Not as bad as my bathroom blowing up, but seriously?
So, I almost had a break down on Friday. I had been working all day on book arts and we had a speaker come so I wasn't ready for my graphics crit. But then Spivey, as perceptive and awesome as she's been this whole trip, moved the crit to today. Thank God. I was almost in tears from stress and feeling like I wasn't prepared. Why is it so engrained in me to be uptight about having every little detail done? If I know things I should have done aren't done, I dont have that easy going chill attitude like "screw it" that so many people have. And part of me is jealous for their capability to have that. Even in middle school, if I walked into a class without my entire homework completed I'd be freaking out inside. Spivey intervened with her second big life lesson this year. The first time it was about how GPA doesn't really matter in the real world and that porfolios matter and the only thing on your resume that designers care about is how it's designed. She helped me clear my schedule and create more time to enjoy college and do good design. She's all about staying in school as long as you need beacuse you'll always have time to be an adult and work. She laughs at us about how we complain of 8 ams and back-to-back studios, when, in the real world we'll have long days much earlier. The realization that college looking back will have been EASY makes me chill out and want to enjoy it more. But the life lesson this time was for Italy. She said to stop caring about my GPA and that I shouldn't worry about making straight A's here but just eat, drink, be merry, relax and make art that I enjoy. I think I push myself to no end to achieve goals that are yes, impressive, but only really matter in my head. I took her words to heart and this weekend we traveled to Orvieto for our last field trip. I went to the morning discussion but showed up a little late (Rachel and I grabbed a chocolate croissant breakfast (the best one I've had) at a little cafe). We explored the Duomo, caught most of an english worship service and decided to skip out on the rest of the group time that day and spend a day for ourselves. It was a delicious day. I was excited that I'd finally gotten to understand a church service, since I haven't been in 2 months. (Oh how I miss 2 rivers, matthias, and watkinsville.) I got chill bumps just listening to their singing echoing in the cathedral, every person sung. The message pertained completely to what we're learning about in art history - as it was all on the history of the relic there (a piece of cloth that some doubter of the eucarist had where the host actually bled on it). It tied in perfectly with the cathedral of the last judgement that Danielle had talked to us about. Being in those enormous structural duomos and learning about the frescos (which are all based on the bible - this one was on revelation) always makes me want to stay for hours and read the texts that are illustrated. It makes me feel so close to God and excites me that people who lived centuries ago painted the scenes half way around the world that I've been reading my whole life.
Rachel and I's day for us began with a little stroll around town into a few little shops. Kelley - we found marimenko fabrics!! We decided that we wanted pedicures so we went on a wild goose chase until we ran into Marco who took 30 minutes to help us find a beauty shop and made us appointments. It was so sweet but he was astounded that we were so grateful saying it was really no big deal. After being turned away at one place, the second place he took us said it would be hard but to come back at 1:30, so we went to find lunch. We ate at the most beautifully deocrated restaurant I've been in yet. Shabby chic - blog worthy to the max!! I'll have to post pictures soon. It was the same color scheme and interior as my bedroom at home. If I ever open a shop or cafe or bakery, it will be decorated similarly. Very artsy, elegant, and cottagy in all whites and neutrals. So perfect. Candles lit the room and we ordered the famous Orvieto white wine. It's the best wine in Tuscany - and this little town is famous for it. We saw the vineards of the exact wine we drank just an hour before - so cool! We had a wonderful lunch and chat and then headed back with fingers crossed that they could take us for our pedis. The daughter of the owner of the shop was our age, in college and spoke English. She translated for her mother, who had come in just for us! Pedicures are very different in Italy - her mom is more of a foot doctor and she examined our feet and shoes. She told rachel to buy new shoes and what kinds of support to look for. She pointed to the exact spots on Rachels back that hurt her and told her it was because of the way she walked since she was a little girl. When it was my turn, she said my feet were "perfecto!" - the only positive doctors report I can ever remember having. She used tools that are required with a permit only and illegal in the U.S. (liability reasons). She shaved off all our dead skin with these power tools and then the all the U.S. pedi-procedures. The whole time, I talked with the daughter who taught me all about Italy and what it's like for college here. Doctors aren't paid as much but dentists and engineers are. She taught me about the medical situations here and about taxation and how it's different for store owners. She taught me the cutsoms of beauty appointments, and it was all very interesting. After the pedi, it's procedure to lay down and let your toes air dry, so I took a nice nap on a massage chair. Rachel and I were giggling non-stop out of delight as we left the shop with discounts and candy and hugs from all the workers who swore we were sisters. Our feet were like brand new. We got coffee and relaxed until it was time to go and laughed about how everyone else was exploring underground tunnels while we were getting pampered.
When we got back to Cortona we grabbed Molesini's sandwiches and then 8 of us headed off to our baking lesson with Alex from Cocoas. I don't know if I learned more about baking or about life that night. He is the happiest Cortonese I've met and works 16 hour days, every day of the week. He owns a shop and only has one girl employed to help him pack things in boxes at night. He makes everything from scratch - gelato to cakes to pasteries, all in his kitchen in the back. He has big dreams of opening up a wine and cheese store with outside tables in Arrezzo at his home. He got a culinary degree so he wants to make "assorted" - or what he refers to as food. We learned to make a dark chocolate cake with ganache on top and a white chocolate filling that is his house speciality chocolate. We also made a lemon custard tart with hazelnut chocolate icing on top and Tuscan tiramisu. We got to keep all that we made including the recipes! I can't remember a time when I've laughed more this summer. I got his laugh on video and took pictures for a stop motion of tiramisu making. Afterward we went to Lion's well for a late dinner and ran into all of Cortona itself.
