Today marks the end of my summer in Italy. It’s my last full day here before leaving for the airport bright and early tomorrow morning. I’m sitting on the rooftop of my hotel in Venice, listening to the Sunday morning bells ring out across the city under cloudy skies. We arrived here Friday, and I must say, Venice is absolutely breathtaking. This seems like the perfect place to wrap up my time here on the program.
I initially embarked on this study abroad with the idea that I’d completely devote myself to my art and “find my hand” so-to-speak. Things turned out a little differently to say the least, and if pressed to sum up my discoveries from this experience, I’d have to say that this summer has given a chance to think a lot about direction. Where I’m going, what I’m doing, who I want to be with, that sort of thing.
My favorite experience by far has been my jewelry course this summer. I feel rather guilty for concentrating so much on it and less on graphic design, but I absolutely couldn’t help the obsession. I spent most of my time down in the metals studio, and there was definitely more than one dinner I skipped to enjoy the empty space available to me and work straight through the evening into the early morning hours. I love working in metal, I love working in wax and casting, I love it all, and I feel immensely creative doing it. Mary has been gently hinting that I should take many more classes once I get back to Athens… She really thinks I’d do well in jewelry and that I would be doing myself a disservice if I didn’t explore this further. I guess it kind of hit me while we were visiting Alchimia, a contemporary jewelry school in Florence… Just walking around the studios. It was like I could physically see the creative energy clinging to the place. Is it possible for a place to have creativity “flocking?”
As much as I’d like to, I don’t know if I can take more jewelry classes at the moment. I LOVE it. I really do. It’s just that my schedule is a little jam packed at the moment. Oh, what I wouldn’t give to be able to enroll in Alchimia and spend a few years in Europe, developing art jewelry! (sigh) I guess the money’s just not there right now, and neither is the time. Okay. That doesn’t mean I can’t ever come back to it… There are always short summer groups like Penland that I can go to later on to learn more, and with the work I did this summer I might even be able to get a scholarship. And then there’s always grad school. Who knows. Plus, Mary said that she started up her studio for just around a few thousand dollars, so it’s not a lost cause for a crazy hobby/obsession/calling, right?
It’s like there’s a physical ache inside of me that’s just yearning, needing to create artistic things. Graphic design is a great fit in terms of having an obsession pay the bills… I just hope I can make it work for me. I’ve got a game plan going, entering my final year in school: I want to get out of school and work with a small graphic design group that gives me a ton of challenges and helps me grow. I want to work directly with art directors and clients and as many people in the process as I can so I can learn as much as possible. I don’t know where I’m going to find this or where it’s going to take me… I just know that I have to be open to going anywhere to get it.
Jim Cotter, one of Mary’s jeweler friends, has been traveling with us for the later part of the trip. I think he has found the best way of describing my concept of my happy map, and I’ll try my best to do justice to the way he put it:
“Approach what you do like a heroin addict. You should be so obsessed with what you do that you’re constantly worrying about it – worried about if you get your fix before lunchtime, worried about getting more by dinner, and obsessing over it as you go to bed.” – J. Cotter (or something like that)
I like that approach. A lot. It fits very neatly with my current happy map theory, but highlights the more frantic and avid nature of my pursuit of passion.
This summer has also given me a chance to look at my relationship from a distance (literally). Adam and I have discovered quite a bit, and the time apart has given us perspective… It’s not like we didn’t realize we had something good going. We just got a chance to really see it highlighted. I never doubted us for a moment, and this summer just goes to show that we’re moving towards some pretty exciting times ahead of us, which is one reason I cannot WAIT to get home.
As for traveling, I’m hooked. Italy is beautiful, but I’m not too interested in seeing traditional touristy European sites. And I never – I repeat, NEVER – want to travel in a large group again. I hate the drone mentality and the association of being in a herd, and being on someone else’s schedule rushed from place to place. It was nice being able to see everything, and it was also nice being able to compare to what I don’t want to do in the future. I know that I want to visit art museums everywhere I go and see as much art as possible in every city: museums, architecture, music, street art, graffiti, you name it. It’s all so inspiring. My favorite parts have been the actual getting places (especially going on side trips alone, like seeing Dave Matthews Band in Luca one weekend). Navigating airports, train stations and bus lines, and finding my way alone has been an absolute blast, and I have a lot of confidence in my travel competency now because of it. I also know that I don’t want to travel alone; I’ve found my life travel partner in Adam, and can’t wait to explore with him. Too many things to see! I know these dreams of travel cost a lot of money… but it doesn’t all have to be expensive. And if there’s a desire, there’s got to be a way to get at it. I’ll make it work.
