A Semester In Florence

Is There a Part II?

2011-03-09T16:00:00.002+01:00

Wow... I honestly never thought that I would be returning to this blog and that it would slowly disappear as my travels (and I suppose life in general) moved forward. But rather than starting yet another blog, I decided that if my adventures in Florence were to continue, that I would simply rename this and continue my story here.

A couple of weeks ago I sent in my application for a TA position at SACI, the school I went to while I lived in Italy. Basically, I would have Libby's job (for those of you who've read this and know who Libby is). I'm desperately hoping, wishing, and dreaming that I get this job as it would give me the opportunity to go back and live in Florence for a whole year. Not only this, but I would also be working with one of the coolest professors I've ever studied under.

I don't think I'll find out the result of my application until May, but I have put aside some aspirations of mine while I wait for the response. If I do go back over in August, I'll start posting here again... although I think it'll be a little bit different from my previous posts from 2009.

So here's to the wait and the possibility to live abroad again. Let's see what comes of it!

Alright… Back Over The Pond – 27 April, 2009

2009-05-19T00:58:00.003+02:00

Well, it came and it went… really quickly. I went from Firenze to Munich, from Munich to New York City, from New York City to Rochester all in one day. Somehow. That’s a really long time to be on a plane!
Now that I’m back in the states, I do feel a bit of “culture shock,” but it’s not “I can’t handle this” culture shock, it’s the “I’m really gonna miss that place” culture shock.
The first thing I noticed aside from the whole Italian vs. English thing was the different sound of sirens. Yes, the sirens are annoying, but they’re so different in both countries!
I also miss my daily coffees with Davide e Angelo – they made the perfect caffè lattes.
But mostly I’m gonna miss my photo peeps. We were all so incredibly different from one another but we were always able to help each other out with anything.
I am so incredibly happy that I rediscovered that little secret passion of black and white photography – and I’m so happy I rediscovered it in a place that I can definitely go back to no matter what.
Italia is an incredible place, but you need more than a week to see it. There’s the tourist Italy and there’s the real Italy where people don’t speak English but are still able to understand you. And even after living there for four months, there still is SO much to see over there!!!

We're Goofy People at SACI

2009-05-19T00:58:00.001+02:00

Nickname: Shmoh-Shmey-Oh

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"Painter John"

2009-05-19T00:53:00.002+02:00

The End? What? Really? – 26 April, 2009

2009-05-19T00:52:00.002+02:00

I don’t think I could’ve asked for a better day as my last day in Firenze con Libby. It was a bit chilly and overcast outside, but no matter… we couldn’t have had a better time!
We woke up and ventured out into the world quite early for a Sunday morning – no one was out yet… or they were in church.
Libby showed me this awesome little stall that sold fabulous shoes for only €10… um – GREAT STEAL! Yeah, so I got a great pair of wedges. And we continued to wander through the market after Libby got her pair of shoes in search for a few last-minute gifts. I really do like that market despite the fact that it’s a huge tourist trap.
We got a cup of coffee then went back to the alumni center since everything was closing up for the afternoon siesta. Aside from checking e-mails, we watched the fantastic Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix until 16:00. By this time, Libby showed me some fantastic, old-school paper and pen shops where I finally found a “DH” seal and sealing wax – wow – I love these sorts of stores, they make me so happy.
By this time it had started to rain a little bit, but the sudden appearance of Firenze’s entire troops of La Polizia and I Carabineri sparked a funny little conversation between Libby and me. It’s true, though! About 90% of the law enforcement in Italy is so bloody attractive it’s not even funny. Apparently they’re supposed to be so they represent the classic honor of being a cop or soldier… or something like that. I can’t remember EXACTLY what Libby said.
Somehow, it magically happened to be 20:00, so Libby and I went back to her place for the night where she made exquisite pasta and we talked for a good two hours.
I think that’s what I’ll miss a great deal of when I go back to the states – being able to sit down to a great dinner with great friends and just spending time eating and talking – that’s the way it should be!
Wow, what a great day! I can’t believe it’s actually the last day… SO weird! But I do have to get up at 5:00 tomorrow morning, so it’s time to get to bed after a fantastic day of walking everywhere.

From Edinburgh Back to Firenze – 25 April, 2009

2009-05-19T00:52:00.001+02:00

This last morning in Edinburgh was quite relaxed and very chill – which is just the way I like to depart a place. Breakfast was super nice and everything got packed away so I could take an empty suitcase back to Firenze.
Got to Edinburgh Airport a bit before noon and made my way to the gate. And thank god I brought my book with me ‘cause that plane ride would’ve felt way too long otherwise.
I forgot how silly and almost tacky Ryan Air was – but they do have good service that you have to pay for if you so desire it. They also sell special-made Ryan Air scratch cards so you can play the lotto while you’re waiting for the plane to land.
We finally got into Pisa at 17:00-ish and I still had to take an hour-long train ride back to Firenze.
When I got back and put my bag away, Libby and I went out and had a fantastic dinner at a little restaurant that I never knew existed. It was incredible – best four-cheese gnocchi ever! Yeah… by the time we were done, we figured we’d go back to Libby’s place to read and crash – everything would be done tomorrow when shops and stuff were open.

I'll Live Here

2009-05-19T00:50:00.002+02:00

Can You Say... "DRAMA?"

2009-05-19T00:46:00.001+02:00

A Fantastic Twelve Hours – 24 April, 2009

2009-05-19T00:41:00.002+02:00

I remember the lights turning on this morning at 4:45. It’s funny… I’ve been complaining about getting up at 7:30 or whatever… but before five, that’s really tough. Anyway – we all sort of fumbled around in early morning tiredness and made it through to the bus station at 8:00. Our bus left at 8:15.
For serious, this tour was something incredibly awesome and I’m not a big fan for going on group tours. Of course, we left from Edinburgh and drove up to a little area called Doune – we didn’t really go through a true town, but everything that was there was absolutely gorgeous. After an hour and a half we stopped at a place in Doune that was mostly a sheep farm but also had a little caffè and a huge antique/gift shop. There were so many little lambs out in the pastures my mom and I almost had a heart attack and for sure I got loads of pictures of them running around.

From here we all swapped buses – a group from Glasgow had joined us here – and we continued on up towards a town called Callendar. This is where Sir Walter Scott was from and described it a lot in his writings. Of course, this made it quite touristy but whatever – what made me excited was the transition up into the Highlands. Right outside of Callendar there was a windy road that suddenly climbed these mountains. What was even more bizarre was that we passed this invisible line that marked an immediate transition from the lowlands to the highlands – everything changed: the trees, the rocks, the weather, the people. In fact, just was we crossed this border, a local totally flipped us off as we passed his driveway. Haha… oh, highlanders.

I lasted about another two hours watching the land go by. I can not tell you how dramatically this country changes in just an hour’s drive! We entered the highlands, and yes there were hills and mountains. When we got to Rannoch Moore – oh my god. I will have to go back and get a rent-a-car because this place was too gorgeous to not photograph. With much shame, I couldn’t keep my eyes open and fell asleep for about an hour. And when I woke up I saw the most incredible scenery! Lucky for me, the bus pulled over and let us check everything out for about fifteen minutes.
Now was when we would drive through Glen Coe and start seeing a million and a half lochs – amazing!
Fort William was a nice place, but Loch Ness was a bazillion times better. I really never thought that I would be standing at Urquhart Castle gazing over age-old castle railings across Loch Ness. Maybe it’s because we actually took a boat across the loch, but Loch Ness really is a little bit creepy in a cool sort of way. I mean, the water is legitimately black… lakes typically don’t have BLACK water.

From Loch Ness we went up to Inverness and spent an hour wandering around, grabbing a bite to eat, and taking in a small portion of the city. I really wish, though, that we had more time there.
Now was the time to start heading back down to Edinburgh… and we only had one stop between there and Inverness in a place called Perthshire just north of Perth. I’m glad we got to stretch our legs and we also got some shortbread biscuits and fudge – both locally made. After we bough this, my mum and I found a pasture two steps down the road and made friends with an absolutely adorable sorrel horse who we named Rusty. He tried one of our biscuits and didn’t like it too much but still enjoyed scratches and pats on the face.
I think we rolled into the bus station around 20:30-20:45 – that’s twelve hours of driving, well… riding, around the country! And I’m so glad we went on that tour – we wouldn’t have seen that much of the country if we hadn’t gone.
At least I don’t have to get up at the crack of dawn tomorrow… my flight doesn’t leave ‘till 1:15 – YAY!

Seeing Edinburgh – 23 April, 2009

2009-05-12T16:11:00.001+02:00

Today was the necessary Edinburgh day – I mean, ya gotta have it somewhere in the schedule…. It was a nice, slow morning, though and despite my many cups of coffee I still couldn’t wake up properly. It’s alright, though, it’s not like I was in zombie-mode and couldn’t function.
Because we walked across half of Scotland yesterday, we decided to hike a part of Arthur’s Seat so we didn’t leave the most exhausting part of the trip for last. Arthur’s Seat is on the same side of Edinburgh as the castle – you can’t miss it, really. On the walk over there we saw this really ugly modern building amongst all of the old-school Scottish buildings. This ugly concrete thing was the Edinburgh Parliament Building and right next to it, obviously gated, was the Queens residence in Edinburgh.
If Law Hill was a beast to hike, Arthur’s Seat was a bitch. We also found out towards the end of our hike that we had taken the service road and nothing close to a hiking trail. Still, the hike was beautiful and the views were stunning! And the hike down was a reward – all steep, downhill slopes where all you had to do was make sure you didn’t slide off the edge.
After this we definitely needed food like no one’s business. In order to get to the Castle from Arthur’s Seat we needed to walk up the Royal Mile – well, it was the most direct route anyway… talk about a tourist trap – this ridiculously long road is full of international people and silly shops. Let’s just say Anthony Bourdain would avoid this road even if his life depended on it. I mean, really, it wasn’t that bad, but I hate being stuck in mobs of tourists with maps and cameras staring at the sky and not knowing where they’re going. My mum spotted a little caffè/restaurant that existed through a little tunnel and in its own little courtyard. If this place was a pub, I have a feeling that it would be a lot cooler than it already was – it’s dark, cabin-esque, and quite cozy. And, of course, I can’t remember the name of it to save my life.
Onward bound, we finally made it up to Edinburgh Castle. Compared to the castle we saw yesterday, this place was huge and has obviously gone through restoration after restoration. And SO MANY TOURISTS! That’s alright, though, there weren’t as many as there are in front of the Duomo every morning. There were more museum qualities involved with Edinburgh Castle: I got to see Scotland’s Crown Jewels (um… AWESOME!), the grand hall, some bed chambers and private rooms… yeah, it was lovely. And everything was so clean and well kept…. There was a small dog cemetery dedicated to important peoples’ canine companions that was very cute with all its blooming flowers. Yeah… it was a neat castle.
When we were done there, my Dad wanted to go to a specific sore to get a sweater. We found the bus stop to get to this store. After a while of searching in false direction, we got on the bus and got dad his stuff at the shop.
It was getting late in the day and we were getting quite a bit tired from walking almost everywhere the past two days. So we all got on the number eight bus and went back to the apartment. Of course, we were hungry and thankfully got some take-out Indian food and wine.
A lot was done today and though it seemed to go by quickly, I felt as though we really had the time to enjoy everything thoroughly.

A Preview of the Base of Law Hill

2009-05-04T15:29:00.001+02:00

More Coastal Walk

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A Vault in Dirleton Castle

2009-05-04T15:27:00.001+02:00

Along the Coastal Walk

2009-05-04T15:20:00.000+02:00

Mid-Hike, Law Hill

2009-05-04T15:19:00.002+02:00

Where the Locals Go – 22 April, 2009

2009-05-04T15:15:00.003+02:00

I woke up with sunshine blasting through my window thinking that I had slept in so incredibly late that we wouldn’t be able to do anything. It was 6:37.
My parents and I had decided to take a train somewhere this morning and supposed that we would find out exactly where to go once we got to the train station. At quarter to 9:00 we asked an info guy at the tracks where he thought we should go, so he recommended Sterling or North Berwick. We chose North Berwick and got tickets then hopped on the train give minutes later on platform 11.

North Berwick is a neat little town about 40 minutes train ride south east of Edinburgh with a neat little down-town and beautiful beaches. After arriving we walked down to the town center to find a good place to have breakfast and found something called Buttercup Caffè. I think I was the only person in there under the age of 35 which was rather funny. My breakfast at the Buttercup Caffè was amazing! A fresh scone with fruit in it topped with butter, jam, and homemade cream – who could beat that?
Our next adventure was to hike Law Hill just south of the town. This thing was a beast to climb but was absolutely gorgeous! It was definitely a great opportunity to take some color and black and white film and digital photos – and this opportunity slowed down the hike quite a bit. Whatever.
On our way up we ran into a group of hiking Scots, all kicking out asses despite their age – and all of them were so nice! At the top was an arch supposedly made of two whale bones and a little ruined look-out building. It was gorgeous up there – on one side you saw the town and on the other there were all of these rolling farm fields… some with cows!

After taking even more photos we went back down and walked to the towns little harbor. It was super pretty: little red buildings, sailboats on the water, a really nice beach, and a blue sky. Can’t get much better than that. From here we walked down the beach a ways and had lunch by a golf course on some rocks. Pears, cheese, and bread is always tasty without a doubt.

Dying to see some castles, we walked westward along the beach for a good distance. For some reason, it seemed to take forever – and with good reason… we walked three or four miles away from town. The body of water we walked towards is called Yellowcraig – Dirleton Castle is just south of it.
To get to the castle from the beach we walked a lovely trail through woods, fields, and neighborhoods. And once you got to the castle, you knew it. The entrance was a very well-kept part that met a giant wall made of stone. We walked in and my parents got a three-day pass so we could to into any castle in Scotland we pleased. It was a really good deal considering what we’re able to see!

Dirleton Castle is beautiful and is luckily not overrun by tourists and shops. It was really neat to see because all of the rooms were left “as is” – nothing fancy was going on inside, just lovely, old, unfurnished rooms that people used to wander through years and years ago. There was even a pigeon house that was used for people to collect pigeon poop to use in a recipe for gun powder – yum. And I guess the gardens on the castle grounds have to most plentiful variety of herbs in the world, which is pretty cool.
Speaking of plants, there were a few trees towards the exit called Monkey Puzzle Trees. They're some of the weirdest plants I've ever seen and were named with the idea of a monkey being able to climb it but not being able to get back down. Its leaves have spikes that point upwards on the tips and they're quite sharp!

From here we caught a bus back to North Berwick and got on a train somewhere around six. But first, I got some proper ships at a fish and chip shop and they were absolutely perfect - just what I had been looking for since I've been in Scotland!
Once we got back to the apartment in Edinburgh, we started dinner: steak and vegetables. It was really good considering the fact that I haven't had steak in almost forever. By the time we finished dinner, we were all exhausted from running around today, so we watching some BBC news and some clips on YouTube, then went to bed.