On Sunday it was rainy, so my villa pool plans were canceled and I worked in the studio all day. I took a mid-day break for a "tea-party" in Dru and Vas' room where we ate some of our cocoa's creations. I took a nap with Vas and worked until dinner when we went to the fancy "La Grotta" with the big fam. It was quaint and delicious and I had homemade spaghetti noodles - which are my favorite. Vas and Dru are going to add a part to my blog on their wine tasting and all they learned from Mr. Molesinni about the wine and culture here. It was a very productive but lazy sunday. (I know its an oxymoron but I don't know how else to describe it).
This morning I checked, and my hand made pottery came out of the kiln perfectly! My little cups are ready to be glazed and refired on Tuesday. When I leave I will have had a small taste of each class here -
Painting - I modeled for their portrait series
Photo - I modeled and sat in on a class, attended the Around Cortona international show that Mei Lin was featured in
Ceramics - I made little cups by hand and also threw on the wheel
Stone Carving - I attended the bronze pouring
Jewelry - I went to the fashion show and had a ring made for me here
Graphics - I took the class
Book making - took the class
Art history - took the class
Drawing - did a lot of that
Interior - I didn't do anything with that really, actually. But I spent a lot of time in the computer lab as they created.
Science - handled the frescos they made and helped with their paper making process
I'm going to work hard on my finals but also enjoy my las week here. Hopefully the weather gets better because the crazy heat that's in STL and ATL right now isn't here - it's like fall and in the 70s!
Gotta grab lunch and head to my book arts crit - but Ill post again soon - ciao!
Monday, July 25, 2011
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
The end is near.
I'm sitting in Bar Sport. It's become perhaps my favorite spot in Cortona over my time here. It's a 2 story of sorts - a cafe for lunch when I'm in town, an ice cream stop before Peter, Mei Lin and Rach and I all went to the villa pool with Spivey's family, a study spot with richard preparing for vegie papyrus and an art history midterm, a internet hub for Croatia weekend plans that fell through and now it's where I sit and reflect on the trip, the people I've met, the things I've learned, the growth, the cultural experience, and prepare to write my last art history paper.
The semester is drawing to a close. It's about time for final crits and packing up. We have to have all art shipped out by next week. I'm leaving just in time to skip studio clean-up and Venice. We're in that week of haul-ass where everyone busts butt to catch up and ball out on their finals. Anyone that says study abroad programs are a joke, hasn't been to Cortona. We ate lunch at Nessun Dorma by the theatre with our graphic design class for a crit today. Joining us was a 2008 g.d. grad who lives in new york with 7 of her other coho members. She talked to us a lot about the importance of networking over just about anything else, and we discussed resume redesign, portfolios and killing your senior exit show. We're gong to start a g.d. alum facebook group and have a nice network for all of us that are in the same cities. The only question I had for her, was looking back, did school seem easy? Yes, so easy. I know now, looking back at high school, I'm glad I enjoyed it but laugh at the times I was stressed. And now as I stress through college, and have lots of fun, I realize it's so important to work hard but to realize that this is the last portion of my life before "real life" and adulthood set in. She said to expect to make half as much as you expect now when you're starting out in graphics and not to be an "in house" because you'll get bored doing the same things all the time but to work for a big company or firm and do lots of things. Not to get rusty in the semester I have off and to realize how great letterpress is. I already do.
I was marveling as I zoned out at how therapeutic art can be. Hours in the dark room, or pulling paper, painting, or messing around in indesign experimentation, and I imagine, the same will come in the letterpress studio. I really hope I can get into that class in the spring.
If I had to choose a profession at this very moment in time, contrary to my classmates, I wouldn't choose to work for Pentagram or a big firm (unless google hired me up), but rather I'd love to work in a print shop and do lots of precious handmade paper and letter pressing and design. I figure weddings would be just about perfect. It's the one time in a girl's life where the tiny details really do matter and the little things are so precious so a medium like paper/book making and letter-pressed signage, save-the-dates and place cards would be appreciated and doted on. Plus love and learning people's stories, working with people on their fairy-tales, and getting to experience weddings would just be pure bliss to me. I'd probably get consumed in wedding photography and cake baking, and of course makeup/hair, which I already do. I'd definitely dabble in the video-making too. I want to take a class for that.
Most of all, I've realized I'm not ready to be done learning. I know life is a process of learning, but I'm not ready to be finished with school. Grad school would be an unwise option for me and I'm not ready to dole out exuberant amounts of money for it, so I think staying a full extra-year is the answer to all my questions of involvement, internships, working in athens (red and black) and other publications, giving time to photojournalism and my degrees, and getting to take a few fun classes that I'm very interested in: i.e. jewelry-making, advanced book arts, book design with Moon, package design, letterpress.
