Ciao Italia

So today was my last day in Firenze, and a very sad one. I started my last day off by sleeping in. I set my alarm for 10 so that I could get up and be ready to leave for Pisa. As my alarm went off I woke and was wide awake and decided to stay in bed. I finally got out of bed and started getting ready around 10:30. I was all ready by 11 by Stacy was still in bed. When she woke we decided to stay in Florence and get stuff done around here. I decided I would go an get one last pizza for lunch. I went to a little trattoria next to the markets at San Lorenzo. I sat inside because it was kind of cold outside. I ordered a margharita pizza and a Coke. When the waiter brought out my pizza he put it down and said a special pizza. I thought he said this because I ordered from the special menu. I was wrong, it was because the pizza was shaped as a heart! It was so delicious, but I couldn't eat the whole thing because it was so big. After I paid I decided to go for a walk and look for a shirt with the Florence crest on it. I found one shop that had a bunch of shirts, but they were all really expensive so I left. Before I got to the store, however, I passed the Duomo and saw some people taking pictures for a wedding. I then took a walk down to the river one last time. I got down to the rive and took a few pictures and was happy to be there but sad because I knew that it would be my last time I would be able to visit the place where I found peace. I then walked back toward the Duomo and then headed home through the markets. As I walked I found a shirt that I wanted for 8 euro. After I bought the shirt I walked around the market one last time trying to find a necklace with the crest of Florence on it, but had no luck. I then went home because I knew I needed to finish packing and help clean the apartment. When Stacy got home we moved the furniture back, swept, and then just chilled out for a while. I was almost completely packed so I sat on my bed and read the journal that Mish sent us about Australia. After relaxing for a few hours I got up and made some pasta for dinner. Eventually all the roommates came home and made dinner. I then took a shower so I wouldn't have to get up tomorrow to do that before we leave because Stacy and I are getting up at 4:15 to leave. After my shower I sat down in the kitchen to talk to some friends online and Stacy cleaned the bathroom. I just took out all the garbage and as I was coming out of the apartment building I passed a kind of creepy guy, but I kept on walking. I thought he was just looking at me because I was in my pajama pants and had 6 bags of trash. As I came back he was waiting outside the building and tried to follow me inside, but I slammed the door on him before he could get in. That so weird and creepy. The creepy Italian men are one thing I won't miss when I go home. So I might try to go to bed early even though I know I won't be able to fall asleep. Goodbye Florence, I will miss you.

No Pisa For You!

So today was an interesting day. I started it out by sleeping late. I set my alarm for 10 just so I wouldn't sleep all day. I turned it off and went back to sleep for another half an hour. I finally got up and took a shower around 11. As I finished getting ready Stacy got up, and was feeling better, and she started to get ready for Pisa. While she was getting ready I went to the Vodafone store to end my cell phone contract and get my phone switched to prepaid. That took about 15 minutes and the lady said not to switch the SIM card for about an hour because it would take about an hour to switch over completely. After I left the Vodafone store I walked back toward the apartment but stopped at a small store around the corner to buy another suitcase. I found one that was 18 euro, bought it, and then heard people yelling outside. I looked to see what was going on, I thought it was the group of teenagers I passed earlier just being obnoxious. As I turned to look I saw that it had started hailing and pouring rain. The hail was amazing, the biggest hail I have ever seen in my entire life, I think it was the size of golf balls. I waited a few minutes for the hail to stop, but the rain only got harder. I decided to buy an umbrella and brave the down pouring rain to walk home around the corner. I rolled up my jeans so they wouldn't drag on the ground and the store owner put a bag over my suitcase for me. By the time I got home, 3 minutes later, my pants were soaked as was part of my hoodie and my shoes. Meg was coming out of the building and held the door open for me so I wouldn't have to struggle with my keys and suitcase. When I got upstairs Stacy and I decided to start packing and see how the weather was. After about an hour we decided to put Pisa off until tomorrow, hoping the weather would be better tomorrow, and finish packing. I got all of my artwork and paper stuff packed in my new suitcase and then started on my clothes. I packed everything that was dry, since we had done wash, and then decided to go to a laundromat to dry our clothes so that I could finish packing. I spent about half an hour there and then finished packing when I got home. After packing I laid down on my bed and watched Dark Knight while dozing in and out of sleep. After my movie was over I some chicken Stacy had made for dinner then took a shower since we are going to try to go to Pisa in the morning. The rest of my night will be relaxation and I might go to bed a little early because I am very tired for some reason. 1 more day...

It's Over

So today, surprisingly, was a really good day. I set my alarm for 8:30 and 9 because I had a feeling I wasn't going to feel like getting up and I was right. When my first alarm went off I turned it off and went back to sleep for another half an hour. I finally got up and made my way to the lab because I told Mom I would get my platelets checked. The guy who took my blood was talking to me in broken English and in Italian as well. He was telling me how I was in there a lot and I told him I was going home on Monday. Today was my last day at the lab. After the lab I walked to the bus stop and waited for about 10 minutes until my bus came. As I got on a bunch of people on the bus kept asking the driver questions, but I had my ipod on so I couldn't hear them. Every stop people kept coming up to the front of the bus where I was sitting and asking questions and looking angry. After about 4 or 5 stops I realized we were going a different route that usual and this is why people were freaking out. Finally I saw the river and felt relieved, until I realized we were driving the wrong direction away from the fresco studio! I got off at the next stop and walked more than half of the way because the darn bus stopped so far away. I got there and as I walked in it started to rain. I took a bunch of pictures and hung out with my friends for a few hours. While I was hanging out Mario touched up my tiger fresco that got a little messed up for me. While we were in class it rained a lot and then suddenly started to hail! It hailed for a few minutes and then turned into rain and then it got sunny again. I walked home around 1:30 and was starving because all I had has to eat were some crackers and juice. I think I inhaled my sandwich as I checked my email for my platelet results. After finding out that they were the same as they were on Monday, which is good for traveling, and then went over to SACI to give Chiara and Daniela the scarves I had bought them. They both loved them and then I got a hug from each of them and said goodbye because they won't be around over the weekend. I went home after saying goodbye and thank you to them and checked my email again. I found an email from Mish with her Australia journal in it. I started reading and I was laughing so hard and remembering the good times. I read about 4 days into it when Stacy asked me to go out shopping with her. It turned into a beautiful day and we went to buy her a small suitcase, something I am probably going to do as well, to put her ceramics in. After that we went to SACI to get her ceramic pieces and my photos from my final. We wrapped them loosely and then came home to hang out for half an hour. Around 6:30 we walked to SACI for the end of the semester party. That was a lot of fun to talk to my friends and then listened to some readings by the creative writing class and some videos by the video class. The last video was my favorite, everyone's favorite, because it was the teachers and T.A.s dancing to a funny song. I am now sitting on my bed writing this blog entry and reflecting on my time here in Florence. I think I am going to attempt to start packing after I take a shower. 2 more days....