So direction. Yeah. Not really sure where I’m going yet, but I’ve got a good idea on how I want to approach this artistic aching inside of me. I look at the faculty here, their success, and I wonder how the hell someone gets from here (student) to there (actually living off what they love, and not only teaching). Best answer I’ve gotten from one of them? “You make your own luck.” I can do that. It’ll take a lot of effort and a lot of energy – positive, creative, and literal. So I’ll get some sleep, pull out that happy map, and “shoot up” on inspiration before setting out. Let’s see what happens!
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Decompression
Cortona is quite possibly one of the loveliest places I have ever been, and I do believe that it will remain with me for quite some time. It’s a medieval hill town in Tuscany, situated in terraces over a wide valley with a lake in the distance. I’m staying near the top in a reclaimed monastery, and the view of the valley and towns below is absolutely beyond words. Morning comes early, with the sun rising about five and clinging to the horizon until well after nine in the evening. I wake up to the most beautiful light across miniature terra cotta rooftops in the valley below, the fields stained glass shards of greens with spider webs of roads and towns illuminated and glittering under the stars after the sun goes down. I’ve yet to explore the winding roads fully, taking time to get lost down back alleys and turns, but look forward to during my early mornings.
I’ve been waking up at 6:30 to go jogging in the park at the bottom of The Hill (The Hill being a grueling cobblestone slope leading from the base of the town up to the campus, all at a cruelly steep angle that I’m sure will tone the ass nicely by the time this is all said and done with.). The park has a nice level gravel path running under the shade of trees, the valley and view below visible over the wall only feet away. And the SMELL! I don’t think I’ll ever get over these trees! I haven’t figured out what they are yet, but they fill the air with the most amazing aroma I’ve ever been enveloped in. And it’s everywhere. It’s like an entire town of good smell. It’s cool yet bright when I head out for my jog, following up the workout with a hike up The Hill with the promise of granola and yogurt for breakfast at the end. I hope to continue with this every morning… It’s good for my soul, and I don’t feel like I’m missing a minute of this amazing city.
I’ve been taking my days slowly, waking up early and taking a nap mid-morning. I usually wake up to music outside my open window, either Amelie played on the accordion by Carlo, a son of the ceramics teacher around Nicho’s age, or Jim playing guitar and singing soul. I know this will change once classes start tomorrow, but nevertheless, it’s nice. I can tell that the impulse to reach for my phone and turn it off/check the time/check for calls has been fading and quickly so. I can tell that I’m decompressing… finally. I haven’t been able to release the need to Skype friends and family back home yet. I’m thinking that I need to repurpose my nights and give myself up to a glass of wine or coffee and a sketchbook on the town more than sitting and fighting the internet connection and trying to hear calls. I’m still calling home, of course… but I don’t want to miss HERE for staying too in touch with THERE.
There’s a lot I want to accomplish and discover here. I want to re-focus my life away from working part time at crappy jobs, AIESEC burnout, and neglecting my need for “me-time” while I’m here. I want to push my designs, my art, and my creative process to the max. I want to let myself go and get enveloped in a project without worrying about the millions of other things I pile on tapping on my shoulder. I want to give my brain and my heart the peace it needs so I can really, REALLY think clearly and rediscover my happy map. I don’t necessarily think that this is a big change in direction on said map… no, I think being here in Cortona for the summer is a re-illumination of lines that have dimmed, lines I’ve neglected to follow through being pulled in a million directions at once.
You are here. It’s very different from where I started, and I’ve come a long way. Yet I know that there’s still a long, LONG way to go without an end in sight. Let this be my chance to remove distractions and concentrate on following what this here happy map has to take me.
I’ve been waking up at 6:30 to go jogging in the park at the bottom of The Hill (The Hill being a grueling cobblestone slope leading from the base of the town up to the campus, all at a cruelly steep angle that I’m sure will tone the ass nicely by the time this is all said and done with.). The park has a nice level gravel path running under the shade of trees, the valley and view below visible over the wall only feet away. And the SMELL! I don’t think I’ll ever get over these trees! I haven’t figured out what they are yet, but they fill the air with the most amazing aroma I’ve ever been enveloped in. And it’s everywhere. It’s like an entire town of good smell. It’s cool yet bright when I head out for my jog, following up the workout with a hike up The Hill with the promise of granola and yogurt for breakfast at the end. I hope to continue with this every morning… It’s good for my soul, and I don’t feel like I’m missing a minute of this amazing city.