A Bit of Edinburgh

2009-05-04T15:14:00.002+02:00

From Milano to Edinburgh – 21 April, 2009

2009-05-04T15:13:00.000+02:00

Why, oh why didn’t I get up at 7:30 instead of 7:00? WHY?! It’s not like I didn’t have time this morning before catching the shuttle to Malpensa Airport. Whatever… when I got there I went to the check-in counter, got my ticket, and was thankfully allowed to take two carry-ons instead of just one. Score.
After going through security and all that fun airport stuff, I got myself a much needed cornetta con crema and a caffè latte, and because my plane didn’t board ‘till 10:45, I got to chill at the bar with my Italian travel mates.
The plane ride wasn’t that bad at all – listening to music and sleeping kills a two hour plane ride pretty quickly. Before I knew it we were flying over Edinburgh – and what a pretty sight it was! Scotland from an areal view is awesome – you’ve got really lush green rolling hills and fields everywhere briefly interrupted by a giant rock-type-hill thing. Cool stuff, for sure.
Going through customs was only slightly intimidating… I filled out my customs card and got questioned by the customs official. He was scary, I’ll leave it at that – despite all those cool Scottish words and ways of speaking. For a moment, I seriously didn’t know if he’d let me into the country, haha, but I got through.
The bus ride from the airport to the city center was so much fun! Needless to say I laughed a little bit when I saw signs that said “Drive on the left” when we left the airport. So how does one describe Edinburgh? I don’t know how I imagined Scotland to look, but I guess it looked “more English” than I supposed when I rode the bus from the airport to Waverly Station. There’s big stone buildings everywhere, rod-iron fences, and pretty little gardens everywhere. And it’s SO much bigger than Florence, I didn’t know what to do with myself.
I was supposed to meet my parents at a little caffè in Waverly Station, but after waiting for forty-five minutes with no sign of them, I took a cab to the apartment they’re renting for ₤4-something, put my bags down, still didn’t find them, and took the number eight bus back to Waverly. Here, my camera bag and I got a sandwich and a caffè latte, sat down on a bench and waited. I finally did find my parents a little while later, got a week-long Edinburgh bus pass, and returned to the apartments.
After getting all of the necessary things settled in, we went out in search for a wee bit of food and managed to find a butcher and a small grocery store that had lots of fresh veggies and some other necessary things.
Instead of cooking dinner, though, we went out to down-town Edinburgh and found a pub/restaurant to feast at. I had the fish and chips that I had been craving and a Carona – can’t get any better than that for your first night out in Scotland!
And the fact that the weather was awesome and there were live performers out playing bagpipes and guitars equals awesome.
After dinner we decided to go take a bus to a place called Trinity. I have no idea why we did, but why not? Right?
Trinity turned out to be this little residential area with really pretty houses that had immaculate gardens. We started to walk back to the apartment because our bus didn’t go any further and explored as we went. It really was a nice sort of suburb of Edinburgh. After this and after we got back to the apartment, I totally passed out in bed – as fun as traveling is, it’s also very tiring! And I must say that this giant double bed is awesome compared to my old twin bed in Italia.

Quick Break and a Chat

2009-05-04T15:12:00.002+02:00

From Firenze to Milano – 20 April, 2009

2009-05-04T15:12:00.001+02:00

My last day in Firenze with all of my SACI peeps started at 7:30 this morning. Guh… after going to bed at 2:00 I felt as though I had only started to sleep. Somehow I showered, finished my last-minute packing, took out trash, made coffee, and helped clean all by 8:35. Cool. We were supposed to leave our apartments by nine and I had time to spare… yay!
Jess and I split a taxi to SACI because lugging several bags through the San Lorenzo leather market would suck and we would get absolutely everything there in one go. Here, I met up with Katie and intended to go to Mailboxes, Etc. with her and her roommates. It’s funny, though, when you drink a lot of caffeine and don’t eat much… it really makes you feel like you’re going crazy! Anyway, I went back to SACI to finish some e-mailing and met them at a caffè later on, which was lovely.
So my day continues at SACI with assisting Katie in the voyage that is going through her artwork, working with silly but necessary computer stuff, and reading. At one point Libby and I went to her gelateria and she cheered me up because I was feeling particularly down about leaving. Thank god Libby has this unworldly talent of making people feel incredibly happy.
One more hour at SACI… guh… I hated thinking about it. BUT – I got to spend it with Katie, Libby, and Kaz, which was basically the happiest thing ever – so yeah! Really, not being able to see these people before I left would’ve sucked. I can’t believe it’s going to be the last time seeing all of them for quite a while!
At 17:00, it was off to Firenze SMN… I caught my train at 17:19 and began my two hour ride to Milan… as usual, the ride was gorgeous and I even got to sleep a little bit which as quite lovely!
Once at Milano Centrale, I caught a bus to Malpensa. Milan is bloody huge and doesn’t have all of that old-school charm like several towns and cities in Tuscany – and the overcast, rainy skies didn’t help much.
Forty minutes later, I was in Malpensa catching a cab to my hotel. I am so glad this hotel is where it was because it was so incredibly quiet. And I got to watch BBC World News and fall asleep in an incredibly comfortable bed. A whole new adventure begins tomorrow.

COFFEE!!!

2009-05-04T15:11:00.000+02:00

Short and to the Point – 19 April, 2009

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Is it bad that all I can remember doing today was me packing everything I owned, putting my bag in Libby’s apartment, and finishing off the food in Katie’s apartment while watching the cuteness that is “The Holiday?”
Yeah… that’s what happened… haha.

People Are Leaving? – 18 April, 2009

2009-05-04T15:10:00.001+02:00

Destiny had to peace out to the airport at 4:45 this morning and I somehow was able to get out of bed and help them do stuff. I think the funniest part was when Jay got a mosquito bite on her lower lip and looked like she had gotten a bad lip job. It was so funny because it was so swollen, but she obviously wasn’t too happy about it. Haha. I then found my bed, somehow, and fell asleep again ‘till 9:30.
I really had no clue what to do this morning. I felt like going back to sleep but couldn’t because I couldn’t fall back asleep, and I wasn’t “with it” enough to read The Other Boleyn Girl, so I decided to start the morning with a cup of coffee and get a lot of my shit together to start packing. I’m holding off with all of my clothes because I’m going to take all of my dirty stuff over to the Laundromat tomorrow and pack everything clean. Woohoo!
At one point in time I eventually made it to SACI with my laptop to upload some photos. Unfortunately, I didn’t get everything uploaded because it takes bloody FOREVER! I made a video, though, from when the lot of us went up to Fiesole and that was fun. And then Bradley let me download his “American Boy” dance video onto my computer, which was awesome. I’m going to be watching this video in two or three months down the road and will be crying because I’ll miss SACI so much.
So yeah, after all this was over, Libby, Anne (not Hawaii), and I walked to Katie’s so I could pick up some stuff I had accidentally left last night. During this visit I also discovered that Katie got accepted into Maryland’s Art Honors program! She had been stressing about this so much and I was so glad that she had gotten in! Yay!!!
Briefly, I departed from Katie’s apartment to go back to mine to get some things and to leave some things… a fair swap. I returned to Katie’s and joined her in eating left-overs while watching Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix. It was all good, chill, necessary fun and I’m so glad that I got to spend time with Katie!
I think I’m going to enjoy the rest of the evening to myself… as much as I want to spend time with people, no one’s got enough energy to really go out and do stuff. Totally fine because I have no money to spend on that sort of stuff, haha.
Tomorrow I will have to finish packing and take my one bag to Libby’s to stay hidden and super safe while I’m in Scotland. I can’t believe I go the day after tomorrow! That’s nuts! Alrighty then – unless anything exciting happens, this is it for tonight! Ciao for now.

Every Monday and Wednesday at 13:00

2009-05-04T15:09:00.001+02:00

The Closing Party – 17 April, 2009

2009-05-04T15:08:00.001+02:00

Woke up this morning with a new back thanks to Cecilia’s not-so-flat pull-out couch. It was like sleeping on one of those beds that electronically adjusts to any upside-down angle you could ever imagine. And it felt food.
Cecilia and I went to grab coffee at the Dealers – I needed some quite badly for some reason this morning. And then it was promptly off to the Design Center to take out History of Photo exam. It’s funny, I don’t feel like I studied very much even though I spent a few days going over material, but I feel like I know a lot of stuff and believe that I did really well. I guess I’ll know when we get our grades back in May/June.
I’M FINALLY DONE WITH ALL OF THESE BLODDY EXAMS! DONE, DONE, DONE! It’s weird though, because I still feel like I have shit to do… more slides to study, more drawings to make, but nope! I decided I would celebrate this grandness by going into the photo room and finishing Neither Here nor There. And wow was that nice!
After I had finished said book, Romeo walked in and Katie and I chatted with him for a little while… it was funny ‘cause Katie’s making a little end-of-the-semester video and she wanted to get Romeo on it saying a few things. Of course, he didn’t want to be taped because he wanted to think about what to say. Katie worked her magic and in the end, got what she wanted.
Some time passed and Katie, Libby, and I wanted cibo. So we went to Antellessi and got some – three little dishes of amazing flavor that led to good conversation accompanied by a craft of white wine. Ohm nom nom? And then we got gelato at Libby’s gelato store and it was amazing!
By this time Katie had to desperately pee, so we went to Chiaro Scuro to let our darling friend be relieved – Katie and Libby got coffee afterwards.
I was desperado for some color film, Libby wanted some medium format stuff, and Katie, too, wanted film. Libby had to go to school to prepare for the farewell party, so Katie and I ventured to MB. Can I even describe my excitement for my newly acquired color medium format film? I don’t think I can. Hopefully there will be a place in Rochester that can process it for me.
A quick trip back to the apartment to change my stinky clothes and I was ready for the action that was SACI’s closing party. It was fun – all us silly photo people brought fifteen million cameras and took pictures of everything. Score.
It was a fun party and I somehow found myself with three bottles of Spumante at Katie’s house. One and a half of those bottles were consumed by moi. Yes, it was a good night. We all sat around the house and talked about seriously random stuff until one-something in the morning. I knew it was time to sleep when I literally had a full REM cycle sitting up and leaning my head against my wrist. Yeah, so Libby, Kaz, and I walked home together and I fell asleep at 2:45.

Angelo, The Coffee Man

2009-04-29T22:14:00.001+02:00

The Day I Lost and Gained Something at the Same Time – 16 April, 2009

2009-04-29T22:13:00.001+02:00

Today was one of those gratifyingly long days and I was so happy to have it so.
Really, I had to craziest alarm to wake me up this morning. Destiny had already gotten out of bed and as I rolled over to snooze for fifteen more minutes, I heard Lauren say quite loudly and panicky “Shit, shit, shit, shit!” promptly responded by Destiny’s “GO! Just go!” I thought someone was on fire or something, so I ran out of the room and found out that Lauren was late for her Helen exam. Okay, now it all made sense… RUN LAUREN, RUN!
I lazed around and wrote letters ‘till 10:20 then decided to go make my down payment on my box. Desperately hoping that it wasn’t closed, I walked down to Piazza Ghiberti. SCORE! IT WAS OPEN! I excitedly walked in and explained my situation to the guy behind the desk. He pointed over my left shoulder and said “Questa è la sua?” I turned around to see what he was pointing at. The box that I ordered, the one that was supposed to be ready on Saturday, was finished! YES! I paid for it and skipped all the way home. Only not really ‘cause I don’t skip anymore and I was headed to SACI and not my apartamento.
I sat in SACI to study History of Photo until my ceramics critique at 13:00. Really, I did study… but I was glad when I got a break to run down to ceramics. My critique went well… I got an A on my final written exam and Lisa liked my mugs despite the lack of photo decals. It’s funny because the critique ended after a conversation about how I didn’t want to leave Firenze interrupted by a random mother of some prospective student who was checking out the school for her child. Um… awkward.
After critique I got some bread, cheese, and pears for lunch and dinner. They were yummy. And guess what? I studied for history of photo!
Somewhere around 15:30, I convinced Libby to come with me to Fossi to pick up my matted and framed print. Oh my god… it was BEAUTIFUL! Definitely the perfect gift for Romeo.
When Libby and I got back to SACI we found Katie and got a cheap glad of wine – just what Katie needed after a Helen exam. It was now time for our last photo class ever with Romeo.
The final critique went well… I do wish that I had a bit more constructive criticism – for some reason people seem to go quiet when they look at my photos and I still don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. But my project also seemed to be the only one that was done solely for me – I was selfish for the subject of my photos this time ‘round. It was weird when everything was over with… like, what? I gave Romeo his photo and mug and hugged just about everyone and their mother a million times before everyone parted ways.
I’m staying at Cecilia’s tonight so we can study for history of photo – our exam is tomorrow morning bright and early at 10:00. Her apartment is really nice – you have to climb the Spanish Steps of a stairwell to get there, but it’s lovely. I made soup and bread and pears with cheese on top for dinner. It was mucho yummy.
Now it’s late and I’m going to continue to study for a bit longer before crashing. Ta for now

This. Is. Katie.

2009-04-29T22:12:00.000+02:00

Drawing Sincerely Frustrates Me – 15 April, 2009

2009-04-29T22:11:00.001+02:00

Unfortunately I had to wake up early this morning in order to get to the design center at 9:00 so I could print out all of my drawing photos to make the book for my critique. Bleh… it made me especially sad when the paper I bought didn’t dry fast enough and the rollers left little tracks on all of my images. But they all got done and that’s what matters, I guess.
I reviewed for Italian and took the exam an hour early just go I could get it done and over with. It really wasn’t all that bad and didn’t have a lot of things I thought it would have on it, like direct and indirect pronouns. Mostly, it was pasatto prossimo and the verb piacere with some vocab thrown in. I think I did well, to be quite honest.
From noon ‘till two, I had no clue what to do but study for History of Photo… and a brain can only take so much of this before it goes nuts. And since everything is on its siesta break between noon and four, I couldn’t pick up my photo or go pay the box people (who I had already tried earlier this morning).
My final drawing critique finally came around at two. I showed John my final portfolio and nothing out of the norm happened. To my surprise, though, he said he thought I was bored and got distracted by Kaz all the time. What? Really? I feel like when it came down to business, I got shit done – and if I was distracted by Kaz, then how did I get so many drawings pumped out? I guess everyone’s entitled to their own opinion… and this is John we’re talking about.
Now I had absolutely nothing to go. I studied history of photo ‘till 16:00, went to Fossi only to find out that my print hadn’t even been started yet. It was Easter, I’ll give him that, but my final is tomorrow. Sad face. And, surprise, surprise, the box store STILL wasn’t open even though it was 45 minutes after their printed opening time. Sad day.
I returned to SACI to try to pack my drawings in a tube I recently got only to find out that they didn’t fit. Bleh. I quite life sometimes, haha. So I met Anne (not Hawaii Anne) for a quick coffee at the dealer’s. It was all good fun – Cecilia wandered in and drank a water with us.
After this, Cecilia and I went to Zecchi’s with a failed mission then went all the way to the box store to find out that they had closed half an hour before stated closing time. They really must not want their money! Back to SACI it was.
Here I met up with Hawaii Anne and joined her and Romeo for a coffee – I owe Anne a caffè latte now… she’s too nice a person, really.
For about 45 minutes I talked with Libby and Alessia, making an itinerary of all of the college American things we would take Alessia to do should she come to the states for her doctorate. She was quite surprised about some of the things we told her, like french fries and frosties.
I am now sitting in bed, getting ready to go over my History of Photo slides one more time before passing out. Two critiques tomorrow and a final on Friday… we can do this.