Plus I want to love and explore athens and the more time the better. But as far as networking goes, helloooo AIGA and helloooo book making conferences. I want to bind a book a month, at least, over the next year. I'm loving all the odds and ends projects that have popped up in my mind, inspired by my time here. A hodge podge of many art disciplines and mediums would make my life a happy, happy place.
I want to expand my vocabulary and get better at writing. Writing reminds me of Steven, and Steven reminds me of the lake for Labor Day and our last convo about Harry Potter 7, which I saw in Florence, which I have yet to tell y'all about!
So backing up to Florence...
A group of 8 of us set off together as hostel-mates for the weekend. We left Friday, on the train (which was delightful and had its own compartments like the Hogwarts Express). It gave us time to sleep and we took our favorite (cheapest and easiest) Italian snack: toasties and peanut butter. Once we arrived we had to meet up with the others in our group and we got lost finding the hostel and ended up in an antique furniture store. The owners were very welcoming and offered us to stay at their "large home" but eventually pointed us in the right direction explaining that "Italians are a little crazy and our black numbres in Florence are for houses while the red are for stores." Once we found the right number 14 on Via di Fossi (The Afossi Hostel), we found Marta - our hostel mom and settled in for the weekend. Our ongoing celebration of Peter's 21st birthday began with a Mexican dinner. We met up with Brooke Arata at the Duomo and then ran into many other UGA cortonese students along with some other random UGA friends who happened to be vacationing, studying abroad in Florence or on the Insbrook Trip. I saw a fellow coho mate, and spotted my friend Janie and 3 other Thetas who joined us for our first dinner. I got a peach daiquiri which would have been the freshest, most delicious drink ever, if only I liked alcohol a little more. (This reminds me of last night when dru, vas, rachel, kel and I got into a convo at La Posta about which we'd give up if we had to: water, soda, alcohol or coffee). We all kept water first, and coffee would def. be my second -- so funny since a year ago I wouldn't even take a sip of it!) But back to our mexican fiesta... we walked around the city at night and it was the most magical moment of my entire trip. I fell in love in an instant and saw the romance, beauty and life in all the ancient architecture, the night lights, the reflecting river, the little stands, live music and history that's wrapped up in the little artsy town of Florence. It's the perfect size and has everything you'd need. It's quaint and old but also updated (unlike Cortona haha). We went to Twice and a few other spots but realized Jeresey shore is no longer here and went home around 2am. We met up with the rest of the UGA crew the next morning at Santa Croce and took a walking tour of the city. We saw Orsen michele, the Academia (the David!), the Ufitzi gallery with just about every piece of famous art ever in it, the duomo, Santa Maria Novella, etc. etc. We had coffee and breakfast at the fanciest little cafe with small aisles of croissants, pasteries and italian sweets in their coffee bar. It's so interesting how a bar can stand for such a different thing in Europe than in America where we sit around but prefer tables and here they only stand and all gather there as to go quick and not pay a sitting fee. (I'm SO going to miss not tipping - but sooo going to enjoy ice, free water, refills, big glasses, dr. pepper, and starbucks). This little bar cafe had yellow awnings and nice little tables, a polished brass bar and expensive coffee machines. We all got lost in the Ufitzi and I ended up with Devonian, Dru and Vas to go leather shopping at the markets and then to a lunch surrounded by greenery. I got to pick out a little leather backpack in a storeroom that reminded me of going off the streets in NYC but since I paid cash and bought it from a leather distributer, I got it for 25 euros off! It was my "me" purchase - the big one, probably from gma and gpa :)
After lunch we ran to the academia and then across town to the antique theater where we got in line at 16:00 for Harry Potter!! We were SO stoked and needed a little time on our feet. While we were in line, a few of us dipped out to go to Gossi or something like that??? - a 5 star sweet shop and I bought 9 chocolates for 9 euroes (my splurge) which were to DIE for. I got white chocolate, cafe, chocolate with nuts, chocolate with violette, caramel, orange dipped, etc. etc. Each one was a surprise and it was perfect and well-suited to the beautiful interior of the theater where we watched the movie. I cried from about 40 minutes in until the end. There were so many themes and reasons for crying, including the sad culmination of my childhood... kidding... maybe not. Afterward I could barely speak and stayed introverted until we got ready to go out and I did some people's makeup which livened me back up. This was practically the perfect end to the perfect day as Peter had chosen an exquisite restaurant for dinner for 19. A perfect birthday dinner of 4 courses, we got assorted salads (greek, chicken, caprese and one with corn and pomodori), different pastas which we passed around and all sampled (like a more authentic olive garden commercial), Peter got the famous blueberry steak, and we got the assorted desserts (a tort, tiramisu, strawberry cheesecake and a chocolate cake) with assorted wines and prosecco. It was expensive but well-worth it. The restaurant was owned by a family that owns a few in America, and had plates signed by guests over the years adorning all the walls. We ran into Alli Tren, which was a very small world, and set off for a night on the town. The entire UGA crew got the memo to gather at Fish Pub for 5 shots/5 euros and we had dance parties/patio time in celebration of Peter's 21st. Which reminds me now that on Friday night we went to a worthy named bar called the Lions something. We met a UGA grad and Chuck Bass -look alike there. After galavanting all over town we headed in at 3 and in the morning packed up and joined a second unspoken memo of UGA crewness to eat at "The Diner" a British owned "American Grille" with hand burgers, omlettes, french toast, and my order of chocolate chip pancakes. We shopped around at Chanel, Louis Vuitton, D&G, miu miu, etc. and then H&M -- classy Europe. We were drained so we took a train back mid-afternoon and I sewed a delicious flax archival long stitch on our journey home. The big Florence family of 8 met back up for dinner at Flux Fluns and Rachel and I tried to watch the women's world cup at lion's well but they didn't have it :( We lost anyway...