I’ve been taking my days slowly, waking up early and taking a nap mid-morning. I usually wake up to music outside my open window, either Amelie played on the accordion by Carlo, a son of the ceramics teacher around Nicho’s age, or Jim playing guitar and singing soul. I know this will change once classes start tomorrow, but nevertheless, it’s nice. I can tell that the impulse to reach for my phone and turn it off/check the time/check for calls has been fading and quickly so. I can tell that I’m decompressing… finally. I haven’t been able to release the need to Skype friends and family back home yet. I’m thinking that I need to repurpose my nights and give myself up to a glass of wine or coffee and a sketchbook on the town more than sitting and fighting the internet connection and trying to hear calls. I’m still calling home, of course… but I don’t want to miss HERE for staying too in touch with THERE.
There’s a lot I want to accomplish and discover here. I want to re-focus my life away from working part time at crappy jobs, AIESEC burnout, and neglecting my need for “me-time” while I’m here. I want to push my designs, my art, and my creative process to the max. I want to let myself go and get enveloped in a project without worrying about the millions of other things I pile on tapping on my shoulder. I want to give my brain and my heart the peace it needs so I can really, REALLY think clearly and rediscover my happy map. I don’t necessarily think that this is a big change in direction on said map… no, I think being here in Cortona for the summer is a re-illumination of lines that have dimmed, lines I’ve neglected to follow through being pulled in a million directions at once.
You are here. It’s very different from where I started, and I’ve come a long way. Yet I know that there’s still a long, LONG way to go without an end in sight. Let this be my chance to remove distractions and concentrate on following what this here happy map has to take me.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Whirlwind
It’s been a whirlwind so far, that’s for sure, with little or no chance (or willingness to spend 5 euro per hour, roughtly $7.00) to update. Thank goodness we’re now in Cortona with wireless!
We met up with the rest of the group in Vico Equense at Hotel Aequa on Saturday night. The hotel itself was quaint and overly decorative Italian style, almost rococo, and had the most wonderful view of the ocean and hills from the patio area. Sunday morning began the crazy running around (that is only now slowing down) and we went out to two museums in nearby Naples: Capodimonte Museum and the Archaeological Museum of Naples.
Capodimonte was wonderful, and we were given ample amounts of time (a tad too much, since we were sleeping on the lawn outside of the villa for a while afterwards) to go through the museum and sketch, since there were no cameras allowed inside. I ended up seeing a Caravaggio, a Massaccio, and another piece I had just studied last semester in Renaissance Art history… flippin sweet! I liked the pacing of going through, stopping at paintings that interested me, sketching forms or parts I liked, and moving on without a huge group on a tour. This was the last time I’d have enough time to actually do this… the rest of the museums we saw were incredibly rushed and crowded, and all I could do was snap a photo to work from later.
The Archaeological Museum was absolutely PHENOMENAL. It had one of the largest collections (if I’m not mistaken?) of ancient Greek and Roman sculpture, wall paintings, and mosaics. These were probably some of the most amazing pieces to see in person: you just can’t see the nuances of sculpture from a slide in lecture. I stood next to the absolutely enormous Farnese Hercules, walked around the Farnese Bull, and got to see the Doryphorus (Spear-Bearer) – which, might I add, is one of my favorite sculptures second only to David – by Polykleitos in person. Dude, he’s got a lovely ass. I definitely groped the Doryphorus. The detail and color/preservation of the wall paintings was amazing, but the mosaics were by far more breathtaking. I can’t believe how small the tesserae are! Beautiful!