A Sad Day

So today was a very sad day for me. Let me start at the beginning like I always do. I started my day off with my alarm going off at 8:30 so I could go to my class at 9. I tried for about 2 minutes to turn it off and couldn't because I was so tired. Once it was off I rolled over and went back to sleep for another 15 minutes. I finally dragged myself out of bed and got ready and left my apartment by 9:05. I was late to class, but we didn't start the critique for another half an hour and this allowed me to get a coffee. As the critique went on I kept getting this knot in my stomach, I was not nervous because I had my critique on Tuesday. By the last person I realized the knot was me realizing that was my last photo class. By the end of the class I was so upset because it has hit me that my time here in Florence, and my photo class which has been my favorite class, is just about over. I think I am more upset about my photo class being done than anything else because I have found a new passion and Jacopo has been such a big part of that and my stay here. I was happy to remember that our class was going out to dinner and I would see them all who I have gotten to be friends with one last time. As class ended Jacopo said he wanted to give each of us something and usually gives women flowers, but flowers die so he would give us each a print of his. He spread them out and we all picked one for ourselves and had him sign the back of it. After class I went home to make a quick lunch then went to graphic design. The critique lasted a few hours and I was the last to go. My project was completely different than everyone else's. We had to make a book to show all the work we have done this semester. I decided to make mine a newspaper so that it was pure design and easy to put together. Everyone made elaborate books and mine was one piece of paper, but that made it original and memorable. After the critique I came home and was so bored because I had no work to do and it was raining so I was not going to go out. Around 7 Stacy asked me to go help her look for some perfume. We did and had a good time despite the rain. I waited for half an hour and the headed over to SACI for my photo class dinner at 8. I had the best time with my class and met a new girl that I kind of just clicked with. I finally got a good picture of Jacopo. He also knows how badly I want to come back to SACI for my post-bacc in photography and said he would help me convince Mom to let me come back. As my class and I parted with Jacopo it started raining again. I am not waiting for the shower to be free so I can try to wash away the sadness of today, even though I don't think that is possible. I never thought I could feel so strongly about a place and have it change me so much. I have found a new passion, photography, and fell in love with a city. I actually cried because I am sad that I have to leave. I do miss my family and things at home, but I feel connected to Florence and at peace here. 4 more days.

The Easter Bunny Is Sam's Mom?

So today was a blah day for me. I woke up at 9 which was earlier than I had wanted. Since I had no class today I was hoping to be able to sleep until I woke up on my own. I had to get up at 9 because Chiara was going to call Dr. Longo for me this morning around 9 to see if we could set up a treatment for me today. I can't have a treatment any other day because I have finals tomorrow and my last fresco class on Friday during which I want to do some touchup work on one of my frescos. Also, if I have the treatment after today I would have headaches while I was traveling home and probably would get worse on the flights. Dr. Longo was still on vacation today, but we did get a hold of Dr. Baldini and he said my platelets are not low enough to bump me up above people who already had appointments today. Dr. Travis said it was alright if I did not get treated because my platelets were high enough that she was not worried and I would just be treated when I get home. For some reason I ended up in a bad mood after waiting for the doctors to give me an answer, I thought it may have been because I was extremely tired. After figuring out that I was not having a treatment today I went to the dark room to do some printing. However, I got very frustrated because all my images were coming out blurry and my negatives had streaks on them. Luckily Jacopo happened to be at SACI today and he looked at my negatives. He said the streaks would not show and the most of my images were not blurry, just the ones I was trying to print. I was too frustrated to stay so I left to go home.  As I was walking home I remembered I told Mom that I would go to the market and find out about the bag since she still had not received it. The guy told me it should get there by Friday because he forgot that the 10 days it takes to ship it does not include the weekend, especially this weekend since it was Easter. I went home and told this to Mom and she said we would wait until Friday. He also told me I needed the receipt in case we didn't get the bag by Friday for him to give me a new one, so I after talking to Mom I looked for the receipt and found it after looking for about 5 minutes. Once I was done talking to Mom I worked on my graphic design final and was happy to finish the new layout and then decided to take a nap since I was so tired and my mood kept getting worse. I slept for about an hour and then my phone rang. It was someone from the Vodafone place who did not speak English. I decided that since I was still in a bad mood I would take a walk and stop at the Vodafone store on m way to the river. The woman at the store said the call was nothing to worry about since I was going to be ending m contract on Friday and going back to the USA on Monday. The walk was very good for me. I walked to my favorite bridge and rolled my t-shirt sleeves up onto my shoulders and enjoyed the beautiful weather. The Arno, the name of the river, must be magic because it took me out of my bad mood. After walking around and window shopping a little, I walked over to the Design Center to print my graphic design final out. As I got there I realized that something was spelled wrong, which was an easy fix. I am extremely happy to be done with that project and all I have to do now is hand it in tomorrow. When I got home I moved myself into the kitchen and and heated up my pasta from last night. As I was finishing up my dinner Sam and her parents walked in, her parents are staying with us until the end of the term. As I was moving my computer back into my room to give them some space, Sam's mom came out and gave me Pez and Dove chocolate bunny and said it was in case the Easter Bunny didn't visit me. I showed Stacy and we both laughed about it. I decided to take a shower next because I felt gross from being sweaty from my walk. When I got out of the shower Stacy told me she got a bunny and Pez as well. So I am sitting on my bed for the rest of the night. I told Stacy I would help her study, so I will be doing that in a few minutes. Today is my last Wednesday and I am ending it in a good mood.