You Know... It's Tuscany

2009-04-29T22:10:00.000+02:00

Of Reviews and Finals – 14 April, 2009

2009-04-29T22:08:00.000+02:00

7:30 was difficult… but I somehow managed it. Since we didn’t have History of Photo on Friday, we had to come in early today so we could o our presentations and review for the written final on Friday. The presentations weren’t all that bad, some were incredibly interesting and didn’t last too long. And the review was quite quick and very useful. All I have to do now is study slides and dates… not too bad.
I made my way to the box store to give them my down payment only to find a little paper taped on the window that said “Chiuso a 11 Aprile del 14 Aprile.” Yeah…I’ll walk down there again tomorrow. At least it’s a fun walk, though, eh?
To ceramics I went for our written final, which wasn’t bad at all – much easier than I thought it would be, for sure. Lisa gave us the news, though, that the decals Bre and I wanted weren’t working out on the manufacturer’s end. I felt bad for Bre ‘cause she was relying on them, but I’m glad I decorated the mugs the way I did… I can still pull my final critique off, I think. Since I had nothing to do, Lisa let me go to the design center so I would print some things out for my drawing critique tomorrow. Alas, the design center had classes all bloody day long, so I’ll have to wait for tomorrow morning.
Like a magnetic force, I was attracted to the photo room. Kaz and Katie were there and it was fun talking to them. I printed the two prints that Katie and Libby wanted and hung them to dry after Libby, Katie, and I went to get a sandwich for me and gelato for them.
Photo, today, was the last workday, so everyone was going stuff, save me because I finished last week. All of a sudden, the departure blues hit me, so I hung my face out of the window and watched Firenze like I had never watched it before. I got to see people carry on with their everyday lives and walk down Via Sant’ Antonino… it was great to see all those little things happen that you really never see. The neighbor across the street was cooking dinner, a girl in heels tripped and fell into a metal divider, and a guy in a leather jacket totally checked himself out in the mirrors of someone else’s motorcycle. How can you not love observing all of this stuff?
By the time I stopped staring out the window, photo was somehow over. I bid farewell to come of the most incredible people in the world after receiving a number of fantastic hugs from just about everyone. That’s how cool these people are… REALLY! I can’t wait to send them goofy e-mails and really long letters back in the states. RAWR!
Somehow I shuffled through Firenze, made it back to my apartment, and fell asleep almost immediately. Less than two weeks to go…

I Wanted to Go In... But They Wouldn't Let Me

2009-04-29T22:06:00.001+02:00

Viareggio Beach Time – 13 April, 2009

2009-04-29T22:05:00.000+02:00

Woke up earlier this morning to meet Jenna and Cecilia at the train station – we had decided to go to the beach in Viareggio today to bask in the sun and to study a little bit for finals. It was nearly a two hour train ride a bit past Lucca, but it was absolutely glorious being able to gaze at all of the northwestern Tuscan hills and mountain towns. Can I live here please?
Despite the beach being a bit crowded, it was lovely. There were a couple of sailboats in the water doing whatever sailboats do, a few crazy people actually swimming in said water, and everyone else was laying in the sun or playing some sort of beachy game involving some type of ball. All of this festivity combined with some incredibly soft sand made the stresses of finals disappear – seriously, just what we all needed.
A few hours after reading, studying, and being lazy, some rain started to come down, so the three of us left and got on a train back to Firenze. Despite a mid-afternoon coffee, I still passed out on the ride home… sun makes me happy like that.
We got back at around 5pm, went to the grocery store for a couple of quick things, and wandered back to our homes where I read, studied, worked on power-points, and watched a couple of borrowed movies from Katie. To anyone who is interested: Orlando Bloom is silly, especially as Paris, and The Jane Austin Book Club is worth buying.
And this exciting stuff is the end of my day. I can already tell how hard it’s going to be getting up at 7:30 tomorrow morning.

You Wouldn't Understand Unless You Knew

2009-04-29T22:04:00.000+02:00

The Easter That Made Me Want to Stay! – 12 April, 2009

2009-04-29T21:57:00.000+02:00

I didn’t remember Easter actually coming, for some reason. I mean, yes, all of the giant chocolate eggs are displayed everywhere, there are more tourists than ever, and the Italians have officially peaced out for the weekend to spend the holiday with their families.
I woke up, ate some breakfast, read, went back to bed, and officially got up at around ten to start getting shit done. After I showered, I found a grocery store that was actually open so I could get some ground beef for my shepherds pie contribution to Katie’s Easter dinner.
On my way home from the store, ground beef and peppermint gum in hand, I head some exciting explosions coming from the Duomo. As this happened, a man sprinted past me and turned the corner to another street. I turned around and saw a mob of people following this man’s lead… would I die via stampede on Easter Sunday in Firenze, Italia? It would make a funny family story, wouldn’t it? Haha. But yeah, I saw the last of these explosions go off and witnessed a whole slew of people go nuts for it and realized that this was another reason why I don’t want to peace out of Italia. People here are so ridiculously passionate about whatever their interests are. To almost get trampled by a 65-year-old, limping, Italian woman was more exciting at this moment than terrifying. This, and history here is so much more rooted into everyday life… this whole explosion/dove release/fireworks thing at the Duomo has gone on for hundreds and hundreds of years. And people still check it out because they want to, not because they have to. Guh…. Why can’t I just find a job, become an illegal immigrant, and get that apartment we saw for rent in Fiesole yesterday? That would be prime right now.
So I got home and watched a new episode of America’s Next Top Model cycle 1,567,326 with Destiny on her computer. It was fun for a moment and I get to watch it when I go back to The States.
When 1:45-ish rolled around I started to crank out two shepherds pies like no one’s business. Really, I think it’s the fastest I’ve ever made one. They do take a long time to make, though, so once they were 95% done, I pulled out a plastic bag and packed on, left one of my roomies, and went to Katie’s for Easter dinner.
When I walked in, the remainder of Return of the King was on the computer, so we enjoyed that before everyone sat down for an awesome dinner. I brought my shepherds pie, Libby made tasty chicken, and Phi made some ballin’ yams. SO good! Again, as there always proves to be at Katie’s house, we had some great conversation with dinner – it was like sitting down with my little “Italian” family.
A while later, we all switched into extremely lazy mode and dispersed into the apartment for reading, researching, and (what else?) more relaxing. I really can get used to all of this real quickly.
For the rest of the evening, we’re sprawled out across the living room reading and watching movies. What a better way to spend Easter in Firenze?

A Holiday with The Sisters – 11 April, 2009

2009-04-29T21:47:00.003+02:00

I got up this morning, showered, grabbed some money and food, and ran out of the apartment.
Initially I had tried to go over to Piazza Ghiberti to put a down-payment on the box I ordered, but I didn’t see anyone in the store, so I headed to Mercado Centrale and eventually met up with Libby so we could go meet Katie at il suo apartamento. Back to Mercado Centrale so Katie could purchase some nom-noms and so we could magically and unexpectedly find Kaz meandering through the market aisles – we got get more food for our adventure, bought some bus tickets, and quite luckily stumbled upon bus number seven just after we crossed the street.
Of course, Fiesole was just as fantastic as it always is. Upon arrival we walked through a market that was happenin’ in the town’s piazza. Everything from food to handmade goods to cheap clothes was on sale in said market and it was really fun to walk around and meander through.
But now it was time for us to go up towards Monte Ceceri and do what we had been planning to do… picnic, enjoy green and fresh air, and be lazy, sundrenched wannabe Italians.
After walking up and down several large and very expected hills, we found a spot to plop down at for lunch and relaxation. It was a nice spot, off of the main path that many hikers followed, near a giant rock formation. We stayed there for a few hours and had a grand lunch of various things. The sun was beautiful and it was that warm where you can wear a tank-top but still be relieved by the hill-top breezes. After lunch, Kaz pulled out some tarot cards and we played with those for a while before taking our very Italian siesta of a light nap and a good read. This is really what it’s like to properly live here when the weather is nice and students don’t have obligations. This is one of the reasons why I don’t have to leave because it’s the way life SHOULD be lived. You shouldn’t always have to always order a cappuccino portare a via, you should have a cappuccino at the bar of your frequented caffè and talk to the people in and behind the bar and not be bothered if you’re two minutes late or whatever.
We all slowly got up, stretched in the sun, and played with our cameras before continuing on down a path that wound through some of the prettiest hills that Fiesole (well, not really anymore Fiesole) has to offer. Who shouldn’t have the capability of wandering through and by massive olive groves and find their potential dream house? Amongst all of this thought, we found ourselves to be pleasantly lost.

So long as we got to the last bus back to Firenze, we were alright… haha.
At one point during out “I have no bloody clue where we are” escapades, we found a bar/ristorante/gelateria to stop into for a quick restroom break and a drink. I enjoyed myself a cold corona while my wonderful hiking-mates enjoyed other tasty things. And we were all happy because this was basically a perfect day.
After more walking and more beautiful Tuscan country-side, we eventually made out way to my normal Fiesole departure bus stop. Wow… we had been here for hours that slowly passed by in splendor by also, somehow, managed to disappear.
We were back in Firenze again and decided to have dinner at Katie’s house. A brief break at SACI and a trip to the wine store got me there and soon we were eating tasty pasta and tortilla chips. Ohm-nom-nom. Many silly stories and laugh were shared during dinner and it was, as usually, a grand ol’ time.
And we watched Lord of the Rings: Return of the King until 1:00am which was also fantastic in itself.
When I got back to my apartment, I ran into bed, under the covers, and read a chapter in Neither Here Nor There… another great Bill Bryson travelogue. Then, it was surely time to sleep!

Fiesole Market

2009-04-29T21:45:00.000+02:00

Frisbee in Piazza Independenza – 10 April, 2009

2009-04-29T21:13:00.003+02:00

So... today wasn’t really a Friday, but more of a “what the hell kind of a day is this?!” History of Photography was cancelled, so Cecilia and I met up for breakfast at Rio Caffè. Though this place is nothing like it, it really makes me miss Waffle House. There’s nothing like eggs and toast for breakfast, but the lack of grits and proper bacon made me sad. Cecilia had banana pancakes.
Eventually we found our way to the design center for out Italian oral exams. Since we had orals, we only had to show up to “class” for ten minutes, which was lovely. And I think I did alright on the exam… I forgot a couple of words and Patrizia was talking quite rapidly, so it took some processing time to understand a couple of things.
Right now I’m sitting outside in SACI’s courtyard in 70-80 degree F weather with lots of sunshine next to a lilac shrub. I think I’m catching up on all of the vitamin D I missed this winter because the sun is making me feel so incredibly happy!
Katie, Libby, and I were hangin’ out here a little while ago just enjoying everything that is today and getting excited about tomorrow’s field trip to Fiesole. Yay yay yay! There’s also a show at the design center that Libby was prepping some tasty looking food for this evening. Hopefully I won’t be lame and miss it like I missed the Fuji show opening.
[Later]
So… after a wee bit more sunbathing, Libby, Katie, and I went to this amazing box store in search for some portfolio boxes. Everything in this store is handmade, which ultimately means it’s going to be expensive. But wow… these boxes were SO incredibly amazing! After drooling over several of them, I made the decision to have one assembled for me. Why am I so suckered into having classy things made for presenting my photography? In the end, this beautiful piece of art will cost me €70… but I’ll use it so much!
After this and grabbing my ciachetta (sp.?), I met up with Libby at the design center to help her prepare more gallery opening food. After that I strolled the show to see what people had done – it was really neat to see all that stuff, actually, because I have no clue what the graphic design and illustration students have been doing all semester. They had just as much stuff up as the SACI gallery.
During the opening I ran into Anne, Kaz, and Alex – almost as soon as we finished eating, the lot of us and another cool girl, Merissa, went out to Piazza Independenza to play frisbee. I am so glad that Alex brought his with him, it was SO fun! I haven’t thrown a frisbee in forever and we had a really good time. A bystander sitting on one of the benches was watching us the whole time, seemingly entertained. We dubbed him “jean-jacket man.” Yeah… and Libby and Katie joined us afterwards, which made it all the better, obviously. Literally, we stayed ‘till after the sun went down, got some wine, and retired to Katie’s place for even more relaxation and giggles.
At some point the night ended… I really can’t remember when. But, this is going to be the start to one of the best weekends!

Show Opening Night – 9 April, 2009

2009-04-29T21:13:00.001+02:00

While Thursdays are rather special due to three back-to-back classes of almost always doing something… today was quite the opposite. I still had Italian, ceramics, and photo all on top of one another, but didn’t really have all that much work to do.
Italian was review for the final, in which I did quite well with. We really don’t have that much to really memorize which is kind of nice.
I pulled out Dance of Death during ceramics and read in the sun, which was quite fantastic. All of my mugs have been fired and are only awaiting the application of their portrait decals. Hopefully they’ll come in by the time our final critique is. If not, I can still pull the project off because all of the mugs are glazed based on the people they’re being given to.
And all I did in photo was sit around and do nothing… all of my final images are mounted and put away for “safe keeping” so I didn’t really have anything to do.
And the SACI student show opening was tonight at 19:30. Originally I was going to be a loser and no go, but Bradley has just finished a dance video to “American Boy” which included several of SACI’s faculty/staff members. Yes, I went to just see this, but also somehow ended up goofing around with one of Hawaii Anne’s kids. There’s a little fish pond in the courtyard that I hung him over ‘cause he said there was a crocodile in it.
A bit later, Kaz, Katie, Libby, and I went to Antellessi on Via Faenza and had a quick, cheap, and awesomely chill dinner. At said dinner we all decided that we’d be heading up to Fiesole on Saturday to enjoy the lovely 70-80 degree F, spring weather. I’m buying a proper football to kick around while we’re up there, for sure.
At 22:00 I made it home and crashed in bed – I was really quite exhausted at this point, so yay for sleep!