Everything was really stunning and humbling, but the most interesting part of the museum was definitely the Gabinetto Segretto, or “Secret Cabinet.” Archaeologists found quite a few items of “questionable content” used for worship and good luck among other things. It was decided that these were not appropriate for the general public and locked these away in a gated room, permission for visitation granted only by written request from special higher-ups. Now, it’s open to the public, and this concentration of seeing everything all crammed together only makes the entire situation extremely comedic. It was a room of penises. I kid you not. Giant stone phalluses, penis oil lamps, trinkets and necklaces, fertility gods, more anatomical terra cotta models of penises, wombs, and boobs, statues of boners and Pan having sex with a goat, as well as many wall paintings and mosaics found in brothels that were more like a “menu” of sexual experiences you could order from. The entire time I was going through the collection, I kept picturing my little brother Nicho or Adam giggling uncontrollably, which I guess made me have this awkwardly stifled smile on my face as I was trying to control myself. Totally awesome.
Monday, we left as a group for Pompeii and spent the morning going through the ruins. Lea, the art history teacher, had been giving us introductions and a brief lecture before going into each of the museums so far and, being an archaeologist specializing in ancient Roman art, gave us our own lecture through the city if we wanted to follow her, more off-the-path locations and more information than general tours. The ruins are huge, and it’s best to go extremely early in the morning when it’s cooler and less people. LOTS of tourists (as would be the case through the rest of the museums we’d see from then on out) and annoying guided herd tours. I saw a few castings of bodies and a dog, vessels found, marble counters in bakeries, amazing wall paintings still intact, etc. It’s not possible to list all the places visited, but I’ve got lots of great pictures of the whole thing and will be posting them shortly. I will say that walking along the super smooth roads under the looming Vesuvius in the distance was definitely eerie and had quite the impact.
Afterwards, we were on our own for the afternoon. Some people decided to go into Sorrento via train (being so close to the station), some went back to the hotel, some went into Naples for a contemporary museum, and some of us went for a hike. Me? I went for the hike, even though my feet were in definite protest and the sun was particularly unhappy with us. But it was worth it, because we weren’t just going for a hike, we were climbing Vesuvius. Yes, folks, THE Vesuvius. It was just a few of us, but we had enough to charter a bus for only about 8 euro each, which took us a ways up the mountain leaving us to hike the rest on our own. The climb was incredibly steep at about a 30 to 40 percent slope and zig-zagged back and forth for a vertical mile. It wasn’t too difficult, since there were people of all ages trying to climb it, but it was definitely a good cardio workout with an amazing view of past lava flows and the cities on the coast. At the top, about 5 of us followed what looked like a path even farther up to a particularly tall part of the cone. Turns out it was the path to service the antenna, but we were literally ON the rim, as in could have fallen into the crater if we took another step forward. I got some amazing pictures before we got yelled at in Italian and went back down. I guess you’re expected to stay at the chosen lookout points to see into the crater… oops.
Dude. I friggin’ climbed Vesuvius. Hellz yeah!
Tuesday we took all of our luggage out to the busses, leaving Vico Equense for Rome. On the way, we stopped for several hours in Tivoli to see Villa d’Este and Hadrian’s Villa. Villa d’Este was this enormous estate given to a general upon retirement, and he spent his earnings completely renovating the place and installing hundreds of fountains throughout the estate. This place was absolutely enormous, and indescribably beautiful. The place is built into a hill, using only gravity to operate all the fountains, and it’s still the same today: no electric pumps. It blows the mind! The landscape architecture students had an absolute heyday, and everyone got a chance to experience authentic lavish Italian gardens. Everywhere you looked, there was a fountain and a perfect picture, a statue, a particularly beautiful set of plantings, or a pond. I got to see real acanthus plants growing everywhere, along with roses and Cyprus trees and orange trees and too many others I can’t name. The entire garden was planned, as I said earlier, to utilize gravity to fuel the fountains, but it was also with a focus on the playfulness of fountains and falling water. There was even a fountain that played different notes like an organ. Everyone agreed that we would have liked more time; I was furiously clicking away at my shutter, wishing I had a chance to sit down and sketch, but we were on a tight timeframe.
Hadrian’s Villa was interesting, but not altogether exciting in my opinion. Most of the marble for Villa d’Este was taken from here, but there were still a lot of stone structures intact. I liked seeing the ties and influence that Hadrian’s Villa had on the previous place we visited. It was a huge estate, but not gardened or kept up like it originally would have been, which was a little unfortunate. I think at that point, everyone was getting tired and it was a bit of a lackluster second act compared to Villa d’Este. Worth seeing, but not the most interesting place I’ve been so far. We all got back on the bus and continued from Tivoli to Rome for dinner.