My Last Tuesday :(

So today is my last Tuesday in Florence and this makes me very sad. However, I had a really good day. I had to get up early to get my platelets checked at the lab so I got up at 8 and walked over. As I walked in to check in I saw the line was pretty long. I was worried about this because I had to be at SACI main building at 9 for my photo final critique. I was relieved to find the line diminished quickly and I had no wait to get my blood drawn. I was really thirsty after so I stopped and got a soda, not what I wanted at 8:45 in the morning but it would have to do. I walked as fast as I could to get to class since I was supposed to have my critique first and I was worried my grade would suffer if I was late even though I had a good reason. Surprisingly, I got to class 5 minutes early and walked in at the same time as Jacopo. As I waited for class to start I tired to print my artist statement out but the printer was backed up, which I found annoying. I went back to class and we got started with my critique. Jacopo only had good things to say, as did the rest of my class. He said I have improved so much and this made him very happy. He also said that all of my prints were excellent. In my opinion, my critique went the best out of the 4 that we had today. I left class feeling very satisfied after talking to Jacopo about continuing with photography in the future. Before I went home, I stopped to have Chiara call Dr. Longo to give him my blood results and try to set up a treatment for tomorrow so my platelets would not be low when I fly home next week. Chiara was out so Daniela called for me, but both Dr. Longo and Dr. Baldini were not there so we are going to try to call tomorrow morning. Next, I went home and made myself a sandwich before packing up my laptop to go to graphic design. I got to class an grabbed my teacher to ask her a simple question before anyone else could get to her. I was very happy to finish my final and print it out. As it printed, however, my teacher suggested a different layout and pretty much redesigned my whole project. Even though I was happy with my project, this new layout makes more sense so I will finish the new layout and reprint it on Thursday before class. After this little disappointment I walked home and decided to take a nap because as usual I had trouble falling asleep last night, part of which was due to Sam being so loud with some guy she brought home. I slept for about 2 hours and woke up feeling refreshed and ready for dinner. Both Stacy and I were in the kitchen at the same time which is always interesting because of how small the kitchen is. As I started eating my pasta I got a stomach ache and was only able to eat about 10 bites before I decided to put it in the fridge for dinner tomorrow.  After dinner I took a shower so I won't have to get up quite so early tomorrow since I need to be at SACI at 9 to call Dr. Longo. So that is how I spent my last Tuesday in Florence. The rest of my night will be spent on the couch as usual.

7 Days

So today was an awesome day. I woke up around 10:30, but didn't feel like getting out of bed so I stayed in bed until 11:15. By then I still didn't want to get out of bed, but knew if I didn't I would get nothing done today. After getting up I talked to Sam for a while and found out the Conad was open so I could go and buy some more food. I took a quick shower while Sam and Stacy were out. As I was going down to Conad they both came home, perfect timing. I was so happy to get some more procuitto so that I could have my sandwiches again. After eating and talking to Stacy for a while I decided to go for a walk. I was pleasantly surprised with how warm it was today. I regretted taking my hoodie and wearing a t-shirt. I had a tank top on under my t-shirt, but it was breezy out so I just pushed the sleeves up on my shoulders. I wonder if I got a tan. I walked down by the river and ended up walking down to the little park by the waterfall. I sat on the ledge in the sunshine and listened to music for about an hour just enjoying the day. I was having fun watching a guy fish and the ducks swimming around. After a while the sun went behind a cloud and I got a little cold from the breeze coming off the water and turned around and started walking home. The sun came out again as soon as I left the park and made it warm to walk in, but I loved it. I walked down to the Ponte Vecchio and thought about getting some gelato. Once I got to the area where I could buy some good gelato I was slightly annoyed by tourists and decided I would just go home since I needed to work on my finals anyway. I got home and avoided doing work for about an hour. I finally sat down in the kitchen with the window open and started working. I am just about done all my work. All I have left is to write an artist statement for my photo final tomorrow and ask my graphic design teacher a quick question and print my final. I cannot believe I am almost done and only have a week left. I am going to miss Florence and SACI so much. After doing my work I started talking to a friend and watching videos on Youtube until I made my dinner. After dinner I cleaned the bathroom since I told Stacy I would do that today and forgot to do it earlier. Next up for me was a shower and then relaxation. Stacy asked me to quiz her for her final tomorrow and as I was doing that Sam started cooking something. We don't know what it was but it smelled like dirty feet and then she added something that made us start choking. I am still coughing from it and she has been done cooking for about half an hour! So the rest of my night will be resting, talking to my friends, and writing an artist statement. 