Just a Little Picture

2009-04-29T21:12:00.001+02:00

Beers and Johns – 8 April, 2009

2009-04-29T21:06:00.000+02:00

So Monday Patrizia said that we didn’t have to come to Italian today if we didn’t want to because she’s only be teaching us the beginnings of the conditional tense and it wouldn’t be on the exam. I used this extra hour to sleep in ‘till 8:30 then went to the photo room at around 10:00 to start “matting” my photos with my €14 book of watercolor paper with 30 sheets in it. I’m begging you guys, please don’t buy a shit knife like I did to cut my paper with. Cheap goods won’t always save you money like GEICO will… luckily, Lindsei, from my Italian class had a friggin’ awesome box-cutter that worked wonders! Aside from the print I “sent away” to Fossi, I mounted all of my bloody prints that could be considered decent enough for my final critique. In the end, I only royally messed up one matte that I’ll have to re-cut with my last piece of paper. RAWR!
Drawing today was more amusing than anything else. John has been telling us all week not to be late because some NASAD people were coming to evaluate the school. Ironically, Kaz, student John, and I were on time and teacher John was five minutes late. We necessarily nagged on him for that because, well, we had to.
I drew for the first half of class and got a decent drawing for my final book in charcoal and chalk. Score. Then, student-John and I got a Heineken each from our dealers across the street and enjoyed a little beverage before eventually returning to class.
Let me explain about the whole alcohol thing in Italy. Caffès, more frequently than not, are also classy little bars. When you get up in the morning, you go get a caffè at the (haha) caffè you frequent… duh. However, after 11:00 or noon-ish, it’s in fact a little weird to get coffee-related beverages. Luckily for us americani, Davide e Angelo sono simpatici and serve us coffee ‘til 20:00 at night without judgin’. At this point in the day, one switches from coffee to alcohol. In fact, sitting down to lunch with Cecilia yesterday, a guy (an Italian guy) bought a round of JD shots for him and his amici. Also, drinking on the streets is cool here. John and I stood with our beers and hung out with Kaz, Jenna, Cecilia, and teacher-John between the dealers’ shop and SACI. This transition is going to be difficult heading back to America, haha.
Oh… and I just noticed that this whole labeling John thing might be a bit weird as well. Basically, almost all five guys that came to SACI this semester are named John. Really, I exaggerate, and there are truthfully, like, fifteen guys at SACI. NONETHELESS there are a lot of Johns here. Red-headed/drawing-student John (or as some others refer to as attractive John) is the John I has my lunch-time beer with. Teacher/creepy John is our drawing professor. In reality, he’s not THAT creepy, he’s just British, and it’s easier to call him creepy, haha. Then there’s Nutella John who’s a student, paints, and apparently carries around a jar of Nutella. I know there’s about three more Johns, but I don’t know their nicknames.
Anyway, back to life…
The second half of drawing was spent taking a couple more pictures and going through some Firenze photos I had taken. About 80% of us slacked – it was awesome.
I also found out that I’ll be living in Thomas Berry next semester with two other girls, which is awesome ‘cause we’ll have a kitchen and a bathroom that belong to only us! Oh yeahs! Thomas Berry is a dorm hall at my school, in case anyone is that curious.
So… I came back to my apartamento, read Dance of Death, studied Italian, made soup, and am getting ready to read some more. It’s going to be a good night.

Katie Draws

2009-04-29T21:02:00.001+02:00

Obsessive About Mounting Photographs – 7 April, 2009

2009-04-29T20:59:00.000+02:00

I amazingly got up at 7:30 this morning, got ready, grabbed my laptop, and went to the design center as soon as it opened. My history of photo project was sitting on my computer screaming ‘WORK ON ME, DAMNIT!” So I listened and got another good chunk of it done. I just need to get a couple more wicked awesome color photographs and maybe some more images from Vietnam on there, write down exactly what I’m going to say, and then be done! Yay!
On my way home I stopped by Zecchi’s (again) to get some ink to stain my cavallo ceramics piece with. In there, I also found gold leaf which excited me and prompted me to buy a jar of it. Zecchi’s, you eat my money! ARUGH!
Cecilia and I met for a cheap lunch in which I got verbally punished because I didn’t write my name on the piece of paper I wrote my order on. How was I supposed to know?! Anyway, Cecilia and I had a good chat and a lovely lunch. I can’t believe we haven’t gotten to know each other until now – there’s only a week and a half left!
Ceramics was productive – I got all of my mugs glazed and my horse head stained. The gold leaf looks effing amazing, I’m not gonna lie! While I was doing all of this I talked to my mom and decided that I might think about going down to Abruzzo for Easter to help out with anything I could help out with. After all, Easter for these people isn’t going to be easy….
I took a “break” from class to put my not-so-needed-anymore laptop in mi apartamento, to grab my photo stuff, and to buy some twine from a nearby hardware store to hang my hanging flower pots with. Once I actually got all of a million – or what seemed like a million – pieces of twine knotted onto my pots, Lisa had me hang them from a beam outside in the courtyard porch… they ended up being quite nice, I think.
Before photo I had some downtime which allowed me to read about 50 pages of Dance of Death… and such a suspenseful part of the book it was! I wanted to think one think about Smithback running away from the loony-bin, but Preston and Child always take unexpected turns! This is why I love their books!
And, finalmente, photo was lovely. I started mounting my prints today and I can’t lie when I say that my mind was swimming in the sea of numbers that is matting. As much as I like taping two pieces of paper together and putting little photo corners on my prints, figuring out all the math to cut the window for my prints was so frustrating! I royally suck with anything involving numbers it’s not even funny.
And I found out that even though I wanted to go volunteer down in Abruzzo, it was nearly impossible. Romeo told me that people weren’t even being allowed to go past certain parts of the highway. This and the fact that civilian volunteers weren’t necessarily wanted yet made me a little bit sad. It’s Easter! Aren’t these people going to be able to eat anything resembling a make-shift Easter lunch/dinner? Guh… I just wish that I could do something!
Anyway… it’s late, I’m getting up early-ish to mount a couple more prints, and I’m tired. Ciao for the night.

Castle!

2009-04-29T20:57:00.001+02:00

Devastating Earthquake – 6 April, 2009

2009-04-29T19:56:00.000+02:00

I got quite a bit of stuff accomplished this morning… I mean, I didn’t find a friend a requested gift yet, nor did I send one of my cousins her tea… nor did I get stamps for some letters. BUT I did go to my matte guy at FOSSI and had my favorite print get ready to be custom matted and framed. I was a little afraid about what the price might be, but I don’t think €28 is a bad price for a really good custom mounting and framing job. I’m excited to pick it up next Wednesday. Afterwards I went to Zecchi’s to get some heavy watercolor paper for mounting the rest of my prints. Gah… photo is eating my life, but I like it, so that’s alright.
I had an hour and a half before I had to be in Italian, so I went to SACI to check my e-mail. As I was doing this, I found out that there was a 6.3 earthquake in L’Aquila in Abruzzo last night early in the morning. I guess all of the buildings down there have been completely destroyed and that 60,000 people don’t have homes. Really, it’s hard for me to imagine – I mean, when we went to India all of the clean-up from the tsunami has been finished and the only aftermath we experienced was seeing all of these children without parents.
Italian was another quickie today… we reviewed reflexive verbs in the past tense which can get tricky at times. What made me proud, though, was when I got my homework back and didn’t have any errors save for two stupid plural agreements. That’s the first time this has happened!
After this I went to drawing, which wasn’t very much of a drawing class as it was a documenting class and a “let’s go hang out in the photo room” class. Yeah, we’re cool like that. Don’t get me wrong, I did document my decent drawings with me camera so I could make my book… I just spent an hour and a half talking with Kaz, Cecilia, and Romeo first. No worries, John didn’t mind too much, haha.
From then ‘till 19:30 I basically edited said photos and got the rest of my decal images ready for ceramics tomorrow. Exciting.
At 19:30 was Kaz and Emily’s digital multimedia show – they had been continuously stressing about it for a while and it was nice to see what they had put together. For me, because I don’t understand a lot of contemporary art, I was a little lost in the place – but the concepts behind the pieces I ended up liking were amazing! I talked with a few of the artists about their stuff and was instantly amazed by this project by a girl named Taylor. Her piece was very brave, very anthropological, and I admired it very much!
Heading home with Sammi and Phi was fun times. Phi was a little tipsy and got gelato on out way back and somehow ended up comparing her gelato to a good ho… I can’t explain it, but it did happen, and I was almost in tears from laughing so hard. And here is where my bed comes into the daily story…. welcoming me and Dance of Death quite warmly.

A Not so Busy Palm Sunday – 5 April, 2009

2009-04-29T19:54:00.002+02:00

I’m proud to say that almost nothing was done today except for me working on my history of photo presentation that’s on Friday.
I almost feel guilty because the weather today was pretty decent. Obviously we didn’t make it to San Vincenzo – Alessia has been working a lot and just wanted the day to herself and to relax… completely understandable.
Honestly, though, I wasn’t nice enough to go to the beach, it ended up raining a little bit . I was able to walk around Firenze in a t-shirt though… that was happy.
So yeah… at around 14:00 I went to SACI to get some of this History of Photo stuff done. I really did get a good chunk of it finished… I just have to arrange all of my images in chronological order and get a few more photos from the Vietnam War or something… yeah.
Hawaii Anne’s husband, Will, was a little sick, so out dinner plans got changed around a little bit. Since my pie was remaining uneaten, I took a hunk of it to Katie because she has locked herself in her apartment to mostly finish her Helen paper. Let’s just say that she was in desperate need of that pie.
And really, that was my Palm Sunday. I did notice that instead of palm fronds people are given olive branches because they’re more plentiful in Florence. So can I call it Olive Branch Sunday?

Typical, Really

2009-04-29T19:54:00.001+02:00

A Day of Apple Pie - 4 April, 2009

2009-04-18T13:36:00.002+02:00

I feel weird starting a new journal... all of the pages are blank, crisp, and clean and the spine hasn't been broken in yet. And the paper feels quite a bit different... it wouldn't be funny if I had been able to start a new journal on the first of April, but eh... too much aimless rambling.
I honestly wasn't sure if I'd go anywhere or do anything today outside of Florence. Weather.com said it was supposed to be sunny so I thoughts about going to the mountains in Northwest Tuscany... but honestly, I'm glad I didn't because it ended up being quite overcast and actually rained at one point. Mostly, the decision that made me stay home was the fact that I didn't get up until later this morning.
I felt like a lazy morning was necessary, though, because I've felt like shit the entire week. This morning was the first where I felt clear and healthy, as opposed to being allergy-ridden. So I had a nice breakfast and did some laundry before meeting up with Libby for a caffè latte at our dealer's place. I’m glad I brought my camera ‘cause I definitely got some near coffee-house shots. Also, John came to SACI for a weekend visit and brought one of his sons with him. Libby and I ran into them at the caffè. Once I whipped out my camera, John and Davide had a brief conversation about it in Italian. I don’t know why I find these things funny, but I do.
Libby then took me to a very cool market near where Kaz and Hawaii Anne live called San Ambrosio market. The atmosphere is much more personable and busy compared to Mercado Centrale. Seriously, what an experience! I loved it! A quick visit to Standa was in order after this and Libby got some things for a pie.
Outside of Standa, I met up with Hawaii Anne and her two boys – I needed to get some photos of her for my ceramics project. After these photos were taken, I goofed around with her youngest son who specifically told me that I had nine swords to fight with and that I had to battle him. So we sword-fought in the street for five or ten minutes before Anne took them on an adventure through Firenze to get rid of their excess energy.
After purchasing some apples and cinnamon, I went back to my apartamento to start getting things ready for today’s pie-making fest. Libby came at 14:40-ish and we began out self-determined quests at 15:00. Libby made an apple tart with custard and I simply made a classic apple pie and we also managed to make sugar and cinnamon-topped cookies with the extra pie crust. Three hours later we had two pies… well, one tart and one pie, and 40-50 of these cookies made. I can confidently say that my Saturday was productive.
After this I walked to Via dell’ Studio with the intent on buying watercolor paper for mounting some photos with… however the store I’d buy this paper at, Zecchi’s, was closed. Of course, right around the corner is Paperback Exchange, so I got two books to read for when I finish Dance of Death: Neither Here Nor There and The Other Boleyn Girl. Yay!
So pretty much my day is over. I made really good tomato soup and a grilled cheese for dinner and popped open a bottle of wine. What a relaxing day this has been! I’m so glad that my weekends are, at least, like this during the next couple of weeks of school!
Okay… off to read and then to bed!

Eathquake in Abruzzo

2009-04-06T21:53:00.002+02:00

Hey Guys,
I've gotten several very thoughtful e-mails from some close friends and family wishing me well since the earthquake ocurred in Abruzzo. I am fine, everyone in Florence is fine, however those in and around L'Aquila are not as fortunate.
Of course, everyone here is thinking and praying for these people - over 50,000 have been reported homeless and 100 have been lost. Hopefully these numbers will not grow anymore.
If there is anything you might be able to do, directly or indirectly, I would urge you to do it. Some of us here are contemplating ways we might be able to help.
Again, thank you for your e-mails and sending your best wishes my way, it's greatly appreciated.
Danielle

Yum

2009-04-05T15:57:00.000+02:00

APPLES!

2009-04-05T15:56:00.000+02:00

American Breakfast – 3 April, 2009

2009-04-05T15:55:00.000+02:00

I had to force myself to get up early this morning – I was going to meet Cecelia and Katie on the other side of the Ponte Vecchio at 10:15 to head to a field trip destination for history of photo. We met, it was absolutely gorgeous outside, and we walked in the direction of where said destination was. After searching, legitimately, for an hour and a half, we still couldn’t find this place called Villa Romana. Thoroughly frustrated, we headed back towards SACI and Cecelia and I had a quick breakfast at Rio Caffè, a little restaurant that makes American breakfasts. It was super awesome to sit down and talk with her and we might organize something where we’ll meet up in Atlanta or Denver or something… super fun! Actually, it would be really exciting to see each other back in the States at some point.
Italian conversation today was good – two girls from another group, Julia and Kristen, joined us today so we all could actually converse and get assigned practice exercises done before class ended. A ton of people, I just realized, are going away over Easter “break” next week… the same three days that are right before our finals. Eh?
Because I typically have two classes back to back and then afternoons off, Fridays feel like two days for me: my school/weekday was now finally over and my weekend was finally starting!
I went up to the photo room to do a little more spot toning and to reprint a couple of images that just didn’t come out right the first try. Doing all of this meant that I was in the photo room and the darkroom until almost six. While my images were still washing, I found Kaz and Libby downstairs… we ended up eating a small loaf of bread out in the courtyard because it was too absolutely gorgeous to not eat a loaf of bread out in the courtyard – I WAS IN A BLOODY T-SHIRT!
By this time it was nearly seven. I had gotten my prints out of the wash, said ciao to Katie who, along with Kaz and several others, had to go to a Helen class at 19:30 in order to make up for the school being closed on Easter Monday. Um… Helen is crazy?
Libby and I went to my apartment to make some spinach and artichoke dip for a small gathering at Katie’s this evening and in the process we got to meet Jess’s boyfriend who’s studying abroad in Spain. It’s funny ‘cause everyone seemed to be going somewhere or also making food in the kitchen. Quite the festive atmosphere, it was.
As always, Katie’s casa was fantastic: her roommates were getting ready to go out for the night, but Katie was making some awesome homemade tortilla chips, so they managed to wait until these were done. OH MY GOD, these chips were some of the best I’ve had in forever! I don’t’ know if you can make gourmet bar/tailgate food, but this was it, man! Combined with the dip Libby and I made and the guac that Sammy made, this was basically like heaven in your mouth. Wow wow wow. And to make the evening even better than it already was, we finally finished Pride and Prejudice with Colin Firth – such a grand film it is!
Of course, as we must always do, Kaz, Libby, and I departed Katie’s apartamento and made our ways back home. My walk home with Kaz was, of course, fantastic thanks to the couple glasses of wine we had.

