Mark Conlan is a very talented illustrator based in Melbourne, Australia. He does a lot of conceptual illustrations for editorial and advertising campaigns. He has worked for a lot of big names such as, The New York Times, Airbnb and Etsy. I really like the style of his characters and keeps each illustration fun and playful with the use of vibrant colours.

Images from Mark's website and instagram 
http://markconlan.com/ 
​https://www.instagram.com/markconlan/?hl=en

Things to see...
The Trevi Fountain
If you don't see anything else, make sure that you see The Trevi Fountain. It is a huge, beautiful fountain that looks amazing both at day and night, although it can get very busy with tourists. There are also some great bars and restaurants along the little side streets leading to the fountain.
It took 30 years to build and was finally finished in 1762, Nilcola Salvi was commissioned by the Pope at the time to work on the Trevi fountain. Construction started in 1732 and Salvi sadly died in 1751 meaning that he never saw it finished. 

The Colosseum
The Colosseum, also known as the Flavian Amphitheatre was where gladiators would fight each other and even wild animals. Thousands of spectators would come to watch, the colosseum could hold between 50,000 to 80,000 people. Since it was built in 70-80 AD it is amazing that it is still standing!

The Spanish Steps
The Spanish Steps as seen in Audrey Hepburn's Roman Holiday (image below). There are 135 steps to be exact! They were built to link the Trinità dei Monti church at the top of the steps and the Spanish Square below. This is the place to go for shopping, as there are many high fashion designer brands stores in the square.

Vatican City
​Vatican City is an independent state located in the city of Rome. The borders are just 1.9 miles long and a population of only 1,000 people, home to the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church headquarters.
Within the Vatican are many religious and cultural sites such as St. peter's Basilica, the Sistine Chapel and the Vatican Museums. They feature some of the world's most famous paintings and sculptures.

Things to do...
- Rent Bikes, it is really easy through the oBike app. Rome has thousands of yellow bikes dotted all over the city, all you need to do is scan the QR code on the bike and off you go. It's only 50c per 30mins, this makes getting around a lot quicker and you get to see a different side to Rome.
- Ride in a tuk tuk, we rode in a tuk tuk from the Colosseum to the Trevi fountain and it was only 15 euros and the guy was great.
- Get a caricature done by the Trevi fountain
- Explore the streets of Trastevere, this is the old town and more where the locals live, rather than a touristy area. The quaint streets and restaurants allow you to see what Rome is really like, plus it really comes alive at night!
- Eat lots of pizza and pasta!

Caramella, Trastevere.
Amazing cocktails and bar staff

NTU is AMAZING, I can't recommend it enough. If you're thinking of going to Trent, GO, because there is not one bad thing to say about it. It has great nightlife, one year on I still haven't been to even half of the bars/clubs/restaurants. What I liked about Nottingham from the first time I went there is the atmosphere and for a relatively small city there is always so much going on. Trent has a great location, right in the city centre which is rare. This means that you will most likely save so much money on travel compared to other unis, which is obviously great when you're on a student budget! I've met some of the nicest people and made lifelong friends. Trent has fab facilities and great trips including NYC! Trent has an amazing community spirit (and a bit of rivalry against Uni of Nottingham) which makes Varsity events way more interesting and Trent has actually recently been rated higher in The Guardian newspaper University score boards than Uni of Notts (yay) and we won University of the Year this year.

Words and photos by me.

The Design Museum held an exhibition on how graphic design and technology have played a pivotal role in the reaction to the politics of our time. It was so interesting and it is still on until 12th August 2018. The exhibit covered many current topics such as Donald Trump, Brexit and Grenfell Tower. 

This famous poster was designed by Shepard Fairey in 2008. The name of this exhibition is a play on this poster. As it was titled 'Hope' while Obama was campaigning and renamed to Hope to Nope following the change in approach that we have seen since Donald Trump took over.

All-Seeing Trump Machine
Launched a month before the 2016 presidential election, this 'misfortune' telling machine aimed to give voters a taste of having Donald Trump as president before he was elected. It was intended to be creepy and say inappropriate things. Created by Andy Dao, Nathaniel Lawlor, Jon Barco, Byron Denman. 

There was a huge wall of witty Trump posters, mainly focussing on his hair and orange-ness.

To find more information about this exhibition and buy tickets, click this link.

​http://designmuseum.org/exhibitions/hope-to-nope-graphics-and-politics-2008-18?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=HopetoNope_AdWords&gclid=Cj0KCQjw3v3YBRCOARIsAPkLbK6hUKJ5VyCvz0x2lu3kL-aLAEK-0Qq40rV_pgQkSpMwfBTx88YH_G8aAnGcEALw_wcB