Happy Easter

So today was a great day. I stayed up late last and when I went to bed fell asleep rather quickly. Once asleep I actually had a really good dream, something I have not had in a while. I set my alarm for 10 because I wanted to go to the Duomo to see the festivities. I was told that I should get there at 10, but I figured if I got up at 10 and showered I could get there by 10:30. When my alarm went off I was actually pretty awake even though I stayed in bed for another 10 minutes. Once I got out of bed I started my shower and as I was about to get in Sam's friend who is staying with us turned the other shower on and I lost all the hot water. I decided to wait until she was done and then shower. By the time I finally got in and out of the shower it was just about 11. Stacy and I walked over to the Duomo and fought the masses. It was so crowded. We tried to go up to our friend's apartment that was overlooking the square, but as we were walking around the block to see if we could get closer we heard the fireworks. We walked as fast as we could back and got as close as we could. The fireworks were on the ground so we really couldn't see much other than people's heads and some smoke. Once we couldn't get any closer we pulled out our cameras. I had to stand on my tippy toes with my camera above my head and hope for the best. Some of my pictures came out, but you really can't see anything in them. After about half an hour the show was over and people started leaving. We worked our way to our friend's apartment, slowly being pushed along the way. Once we got up there I took some pictures of the fireworks machine they set up, the swiss guard, and the hoards of people that were still down there. We hung out at their apartment for a few hours and had a good time. By the time we left, however, I had gotten a headache from not eating and the smoke from some of them smoking. When I got home I went to make a sandwich and realized I had no procuitto left. At this point I was starving so I decided to go down to the restaurant across the street and get a pizza. I sat outside because today was the nicest day so far and listened to my ipod. For a pizza and a soda I paid 10.30 euro, not bad and the pizza was really good. Once I got home from my lunch I started working on my graphic design projects. I finished one and am in the process of finishing the other. I stopped working on it when I was about half done so that I could think about the design layout some more. I spent the rest of my day enjoying myself and relaxing while talking to friends online. I made some chicken for dinner that was delicious and now I am yet again relaxing on the couch. My goal for tomorrow is to get my graphic design final finished so I can print it on Tuesday in class. 

Soccer Is Only For Florentines?

So today was a fun day. I started out by sleeping in. However my body woke me up at 9:30 and I stayed in bed until about 10:15. After mulling about for a while I took a shower and then made myself a sandwich. As I was eating my sandwich, and working on a project, Stacy came home. She asked if I wanted to go to a soccer game with her later around 2. I was scheduled to be in the dark room from 1 to 4, but I am done printing for my final so it wasn't necessary. I told her I would love to go and she said she would call me later with the info. I got all my stuff together to print and mount my photos and went to SACI to get as much done as I could before Stacy called. As I was cutting boards, about 2 boards into my 10, Stacy called and said they were going to meet at SACI at 2, which was about 45 minutes away. I got 8 boards cut before I had to meet them. I asked Sam at the desk if I could leave my stuff there so I could come back later and finished. He said yes and put it away for me. I met up with Stacy and some other SACI kids, Joey, Jill, and their roommate Jordan who I had never met before. These were all people, except Jordan, that I have known and really like at SACI. The five of us went to the bus station to catch the bus to get there early, the game was at 3, so that we could get tickets. After about 20 minutes of going in a big circle looking for the right spot to get the bus we finally found it and got on. When we got to the stadium we asked where to get tickets and walked for a while, but found it. Thank goodness today was a nice day, it was actually hot out and we were all sweating and trying to stay in the shade. As we were waiting in line to get out tickets a man told us that they will not sell tickets to anyone who is not an Italian Florence resident. We walked around to a few places hoping this was just a mistake, but had no luck and then found out the game was sold out. We were all pretty upset and decided to just go back home. The shuttle bus we took would not run until the game was over so we decided to walk, a long walk. It was actually a lot of fun and we even did a good deed. As we were walking home a family from Belgium stopped us and asked us to help them call the police because their car was broken into and stuff had been stolen. Jordan, who was in a kind of bad mood about the game, called the police for them and we waited with them until the police got there. Their daughter was hysterical crying, I understand it was upsetting to have your car broken into but I didn't understand why a 10 year old was crying hysterically over a stolen GPS and some money. They said they were in a museum when it happened and came out and found their window broken and stuff missing. I hope everything works out for them although I'm not sure how it could. After the police got there we left and kept on walking back toward the Duomo. After we all parted I went back to SACI to finish cutting my board and mounting my photos. I am now done the majority of work for this photo final on Tuesday. All I have left to do is to write up a paragraph about what my project was, an artist statement basically. After I finished mounting I went to the market to talk to Guiseppe since Mom said she never received the bag. The guy who handled the shipping showed me the receipt and said it should get there by Monday or Tuesday and probably took so long because of Easter. I went home and made dinner because I had not eaten since my sandwich at 11 and it was 6 by the time I got home. After I ate I decided to take another shower because I felt gross from being sweaty all day. The rest of my night will consist of relaxing on the couch and listening to the new song I downloaded by accident. I went to download "What I've Done" by Linkin Park but got another song called "Refugee" by Tribal Ink. I found out they purposely mislabeled their song so that they would get attention and get their song out. It worked and I am now in love with their song and trying to find more music by them because they have a very unique sound that I like. So anyway I will be relaxing and maybe working on my graphic design final some. I think I might go to the Duomo tomorrow with Stacy for Easter because there is supposed to be some amazing things going on down there. We'll see if I get up early enough and if I remember.

Ah Flip Flops

So today was a great day in just about every aspect. I got up around 8:45 to go to the lab before heading to fresco. I set my alarm for 9, but wanted to try to leave the apartment before 9:30 so I got up earlier. I got to the lab and everything went very quickly. The man who took my blood had a good time talking to me in Italian, some of which I understood. After getting my labs done I started walking to the bus stop. Even though it was a beautiful day, warm enough to not wear my hoodie, I wanted to take the bus so that I could get to the studio faster and get started drawing and painting. However, I waited for the bus for about half an hour. I probably could have gone more than half the way walking in the time I waited for the bus. I was happy to take the bus because I had my laptop with me today and I could sit and take some of the weight off my shoulder. Once I got to the studio, around 10:15, I ended up not making a new fresco but doing touch up painting on one of my other ones. We got done class pretty early, around noon. I decided to walk home along the river even though I had my laptop and all of my frescos with me. By the time I got home I was so sweaty from all the stuff I was carrying and I made the mistake of leaving my hoodie on. I decided to take a shower and change into capris and flip flops. I was so excited to wear these because flip flops are so comfortable and these were my favorite pair of capris. After I ate a lunch I went for a walk, without my hoodie! I ended up buying some gifts for people in the market and wandering around the city looking for a store. I finally found the store I was looking for after going to the wrong one first. I got 3 pieces of black foamcore to mount my prints for my photo final on. As I was walking home, I was surprised because Guiseppe stopped me in the market. He wanted to know if Mom got the new bag, which I later found out she did not. When I got home I talked to Sam for a little bit and then made dinner around 6:30. As I was making dinner I got a stomach ache which turned out to be from being really hungry. As for the rest of my night, it's the couch for me. I am going to relax tonight and stay up late since I don't have to get up for anything tomorrow. On the agenda tomorrow for me is some darkroom time and work on my finals.