Our first trip into Rome on Wednesday was an optional early trip to St. Peter’s to climb the cupola, but when we got there, nobody was going inside and guards were present in preparation for the Pope to make an appearance. We mingled around, but couldn’t stay for when he showed up. Oh well! We went through the Campo dei Fiori (with awesome stands; great little place) on our way to meeting the group at Piazza Navona. From there, we went to Sant’ Agostino and San Luigi dei Francesi to see some great church interiors and Caravaggios in person. We went on to see the Pantheon, and I must say that I was really disappointed that the interior was converted into a church and all the original sculptures/tombs taken out. Sad. But I DID get to see Raphael’s current burial place, which was definitely cool! Afterwards, we went to the art store in Rome and the group broke up from there. I went with Mary, the jewelry professor, and a few other students into Travasere, a really up and coming artsy neighborhood just south of the river for lunch and some wandering afterwards.
Thursday was our tour of ancient Rome, starting at the Capitoline Hill (Campidoglio) and going down through the Roman Forum. The forum itself was really cool, but my favorite part was a contemporary exhibition going on within it. There were these giant white marble sculptures by Jiménez Deredia, which had a really amazing effect with the stark clean shapes among the ruins and columns. Most of them had to do with transformation from a perfect sphere to a woman holding a globe or some similar motif… really, really beautiful. Most of the other people on the trip hated that they were there, but I personally loved it and really, really enjoyed seeing them.
The Colosseum was next. It was cool, but people touring in large groups listening to a single person talking about everything from stop to stop REALLY need to learn how to not block absolutely everything. I guess the size is annoying, when herds of twenty to thirty crowd after a person with a flag on a stick not paying attention to anything else. It wouldn’t be so bad if the groups were smaller, or if there were less groups, but no. These were like icebergs moving on sludge… it made the experience rather annoying. The Colosseum was about the size of Sanford Stadium at UGA… it fits about the same amount of people. I wonder how drunk southern football fanatics would get riled up for blood sports? Anyways, I got to see it, and now I really feel like watching Gladiator.
From the Colosseum, I went with Mary and the rest of the Jewelery students up to Villa Giulia to see some amazing Etruscan jewelry. Let me tell you, the collection is impressive. The clasps and joints and details in excellent condition were really great to see and have given me a lot of ideas for my upcoming class! So many little trinkets, huge and elaborate necklaces and ornate bracelets, micro mosaics (seriously small!) precious stones and portrait coins, all from the pre-Roman/Roman era. Beautiful. We also stopped briefly at the Spanish steps, which were, as expected, impressive. A lot of people ended up going window shopping around there at all the designer shops.
Thursday night I went out with Jeremy and Hilda, wandering back to Travasere at night. Artisans of all types lined the bridge over the river, and I was SO tempted to buy up every piece of elaborately weird jewelry I saw… I guess leaving only 15 euro in your wallet before going out is a good precautionary measure. I did, however, end up getting a really awesome artistic globe lamp, one with white plastic wavy pieces you hook together that create a really awesome effect. Best part is, it comes flat and will fit in my pack on the way home. Saweet. We hung out in the piazza for a while, eating some gelato and enjoying the absolutely buzzing atmosphere before wandering back through Campo di Fiore to catch the bus. Great evening, very chill, great company.
Friday morning, I went our early with my Ancient Roman class to look at some famous funerary monuments of Trajan, Hadrian, and Augustus. Very cool, very extravagant. We then met up with the entire group at St. Peter’s square for a trip into the Vatican Museums. The artwork was amazing, and incredibly sad at the same time (so many sculptures hacked apart for censorship!). I enjoyed seeing the Laocoon statue in the courtyard, along with tons of other pieces all clustered together down countless halls. The unfortunate part was that this was the busiest museum yet, with huge groups competing with one another down cramped aisles, pushing and shoving to hear their guides and being oblivious to others trying to get by. There’s a reason we meet at the beginning for a quick talk before being released on our own to wander! The crowds in all of our trips were my least favorite part of the entire experience by far. That aside, the Sistine Chapel was truly remarkable, and I’m deciding that I like work on the ceilings best when trying to view in a crowd: no matter how many people are pushing and shoving beside you, there’s nobody blocking the view overhead!