Other than Florence love and excitement, I've been pulling abaca non stop for my never-ending book on "materality" and working on a little graphic book of the steps. I just finished shopping around town and found t-shirts for handmade necklaces at the thrift store in town, twine at the hardware store (which is hardly a hardware store at all) and burlap which is called sacco di uta here, which I bought from the always helpful Ivan. I can't wait to share all of my art with y'all but I don't even have time to upload pictures and honestly just blogged to clear my head so I could write my essay!
ciao y'all!
The semester is drawing to a close. It's about time for final crits and packing up. We have to have all art shipped out by next week. I'm leaving just in time to skip studio clean-up and Venice. We're in that week of haul-ass where everyone busts butt to catch up and ball out on their finals. Anyone that says study abroad programs are a joke, hasn't been to Cortona. We ate lunch at Nessun Dorma by the theatre with our graphic design class for a crit today. Joining us was a 2008 g.d. grad who lives in new york with 7 of her other coho members. She talked to us a lot about the importance of networking over just about anything else, and we discussed resume redesign, portfolios and killing your senior exit show. We're gong to start a g.d. alum facebook group and have a nice network for all of us that are in the same cities. The only question I had for her, was looking back, did school seem easy? Yes, so easy. I know now, looking back at high school, I'm glad I enjoyed it but laugh at the times I was stressed. And now as I stress through college, and have lots of fun, I realize it's so important to work hard but to realize that this is the last portion of my life before "real life" and adulthood set in. She said to expect to make half as much as you expect now when you're starting out in graphics and not to be an "in house" because you'll get bored doing the same things all the time but to work for a big company or firm and do lots of things. Not to get rusty in the semester I have off and to realize how great letterpress is. I already do.
I was marveling as I zoned out at how therapeutic art can be. Hours in the dark room, or pulling paper, painting, or messing around in indesign experimentation, and I imagine, the same will come in the letterpress studio. I really hope I can get into that class in the spring.
If I had to choose a profession at this very moment in time, contrary to my classmates, I wouldn't choose to work for Pentagram or a big firm (unless google hired me up), but rather I'd love to work in a print shop and do lots of precious handmade paper and letter pressing and design. I figure weddings would be just about perfect. It's the one time in a girl's life where the tiny details really do matter and the little things are so precious so a medium like paper/book making and letter-pressed signage, save-the-dates and place cards would be appreciated and doted on. Plus love and learning people's stories, working with people on their fairy-tales, and getting to experience weddings would just be pure bliss to me. I'd probably get consumed in wedding photography and cake baking, and of course makeup/hair, which I already do. I'd definitely dabble in the video-making too. I want to take a class for that.
Most of all, I've realized I'm not ready to be done learning. I know life is a process of learning, but I'm not ready to be finished with school. Grad school would be an unwise option for me and I'm not ready to dole out exuberant amounts of money for it, so I think staying a full extra-year is the answer to all my questions of involvement, internships, working in athens (red and black) and other publications, giving time to photojournalism and my degrees, and getting to take a few fun classes that I'm very interested in: i.e. jewelry-making, advanced book arts, book design with Moon, package design, letterpress.
Plus I want to love and explore athens and the more time the better. But as far as networking goes, helloooo AIGA and helloooo book making conferences. I want to bind a book a month, at least, over the next year. I'm loving all the odds and ends projects that have popped up in my mind, inspired by my time here. A hodge podge of many art disciplines and mediums would make my life a happy, happy place.
I want to expand my vocabulary and get better at writing. Writing reminds me of Steven, and Steven reminds me of the lake for Labor Day and our last convo about Harry Potter 7, which I saw in Florence, which I have yet to tell y'all about!
So backing up to Florence...