I Just Have One Question

So today was a pretty good day overall for me. I started out, as usual, not falling asleep easily last night but sleeping pretty soundly. This was followed by me not wanting to get out of bed when my alarm went off. Once I got to class I showed Jacopo my prints that I have done thus far and we narrowed them down to the best ones to use for my final next week. After our mini-crit I started to work on the final 4 prints that I would use for my final. I was very happy when I got to my final one and still have an hour left in the dark room. However, disaster struck! I saw on my print a mark that I thought was dust so I took the negative and carrier out to wipe off the dust. When I looked at the negative there was a big smudge on it. Jacopo took me downstairs to the processing room and washed it for me. After washing and waiting 15  minutes for the negative to dry I took it back upstairs to print it and look at it in better light. I was upset to see the smudge was still there. Jacopo took me back downstairs and rewashed it with his personal wetting agent. After another 15 minutes went by I checked it again and this time it was fine! I was just about out of time in the darkroom, so I went in and printed it as quickly as I could. I got a few good prints, one of which I will use for my final. After finishing up just after 1 I ran home to get my laptop and drop off my prints. I got to graphic design about half an hour late, but this was not a problem since we are just working on our projects and I did not miss any lectures. I let my teacher know I had a question and she said she would be with me as soon as she was finished helping another student. As she finished she started to walk around and my roommate, Sam who is also in my class, grabbed the teacher and apparently asked her a very lengthy question. I waited an hour for her to come and help me as she helped Sam two times. I got up to go to the bathroom while I was waiting and when I came back my teacher had left! I was so mad because I could not work any further on my project without getting my one question answered. It was a simple question about the program, but I seem to have the most knowledge in the class, other than my teacher, about this specific program. I waited another hour for my teacher to come back and when she did I finally got to ask her my one question. I was so annoyed because Sam had already gotten some individual attention when I asked for help and I had had none. After class I came home and realized I had missed lunch and was starving and ate a sandwich while Stacy took our wifi to be fixed. They gave us a completely new card and router and it seems to be working better than ever, of course this would happen a week before we leave. As I was making dinner I started looking at the Post-Baccalaureate program that is offered here at SACI. I would love to do this program. It would be a year abroad and a great chance for me to improve my portfolio. I need to sit down and figure out if I can afford it and if it is worth it. I would probably be coming in through in the photography program because they do not offer a design program, but the dean said I can take design classes as my electives. After talking to the dean about this at SACI, I went into the darkroom to print a contact sheet and some prints. By 8:30 I was pretty tired so I decided to call it quits for the day since I am done the printing that has to be done for my final and am now just printing for myself. I came home and took a shower and am now relaxing for the rest of the night.

Let The Craziness Begin

So today was a pretty relaxed and much better day for me compared to yesterday. I had trouble falling asleep again last night, but once I was asleep I was out cold until Stacy's alarm went off. I had my alarm set for 10 so that I could get up and shower before I had to be at SACI. For the last 2 weeks the darkroom has a sign-up sheet for specific times and enlargers. I was signed up to use my favorite enlarger from 11-1 today. I got to SACI and was surprised to only find 2 other people using the darkroom. I got a lot printed today and happy to say I am about half done printing for my final. After I was finished printing I had to leave for an hour because there was a critique in the room, which meant that my prints would have to sit in the water for an hour and I would have to go back to dry them later. I went home and talked to Mom and Chris for a little bit until my internet decided to stop working. I got frustrated and left to go back to SACI to pick up my prints. I was happy to find the critique was finished so I could turn the dryer on and not wait for them to air dry. I was going to go and buy some foamcore today, but decided I would wait since I was kind of tired. After sitting at home and messing around online for about an hour I realized I had a meeting to go to at 4. I was selected to attend a meeting with the accreditation people for art schools. I went and they basically just asked us a bunch of questions about how we like SACI and what could be improved if anything. After the meeting was over at 5 I decided to process a roll of film I had just finished so I could print some contact sheets tomorrow and get Jacopo's opinion. I had a really hard time getting the film loaded onto the reel. I think I had taken a broken reel into the darkroom with me, good thing I always bring in an extra reel. I was excited to see pictures on my negatives when I was all finished. I had a few pictures of a guy I had no idea who he was. It took me about 5 minutes to remember I had taken some pictures of the guy from the snack bar. After drying and cutting my negatives I went home and made some dinner. I was so hungry and craving some lemon chicken. Dinner was so good and definitely hit the spot. I realized I was out of Coke and pasta sauce so I ran downstairs to Conad to pick up some. I was shocked that the line was actually starting to wrap through the store. I got through the line pretty quickly and then went back upstairs to take a shower. As I was getting my clothes all set I realized that I had forgotten my laundry. I had put my clothes in the washer before I went to SACI and they had been done for a while. I took them out and was happy to have nice weather so I could hang them outside tonight. After my shower I went to go online and realized that out wifi was not working well, but working somewhat. It is still not working so great so I think I will restart it after finishing my homework. Another long day tomorrow, hopefully I get some sleep tonight so I can actually do some good work.