Saturday morning, we packed our stuff and loaded the busses up for Cortona. We stopped along the way in a small town called Viterbo, having plenty of museum options to see while we had a few hours there. Museums are great, but I just wanted to relax! I ended up going through a local market (typical crappy flea market stuff) to kill time, and towards the end I found a stand selling vintage Italian postcards. Totally cool! The later part of the morning was spent outside a coffee shop/gelateria under an umbrella, sketching and talking to a few other people in no mood to move around.
And now, I’m in Cortona… FINALLY. Home sweet home, for now!
We met up with the rest of the group in Vico Equense at Hotel Aequa on Saturday night. The hotel itself was quaint and overly decorative Italian style, almost rococo, and had the most wonderful view of the ocean and hills from the patio area. Sunday morning began the crazy running around (that is only now slowing down) and we went out to two museums in nearby Naples: Capodimonte Museum and the Archaeological Museum of Naples.
Capodimonte was wonderful, and we were given ample amounts of time (a tad too much, since we were sleeping on the lawn outside of the villa for a while afterwards) to go through the museum and sketch, since there were no cameras allowed inside. I ended up seeing a Caravaggio, a Massaccio, and another piece I had just studied last semester in Renaissance Art history… flippin sweet! I liked the pacing of going through, stopping at paintings that interested me, sketching forms or parts I liked, and moving on without a huge group on a tour. This was the last time I’d have enough time to actually do this… the rest of the museums we saw were incredibly rushed and crowded, and all I could do was snap a photo to work from later.
The Archaeological Museum was absolutely PHENOMENAL. It had one of the largest collections (if I’m not mistaken?) of ancient Greek and Roman sculpture, wall paintings, and mosaics. These were probably some of the most amazing pieces to see in person: you just can’t see the nuances of sculpture from a slide in lecture. I stood next to the absolutely enormous Farnese Hercules, walked around the Farnese Bull, and got to see the Doryphorus (Spear-Bearer) – which, might I add, is one of my favorite sculptures second only to David – by Polykleitos in person. Dude, he’s got a lovely ass. I definitely groped the Doryphorus. The detail and color/preservation of the wall paintings was amazing, but the mosaics were by far more breathtaking. I can’t believe how small the tesserae are! Beautiful!
Everything was really stunning and humbling, but the most interesting part of the museum was definitely the Gabinetto Segretto, or “Secret Cabinet.” Archaeologists found quite a few items of “questionable content” used for worship and good luck among other things. It was decided that these were not appropriate for the general public and locked these away in a gated room, permission for visitation granted only by written request from special higher-ups. Now, it’s open to the public, and this concentration of seeing everything all crammed together only makes the entire situation extremely comedic. It was a room of penises. I kid you not. Giant stone phalluses, penis oil lamps, trinkets and necklaces, fertility gods, more anatomical terra cotta models of penises, wombs, and boobs, statues of boners and Pan having sex with a goat, as well as many wall paintings and mosaics found in brothels that were more like a “menu” of sexual experiences you could order from. The entire time I was going through the collection, I kept picturing my little brother Nicho or Adam giggling uncontrollably, which I guess made me have this awkwardly stifled smile on my face as I was trying to control myself. Totally awesome.
Monday, we left as a group for Pompeii and spent the morning going through the ruins. Lea, the art history teacher, had been giving us introductions and a brief lecture before going into each of the museums so far and, being an archaeologist specializing in ancient Roman art, gave us our own lecture through the city if we wanted to follow her, more off-the-path locations and more information than general tours. The ruins are huge, and it’s best to go extremely early in the morning when it’s cooler and less people. LOTS of tourists (as would be the case through the rest of the museums we’d see from then on out) and annoying guided herd tours. I saw a few castings of bodies and a dog, vessels found, marble counters in bakeries, amazing wall paintings still intact, etc. It’s not possible to list all the places visited, but I’ve got lots of great pictures of the whole thing and will be posting them shortly. I will say that walking along the super smooth roads under the looming Vesuvius in the distance was definitely eerie and had quite the impact.