A group of 8 of us set off together as hostel-mates for the weekend. We left Friday, on the train (which was delightful and had its own compartments like the Hogwarts Express). It gave us time to sleep and we took our favorite (cheapest and easiest) Italian snack: toasties and peanut butter. Once we arrived we had to meet up with the others in our group and we got lost finding the hostel and ended up in an antique furniture store. The owners were very welcoming and offered us to stay at their "large home" but eventually pointed us in the right direction explaining that "Italians are a little crazy and our black numbres in Florence are for houses while the red are for stores." Once we found the right number 14 on Via di Fossi (The Afossi Hostel), we found Marta - our hostel mom and settled in for the weekend. Our ongoing celebration of Peter's 21st birthday began with a Mexican dinner. We met up with Brooke Arata at the Duomo and then ran into many other UGA cortonese students along with some other random UGA friends who happened to be vacationing, studying abroad in Florence or on the Insbrook Trip. I saw a fellow coho mate, and spotted my friend Janie and 3 other Thetas who joined us for our first dinner. I got a peach daiquiri which would have been the freshest, most delicious drink ever, if only I liked alcohol a little more. (This reminds me of last night when dru, vas, rachel, kel and I got into a convo at La Posta about which we'd give up if we had to: water, soda, alcohol or coffee). We all kept water first, and coffee would def. be my second -- so funny since a year ago I wouldn't even take a sip of it!) But back to our mexican fiesta... we walked around the city at night and it was the most magical moment of my entire trip. I fell in love in an instant and saw the romance, beauty and life in all the ancient architecture, the night lights, the reflecting river, the little stands, live music and history that's wrapped up in the little artsy town of Florence. It's the perfect size and has everything you'd need. It's quaint and old but also updated (unlike Cortona haha). We went to Twice and a few other spots but realized Jeresey shore is no longer here and went home around 2am. We met up with the rest of the UGA crew the next morning at Santa Croce and took a walking tour of the city. We saw Orsen michele, the Academia (the David!), the Ufitzi gallery with just about every piece of famous art ever in it, the duomo, Santa Maria Novella, etc. etc. We had coffee and breakfast at the fanciest little cafe with small aisles of croissants, pasteries and italian sweets in their coffee bar. It's so interesting how a bar can stand for such a different thing in Europe than in America where we sit around but prefer tables and here they only stand and all gather there as to go quick and not pay a sitting fee. (I'm SO going to miss not tipping - but sooo going to enjoy ice, free water, refills, big glasses, dr. pepper, and starbucks). This little bar cafe had yellow awnings and nice little tables, a polished brass bar and expensive coffee machines. We all got lost in the Ufitzi and I ended up with Devonian, Dru and Vas to go leather shopping at the markets and then to a lunch surrounded by greenery. I got to pick out a little leather backpack in a storeroom that reminded me of going off the streets in NYC but since I paid cash and bought it from a leather distributer, I got it for 25 euros off! It was my "me" purchase - the big one, probably from gma and gpa :)
After lunch we ran to the academia and then across town to the antique theater where we got in line at 16:00 for Harry Potter!! We were SO stoked and needed a little time on our feet. While we were in line, a few of us dipped out to go to Gossi or something like that??? - a 5 star sweet shop and I bought 9 chocolates for 9 euroes (my splurge) which were to DIE for. I got white chocolate, cafe, chocolate with nuts, chocolate with violette, caramel, orange dipped, etc. etc. Each one was a surprise and it was perfect and well-suited to the beautiful interior of the theater where we watched the movie. I cried from about 40 minutes in until the end. There were so many themes and reasons for crying, including the sad culmination of my childhood... kidding... maybe not. Afterward I could barely speak and stayed introverted until we got ready to go out and I did some people's makeup which livened me back up. This was practically the perfect end to the perfect day as Peter had chosen an exquisite restaurant for dinner for 19. A perfect birthday dinner of 4 courses, we got assorted salads (greek, chicken, caprese and one with corn and pomodori), different pastas which we passed around and all sampled (like a more authentic olive garden commercial), Peter got the famous blueberry steak, and we got the assorted desserts (a tort, tiramisu, strawberry cheesecake and a chocolate cake) with assorted wines and prosecco. It was expensive but well-worth it. The restaurant was owned by a family that owns a few in America, and had plates signed by guests over the years adorning all the walls. We ran into Alli Tren, which was a very small world, and set off for a night on the town. The entire UGA crew got the memo to gather at Fish Pub for 5 shots/5 euros and we had dance parties/patio time in celebration of Peter's 21st. Which reminds me now that on Friday night we went to a worthy named bar called the Lions something. We met a UGA grad and Chuck Bass -look alike there. After galavanting all over town we headed in at 3 and in the morning packed up and joined a second unspoken memo of UGA crewness to eat at "The Diner" a British owned "American Grille" with hand burgers, omlettes, french toast, and my order of chocolate chip pancakes. We shopped around at Chanel, Louis Vuitton, D&G, miu miu, etc. and then H&M -- classy Europe. We were drained so we took a train back mid-afternoon and I sewed a delicious flax archival long stitch on our journey home. The big Florence family of 8 met back up for dinner at Flux Fluns and Rachel and I tried to watch the women's world cup at lion's well but they didn't have it :( We lost anyway...
Other than Florence love and excitement, I've been pulling abaca non stop for my never-ending book on "materality" and working on a little graphic book of the steps. I just finished shopping around town and found t-shirts for handmade necklaces at the thrift store in town, twine at the hardware store (which is hardly a hardware store at all) and burlap which is called sacco di uta here, which I bought from the always helpful Ivan. I can't wait to share all of my art with y'all but I don't even have time to upload pictures and honestly just blogged to clear my head so I could write my essay!
ciao y'all!
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Things that are great about Italy
1. No tips.
2. You're never alone (there's always a bug with you.)
3. They drive on the same side of the road/car as america (diff. than most european countries).
4. They love gelato and carbs.
5. There are bakeries and chocolate stores all over the place.
6. They don't believe in air conditioning so you'll sweat off all those carbs.
7. Every public business is required to have a bathroom.
8. Their money works in multiple countries.
9. They're efficient at plate stacking.
10. The first paper mill was here, so they have a lot of nice hand-made paper.
11. Italians are always up for a good time- they'll keep secrets in order to hang with you (like their age, marital status, etc.)