No Comment

So today has been an overall crappy day for me. As usual I had a hard time falling asleep last night, and I even went to bed a little early so I would be awake for photo this morning. For some reason unknown to myself I could not stay asleep. I was up all night tossing and turning and being annoyed that I was awake. I was not a little awake either, I was wide awake. Stacy even said something about my tossing turning when we got up. In addition to that when I did sleep, which was rare, I was dreaming in German. I don't even know German!!! I  got up and out of bed around 8:30 and was utterly exhausted. As I was getting ready to go to class I realized that my jaw on one side was hurting pretty badly and I had trouble opening my mouth due to the pain. I took some Tylenol and hoped it would go away soon. I soon realized that this is probably joint pain and that my jaw was starting to lock on the one side like it had done in the past. I got to photo and started shooting pictures of my friends, Libby my T.A., and Jacopo for my project. After shooting for a bit I went to the photo store to buy some more paper since I was just about out. I got the regular size paper and a smaller size that is about the size of a postcard. When I got back to class I signed up for my critique time and 4 slots on enlargers for printing within the next week. I then printed a contact sheet and showed it to Jacopo. He looked at the thumbnails and was thrilled saying I have a lot of excellent shots. He suggested to do my project from that one roll of film and showed me possible images to use. I loved the idea and was excited to start printing. I skipped my Italian class to stay and finish printing. I got one print done, of Stacy actually, and was done just in time to get my things and go to graphic design. I got a panino just before leaving and had a horrible time trying to eat it because I was having such a hard time opening my mouth and chewing it hurt as well. I got to class and was relived to sit down and talk to my teacher about my last two projects. She helped clarify that my ideas, one of which I am very excited about, were good ones and how to do them. I started working, but by 3 I was so tired I could not concentrate anymore. I got up and went to the classroom computers to print out 3 of my older projects like the rest of class was doing. However, my projects would not print, along with the rest of my class. Luca came in and helped everyone one by one. I was still having problems and didn't get it working until an hour after class had ended! By this time I was in an absolutely horrible mood and frustrated. I went right home, dropped my stuff on the floor, put my ipod on, and went to sleep. I slept for about 2 hours which helped the pain in my jaw some and the headache I had developed. Once I got up, I reheated my pasta from last night figuring it would be easiest on my jaw to chew since it is soft. I am thinking I might take a shower after dinner or I may just relax on the couch before going to bed tonight. What a day, but I am not in such a bad mood now.

Didn't Feel A Thing

The question of the day seems to be "are you alright?" Yes, I am fine. For anyone who doesn't know, there was a 6.3 earthquake last night in a town just outside Abruzzo. My roommates and I did not feel a thing, but apparently the aftershocks were felt all the way down to Rome. My roommate Sam's sister lives in Rome and called Sam to tell her that the shocks were bad enough that her chandelier fell. Thank you everyone for the concern, I am doing wonderful. Now to update everyone on my day. I started my day by waking up, turning my alarm off, and going back to sleep. I finally dragged myself out of bed around 10 to go get my labwork done. My visit to the lab went well and I was taken quickly. One one the women who draws blood really likes me, so I was taken right away. After my blood was drawn she asked if I would like some coffee or tea. I was kind of confused since no one had ever asked me that before and said yes. She took me into a little room and told me to wait there and have a seat. A few minutes later a different woman brought me in a silver tray with coffee and biscotti. I was shocked. I drank the coffee and ate the biscotti quickly but very happily because this was my breakfast. I left to go home and shower still somewhat surprised, but pleasantly surprised. After telling Stacy about the weirdness of the lab this morning I showered and headed over to SACI armed with my camera. I am still on a mission to take shots of people who have influenced me or had an impact on my time here at in Florence for my final project. I went in to ask Sam some questions and then shot some photos of him, Daniela, and Chiara. Daniela was not happy with me taking her picture and said no originally, but changed her mind and said only for me would she do this. After getting that done I went to my favorite snack bar for lunch and got some pictures of the guy who always serves me. After lunch I went on a hunt to find the camera store to buy more photo paper to print with. After walking around somewhat lost I found it. I was disappointed to find that they are closed on Mondays as many things in Florence are. I then went looking for Zecchi, an art store that is probably the equivalent to our Dick Blick or Pearl. Of course when I got there they were closed for siesta and would not reopen until 3:30 which was about 2 hours away. I walked around for a while just to be outside because it was such a warm and beautiful day. I was actually sorry that I had worn my sweatpants. I went home around 2:30 to check and see if my blood results were in my email and talk to my mom. I checked and was happy to see my results waiting for me. All good numbers. I also received an email about a girl I went to high school with and swam with that was quite shocking. She has been arrested for sexual advances onto a student in the middle school she works at. After chatting for a while I decided to go to SACI and process a roll of film so I would have something to print tomorrow in class. I was very happy to find pictures on the film when I was finished, I always get nervous that something went wrong. Next for me was to stop at Conad and buy a few things for dinner before going home. As I was checking out my cell phone rang. It was Mom calling to check on me and make sure I was okay from the earthquake. As I got home and online, I was shocked at the amount of people that were asking me if I was alright. I did not realize how big this earthquake was because I didn't feel anything. I am so glad to be in Florence and not Rome or Abruzzo. After relaxing for a while and trying to come up with some ideas for my graphic design final, with no luck, I went with Sam to her gallery opening. She was really happy I went to support her and I was happy to go because I got some good shots of her for my final. I came home around 8 and took a shower before making dinner. I had planned on eating chicken, but didn't feel like going through all the trouble of cooking it so I made a big bowl of pasta. It is now 9:21 and I am still eating my dinner. Today was a great day in all regards for me. To top my day off I did not have my Italian class because they were taking a mock-final. I saw no point in me taking this since I am not planning on taking the final now that I have dropped the class, so I had the day off. Long day of class tomorrow, but hopefully it will be a productive one.

Cleaning Extravaganza!