Why is Easter So Creepy?

2009-04-05T15:54:00.002+02:00

Finally, a Long Day – 2 April, 2009

2009-04-05T15:54:00.001+02:00

Today was finally one of those long days where I got a whole bunch of stuff done… and it was one of those days that I was totally stressed out but enjoyed almost everything I did.
Just because I figured more sleep would make my allergies better, I slept in ‘till 9:00. And while ten hours of sleep was one pleasant thing to have, my allergies decided not to subside. Such is life. So I slowly got ready to step out into the world and made my way to the post office. I don’t think I’ve explained this yet, so I’m going to because… why not?
Not only is the post office the post office, but it’s also a place where people pay their bills and where international students get their permit of stays, etc. So as one can imagine, this place is hoppin’ for many different reasons. Unless your purchasing stamps for letters, you have to get a ticket from a machine outside of the main room that corresponds with your business – the machine gives you a ticket with a letter and a number on it. So you go up to the window that eventually calls you when your number is displayed on a giant screen. It’s pretty bloody organized and keeps things moving as smoothly as Italy can allow. Sometimes the people behind the windows are scary and sometimes you can joke around with them – of course the guys tend to be more laid back and entertaining.
We had more practice with reflexive verbs in Italian today, which somehow seemed to consume the entire class… it seems like that class really only lasts about fifteen minutes instead of almost an hour – weird. What’s even more bizarre is the fact that I have my oral exam next Friday and out final/written exam a week and a half later. Where did all of my time go?!
After Italian was, as any Thursday would permit, ceramics. My mugs and horse head were fired so I could work again instead of disappear. It took me three hours to contemplate individual designs for these mugs and fully glaze two of them… well… two and a half, haha. It’s funny how time flies when you’re working.
While chatting with Alessia between ceramics and photo, we decided we’re going to go somewhere near San Vincenzo on Sunday for a beach break – I believe, and hope, that Libby will be coming too… and it will be absolutely lovely to lay in the sand, relax, drink wine, and have fun.
Our photo lecture was extremely useful today: Matting. Yeah… I can see myself royally sucking at this because I’m so bad with numbers… but really, it’s such a part of the photo that you really can’t not like it. I still can’t find matte board here, though, so I’m trying to figure out other ways of presenting my photos without spending a lot of money. The rest of the class I spent spot toning due to the fact that two images had ridiculously and quite embarrassingly large amounts of dust on them. Word… I’ll have to whip out my reading glasses next time, though.
Once photo ended, my night was pretty much over. Destiny and I talked a bit before going to bed at a wonderful time of 22:00 – SUPER nice!

Davide Making Coffee

2009-04-05T15:53:00.002+02:00

Drawing From the Floor – 1 April, 2009

2009-04-05T15:53:00.001+02:00

I cannot believe that it is already April! This is the month that defines spring for me, this is the month with Easter, this is the month I get to fly to Edinburgh, and this is the month that I have to say goodbye to Italia. In some ways I’m more than ready for it, but in that one obvious way that overrides everything else, I desperately don’t want to see it go.
Va bene….
Italian was Italian today – we’re learning reflexive verbs right now so life’s not so bad in that class.
And for drawing we went to a museum where one of John’s friends was showing his sculptures. We eventually had to draw a piece in the museum, so naturally I found the sculptures with the horses and drew one of them. While drawing this one sculpture, a small team of people were installing another piece nearby. Certo, the guys were interested in why I was sitting on the floor, drawing, and tried to distract me by making faces between the horse’s front and back legs. They moved when I started to incorporate them into my drawing… so we had fun, needless to say.
After drawing, a few of us went to a nearby caffè for a hot chocolate and some munchies. The hot chocolate I got was literally like warm pudding, it was SO thick! WOW! AMAZING!
Brit and I ended up being the last ones to walk back to SACI with John. While she and I were talking about her trip to Sicily a few weeks back, we noticed that John had almost gotten sandwiched between two buses. The unusual stopping of said buses is what literally kept our drawing professor from being squished. Of course, as he made it to the other side, Brit and I laughed so hard we doubled over.
So yeah… and that was pretty much the end to my day. I honestly can’t remember what happened to the rest of the evening, probably because I didn’t actually go all that much except for eat dinner and read.

Walkin' Through the City

2009-04-05T15:52:00.001+02:00

Allergies Suck… I Hate Them – 31 March, 2009

2009-04-05T15:51:00.000+02:00

I’ve gotten too relaxed about my journal writing, but really, nothing happened outside of the norm yesterday. It was all classes with nothing particularly special. Today however was something special. I woke up this morning intending with everything I had to go to my history of photo class but literally couldn’t make myself get out of bed. I felt like I had done every exercise known to man and that my body was protesting every movement possible. So I guiltily listened to its groans and protests and found myself awake at 10:00 – I never sleep in ‘till ten… ever! But yeah… at least I could move now.
I very slowly walked to ceramics at one, but none of my pieces were fire for me to glaze, so I was stuck again – my mind still not fully functioning. Thankfully, Lisa let me get my photo stuff so I could do something productive. I printed for about half an hour before Alex and I went to MB for paper and for some medium format film for me. We then stopped by a bakery so we could get a snack which was very much needed, we decided.
From 16:30 to 21:30 I printed almost continuously save for the very end when I was waiting for my prints to wash. Towards the end of photo, I got some really bad back paints and some weird headaches – really? What’s going on with me?!
Writing about the evening-time made me think about Monday night (last night) – something exciting did happen and that was the TA show down in the SACI gallery. It was really neat to see all of the TA’s work that they had been working on over the past year. And Libby was so excited to finally have it happen because she’s been stressing about it for the past week.
So yeah… that’s my exciting bit about my class-days on Monday and today… sorry to disappoint.
Oh – and I finally registered for my classes next semester (it took a little too long): Throwing Clay, Modern Art Seminar, Introduction to Comparative Politics, International Relations, British Literature, and Yoga. Surely not like the fantastic list of classes I’ve had this semester, haha.

Too Cute to Not Take a Photo

2009-04-05T15:50:00.000+02:00

Making Pie con Le Ragazze – 28 March, 2009

2009-04-05T15:49:00.000+02:00

As much as I wished I could have gone to Garfagnana today, it’s better that I didn’t. When I checked the weather for that area it was foggy, overcast, and rainy – no good weather to be shooting photos with my medium format camera. Hopefully there will be a chance in the next week or two?
After getting up this morning and remembering that it was Saturday, I made myself a fruit salad breakfast with vanilla yogurt – it was quite delicious! I also, very gratefully, got some laundry done and organized some of my photos for a hopefully quick review this week… I feel like I have so much to edit!
Despues, I went around Firenze and for some things dons, finally. My first stop was a general kitchen store that made my mind explode, it was so fantastic. I had to replace a clock that I had accidentally broken in the kitchen a few weeks ago and also brought these two coffee makers for €8 a piece. The coffee makers here are basically the best ever and I can use them in our kitchen next semester, for sure. Oh my god, so amazing!
I also found myself a cheap and awesome shirt from Nuna Lie – it’s bright purple and perfect for the “I don’t know what kind of weather I want to be today” weather. And it’s pretty!
One stop to Conads to get some apples for tonight’s festivities and another stop at the post office to get some small boxes to send a couple of people some surprises.
I think today was the official marker of the real tourist invasion. I saw groups following brightly colored flags and sticks almost everywhere I went, heard more English than I did Italian, and noticed that the line to get into the Duomo almost came parallel to a street next to our apartment, Via Servi. Wow… it really gets incredibly nuts here! And all of the Italian people I’m so used to seeing and hearing have gone into some sort of hibernation… I don’t blame them, I would too.
I was able to read so much today it was ridiculous. Yay for books – and I mean really… books are good! After finishing a couple of chapters in Outlander, I went to La Via del Tè to cross one more item off my checklist: tea for my cousins. I forgot how great this store smells! Wow… so delicious! I would really like to come down here and drink tea with someone one day before we all peace out. Hmm… maybe Anne for Phi? Haha.
Dinner tonight was more leftover gnocchi… I have one more helping of this stuff before it’s finally gone, YAY! It’s not that it’s bad… but you get sick of eating the same thing for a week straight, you know?
At 21:30 I’m going to Anne’s (not Hawaii Anne) to help make an apple pie. Her Italian partner, Marco, and I believe Libby and Katie are coming too? It’ll be so much fun!
[Later]
Making an apple pie with Anne and Libby was so gratifying and quite fun! I discovered that Libby make the best crusts that that Anne has the talent of making a great filling from scratch. All I did was buy and peel the apples.
Katie came over a little bit later in the game – a recovery from Helen’s in-town field trip seemed necessary, especially since it was quite a bit rainy in the afternoon. Apparently, though, they had seen a number of pretty cool things.
Soon after Katie arrived, Marco and Maurizio (THAT’S HIS NAME!) came over with a bottle of Spumante. We all chatted for a while and played and Italian card game before the pie was finished. I honestly can’t remember what the game was called, but Katie pointed out a very true fact about it: “This is such an Italian game! There are rules, but eh… you don’t really have to follow them… Oh! And all the numbers don’t really mean what they stand for, either!” Yes, this is quite the basic description of this game, I love it, haha.
The guys liked the pie quite a bit. How could they not? Anne and Libby did such a great job! After we chowed down, the Spumante was opened and Katie proceeded to teach our Italian friends how to play Kings. Of course, us being us, we didn’t have enough alcohol on the table to properly play this game, but it was still quite entertaining.
Katie, Libby, and I peaced out at 1:00 and I’m assuming that everyone else left soon after. What a grant night!
Azo.

Butchers Always Have the Last Laugh

2009-04-05T15:48:00.002+02:00

Art Philosophy with Brie - 27 March, 2009

2009-04-05T15:48:00.001+02:00

I am so confused as to which day it is today it’s not even funny. I mean, when I had y classes it was obviously Friday, but after that I really felt like I had class tomorrow… but I don’t. It’s weird… one of those mind anomalies you can’t really understand.
History of photography was interesting today… we watched a film on a contemporary photographer/videographer who did a lot of work on the civil war in Palestine. The film was more of a documentary than a film and it focused on several people and their accounts of the war. I am so glad that this guy humanized these people – in America we usually hear about mindless, barbaric extremists and the number of soldiers or civilians killed. It was so interesting listening to these people’s opinions and seeing their reactions to photographs and old memories. It was also interesting to see the complications within the Sunni and Shiite tribes rather than between them. Really, it was an enlightening film.
Afterwards was the usual Friday Italian conversation. It was just me and Stefano again because everyone else officially switched to other groups. But what these other groups don’t do is have conversation in a caffè rather than school. Seriously, I had my lesson with a caffè latte on a nice, big, wooden table in a caffè down the street. And in the end, Stefano ended up paying for it, so now I owe him a caffè. Patricia thought this was rather amusing when we got back just before class ended.
From here I went to print a couple of photos. There were three people in the darkroom and I was happily listening to Louis Armstrong and Miles Davis… obviously this afternoon was very relaxing indeed.
While I was waiting for my last prints to fully wash, I found Brie in the courtyard. After talking about the remainder of the evening last night, we went to find a panino shop she had heard about. Once we found it, we both ordered our panini and ate them quite ravenously. They were such bloody good sandwiches too… holy hell! While we sat and ate, Brie told me about a commission she had received from school involving some pretty radical light fixtures. After continuing on with her story, she told me that she had finally found a small studio that was very interested in helping her with the job. It’s a really neat process that I’ll have to explain in detail at some other point, if necessary. This conversation led to another revolving around finding galleries that will hopefully display and advertise your work. Brie gave me some great, motivating advice that I will definitely have to put to use when I get back to the states.
Upon returning and after drying my newly finished prints, I found Alessia at the front desk and chatted with her about not wanting to go back to the US, how difficult it was to find a real job in Italia, and eventually getting advice on seeking information regarding a TA position in the future. It was all very helpful and I’ll also have to act on that advice very soon as well. Katie, Libby, and Alex cam back from getting a coffee and we all got an Italian history lesson from Alessia specifically about the disappearance of the monarchy and the rise of Mussolini during WWII. It was honestly really interesting and I’m considering on finding a book about it back in the States in order to learn more. Ma, the book won’t match Alessia’s story-telling skills.
The weather, I found out, is supposed to be shit in Garfagnana tomorrow, so I’m going to stay in Firenze, run some errands, take some pictures, and try to go to the Uffizi because I still haven’t been there yet. I would go to Roma, ma the weather is supposed to be stinky everywhere.
Va bene, that was my glorious Friday, today. Now I am tired and want to read, so ciao for now.

Hahahaha... Davide....

2009-04-05T15:46:00.002+02:00

Charlie Woo and I are Very Immature – 26 March, 2009

2009-04-05T15:46:00.001+02:00

Yet another school day has come and gone… sadly, nothing TOO mentionable really occurred until the late evening which was really quite happy and fun.
We had a quiz in Italian today on the verb “piacere” in present and past tense as well as direct and indirect pronouns. I really do think I did well considering the fact that I had just received this news this morning about said quiz and studied half an hour before hand. Not too bad, if I say so myself.
Ceramics was a buttload of fun and a half! I glazed the mug that will be Kaz’s mug for my final project, glazed the inside of my horse incents burner, and learned about some of the basics of glaze chemistry. Charlie Woo and I got a little crazy at one point because he was happy about glazing his giant turtle box. And since we go to do stuff outside, this made the class even better than it usually is. Everything that I could’ve worked with got finished, so Lisa let me go quite early. This meant that I got to grab my photo stuff from my casa and go work in photo a bit early. SCORE!
Photo, today, was very relaxing in the darkroom – only Anne, Charlie, and I were working in there during the work portion of our class and I made a print and a half – of which I’ll probably work on after Italian tomorrow afternoon. Romeo shared photos of his two adopted children from Russia which was pretty cool – they both seem like great kids that really mean a lot to him.
At around 9:15 my mind entered into a million different realms: getting prints out of the wash, shutting down the darkroom, getting dinner, how much cash I had, two final projects, going to get a drink or two with some people… the list goes ever on and on. And the whole day I’ve been trying to figure out my artist’s statement for my photo project… GAH! Too much information to process alone and with people trying to talk and ask questions! If anything, I think this can be described as system overload.
Thank god for Anne! She invited me to go out with her, her husband Will, Brie, and a girl named Diana who also goes to SACI. These guys are so much fun to go out with because they’re so chill and don’t need to drink all that much – if I didn’t have classes tomorrow morning I totally would’ve stayed out with them ‘till one or two. Hopefully I’ll get a chance sometime before the terms ends to hang out with them again! We went to this place quite close to where I live that has great sangrias called Salmanca. Wow – such good sangrias! I know what I’ll be getting again, for sure!
Anyway, it’s late and I’m exhausted… WHY do I have to have class on Friday mornings?!

