not actors” and just think they’re lying. But seeing these videos and hearing from the creative director himself that the people we saw were real was really cool. I JUST LOVED THEM ALL SO MUCH I CANNOT EXPLAIN TO YOU.
After the presentation was over, they treated us all to espresso (YAY), juice, and many little croissant snacks. I talked to Mauro and Federico for a long time about the agency, their education, their travels, etc. They were so kind, inquisitive, thoughtful, and informative. I don’t necessarily want to work at an ad agency, but meeting them, seeing their office, and experiencing what they do makes me wish I was more creative. (I’d move to Trastavere and learn the entire Italian language just to work with them.)
Okay, now I’m blushing. Moving on!
We had 40 minutes for lunch, so we grabbed some Italian street food and then our first round of gelato (nope, not yet…keep reading). I got strawberry and mango, and it was absolutely amazing. We then hopped on a bus and headed to La Repubblica, the daily newspaper of Rome. A lovely woman named Raffaella came to meet us and escorted us to a really cool room in their basement that had water, MORE espresso, and a very large screen made up of nine TVs. Raffaella and presentation pictured here:
This presentation was also fascinating (two great media visits in one day!). Raffaella, along with the social media manager of the newspaper, shared strategies, insights, and personal stories about journalism in Italy. They also seemed to be in love with their jobs (again – so inspiring). I found out very early on in my college career that journalism as a career is not for me. That being said, being a communications major and having the editor in chief of our school newspaper as one of my best friends (hint: it’s Emily) has really made me appreciate journalism (I was sitting next to said friend during this presentation, and she was feverishly writing notes and asked a lot of great questions). There was also a data journalist who came and spoke to us about the multimedia stories she had been working on – also incredibly fascinating.
After the presentation, they took us on a mini tour of the building (to the newsroom floor and the tv/video production floor). Similarly the Arkage office, the tv/video floor was made to keep the creative juices flowing. The way they decorated is honestly how I want my house one day. It looks like a bunch of successful Goodwill trips with tons of knick knacks, posters, lights, and books. Here are some pictures!
Cute, right? Just like the first media visit, everyone in the building just seemed to love their jobs. It wasn’t a newsroom like you see in those famous journalism movies, even though it is a daily publication. Putting together a newspaper is NOT easy and is normally super stressful and under the ever pressing thumb that is time itself. But everyone was calm and relaxed, just typing away at their computers. Loved that place.
After the media visits, we bussed back to the hostel and got ready for a night out in Rome. We had the night free, so Emily, Emily, Beth and I decided to take the public transportation into Rome to visit the Trevi Fountain again, eat some nice dinner, and find some quality dessert. With some instructions from our guides, Matteo and Andrea, we managed to buy our tickets and get into the city on our own. Then, by getting a map and asking a kind store owner for directions, we got ourselves to the Pantheon/Trevi Fountain area. We also managed to do this all in the pouring down rain. Our feet were constantly in puddles and we were very soaked. We were proud of ourselves!
We made it to a restaurant, ordered some food, and had a lovely dinner. Italians do not like to rush meal time, so we were there for probably close to an hour and a half, two hours. We decided to leave and get dessert somewhere else (we wanted even more gelato), so we asked for the bill, paid, and left to find some.
This is when the travesty occurred. I really would rather not talk about it, and since a picture is worth a thousand words, here’s this one:
The saddest little glop of gelato I’ve ever seen.
After we lamented the loss of my gelato, we found our way to Trevi Fountain (again by ourselves!!! It was not easy), and Em and I threw a coin into the fountain in hopes that some day, we will return to Rome (that’s the ancient tale!). It was even more beautiful at night, when we had not just come off of a 24+ hour travel like the first time. Just look how happy Em and I are in front of the beautiful fountain! So happy to be on this adventure with her. (also peep the rain water still on my jacket sleeve.)
After visiting Trevi, we decided to head back to the the hostel, because it was getting late and we knew we had a lot of work to do with blog posts and packing (tomorrow is our last day in Rome! so sad!). Again, we managed to find our way back to the bus stop completely on our own, and we were so proud of ourselves, because Italy (or Rome, at least), severely lacks effective street signage.
Now I’m sitting in my bed as two roommates sleep peacefully and I’m realizing just how tired I am. So, I’m sorry if none of this makes sense or it seems extremely jumbled and unedited. This one managed to be the longest blogs of them all so far, so THANK YOU for sticking around! (Shoutout to Hannah O’Toole.)
One media visit tomorrow, then we get to eat in Marlon Brando’s Roman apartment and take and Italian cooking class! Then we get one more night in Rome and we’re off to Assisi. Big things are to come! Until tomorrow.
Peace + love,
Carrie