Afterwards, we were on our own for the afternoon. Some people decided to go into Sorrento via train (being so close to the station), some went back to the hotel, some went into Naples for a contemporary museum, and some of us went for a hike. Me? I went for the hike, even though my feet were in definite protest and the sun was particularly unhappy with us. But it was worth it, because we weren’t just going for a hike, we were climbing Vesuvius. Yes, folks, THE Vesuvius. It was just a few of us, but we had enough to charter a bus for only about 8 euro each, which took us a ways up the mountain leaving us to hike the rest on our own. The climb was incredibly steep at about a 30 to 40 percent slope and zig-zagged back and forth for a vertical mile. It wasn’t too difficult, since there were people of all ages trying to climb it, but it was definitely a good cardio workout with an amazing view of past lava flows and the cities on the coast. At the top, about 5 of us followed what looked like a path even farther up to a particularly tall part of the cone. Turns out it was the path to service the antenna, but we were literally ON the rim, as in could have fallen into the crater if we took another step forward. I got some amazing pictures before we got yelled at in Italian and went back down. I guess you’re expected to stay at the chosen lookout points to see into the crater… oops.
Dude. I friggin’ climbed Vesuvius. Hellz yeah!
Tuesday we took all of our luggage out to the busses, leaving Vico Equense for Rome. On the way, we stopped for several hours in Tivoli to see Villa d’Este and Hadrian’s Villa. Villa d’Este was this enormous estate given to a general upon retirement, and he spent his earnings completely renovating the place and installing hundreds of fountains throughout the estate. This place was absolutely enormous, and indescribably beautiful. The place is built into a hill, using only gravity to operate all the fountains, and it’s still the same today: no electric pumps. It blows the mind! The landscape architecture students had an absolute heyday, and everyone got a chance to experience authentic lavish Italian gardens. Everywhere you looked, there was a fountain and a perfect picture, a statue, a particularly beautiful set of plantings, or a pond. I got to see real acanthus plants growing everywhere, along with roses and Cyprus trees and orange trees and too many others I can’t name. The entire garden was planned, as I said earlier, to utilize gravity to fuel the fountains, but it was also with a focus on the playfulness of fountains and falling water. There was even a fountain that played different notes like an organ. Everyone agreed that we would have liked more time; I was furiously clicking away at my shutter, wishing I had a chance to sit down and sketch, but we were on a tight timeframe.
Hadrian’s Villa was interesting, but not altogether exciting in my opinion. Most of the marble for Villa d’Este was taken from here, but there were still a lot of stone structures intact. I liked seeing the ties and influence that Hadrian’s Villa had on the previous place we visited. It was a huge estate, but not gardened or kept up like it originally would have been, which was a little unfortunate. I think at that point, everyone was getting tired and it was a bit of a lackluster second act compared to Villa d’Este. Worth seeing, but not the most interesting place I’ve been so far. We all got back on the bus and continued from Tivoli to Rome for dinner.
Our first trip into Rome on Wednesday was an optional early trip to St. Peter’s to climb the cupola, but when we got there, nobody was going inside and guards were present in preparation for the Pope to make an appearance. We mingled around, but couldn’t stay for when he showed up. Oh well! We went through the Campo dei Fiori (with awesome stands; great little place) on our way to meeting the group at Piazza Navona. From there, we went to Sant’ Agostino and San Luigi dei Francesi to see some great church interiors and Caravaggios in person. We went on to see the Pantheon, and I must say that I was really disappointed that the interior was converted into a church and all the original sculptures/tombs taken out. Sad. But I DID get to see Raphael’s current burial place, which was definitely cool! Afterwards, we went to the art store in Rome and the group broke up from there. I went with Mary, the jewelry professor, and a few other students into Travasere, a really up and coming artsy neighborhood just south of the river for lunch and some wandering afterwards.
Thursday was our tour of ancient Rome, starting at the Capitoline Hill (Campidoglio) and going down through the Roman Forum. The forum itself was really cool, but my favorite part was a contemporary exhibition going on within it. There were these giant white marble sculptures by Jiménez Deredia, which had a really amazing effect with the stark clean shapes among the ruins and columns. Most of them had to do with transformation from a perfect sphere to a woman holding a globe or some similar motif… really, really beautiful. Most of the other people on the trip hated that they were there, but I personally loved it and really, really enjoyed seeing them.
The Colosseum was next. It was cool, but people touring in large groups listening to a single person talking about everything from stop to stop REALLY need to learn how to not block absolutely everything. I guess the size is annoying, when herds of twenty to thirty crowd after a person with a flag on a stick not paying attention to anything else. It wouldn’t be so bad if the groups were smaller, or if there were less groups, but no. These were like icebergs moving on sludge… it made the experience rather annoying. The Colosseum was about the size of Sanford Stadium at UGA… it fits about the same amount of people. I wonder how drunk southern football fanatics would get riled up for blood sports? Anyways, I got to see it, and now I really feel like watching Gladiator.