2. You're never alone (there's always a bug with you.)
3. They drive on the same side of the road/car as america (diff. than most european countries).
4. They love gelato and carbs.
5. There are bakeries and chocolate stores all over the place.
6. They don't believe in air conditioning so you'll sweat off all those carbs.
7. Every public business is required to have a bathroom.
8. Their money works in multiple countries.
9. They're efficient at plate stacking.
10. The first paper mill was here, so they have a lot of nice hand-made paper.
11. Italians are always up for a good time- they'll keep secrets in order to hang with you (like their age, marital status, etc.)
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Dia ventotto – trentatré (July 5-10)
How do you sum up five days of Italy into one post?
Let’s start with last night because that’s fresh in my mind. We got back from Arrezzo at 4:30 and I had time to grab some groceries in town before sweating 5 pounds off going up the hill. The temperature has decided to go from low 80s to high 90s this month. Since I was basically as disgusting as it gets I went for a run and then deserted my dinner plans and made a salad. After 2 weeks of gelato, no excursive and lots of pasta I’m back on my health kick. Back to actually eating breakfasts, cooking lunch and eating fruit for snacks in stead of peanut butter and cookies. I’m trying to save money because next weekend (Florence) is going to be way expensive. I’ve portioned it out so that I spend approx 3 euros on food a day aside from anything I might by in town, which will hopefully be nothing. I’m not sure how running’s going to hold up in this European heat with no air conditioning, but we’ll see.
I was in need for some alone time so I gathered an ephemera of items and headed up to Santa Margherita and beyond to the fortress for my long planned sunset adventure at the peak of the mountain.
I journeyed up the trail with Shane and Shane and reached the top just in time after stopping for a few really cool sunshine shots. Once at the top I had to turn off my ipod because there were no words or sounds that could have described what I was looking at. All I felt capable of doing was sitting and being in awe of the creation that was in front of me. Whoever says there isn’t a God that creates beautiful water-color masterpieces in the sunsets each day is beyond me. I had planned on journaling, sketching, and reading but all I could get through was Genesis 1, because as soon as I was up there I knew that’s what I should read. Everything listed in those verses was right in front of me. I took individual photos to illustrate each verse and they’re nothing special but it was really cool to me. Eventually I got kicked out because the art gallery was closing. On my way down I passed a nun on her way up…. How interesting for two different people both on a hike to praise God, but from very different walks of life (no pun intended).
Now to fill y’all in on the rest of the week… we finally finished our exhibition posters and my friend Kaitlin won the winning design that will be used for our “Mostra” on July 30-31. I went to Arrezzo on Saturday for our day trip and spent a lovely date of a day with Vasilisa. We enjoyed the fresco cycle in the Dominican church and I mapped out the rest of my trip here with Danielle. The last week in July is going to be crazy for me, as I’ll prepare for my book arts and graphics pieces for the show and I’ll be taking my art history final the morning that it opens because Caroline and I hit the road the morning after the exhibition. Vasilisa and I perused the shops of the city and found a well-designed “Coffee-Clocked” that served us lunch and the most scrumptious drink I’ve had yet in Italy – the café mocha with caramel mixed in and homemade whipped cream. We made friends with a group of Oklahomian’s who are studying organic-chem in Arrezzo this summer. I felt more than blessed to be here doing art and I felt ashamed for complaining about my art history test. This is the absolute perfect place to be studying art – the culture, history, art here, environment, everything is set up for us to be creative and make some good stuff! The Arrezzo students told us to go see the park so we hiked up to their main piazza and the park and duomo and it was another one of those breath-taking moments. Their park knocks ours out of the water. It has a little kiosk for snacks and drinks with outdoor tables that I know I’d be studying at if I were there. The park is expansive and perfect for sun-bathing. The view is 180 if you follow the paramater and not only looks on the more suburban little city but also overlooks rows of olive trees and a little vineyard. I could have sat and read or written there all day long.
Back-tracking to Thursday and Friday – I was studying for art history for those two days, so no wonder I’m so delayed on my blogging. Art history is intense here in Italy! But one mid-term down and a final to go and I’m FINISHED AT LAST! No more art history for me J
I’m sure other more exciting things have happened but I’m about to go for a swim at Amie’s villa so I’ll bid you adieu!
Ciao!
xo
Dia ventisette (July 4)
So 4th of July landed on a Monday. In Italy. What to do, what to do?
I guess the professors got the memo because class was a joke. Messing around in the wet studio - makin some paper, and graphics was “on spot location studies for 2 hours” aka Richard and I bought more vegetables to make veggie papyrus (literally, paper straight from cooked veggies… we’re also cooking straw to break down the fibers for paper). I grabbed a gelato, chilled on the town steps, watched a wedding party and took a few notes. I decided to stay in town until dinner and be studious by making art history flashcards for our test Friday. I really enjoyed spending the afternoon with Richard – he’s very interesting. I got a latte and it had a heart on it J Reminded me of 2 story.