So today was very lazy day for me. I started my day off by waking up at 9:30 with a migraine in my eye. I was still sleepy so I tried to go back to sleep to get rid of the pain in my head and eye and to get a little more sleep. I drifted in and out of sleep thanks to the construction outside and Stacy getting up. After what I though was about an hour of hour and a half I checked the time and saw it was 11:58! I was shocked that I slept so late, but I felt better when I got up. After eating a sandwich and taking a shower I was puzzled as to what to do. As I was trying to decide Stacy asked me if I wanted to go to Pompeii, Sorrento, and Capri with her next weekend. After talking about it for a few minutes we decided I would go to the office tomorrow and reserve our spots as long as I got the okay from Mom to spend the money and go. We were pretty excited and both didn't feel like going out today so we cleaned. Normally I would be annoyed that I had to clean, but I had a really good time with Stacy. I also started shooting new pictures for my final today of her and my other roommates when they are home. Anyway, after shooting and cleaning, I went out for a walk to see if I could find anything interesting to shoot. Apparently today was the day everything weird to go on in Florence. I saw a guy with a drum strapped to his back and cord to his feet so the drum would beat each step he took and and accordion in his hands, another guy with wires through his clothes to make it look like he was windblown sitting smoking a cigarette, a homeless woman who refused to get up so they called and ambulance and the EMTs were yelling at her, and some other minor randomness. I think I got a lot of good shots out of that. I started getting hungry so I turned around and went home. I needed to make dinner early tonight because I am going to that concert tonight and wanted to have dinner beforehand. When I got home I checked my email and saw that Mom wrote back to me while I was out. She was all for us going away next weekend and said to go for it! We are both really excited. As I made dinner Meg came home and started cooking her dinner. This was the prefect time for me to shoot her and I think I got some really good shots. It is now 7:17 and I am planing on leaving in about an hour for the concert. I'm excited to go and do something different. Jacopo will be there and I found our Meg is going as well. I also got some good reading with my INR just now and I am in a very good mood. These next 2 weeks are going to fly by, but I think they are going to be the most amazing 2 weeks of my stay here. I am really going to miss Florence and the people I have met.

Dark Room Chaos

So today was a slow, boring, but productive day for me. I started my day off not being able to fall asleep again last night, this seems to be becoming a bad habit. Once I fell asleep, I slept pretty soundly until 7:30 when Stacy's cell phone rang and woke us both up. I had no problem falling back asleep once she hung up which I found surprising because they had started the construction outside. I woke up a few more times after that and finally dragged myself out of bed around 10:45. After lounging around in my pajamas I finally took a shower at about noon and then made myself a sandwich afterwards. I was kind of disappointed when I was getting ready for the rest of the day that my friend Anne never called me. We were going to make plans to go out this weekend and she said she would call me this morning. Even though I was disappointed it worked out for the best because I spent most of my day in the dark room. I got to school around 1:15 and didn't leave until sometime just after 5. I was the only person in the dark room, just the way I like it, for about half an hour. Slowly people started filtering in. We ended up having about 7 people in the dark room at once, which I have never seen on a weekend. It was somewhat of a problem because 2 of the enlargers are not working, one of which is my normal enlarger, so everyone was trying to find a spot. Our dark room had about 12 enlargers, I think, so there was plenty of space today, but we all have our favorites. I had a very productive printing session and used up almost all of my paper so I will have to go buy more on Monday. I also got to talk to Jacopo for a little bit about my final and he gave me some suggestions that I may use. After printing I went to Conad to buy some pasta since I was out to make for dinner. When I got home I checked my email and saw that Mom had sent me an email. She told me that she never received the bag that was supposed to get there by Thursday for Deb's birthday. So I went down to make sure it even got mailed. As I walked up, Guiseppe sent me to another guy and immediately left the store and went outside. I should have known something was wrong. The guy told me that the bag never got mailed because they were "too busy," they were short-handed, and he got hurt. He showed me the box and said it would go out tomorrow and she would have it by Thursday. I tried to call Mom to tell her what was going on, but she is in rehearsals all day so she didn't pick up. After emailing her the news and talking to Stacy for a while we started smelling something very good. Meg was cooking herself dinner which reminded me, and Stacy that we were hungry. What a sight it must have been to see the three of us cooking in the kitchen at the same time. I was so excited when my food was done cooking because of how hungry I was. I made my usual chicken in lemon juice with garlic and a side of pasta. I think tonight was the best tasting chicken I have made thus far, maybe it was just because of how hungry I was. I ate dinner pretty late and got done eating and doing dishes by about 8:30. I am now sitting on the couch listening to music and somewhat watching tv as usual. Maybe I will watch a movie later while I sit here and talk to my friends.

Tigers & Frescos & Kids..Oh My!

So today is Friday and you know what that means, fresco! I got up at 8:30 and headed over to the studio around 9. Surprisingly I was the first person there other than Mario. My classmates started showing up about half an hour later and the latest came in around 11. My task today was to paint the fresco of a tiger I had drawn last week. I got everything set and started painting. I put my ipod on shuffle, I work better if I have music on, and painted with intense concentration. After painting for about 2 hours non-stop I finished. Mario and my friends said it looked great. I was extremely please with the end result and am happy to say this is my best and favorite fresco of my fresco painting career. During the class my friend Anne came, about an hour after I got there, and brought her 6 year old son Liam with her. I don't usually like kids, I don't get them and get easily annoyed by them. However, Liam was such a cool kid. Mario let him paint his own fresco which turned out pretty nice. He seemed to like me because he stood behind me and watched me paint and then followed me around the studio talking to me for the rest of class. At the end of class Anne's husband came with their younger son, Chase, who was such a cutie. They invited the class to go get some lunch, but I was the only one who went. I was so hungry and realized it was because I had not eaten anything and it was 1:30. I had such a good time with Anne and her family. These are the first kids that I didn't feel turned off by and actually had a really good time with. After I walked back with them Anne invited me to go out to dinner with some of her friends at 9pm and said to call if I wanted to go. As I finished walking home, they live a lot closer to the studio than I do, I realized my new headphones were making funny noises. I went home and got the receipt so I could return them and buy ones that worked. The guy at the store tested them out and said they were working fine and wouldn't let me return them. Maybe it was just a quick glitch. The other option is that it only happens when my ipod is a certain direction, or it is a problem with my ipod. I then headed home and took a shower. After my shower I rewashed all my laundry because it was still not dry from 2 days ago and felt disgusting. I am hoping it doesn't rain tonight because all of my laundry is outside to dry. After talking to Mom for a while I realized I was extremely tired. My dilemma was that it was already 7 and I wasn't sure if it was too late to take a nap. I decided I would take a short nap and then go to dinner with Anne. I woke up around 8:15 and called Anne at 8:45. We decided it was too late for me to meet them at Santa Croce and said we would hang out later this weekend. I made dinner around 9. So here we are at 10. As usual, my plan is to relax tonight on the couch and probably watch Dark Knight yet again. My plan for tomorrow, sleep late and get some printing done in the dark room before it gets too crazy with finals coming up. 