Enough Gnocchi for a Small Army – 25 March, 2009

2009-04-05T15:45:00.001+02:00

In exactly one month, I will be returning to Firenze from Edinburgh… where the bloody hell did all of this time go?! It seems like I’ve lived in Firenze for a good part of my life despite my awful Italian and lack of knowledge that certain stores are closed on Mondays.
Anyways… I missed Italian today because I had A LOT of errands to run and things to take care of. Almost everything I had in my mental list was accomplished save for buying more film… but that can always be done another day.
Our second day of open drawing in class was another good one. Lorenzo came in this time and I really think it was the first time I semi-successfully drew the male figure. Again, I did all of this with my rose charcoal pencil.
Unfortunately, my hopes and dreams of printing today were shoved down the toilet, but I’m hoping I can sneak in there this evening. So… I went home and began to make gnocchi. For some silly reason I thought it would be a good idea to use three potatoes to make just enough for myself. The question I failed to ask myself was “would you eat three potatoes by themselves?” End result: enough gnocchi to feed about seven people.
I did, after all, make it into the darkroom quickly to make contact sheets of new and old negatives. Honestly it was quite gratifying knowing that I now have brand new stuff to play with in the darkroom. This was the first time I’ve also used RC paper in a few weeks, so the whole printing process took absolutely no time at all.
Tonight is going to be an unusually calm night. I cooked the gnocchi dough I had made earlier, reviewed some photos, read a minuscule amount, and fell asleep to the ever-loved Cowboy Junkies.

Typical Saturday Market

2009-04-05T15:44:00.001+02:00

Reportage and Coffee with Cecelia – 24 March, 2009

2009-04-05T15:28:00.001+02:00

A good sleep was exactly what I needed last night. My headache disintegrated and my mood considerably better – yay! And a nice hot shower made it all the better, so despite the grey, rainy weather, I feel so refreshed and rejuvenated – hopefully I’ll be able to use this energy for productive purposes, haha.
History of Photo was good yet again – that’s two classes in a row, people! We continued on with reportage and its importance between the 1920s and 1940s. We also got to look at some stellar photographs from the founders of Magnum Agency of Photography as well as some of its members. Yay for Capa and Steve McCurry! During all of this presentation, we also got to see specific quotes by or about each artist. Oddly enough, this gave me inspiration and some slight direction for my final photo project.
I went, after class, with Cecelia to grab a coffee from our Dealers and then to MB to get some paper and negative sheets. Finally, I made it to MB on a day that it’s open and not during siesta! Oh the glory!
Ceramics was next and I finished glazing my two flower hangers as well as trimmed four mugs and attached handles to them. Somewhere in there came a ciocolata calda con Baileys… which was delicious by the way. In order to progress further with my ceramics final, I need to get photos of people stat! This means I need to charge both of my camera batteries.
I ran to the apartment to grab something quick to east then ran back to SACI to develop some film. It took me half an hour just to load my 120mm film and then another 45 minutes to develop it – not including dry tie. I need practice, haha.
For photo class today, Romeo showed us a type of lithium (or something) printing involving images with various poisonous chemicals. Dude, it was fun, be jealous.
SACI closed at ten, we walked Libby to her bridge, then Kaz and I went to Katie’s house to chill. Katie graciously made everyone soup and wine which was really, really good. Kaz made it to zombie/can’t move mode, so she’s crashin’ the night at Katie’s. And tomorrow is going to be early, so I should go to bed too.
Ciao!

Is Something Wrong with My Camera?

2009-04-05T15:05:00.001+02:00

Felice Cumpleanno, Babo! – 23 March, 2009

2009-04-05T15:04:00.001+02:00

Today is my Dad’s birthday, so, Happy Birthday, Dad! I can’t wait for you to get the package I sent you!
Originally, I had intended to get up at seven this morning to go print. However, the sudden need to sleep an extra hour and the assumption that a break from printing might be healthy, I stayed in bed ‘till 8:30. It was marvelous! I also made myself enjoy my morning with two cups of REAL coffee and breakfast in the apartment, followed by more ironing and pressing of fiber prints. Woo hoo! I found Katie, Kaz, and Libby in the lobby of SACI getting ready to go grab a cup of coffee somewhere. I went with them, but since I already had two cups, I restrained from purchasing a third… probably a good idea, eh?
Like spring and summer everywhere, it’s construction season in Firenze. Unfortunately this inconveniences the ease of us visiting our Dealers across the street and can sometimes get a little crazy when tourists stop to look at maps and clog the arteries of Firenze. Honestly, I hope to see some of this construction finished by the time I leave so I can see the final outcome. What’s also interesting is the fact that ALL of the construction guys work compared to the one out of three in America. Refreshing, no?
I noticed all of this on my way to Italian, which was its usual goodness. We practiced more with pronouns and clothing vocab – so almost everyone had a basic description about their clothes told about by another classmate.
Drawing today was a dream! Virginia came in today to model for us, which is awesome ‘cause she’s a fantastic model. We essentially had open drawing in class today so we could do whatever we wanted. I whipped out my rose charcoal pencil and very slowly drew for three hours. I, and I’m assuming along with everyone else, had an unusually good time probably because we were allowed to do whatever.
I went out to MB again, but, forgetting that it was Monday, ended up just taking a 20 minute walk because MB is closed on Mondays. Woo hoo! On my way back to SACI, I got a couple of rosemary pastries to eat and share with Kaz and Libby. Once finished, I went to help Kaz measure some canvas for her photo project… when I saw her sketched and ideas for what she wanted to so, I immediately became excited for her – it’s going to be such an interesting portraiture project.
After eating dinner and waiting for 7:30 to roll around, I went into the darkroom and printed until 9:30 or so… it was lovely. Alex and I were the only ones doing anything in the darkroom so he had the RC processing all to himself and I had the fiber processing all to myself. Fantastic.
At 10:00 we all met up for our usual Monday night trip to Art Bar… and, as usual, it was a lot of fun. Alex, Katie, Kaz, and Libby played this game called Ip – or something to that effect – and I can not lie, it was really fun listening to them! For the first time since I’ve been in Italia, I got the worst headache next to a migraine, so at midnight I was definitely ready to go home and fall asleep.

It's REALLY Like This

2009-04-01T18:50:00.001+02:00

S. Vincenzo or S. Vincenzozno?

2009-04-01T18:34:00.001+02:00

The Horrible Awesomeness that is CPB Jane Eyre – 22 March, 2009

2009-04-01T18:27:00.000+02:00

I got to sleep in so late, for me anyway, this morning I actually felt guilty about not getting up to do anything. Once I finally rolled my lazy ass out of bed, I immediately opened some windows ‘cause it was really warm out! After this I began to make some French toast… um, oh my god, yum! This excited me so much that I did some laundry after making real coffee in an awesome Italian coffee maker. In the end, I guess my morning was quite productive.
At one I booked it to SACI so I could get the desperate urge to print out of my system. Re-doing a print took about an hour and printing a completely “new” negative took me almost four hours. Word… I’m actually glad it took that long. I think this print is decent enough, but I’ll still need to have Romeo look at it before approving it as a final print.
Completely unrelated to this, I feel that I need to mention the oddity that is Italian weather. Typically in Georgia and in New York, a significant forecast of wind means cold weather is on the way… hence, wear warm clothing. When a buttload of rain and thunderstorms comes, this means things are supposed to warm up. And generally speaking, these two signs hardly ever show up within the same 24 hours. Now, make everything I said opposite and you’ll get fabulous Italy. On Thursday night we had a significant thunder/hail storm… Friday was rather chilly. Actually, it was bloody cold! Friday night and all day yesterday (Saturday) was full of strong, nippy wind. Today, it was t-shirt weather with a bit of sunshine. Um… what? Haha.
Oh- and I also love it when tourists come up to me and ask me questions in worse Italian than I speak and have a look of shock on their face when I reply in English with an American accent. Classic… I love it.
I met up with Kaz and Katie at Katie’s place later that night for dinner and a movie. Kaz had some leftover gnocchi and Katie and I made a pasta/ravioli mix that was pretty delicious. Once we all sat down, Katie popped in the masterpiece that is CPB’s Jane Eyre – all I can really say to this is “yay!” Phi and Sammy joined us after the very beginning of the movie and we all made snarky and unnecessary (but necessary) commentaries throughout the movie. These remarks were occasionally accompanied by a semi-sarcastic glare from Kaz… “I can’t stand movie-talkers!” Haha… poor Kaz.
Katie’s house is always fun, so I’m incredibly glad that we went this evening despite the walk home in the freezing cold, that was quite unexpected I might add. Katie, grazie!

A Cove in Baratti

2009-03-27T11:54:00.002+01:00

I'd Rather Bike with the Wind than Against It - 21 March, 2009

2009-03-27T11:12:00.002+01:00

Waking up this morning was a wee bit rough, but I managed to force myself to get out of bed and into the shower. I'm so happy that the weather is decent today. If it was yucky out and I went to get a bike and take photos, I would be thoroughly bummed out. I also made a quick breakfast that made me happy as well: eggs and make-shift bacon. Holy hell, I was so excited to eat this stuff it wasn't even funny!
I made my way to Firenze SMN and pulled a couple of dollars out so I could rent a bike today. I don't think the world knows just how excited I am to actually get on a bike and ride down the road... YAY! Also, something I noticed on the train that I absolutely love is the fact that I believe spring is finally here. The grass is ridiculously green, the sun constantly shining, and flowers are popping out here and there. SO FANTASTIC! This is only going to make my day in San Vincenzo that much better!
[Later]
Once I got to San Vincenzo it was rather windy, which made everything colder than it should've been. At least I put on my fleece over my grey marmot jacket. Otherwise I would've frozen! I walked down the main road, Via della Principessa, in search of this mysterious bike shop that I had missed last time. Obviously I'm quite the stupid one because this shop was so blatantly there it was HARD to miss. Go me. So I went inside, rented a bike for €7, and played with the owners' cat, Olivia. She obviously knew that I had the "loves anything cute and fluffy" sticker on my forehead.

Renting this bike made me so happy in the most ridiculous way possible. I hadn't ridden a bike since November or so and it was absolutely glorious! From the shop I rode to Piombino then turned around and made my way to a little place called Baratti. I rode through towns and countryside and alongside the shore... in Italia... for €7. Can you really beat that? No!
I had my packed lunch on the beach and watched these people doing some sort of wake-boarding with parachutes flying like kites to catch the wind. If it weren't so bloody cold in the water, I would've asked someone to show me how to do it! I really don't think a wet suit would've helped much, to be honest, haha.

I turned back to San Vincenzo and spent a couple of hours in Parco Rimigliano taking three rolls of 120mm film. GLORIOUS! Tomorrow I'll get to develop them and see how they came out. The woods were lovely and had it not been so windy, the beaches would have been even nicer.
I decided, in my trip back towards San Vincenzo, that riding with the wind is definitely better than riding riding against it. Not only was I much colder, but I worked more and didn't go nearly as fast... I like riding bikes at top speed sometimes. But it was SO nice to ride a bike! I can't believe i didn't rent one for the semester in Firenze! When I come back I surely will!

So right now I'm on my return trip home, currently in Pisa, watching yet another Tuscan sunset in all of its glory. It'll be another 1.5-2 hours until I get back to Firenze.
[Later]
After I got everything back in the apartment, etc., etc., I met up with Kaz and two of her crazy awesome SACI friends Katie and Emily. We hung out for a few hours listening to music, talking, and looking at some nifty clothes online - oh, and ate some of my left-over-soup.
At around midnight I went back home and left Kaz and Katie the rest of my soup - they'd enjoy and eat it more quickly than I would. :) This and Kaz needed a little bit of homemade soup in her life, which I was more than glad to oblige to.
What a fantastic day! And it all wound up ending in a great evening!

La Volpe e La Bambina

2009-03-27T11:08:00.002+01:00

Afternoon Lunch with TAs - 20 March, 2009

2009-03-27T10:44:00.003+01:00

I was desperately in need of sleeping after going to bed so late, so I willingly stayed in bed until 8:30 and was out the door for History of Photo at 9:40.
It's weird... walking around outside this morning felt more like autumn than spring. And since yesterday was everything that makes spring - even the late afternoon thunderstorm and downpour, I miss that whole late March feel we had goin' on in Firenze.
History of Photo was good but slow... not that it has to go quickly, but the internet was being weird in the design center so half of the intended lesson didn't end up happening. Honestly, it was quite a shame because we were talking about three photographers that really interested me: Kerstesz, Brassai, and Cartier-Bresson. These were the people who took documentary photography and, in my opinion, made it art.
After class, Cecelia and I got a cheap coffee down the road. Both of us were brain-dead, which leads to me believe that I'm officially addicted to coffee. She and I talked about some photo things and about a couple of different people before going on to so other things we had to get done. For me, this meant Italian.
It seems as though my entire conversation group has joined other groups over the past couple of weeks... so it's now down to Stefano and me. Honestly, for me, it's a bit easier to "talk" one-on-one. The conversation runs a little bit more smoothly. About fifteen minutes on, Jay joined us - she said she had some make-up conversations to do, so she may be coming into our class on Fridays for the last few weeks.
Patricia had organized a lunch thing for Wednesday and Friday after class. Duccio had taken a couple of students out on Wednesday and Stefano and another TA, whose name I can never remember, took us out today. We went to this really cute and very delicious trattoria behind the leather market stalls across the street from San Lorenzo church. I've passed this place every day and, for some reason, never made it inside. All I have to say is a full bowl of ribbolita for €4 is quite the deal! And the vino di casa was very good, as it usually always is. Needless to say, the six of us has a great lunch and talked back and forth between Italian and Inglese.
After this, Phi and I made a loop around to my apartment and back to SACI again where I met up with Libby at one point to grab another cheap cup of coffee/ciocolatta con panna, get some fun but cheap shopping done, and to acquire some film for our weekend trips. It's always fun walking around Firenze with Libby... she somehow manages to take me to new and crazy places.
After a couple of hours of looking for things and aimless wandering, we went back to SACI so I could buy some train tickets to San Vincenzo for tomorrow and so Libby could get some things done. After we accomplished these things, the two of us talked with the ever-wonderful Alessia for a little while before deciding to go to Libby's place with wine and bread to make some spaghetti for dinner. I believe that the world needs to know how good of a cook Libby is - 'nuff said.
Since both of us had early mornings the next day, I started home at around 21:00. Once back at my apartment I ironed and pressed some more prints and settled down to watch a film Romeo loaned me called "La Volpe e La Bambina." It's a short, originally French, kids film and was filmed in a national park in Abruzzo. Romeo's been wanting me to see this film because he wants me to shoot in this park. The problem? It's nearly impossible to get into unless you've got a car or something. It was a cute little film and as soon as it ended, I went to bed.