Around 5:30 I met an entourage of 13 members of Spivey’s family that are visiting and staying in a villa down the mountain with a pool. They invited me to come swimming – and this time that means no swim cap and no 6 euro fee like the local pool! Amie (Spivey’s cousin) decided we’d have a pool date to discuss a job she wants to offer me. It was more than fun getting to talk to people other than students and local Cortonese that are my age. Amie and her husband are a split household (UGA Grady grad vs. UNC grad). We had some heated talks around our little café tables eating cheese crackers and an assortment of nuts.
After dinner at Tonino’s Vasilisa and I went to the Lions well and it was packed for the 4th. It was a girl on our programs birthday so a lot of people turned up. I had a long talk with my hairdresser Stefan about getting my hair done this week (eekk), and then I met a lot of Christian, Gianluca and Michele’s other friends. Italian boys are very sleazy, but Kellie and I trust Michele because he understands that we’re all just friends. I wear my ring and tell them all I’m married haha. Around midnight we decided to go to the hot springs! There are multiple pools of water that are heated by the volcano of a near by mountain. It was very adventurous. We didn’t get home till 5am, but it was worth it.
Then the angels forced me out of bed at 11 this morning by opening my windows and saying very motherly sounding things in Italian.
Time to start my day.
Dia ventitré - ventisei (June 30- July 3)
I’m writing now, as I sit on a balcony overlooking the valley at sunset. The sun noticeably begins its dependence at 9 p.m. here. The moon is already out and the sun says its goodbye before disappearing behind the mountains. It’s very gradual and vey beautiful as you watch the atmospheric perspective of the mountains become hazier and eventually blend in with the night sky as the light is taken from the day. I’m eating a dripping juicy peach that’s near going bad – purple in color. It’s one of those that dad would say is perfect. All is quiet at JDK as everyone is out to dinner, and I actually have time to think. I let the breeze flow through my hair, watching the valley in my 180 degree panoramic view. I can hear sounds other than the constant cacophony of voices that I normally hear meshed in with the bells, dogs barking and birds. I feel like I am constantly distracted. I almost wanted to hand write this because when I get on the computer I get caught up in a slur of websites, and to dos and I get out a rough rendition of my thoughts. My writing isn’t focused, organized or beautifully written. I kind of like the honest flow that I get but tonight I’m going to write slowly and think. I’m thnking about how, here, at a place and time that has been set aside in my mind for personal growth, rest, rejuvination, has turned into an attack of inspiration, knowledge, curiosity, and tons of things to do, all constantly being thrown at me. It’s like an overindulgence of Italy. It’s not la dolce vita that I had expected... far less reads in the hammock, time to just be and be in Tuscany. Yes, I do things like go on long hikes and see breath-taking scenery, but it’s always with other people and they’re always talking. My generation doesn’t understand the beauty of silence too much – often we just talk to hear ourselves talk and talk to fill silence that we deem “awkward.” Since I can’t go for a long drive, walk down Milledge, sit on the dock, or light my candles and sit in the cloud (my bed), I’ve chosen this spot and its wonderful.
Today has been a day that stops all time. It’s been a day that probably should have been filled by crossing off to-dos, but every day is spent doing that. Every day of my life is spent “accomplishing”, and I’m realizing now that there’s always going to be something still to do. No matter how hard or quickly I work, how many things I get done, (and I’ve gotten pretty dang good at it)… if I don’t make a conscious conserted effort to “be still and know that I am God” or self-reflect, relax, etc. it’s just not going to happen, is it?
I think it’s really important to stay in tune. It’s important to regroup and to have reflection, to get back to the heart of things. It’s good to take a step back and survey the big picture. With a life that throws so much my way, I have to make very pointed choices in which ways I should spend my time. Every small choice we make has a consequence, and a lot of choices inform other ones later. I’ve realized that this week just choosing one or two times to do art and not go for a run has snowballed into not working out in a week and eating much less healthy. When you say yes to something, you are simultaneously saying no to a multitude of other options. I need to learn the art of setting aside time to reflect at the end of the day, and to get up and decide how to start my day with the importance of who I am and what I stand for in mind.
So back to today being a day that stops all time. I woke up at 10am. Not going to lie, I was still in fits of laughter from last night. I woke all the roomies up histerically laughing over my lost flipflop and we slowly made our way down to breakfast. I then lounged in bed, reading and napping until lunch. It was glorious. After lunch a group of girls headed to the pool. It was the perfect balance of sunny but not too hot with a light breeze. The epitome of enjoyable summer weather – so we decided on a classic summer day. Most study abroad programs are known to be a joke, classes don’t matter too much and it’s all easy a’s. Not the case here AT ALL. We all work our butts off all the time and the teachers see that and grade us hard still. That means we’ve had next to no time to do normal summer activities like lounge at the pool or go to a beach. All of our free time is spent going out, exercising, reading or getting other things done, but never really relaxing. Our day at the pool was delicious. The pool is on a mountain peak with a beautiful view. It’s a nice walk through the park to get there, and they play fun music – it’s cortona’s town pool so many of the locals go there, andddd I discovered a sand volleyball court! Closest to vacation I’ve gotten yet. Afterwards we walked into town and I finally got to eat at Tuchers – Lanny Webb’s favorite spot. I’m really expanding my horizons food wise because I’ve learned to love veggie pizza and lasagna. I still hate cabbage but now really enjoy green beans, zucchini, peas (a little), rockets, avocado and spinach. I’ve increased my love of tomatoes, cucumbers and onions as well. We got chocolate cake for desert and watched the evening ritual of everyone coming out in the town to socialize. It was a street-side spot on the main drag and everyone said their hellos as they passed. Very quaint.