What I Would Do For An Xray

Ciao! So today was a rather good day. I started it off by not being able to fall asleep again, this seems to becoming a trend. Once I fell asleep, however, I slept very soundly until my alarm went off at 8. I was reluctant to get out of bed, but I needed to take a shower and get to class by 9. I rolled into class right at 9 feeling very sleepy. I find it strange that I was so tired because when I first got out of bed and into the shower I was feeling pretty good. Jacopo likes to make fun of my tiredness and today he decided take the hood on my sweatshirt and attack me with it before viewing my contact sheet. Today in class we had pretty much a free day with a quick demo on mounting and matting, something I already know how to do. After the demo, and a coffee, I printed some contact sheets and then sat a read something he wanted us to read for class. I also spent most of my time thinking about how I am going to present my final 10 images for the critique. I know I want to mount and not matte them on a thick piece of board. Jacopo showed us one kind of board that is black and durable, but the problem is that I would end up spending 100 euro of 10 pieces of board. The other options are either foam core, which I do not like to use, or aluminum board. I might get the aluminum board, but first I need to figure out how I am going to cut it since I do not think an Xacto will cut through it. During the course of class Jacopo had suggested that I go to a concert that he is going to on Sunday of a string quartet, since he knows how important music is to me. At the end of class he showed me on the map where the theater is so that I could go get tickets if I decided to go. Class was over and I had to go home and get my laptop and Italian books before heading to the Design Center. I was already 10 minutes late and it was about to become 25 minutes because I started to not feel well with my stomach. I got to class for the last half an hour and was feeling better. My teacher said the class was going to take a mock-final on Monday and I could come if I want to since I dropped the class. I don't think I am going to go and take it. I will take the opportunity to have a free day and try to get some work for my other finals done. After Italian I went to graphic design which was extremely boring for me today. In the beginning of class I started getting all kinds of ideas for potential art projects, that have nothing to do with school. One of my ideas involves x-rays and I am very excited to get working on it. However, I cannot start until I get home because I have no x-rays here in Italy. As the class was ending my teacher wanted us to start on an extra project that was only for the intermediate students, I am in this group. This project is somewhat overwhelming to me because I am not sure how to present my data or if my data is even accurate. I was extremely happy when 4 o'clock rolled around so I could leave class and go home. I was going to take a nap when I got home but decided to try to find the theater for the concert on Sunday since I was planning on going. After walking around for a little bit I found it and bought myself a ticket. I'm pretty excited to go and do something that I would normally not do. When I got home I realized I was extremely hungry. This was probably due to the fact that I had only had a panino at 10 and a bag of chips to eat all day. I took out some chicken that was mainly all fat and gristle to cook. After realizing that piece of chicken wasn't worth cooking, I took out another piece and made myself a very tasty dinner.  Once dinner was done I talked to my roommate Sam a little bit and then took a very relaxing shower. The rest of my night I am going to relax and maybe draw a little since my creative juices seem to be flowing.

I Bought A Non-Apple Product!

So today was a really good day for me. I started my day out sleeping in. I had nothing to get up for, so I didn't set my alarm and decided to get up whenever my body woke me up. I rolled out of bed around 10:45 and felt great despite some normal grogginess. I had about an hour to get ready before I had to be in class. I took my shower and made lunch and actually got to class a little bit early. Today is the day we meet with the T.A.s to speak Italian rather than sitting and learning right from the book. We got assigned to a new T.A. today, which I found strange since we only have 2 more T.A. days including today. I really liked my old T.A., but the new woman was extremely helpful and my new group was a lot of fun. After class was over I walked home, but made a quick stop at the market to get some chicken on my way. When I got home I wrapped each piece of chicken and then went to catch the bus to the fresco studio. I decided to take the bus to the studio for 2 reasons: it looked like it was going to rain, and I wanted to get there quickly so I could get started painting. As I walked into the studio, Mario said it was too late to start painting a new fresco but I could mix my colors so I would be all set to go on Friday. I did this and left the studio within half an hour. I decided to walk home since the sky cleared up and it was so nice outside. As I reached the Uffizzi, I started to get hungry so I decided to stop and get some gelato. Normally I would get it to go, but I had been walking for a while so I stopped at a place I could sit down and take my time. After enjoying my favorite gelato I walked around the city trying to find the apple store because my headphones had started to die. Not only was the sound starting to go on the headphones, but they were grey from charcoal and paint and the rubber was falling off from how much I have used them. After walking around for about 20 minutes I finally found it. I decided on getting a non-apple brand that the guy at the store was better quality and cheaper. When I got home I tried them out and they seem to be great.  After chatting with my mom for a little bit I took a nap and woke up around 6, just in time for dinner. However, Stacy had taken over the kitchen because she was cooking dinner for her parents. I waited until 7:30 when she was finished and made myself some pasta and chicken, which was so good. The rest of my night will consist of relaxing, talking to my friends, and planning out my final for graphic design.