The Art of Parking a Scooter

2009-03-27T10:28:00.002+01:00

Slumdog Millionaire with Italian Subtitles - 19 March, 2009

2009-03-27T10:05:00.003+01:00

7:00am hit me again with my urgency for printing good "copies" of my negatives, etc. Before this, though, I got a caffè latte with Libby and sat down at "our" bar with Davide behind the counter for ten minutes. Quite the lovely start to this morning!
Jacopo had a critique with this photo class today which gave me free reign of the darkroom so I could take care of two prints. While walking in and out of the darkroom to switch negatives or to write down information, I caught glimpses of the critique conversation. One thing I hadn't realized until this morning was how beautifully Jacopo spoke English. It's not even his native tongue and he talks like he's reciting a constant poem! What the hell? How is this possible? Only at SACI would this happen!
Anyway, I peaced out after this was all over and ironed my new fiber prints at the apartment before going to Italian. Italian wasn't anything special today... but it went by quickly so I could be productive in ceramics.
I threw four pretty decent mugs on the wheel today and got some finished stuff from the kiln. For a part of the class I was also able to chat with Kaz, Charlie, and Katie out in the wonderful, sunny courtyard. At 15:15 we all walked over to Lisa's studio and got to see her gallery of work as well as her work-space. It was all incredibly clean for a ceramics studio and Lisa's work is so cool! Charlie and I almost fell in love with these dogs with human heads that she had standing all over the floor. It was SO nifty!
Our class, in photo, finally has the darkroom to ourselves which was pretty damn nice. I got a lot of work done as did everyone else who went in there today. Honestly, it was quite exciting to finally get shit done during out class time for once. Libby and I then got gelato and walked around Florence for a while passing by incredible one-man bands at the Uffizi. Wow! At around 21:45 we went to Anne's house to meet up for a movie. Marco was taking us to see Slumdog Millionaire.
WHAT A GOOD MOVIE! I honestly didn't know what to expect but it was incredible! What's also even cooler is the fact that I was at some of the places the movie was filmed at. So it was this fantastically serious movie for most of the time with a wee bit of Bollywood romance intertwined. And the Indian actor Irrfan Khan, who I see in every Indian film I watch somehow, was in it. At the end, of course, a huge Bollywood dance accompanied the credits - quite unexpectedly, I might add.
The lot of us went our separate ways at the movie theater to return to our apartments and hit the sack at one in the morning. I think I forgot that I has a ten-o'clock tomorrow morning....

Yay! Friends!

2009-03-26T10:44:00.001+01:00

"Where's Kassandra?" - 18 March, 2009

2009-03-26T10:43:00.002+01:00

So much happened today I don't know where to begin... and I'll probably forget some stuff, come to think of it.
I somehow made myself get up at 7:00 this morning to head on down to SACI as it opened at 8:30. Because there were so many people in the darkroom last night, I desperately needed to produce something today - no excuses. I spent three and a half hours working on one print... and it came out to be quite lovely. However, there is another "Danielle, you're a dumb-ass" story involving the final print.
While all of the prints were washing, Libby and I sat down in the bar our Dealers operate and had a coffee as well as a really nice chat. Besides Davide and Angelo, we had the entire bar to ourselves. The chat lasted long after our coffees were finished but unintentionally interrupted when I really did have to gather my prints from the darkroom and make my way to Italian.
Italian, today, was more of a conversation than it was a lesson, which was interesting because we talked about our likes and dislikes of Italia and America. Amazingly enough, a lot of us felt the same about our likes and dislikes - it was kind of funny.
Of course, drawing came right after Italian... I managed to show up today after a quick break on Monday, haha. Kaz, though, has her day off since she felt compelled to go to class on Monday after being seen by John. So... because Kaz wasn't in class, all of this silly stuff happened:
John: "Has anyone seen Kassandra? Danielle, do you know where Kassandra is?"
I'm trying to think up of some fun excuse for why Kaz isn't here, "Um... she really wasn't feeling all that well last night, so..."
John: "Where does she live?"
Me: "Near Santa Croce."
John: "Oh... well, that's too far for me to walk right now. Can you call her?"
Me (and this proves how evil I am): "You want to talk to her? 'Cause that would be funny."
Unfortunately Kaz doesn't pick up her phone, so I texted her instead - still, she never got it.
Throughout the class, John kept going on and on about how we were finally painting because Kaz wanted to paint so badly and now that we were, she wasn't here. He also kept looking out the windows and ducking out of class to see if her could find this poor girl. Apparently, John had asked, like, ten people if they had seen Kaz. Classic, absolutely classic.
And here is how genius Kaz is: during our 10-15 minute class break, Kaz magically appeared in our Dealer's bar. She told me that he has his "pissed-off" face on for about half a second and really didn't seem to care after that.
In the end, Kaz came to paint for the second half of the class. Both she and I made some pretty cool stuff in the last half of class, though I did like Kaz's better because she painted a person without actually making it look directly like a person. Very cool.
Right after this, I went to the matting guy at Fossi to pick up my print. Wow! The matte (obviously) looked so much better cut and trimmed to the photo it was unbelievable! Not only did he matte my photo extremely well and quite quickly, but we was extremely friendly and very patient with my poor Italian skills. Definitely SO worth the ten euro mounting job - I will definitely go back should the occasion occur!
Now for the "Danielle, you're a dumb ass" story: I wanted to make a couple of highlights really pop on my new print, so I thought "why not try farmers reducer?" Word of advice: NEVER use your final print when you try something new! I though I had diluted this fascinating bleaching agent more than enough, but when I put it on my final print... WHITE SPOTS GALORE! Great... now I get to reprint this whole thing over again. Whoop-de-freakin'-doo!
I stopped there... why ruin anymore things, right? Haha. Besides, dinner was at Katie's tonight. We were to eat gnocchi, bread, vino, soda, and fried bananas, help Libby with her photos for her show in a couple of weeks, and watch a generous amount of Pride and Prejudice, AMC style. Libby made the best gnocchi I believe possible and the work she showed us was absolutely fantastic! And, of course, Colin Firth is always something nice to look at.
Kaz, Libby, and I departed somewhere around 12:30... whoa... Pride and Prejudice sucked us in! Kaz and I were harassed by a bunch of ugly, drunk Brits, to which Kaz properly and, due to the right choice of words, not-so-kindly responded. She got a "brava" for that in my books. And let's just say that is wasn't difficult to fall asleep tonight.

Construction

2009-03-26T10:42:00.001+01:00

Really St. Patty's Day - 17 March, 2009

2009-03-26T09:45:00.003+01:00

Okay, so seriously this time, Happy St. Patrick's Day! I don't know why I always feel that this holiday is on the 14th, but whatever.
I made it to History of Photo today and was a bit flabbergasted when we didn't actually talk about photography... but instead paintings. Um... eh? So I tried to open my mind to new art, really I did, but my personal grudge and extreme angst towards modern paintings overcame my willingness to say "Okay, so not photography, but something else interesting."
Afterwards, Cecelia and I walked back in the direction of our apartments and she told me of her boyfriend and of the slight relief she had about having a free weekend to herself. I don't blame her, if I was going to Pisa every weekend, I'd be a bit pooped-out too.
I made my way to a little matting store just down the street from my apartment to get a rather nice photo mated for someone. The guy in there spoke almost no English, which was perfect for me because I felt the need to practice. I was amazed with how quickly I was able to go in there, tell him what I wanted, and actually be successful at it! Especially since I don't know any Italian revolving around the subject of in-depth photography, mounting, matting, and framing. For once, go me!
After this I went to MB to get the photo paper that I had apparently REALLY wanted. Romeo bought my Rollei Antique, or whatever it was called, paper from me, so I actually didn't waste any money. Woot woot! I'm a little too excited to print with this stuff right now... is that sad?
I met up with Kaz and Libby for a caffè at the Dealer's place - they finally had running water again. Basically, it was grand, and I probably didn't even need to say it.
We learned about all of the glazes available in the ceramics studio today and got to glaze all of our bisque pieces. I glazed so many things that my mind was literally like "STOP! No more!" But it was nice though, knowing that some of my pieces will be 100% done soon! I left the studio with glaze on the leaves of my hanging flower pots... they were the only thing left to be glazed.
Dinner tonight started with my homemade french fries again because I needed to use my last potato. I'm honestly not all that hungry, so I might just stop there. Rightly so, considering I've eaten my own weight in food over the past three days because I've been so incredibly hungry!
We had a lecture today in photo that was pretty interesting: two hours of learning about a bunch of different types of papers and alternative printing processes. Kaz was extremely excited because her liquid emulsion test strips came out quite fantastically. I am so excited to see her new idea work out - for some reason I know it's going to be awesome! Katie was a wee bit stressed out, as was I, about various things that have been occurring throughout the week and that will be occurring this weekend. And the fact that there were a billion and a half people in the darkroom didn't help this stress out much... our immediate route to relaxation was cut off.
Libby ad I went with Katie to out trattoria on Faenza to have a cheap bowl of soup and an even cheaper glass of wine. And bread. Ohm nom nom, as Katie would so politely add. Our stresses were finally verbalized and a pondered-up idea about a possible road cross-USA road trip came about as well. I don't think any of us realize how incredibly cool that would be is we managed to pull it off!
Tomorrow is another day - I'm heading to SACI as soon as it opens so I can get into the darkroom ASAP to use my new paper. I'll also get to have a look at the matted print I dropped of today! Is it strange that I'm oddly excited about this?

Can't Get Tired of This

2009-03-26T09:44:00.000+01:00

Playing Hookie on Drawing – 16 March, 2009

2009-03-26T09:22:00.005+01:00

Today was the best Monday I’ve had in a very long time! I mean, truly, it was great! Initially I had gotten up at 7:30 to print by remembered that Katie and I were to get coffee after her Helen class at 10:30.
Our coffee date turned into a fantastic group outing with Kaz and Libby. Our dealers didn’t have any running water due to construction at this time, so Katie verbalized our shared brain-wave of “Chiaro Scuro, anyone?” Indeed, that is where we went and, as always, it was fantastic! Katie and I both got a niocciocolatina – and amazing caffeine-packed little drink with chocolate, caffè (basically espresso over here rather than coffee), and a wee bit of foam on top. Note to the caffè, rather, Italian-style caffè virgins – please add sugar and milk and only get one. Even with all of my little additions, this shot-sized beverage gave me energy all day lone. And when I say energy, I really mean that I ran up and down the stairs of my apartment building instead of a slow, trudging walk… and we live on the top floor! Oh – and I’ve had this stuff before as well. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Libby needed to go to a glass shop for school, so we went into a rather large warehouse-type shop that simply sold glass. AMAZING! This is where Kaz was like “OH MY GOD! So, like, I could totally develop my photos on glass!” and got very excited. I’m not gonna lie, that would be pretty amazing if she did that.
I now had an Italian quiz (SURPRISE!) that I actually think I did well on and then we discussed direct and indirect object pronouns. It’s difficult to explain but it really does make sense – this is one grammatical thing that is almost identical to Español. So yeah, good day in Italian.
Drawing was next but Kaz and I had a plan to be productive in other art fields... specifically photography. Lucky for me, I made it into the darkroom unnoticed. Kaz, on the other hand, was spotted climbing the stairs by John and was subtly "forced" into going to drawing. I really got a lot of stuff done though and it was fantastic!
A quick trip to the ceramics room to fix a handle to a newly-made mug kept me at SACI until I grew hungry enough for dinner: more leftover soup and some salad - very lovely.
I did go to open drawing to practice my gesture drawings with a bit of watercolor and ink. On my way, specifically heading out of the apartment, I manages to tumble down a flight of stairs, bending my ankle in a way it ought not be bent. Praying to god the pop I heard wasn't resulting in a break, I slowly got up and continued to open drawing - which, in turn, worked out to be quite lovely. Our usual Monday-night Art Bar excursion was definitely in order... for me: a mojito con fruta di bosca e un "Irish coffee." Very Italian, I must say, haha. But we all had fun... it was a chill fun compared to last week's craziness, which was incredibly nice.
In the end, I hobbled quite lamely home with Katie and Kaz talking about really random things... including the fact that I knew my apartment was haunted, a good char with Kaz, and an always comical Katie. Really, what are my Monday nights going to be without these incredible people and the presence of Art Bar? Haha.

Enjoying the Beach

2009-03-26T09:20:00.000+01:00

Lazy Bones – 15 March, 2009

2009-03-26T09:19:00.001+01:00

Yet another fantastically relaxing day passed by today. I’m not going to lie, it was a bit odd staying home almost all day, but it gave me a sense of accomplishment when I actually got things done around the house.
I woke up to the sun again at 8:30, grabbed my book, Outlander, and read for a couple of hours with little intervals of writing in between chapters. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, it is SO incredibly nice to be able to read it’s not even funny. I’m going to miss it when I have to head back to Berry in August. Well, I guess I’ll be reading, but instead of novels, I’ll be reading textbooks. So yes… I somehow managed to stay in my PJs until 10:30 or 11:00 when I finally told myself that I, indeed, needed to get up and take a shower.
At 13:00 I made my way to SACI and talked to my parents for a while which was nice. They finally got wifi in their house which makes me ridiculously happy because the basement was freezing and that’s where the only internet hookup was.
After talking for a while I figured I needed to print a few photos since I had actually brought all of my photo stuff with me to SACI. What was really nice was the fact that I shot an entire roll of film in Sweden that allowed em to print each negative on the same filter, the same f-stop, and for the same amount of time… INCREDIBLE! That said, one can imagine what I got done in an hour and a half.
After this I decided that I needed to get a couple of things for breakfast in the morning so I returned to the apartment and went out again for a couple of groceries and some candles for my new D’istinto wine bottle candle holder. I’m not going to lie, it’s pretty fantastic sitting there on my nightstand.
Dinner tonight was some of my left-over soup and homemade french fries, since I was craving them so badly. The soup is still good and I was surprised as to how well the fries came out… considering I improvised the whole thing. For the remainder of my evening I am going to get in some comfy clothes and read Outlander. How exciting am I?