This relaxing day hit the spot because life lately has been crazy. Yesterday we celebrated Cortona Day – UGA’s version of celebrating the 4th of July on the 2nd. We woke up early and those of us that didn’t fly off to Barcelona or London for the weekend all competed in the first annual scavenger hunt. We searched the town for 23 pictures, and it took 4 hours and a lot of local help but my team, “Pope Problems” won 3rd place and got gift cards to Molesinni’s! Everyone that participated got a large free gelato cone from Cocoa’s though, and we all got to see a lot of the town, so no complaining. For dinner UGA invited a few special Cortonese guests that are friends of the program and threw a big party with unlimited alcohol, a DJ and Tonino’s catered food. We had boar with the head still on, a huge array of desserts and lots of other food. I do have to admit that it didn’t truly feel like the 4th without hotdogs, handburgers and baked beans L I missed the lake and the fam a bit but we got watermelon, mimosas, sparklers and glow sticks so it got better. There were tents and 4th of july decorations everywhere. The teachers, families, cortonese and all the students all drank, ate and danced together. It was such a unique experience us all being together in a social setting. The rather large group slowly made its way to town for an epic night. I split a bottle of wine on the city wall under the stars, was inducted into the Belgium boy scouts and had many other adventures throughout the course of the night. (got home at 4am and the dinner had started at 6:30).
The whirlwind of my week has also included a lot of time spend experimenting in the wet studio with inclusions in my paper, and I’m learning extra bindings outside of class so that I can make my own graphically designed and printed book for my next project which is a place piece. (I’ll write about that tomorrow after I sit in my assigned entrance spot for 2 hours and observe during class). I visited an old church museum for art history and met Noni from Agali (Mr. Mead, Kellie’s teachers old friend who is hopefully going to cook us dinner or take us to the opera). I decided to skip out on the Prada outlet today, so I’m online shopping for a vintage chanel that I’ll probably end up buying from Agora’s and a silver quilted kate spade (mom will laugh about this one). I’m probably going to go finish harry potter and go to sleep.
Dia ventidue (June 29-30)
Yesterday was the flood. It was a pretty typical Wednesday. We played around with pulp dying in book arts, had a Mostra poster crit in Graphics, and I made my way up the hill to Art History when an enormous storm hit and hail the size of small pebbles started inflicting some serious damage to our 600 year-old humble abroad (and a few people at that). Doors were slamming, people began running in and out to close windows and check their rooms, and yet art history droned on for about 5 minutes as we could barely hear over the rumble of the storm (things are quiet up on a mountain with no heating or air conditioners to drown out the noise and thing walls with lots of windows. FINALLY, after making faces to me through the door window, Taylor comes running into our classroom announcing that the whole kitchen has flooded. It had been raining for maybe 10-15 minutes and there were a good 2 inces of water covering the floor and seaping near to other parts of the building. Rain was water-falling in through a slit in a side door. We al set to work grabbing towels, brooms, mops, moving furniture and a collective 50 person group effort was in sue. Needless to say, art history and our trip to the Etruscan museum down in town was canceled. It was practically snowing ice cubes in the middle of summer! We had a cleaning party where we skated around on towels, got boards of wood from farious art studios to push the water out, and then took pine dust from a wood studio to soak the rest up and let it dry to sweep it out.
As we walked down to dinner a few hours, lots of lightening and scary winds later, we realized how amuck the entire town had gone. Thousands of birds were seeking shelter in the roofs of houses, there was leaves and tree debris everywhere. Several restaurants had flooded (apparently storms like this are very uncommon up here) and no one was out.
Casey made the joke, that with an exploded bathroom on Monday and the flood on Wednesday, she didn’t want to know what Friday held in store.
We were bored of being stuck up on the hill so we went to Bar Sport for some hot chocolate (literal translation: pure melted chocolate. No milk. No water. Just hot – chocolate.) The family hung on the steps for a while and called it a night.
Today wasn’t too eventful, other than my fabulous photoshoot this morning with the advanced photography class. Peter chose me to model as a modern day Italiano-Vogue Aphrodite and we got really conceptual about it and how we’ve created her and kept her around in our cultures for centuries and how we hate her yet she affects us so much in so many different forms. I was wrapped in white sheets in the movie-theater of the park and it was pretty fun. Hopefully peter will give me some of the shots to upload and show y’all at some point!
Today in school I learned how to add leaves and other add-ins to my papers, how to let paper dry on a textured surfaces to give it a cool form, and how to pulp-paint with hand-made stencils. Arts and crafts time. In graphics we all uploaded and sent our post-cards through a UPS link. It’s cool sending some of your work to people in the form of a real post-card.
Because I spend all my free time with my nose stuck in Harry Potter my life isn’t more exciting today, so my stories end here.
Arrediverci!
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