Firenze and Pictures
Sep. 14th, 2007 01:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chanticoI cannot believe it's only been a week. It feels much, much longer. Florence is so stupidly beautiful, I don't really know what to say, though this time I have some pictures to show you. No landmarks yet, except the river-- I am determined to walk every street in the city, so I'm going section by section, cordoning my map off into 'neighborhoods' which I can explore at my leisure.
Little newsie tidbits:
Classes are going pretty well. I stumble through Italian as always (but only in class . . . outside, I've been using it quite well, and communicating fairly effectively, proving to myself that my problem with language classes is being put on the spot). Art History is teaching my a lot of interesting things that I didn't know while covering material that I've covered many times before, which is a good sign. Drawing and sculpting are great fun, and I should be able to do watercolors after all-- not as a class, but independently working with my drawing teacher. The pyschology class is difficult because the teacher does not speak very good English. I feel sorry for her; she's obviously very frustrated.
My roomies are all okay-- very nice girls. Holly is the best; she's very normal and giggly, but seemingly less insulated as the other two. Amanda, the Jesus girl, is getting her head blown. I can see it everyday in classes, especially art history as we dissect the ways that the modern church has appropriated pagan symbology. This cracks me up mostly because she and my other roomate, Kyla, were talking about the orgins of Halloween being "devilish", that word exactly, and the next day the art history teacher began listing off things that modern christianity took from paganism. Kyla is your typical blonde, middle class republican girl. She's not very aware, and yells in american at people, and drinks a lot of diet coke.
My new painting is going on swimmingly, and I'm dying to write/do something else creative, but I don't have a lot of energy. Sleeping is still difficult; no matter how much I get, my body DOES NOT want rest until 3 AM, and DOES NOT want to get up before 2 PM. I'm forcing it asleep and awake, but oh, I'm tired. On the plus side, I am eating so, so healthy, and walking up four flights of stairs at least six times a day (as well as all over the city). I know I've already lost a lot of bloat, and true fat should follow soon. Not a drop of soda has passed my lips since I've been off the plane; I drink water pretty exclusively. The quality of the tap water is actually better than in Bloomington.
ON the sad news side, I found out my uncle died on monday. he had been diagnosed with lung cancer only a month or two ago, and collapsed suddenly while taking a walk. It was very quick, and almost painless-- and I think he wanted it that way. He watched my cousin Erica- his daughter- die very slowly and very excruciatingly over the course of many years from cancer, and I don't think he wanted to do that at all. I feel bad that I can't be there for the family; especially my mom.
Glumness aside, time to post some pictures! Here's the link to my gallery in my scrapbook, and here's a few of my favorites
One of the many parks in Florence, this one along the Arno River.
Rowers on the river; a favorite pastime in the afternoon.
The Chiesa della Sacra Famiglia. And this isn't even one of the *famous* ones.
For Ryan Conner. That's a rubber chicken. No, I don't know whay it's hanging in the door to a cafe.
Indeed.
These are gemstones. Real ones. The size of my eyeball. I nearly DIED, and stayed drooling outside the window until I realized that my staring and taking pictures probably looked like I was casing the place.
My favorite shot of the bunch from a technical perspective. Some fascinating, very modern construction.
On Monday, I'll give a little more of an update on *how* I am doing, not just *what* I am doing-- since most of this is aimed not just at seeing and doing things but on disciplining, focusing, analyzing and expanding *myself*, not just my walking muscles. You can get an idea from my mood.
Radio silence until then, as the school is closed. Ciao!
Little newsie tidbits:
Classes are going pretty well. I stumble through Italian as always (but only in class . . . outside, I've been using it quite well, and communicating fairly effectively, proving to myself that my problem with language classes is being put on the spot). Art History is teaching my a lot of interesting things that I didn't know while covering material that I've covered many times before, which is a good sign. Drawing and sculpting are great fun, and I should be able to do watercolors after all-- not as a class, but independently working with my drawing teacher. The pyschology class is difficult because the teacher does not speak very good English. I feel sorry for her; she's obviously very frustrated.
My roomies are all okay-- very nice girls. Holly is the best; she's very normal and giggly, but seemingly less insulated as the other two. Amanda, the Jesus girl, is getting her head blown. I can see it everyday in classes, especially art history as we dissect the ways that the modern church has appropriated pagan symbology. This cracks me up mostly because she and my other roomate, Kyla, were talking about the orgins of Halloween being "devilish", that word exactly, and the next day the art history teacher began listing off things that modern christianity took from paganism. Kyla is your typical blonde, middle class republican girl. She's not very aware, and yells in american at people, and drinks a lot of diet coke.
My new painting is going on swimmingly, and I'm dying to write/do something else creative, but I don't have a lot of energy. Sleeping is still difficult; no matter how much I get, my body DOES NOT want rest until 3 AM, and DOES NOT want to get up before 2 PM. I'm forcing it asleep and awake, but oh, I'm tired. On the plus side, I am eating so, so healthy, and walking up four flights of stairs at least six times a day (as well as all over the city). I know I've already lost a lot of bloat, and true fat should follow soon. Not a drop of soda has passed my lips since I've been off the plane; I drink water pretty exclusively. The quality of the tap water is actually better than in Bloomington.
ON the sad news side, I found out my uncle died on monday. he had been diagnosed with lung cancer only a month or two ago, and collapsed suddenly while taking a walk. It was very quick, and almost painless-- and I think he wanted it that way. He watched my cousin Erica- his daughter- die very slowly and very excruciatingly over the course of many years from cancer, and I don't think he wanted to do that at all. I feel bad that I can't be there for the family; especially my mom.
Glumness aside, time to post some pictures! Here's the link to my gallery in my scrapbook, and here's a few of my favorites
One of the many parks in Florence, this one along the Arno River.
Rowers on the river; a favorite pastime in the afternoon.
The Chiesa della Sacra Famiglia. And this isn't even one of the *famous* ones.
For Ryan Conner. That's a rubber chicken. No, I don't know whay it's hanging in the door to a cafe.
Indeed.
These are gemstones. Real ones. The size of my eyeball. I nearly DIED, and stayed drooling outside the window until I realized that my staring and taking pictures probably looked like I was casing the place.
My favorite shot of the bunch from a technical perspective. Some fascinating, very modern construction.
On Monday, I'll give a little more of an update on *how* I am doing, not just *what* I am doing-- since most of this is aimed not just at seeing and doing things but on disciplining, focusing, analyzing and expanding *myself*, not just my walking muscles. You can get an idea from my mood.
Radio silence until then, as the school is closed. Ciao!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-09-14 02:39 pm (UTC)I am determined to walk every street in the city, so I'm going section by section, cordoning my map off into 'neighborhoods' which I can explore at my leisure.
I wanted to do this with the City of London, but of course that would have taken more time than I had. As it was, I ended up walking pretty much every major street, except (I think) some stretch or other of Gracechurch.
I can't wait to see the stuff you're working on!