Il Bosco d'l Parco naturale di Rimigliano

2009-03-26T09:15:00.002+01:00

D’Instinto – 14 March, 2009

2009-03-26T09:14:00.000+01:00

~~Not only was today St. Patty’s Day (or is it the 17th?)~~, but today was also the first Saturday in a long time where I haven’t specifically gone somewhere early in the morning or really had any plans at all, for that matter.
Since the sun has been waking me up for the past few days, I allowed it to do so again. Come Monday, I’ll have no clue what the bloody hell an alarm is.
After eating breakfast and doing my normal morning things, I found myself doing laundry and cleaning the bathroom. I know, this is very exciting stuff! I dunno… there was nothing much else to do anyway. I didn’t have too much longer until it was noon, so I decided that preparing photos and posts for my blog would be a good idea and time magically worked out so perfectly that by the time I was done, it was 12:30. Why is 12:30 the “it” hour? I gave me just enough time to go to the market to find a small gift for someone then go to SACI to attempt to throw a teapot.
Throwing clay definitely wanted to be a bitch today… I tried to throw teapots for two and a half hours and failed miserably, settling for only mediocre mugs. I guess it goes to show that you really DO need to keep up with all of that consistent practice! While I was making my second, very bad and soon-to-be destroyed mug, Libby came in and we decided to go for a walk and look at all of the new pretty spring clothes. I quite guiltily bought a €24 top that was so gorgeous it kept calling out my name in a ridiculous fashion. Actually, I highly recommend this store/designer Nuna Lie – very nice, simple, pretty, elegant clothes… and the colors that are used are AMAZING!
We walked and walked and walked for a couple of hours then went to pick up some wine for a dinner party at Katie’s hours. D’istinto is a good brand, I just discovered, that makes excellent rosato wine and only costs €5. Cheers to that.
Libby and I watched Pride and Prejudice while Katie made herself look fabulous, then assisted Katie in the adventures of making an incredible aportivo dish. Katie, is this is what you make for tailgates, why am I not chillin’ in Maryland with you?
At around 20:45 a couple of Italian guys, Marco and Marcuzio (? – I can never remember this guys name), came with the ingredients for a spaghetti dinner. Katie and another awesome girl named Anne met up with these guys Thursday evening as a part of their Italian class – it’s a good way to practice Italian no? So tonight they were making us dinner: spaghetti with sauce. There’s something different about the way these guys cooked spaghetti… it was so much better than the ways any of us had prepared it before.
Basically, the rest of the night was spent being goofy and having fun. The eight of us talked, there was music, there was wine – it was incredible! I have no clue when all of the festivities really ended because I went home at midnight-thirty due to the whole falling asleep while standing up problem. It really was so much fun though, and I’m so glad that Katie invited me over to enjoy this with them all!

Through Dirty Train Windows

2009-03-26T09:12:00.003+01:00

Recipes

2009-03-22T13:24:00.001+01:00

I've added two new recipes that have become very popular dishes for some of our dinner get-togethers. Try them, they're delicious, then tell me what you think.

Visit to the Police Station: Canceled – 13 March, 2009

2009-03-17T11:19:00.001+01:00

I, again, didn’t get my alarm this morning and got to sleep until the sun woke me up, which was 8:00. The beautiful part happened after I took a shower, ate breakfast, and went to SACI.
I got an e-mail a few weeks ago telling me that I has been summoned to the police headquarters on the 20th of March for finger-printing and the beginning steps for my permit of stay. Today, thank the gods, I found out that I don’t have to go anymore and that the police would be perfectly content with SACI faxing the paperwork. Huzzah! Now I don’t have to go sit in the police station for an hour or two! And I guess that my first fingerprinting session will be pushed back to later in life.
I picked up my dry fiber prints from last night and was generally happy with the outcome. The warm toned paper is absolutely lovely, but I still want something more matte. I decided that I would make one more print today to perfect this photo and move on to print others on RC paper to decide which ones I liked best.
Now I’m sitting in my history of photo class listening to the bizarreness that is Dada. Although I really appreciate the Dada movement for what it stood for in the art world, it is really something that I know I will never understand… ever.
[Later]
Italian conversation was rather fun today. Stefano wasn’t able to come, so I got to go converse with Alessia and Destiny. It’s not that Stefano’s not neat and interesting, but I see Alessia almost every day and she and Libby and I joke around a lot. So yeah… that went well and it was good to talk with Alessia and Destiny just for a wee bit of change.
After this, it was officially time for the weekend to begin! This means that Danielle gets to print in a darkroom almost all to herself! I finally made that one print on the warm-tone paper for a final piece that will soon be mounted on mat-board, etc. Afterwards, I printed seven different photos on RC paper. SEVEN PHOTOS and I still haven’t even gotten half-way through everything I want to print! I really did have a field day in there, though… it was fantastic!
Despues, I came back to the apartment to iron out all of the fiber prints I made last night and pressed them flat. This took no time at all, so I started to make dinner: soup. Actually, I made so much soup that I’ll probably live on it for the next four or five days. Good! I don’t want to have to make dinner every night!
Aside from this, I’m going to Katie’s house tonight to watch a movie with her and Libby. I miss regular movie nights, so this is extremely exciting… fun stuff like this is the best little stuff ever!

The Madonna

2009-03-17T11:17:00.001+01:00

“Um… This Paper Isn’t Matte.” – 12 March, 2009

2009-03-17T11:16:00.000+01:00

Not turning on my alarm this morning was quite lovely! I don’t have classes until noon or 10:00, but I still like to get up early and get stuff done. I stayed in bed until about 8:30 or 9:00 writing letters and being lazy. It was fantastic!
I really can’t remember what I did until noon, but I went to Italian when it finally became time to go, though. Yay more past tense practice!
I didn’t have ceramics today because Lisa took the second group on the raku field trip… so I actually got to sit down and have a nice lunch. Afterwards I went to develop two rolls of infrared film that came out completely black – or clear is you’re actually looking at the negatives. Bummer. I mean, at least I know there weren’t photos on there that should’ve been absolutely amazing. I then went to MB to get some nice, warm toned fiber paper for not too bad a price.
I grabbed a caffè latte before going up to photo and pondered which negative I should work on today. Before working, everyone got their tests back from before break and we all had apparently done well… meh – so many technical things to know! I did get some printing done, despite the fact that this paper I bought wasn’t as matte as I would’ve liked it to be. It was so nice working with trays again though, instead of printing through the machine – I missed it SO MUCH!
Once photo ended, Katie, Libby, Kaz, and I went to one of our trattorias to get some wine. Really, the nicest part was sitting around the table and just talking about random stuff. Now that I think about it, it’s been a really long time since we’ve all gotten together and sat down for sinner… it was really nice!
Well, another short entry… but it was a short day. Tomorrow is finally Friday and I’ll be done with classes at one so I can go print a little bit and relax! Yay!

Routes

2009-03-17T11:15:00.001+01:00

The little red and blue lines are the routes that I've hiked so far in Monte Ceceri... I haven't yet covered them all, but it won't take long before I do!

Good Attempts – 11 March, 2009

2009-03-17T11:13:00.000+01:00

This morning was slow, and because I didn’t have anything specific to do, I felt a little bored.
I had my “appointment’ with Romeo at 11:15, so I went to SACI to check e-mail, amongst other things, and to start writing a couple of letters.
Honestly, I felt a little bad about sitting down with Romeo today. It made me wonder if I should start tackling some of this stuff on my own rather than taking someone else’s time and question everything and involved them with something that I probably should make myself overcome, despite the lack of wisdom and the frustrations that sometimes come with art. ANYWAY… the meeting ended up going past noon, so I missed my Italian class.
I found Kaz on my way between SACI and somewhere and since it was lovely outside, we went out to the garden to chat and relax in the sun. Kaz has this really good liquid emulsion idea over a painting on canvas… and I really hope it works out for her because she’s just rediscovered painting and ahs this crazy obsessive passion for it, which is fantastic!
We had a “field trip” to Santa Maria Novella this afternoon for drawing in order to practice perspective. It was an absolutely glorious day – perfect for sitting out on the pavement in the sun and drawing a rather famous church. Almost two and a half hours were spent drawing her and for our last half-hour/45 minutes, John took us inside to see some ridiculously famous works. Basically, I walked through my freshman art history book.
Here’s a more memorable part of the field trip: we’re looking as some gessoes towards the front of the church – particularly one’s that Michelangelo contributed time to when we was six or seven…
John: “Now see this one here, that’s a good example of perspective isn’t it? I mean, you can’t really say it’s perfect because it’s one of the first pieces to involve real perspective…”
This goes on for a while and some other things about color and shading are mentioned.
John: “But yes… good attempt.”
Kaz and I laugh. John looks at us as though he’s missed something.
Me: “I really want to know what makes you say ‘Oh my god! THAT’S AN AMAZING PIECE!’”
Cecelia: “His own stuff.”
Upon exiting the church, the light and color of the sky was incredible… I wish I had a camera with me!
I met up with Libby after a while and we took a crazy walk around Florence. The sky by now was absolutely gorgeous – I now know why the Renaissance artists came to Tuscany to study light – it’s SO surreal here! Libby and I both managed to ask the question “Are we really here?”
Nothing much happened until a bunch of us went to Katie’s for a mini aportivo party – so many people made so many delicious foods I didn’t know what to do with myself. Among the many events that happened at this party were the viewing of Break Dancing Accident and Scarlet Takes a Tumble on YouTube as well as a fantastic demonstration of Katie playing her new and much loved guitar. Surely, one can say the night ended in quite a fabulous way.
Today was incredible… so many things happened more involved with everyday life in Firenze rather than actual accomplishments. Like yesterday, I feel in love with Italia all over again and it was sincerely magical.

Hiking "Gear"

2009-03-17T11:11:00.001+01:00

Is This Really My Life Right Now? – 10 March, 2009

2009-03-17T10:44:00.003+01:00

I am such a silly, silly person… and for some reason no one thinks it strange that I end up in these sorts of predicaments. But anyway… today I was supposed to meet my ceramics class (well, my class is going Thursday, but I wanted the best of both worlds and decided to go today so I wouldn’t miss photo) at Firenze SMN to peace out to the Tuscan countryside and do some rakuing. I got up at 6:45, did my usual morning stuff, got coffee from The Dealers, and went to the train station at 8:00.
The train for Siena left at 8:10 and since it was 8:05, I figured my classmates were already on the train. I walked the whole thing up and down twice and saw no traces of what would be my ceramics class. And of course, my train ticket was with Lisa. Word. So I found the on-board ticket man and told him about my situation. It ended up not being a problem that I didn’t physically have my ticket… good stuff. After calling SACI and telling them where I was, blah blah blah, it turns out that I didn’t have to be at the train station ‘till 8:50. Haha… go me. Right now I’m sitting in a small Tuscan town called Certaldo, at the two-track train station, waiting for my class to get here in about 45 minutes to half an hour. It may be chilly and I might be awkwardly sitting at the train station alone, but THIS IS TUSCANY! The sun is out, there are bright green rolling hills, creepy trees are everywhere, and the small town atmosphere screams “YOU ARE IN ITALY!” so loudly that you really can’t miss it. It’s funny how many places I’ve been in Tuscany that seem so stereotypical Tuscany. Maybe that’s why it’s so stereotypical?

[Later]
Really? Is this my life right now? When the rest of the group got to the train station, the potter whose studio we were going to picked us up in a mini van and a car and we took a winding country road up to his studio. My photographs don’t do this place any justice: we passed a medieval castle and town, drove through Tuscan vineyards, and saw some of the most beautiful landscape I’ve ever seen. The studio itself overlooked a few villas and several vineyards from the edge of a hill. I knew from looking out from the terrace of this studio that I was officially in love with Italy and that leaving would be so extremely difficult.

Literally, the whole day was dedicated to raku: learning, glazing, and firing. Unfortunately I could not find my coasters last night, but I still had my giant rose and my ring to complete. After we glazed our first pieces, which took them than one might think, the group went down to a gorgeous dining room and had a great lunch – three courses with some seriously delicious food!

We then fired out first pieces, which was pretty fun, especially for those who have never had the experience of rakuing before. My rose came out pretty well: turquoise and black. We then moved on to our naked raku pieces which were also pretty exciting. My ring came out nicely despite the fact that the bottom fell off… haha. But yeah, all in all, very successful! I even bought a mug from the potter who helped us with everything.
We are now on the train back to Firenze and I still have my photo class to go to at 18:30.
[Later]
We had another lecture in photo today, but instead of looking at “old masters,” Romeo showed us his work from his undergraduate stuff until a bit more recently. It was really interesting because my photos have turned out to be a bit similar to his and I haven’t seen his work up until now. Listening to the lecture, looking at his photographs, and quickly bouncing through my negatives and contact sheets was really inspiring on some levels, and though I’m still quite lost with the subject matter I’m shooting – I felt a bit more guided, for lack of better words. I guess I didn’t feel quite so isolated after this lecture – which is a good thing.
To finish up the evening I went back to the apartment and took out all of my contact sheets, looked over them, and thought about a ridiculous amount of things. On some levels it helped, but on others it opened up a whole new slew of questions.

I Fell in Love

2009-03-17T10:33:00.000+01:00

“Dry Vodka Martini, Shaken, Not Stirred” – 9 March, 2009

2009-03-17T10:16:00.002+01:00

Today started with a trip to Mercado Centrale because I was in serious need of food. It’s funny how long I was able to wait to actually go grocery shopping after I got back from spring break… but now I’ve a good amount of stuff that should last me a while. My meat and cheese lady wasn’t there today, which made me very sad, so I went upstairs to get fruit and vegetables.
The guy at the stand that I found myself at kept putting vegetables in my bag… carrots, broccoli, potatoes, tomatoes… there somehow ended up being six or seven pounds of vegetables and bananas that I took home. After I paid for all of this (€5) I started chatting with the vegetable man because, for some reason, everyone’s interested in knowing what I’m doing in Firenze and where I’m from. This chat turned into a ten minute group conversation with about five other not-so-busy vegetable vendors. Mostly, the question of concern was whether Danielle translated to Daniela in Italian. It was all good fun and I’ll have people to talk to at the Mercado now.
After putting millions of vegetables in the fridge, I grabbed all of my school stuff, along with all my film, and went to SACI to develop. There’s really nothing more gratifying than successfully developing seven rolls of film in about two hours… it’s a lot of work and I’m surprised I actually finished before I had to go to class.
Italian was alright… we mostly practiced our past tense and talked about what everyone did over break. A lot of people went to Spain and a couple of girls made it to Morocco – um… AWESOME!
Drawing was next, obviously, so I went to that and drew a box-woman (a “figure” John made with boxes and paper tubes) for three bloody hours. Everyone was incredibly bored drawing this thing, but it ironically was one of the best drawings I have to hand in at the end, haha.
Straight after drawing I went to photo, rather, I went to the darkroom to make a million and a half contact sheets. Again, I turned into a machine and pumped out 18 contact sheets quite quickly. And Lacey was in the darkroom with me and we always have fun printing and being goofy while we’re printing.
If I’ve talked about Lacey before, deal with reading this. If not, I really need to mention this woman at least once in my written records of Firenze. Lacey is a post-bac. student in her 30s studying photography. In her “previous life,” or so I call it, she was a teacher and a principal, realized that she desperately wanted to be a photo-journalist, and came to SACI to work on her future career as well as create portfolios to submit to other schools and galleries. This and it’s quite fascinating how she’s been a principal and is obviously very “together”, for lack of better terms, but is also so willing to try anything and see where that takes her. I admire it immensely.
After this I went to Standa, a supermercado that’s much better than Conads, to get some things that I couldn’t find at the market. I FINALLY HAVE FOOD AGAIN!!! This said, I made dinner before going back to SACI to pick up some ceramics pieces and meeting mi amici for our Monday run to Art Bar.

Maybe it’s because there were eight of us there, or maybe it’s because everyone just got back from break, EVERYONE was in such good spirits and it seemed, oddly enough, too much fun for a Monday night. I had my first martini ever and it was absolutely delicious, but I needed a wee bit of help “finishing” it, so it got passed around the table to people to taste. I believe Katie’s reaction was the best: “OH MY GOD! I could clean my car with that!!” Haha! Such good times!

Your Typical Drinks at Art Bar