From the Colosseum, I went with Mary and the rest of the Jewelery students up to Villa Giulia to see some amazing Etruscan jewelry. Let me tell you, the collection is impressive. The clasps and joints and details in excellent condition were really great to see and have given me a lot of ideas for my upcoming class! So many little trinkets, huge and elaborate necklaces and ornate bracelets, micro mosaics (seriously small!) precious stones and portrait coins, all from the pre-Roman/Roman era. Beautiful. We also stopped briefly at the Spanish steps, which were, as expected, impressive. A lot of people ended up going window shopping around there at all the designer shops.
Thursday night I went out with Jeremy and Hilda, wandering back to Travasere at night. Artisans of all types lined the bridge over the river, and I was SO tempted to buy up every piece of elaborately weird jewelry I saw… I guess leaving only 15 euro in your wallet before going out is a good precautionary measure. I did, however, end up getting a really awesome artistic globe lamp, one with white plastic wavy pieces you hook together that create a really awesome effect. Best part is, it comes flat and will fit in my pack on the way home. Saweet. We hung out in the piazza for a while, eating some gelato and enjoying the absolutely buzzing atmosphere before wandering back through Campo di Fiore to catch the bus. Great evening, very chill, great company.
Friday morning, I went our early with my Ancient Roman class to look at some famous funerary monuments of Trajan, Hadrian, and Augustus. Very cool, very extravagant. We then met up with the entire group at St. Peter’s square for a trip into the Vatican Museums. The artwork was amazing, and incredibly sad at the same time (so many sculptures hacked apart for censorship!). I enjoyed seeing the Laocoon statue in the courtyard, along with tons of other pieces all clustered together down countless halls. The unfortunate part was that this was the busiest museum yet, with huge groups competing with one another down cramped aisles, pushing and shoving to hear their guides and being oblivious to others trying to get by. There’s a reason we meet at the beginning for a quick talk before being released on our own to wander! The crowds in all of our trips were my least favorite part of the entire experience by far. That aside, the Sistine Chapel was truly remarkable, and I’m deciding that I like work on the ceilings best when trying to view in a crowd: no matter how many people are pushing and shoving beside you, there’s nobody blocking the view overhead!
Saturday morning, we packed our stuff and loaded the busses up for Cortona. We stopped along the way in a small town called Viterbo, having plenty of museum options to see while we had a few hours there. Museums are great, but I just wanted to relax! I ended up going through a local market (typical crappy flea market stuff) to kill time, and towards the end I found a stand selling vintage Italian postcards. Totally cool! The later part of the morning was spent outside a coffee shop/gelateria under an umbrella, sketching and talking to a few other people in no mood to move around.
And now, I’m in Cortona… FINALLY. Home sweet home, for now!
Friday, June 5, 2009
Finally here
It's 9:15 pm here in Sorrento, right outside of Naples, and I'm sitting atop the roof lounge of my hostel sipping a lovely drink (with a live band playing some great jazz) and staring out at the backdrop of Italian hills and the Amalfi coast. Simply breathtaking. I can't believe I'm actually here
I've met some pretty interesting people so far, beginning with a girl who was going on a trip to Israel (Jewish heritage trip), backpacking Europe for a month before heading over to Ghana. I've got some great book suggestions, and the company was wonderful for the long layover. During my flight from JFK to Dublin, I sat next to this Irish woman and we ended up talking almost the entire flight. We talked about traveling, Italy, Obama, the American political process, American sitcoms, careers, women's status in the home and in the workplace, ambition, and Georgia Dawgs football fanatics among other things. Wonderful conversations... not a bad way to start out this experience.
After sitting for so long on planes and in airports for the last day and a half, lugging around overly large backpacking packs and a horrendous duffel bag (DEFINITELY will be re-packing),
I met up with Kate, another girl from the program who also arrived early. She liked my idea of booking a place at 7 Hostel in Sorrento (highly recommend it, folks!) and we ended up navigating out way here. From Naples International to a shuttle to Stazione Centrale (the train station), taking Circumvesuviana line out to Sorrento and getting off at S. Agnello, to walking through the streets in order to find the hostel itself.
The train ride itself was probably one of the more eventful things that happened today... A random Italian guy came up and started talking to us. I responded as best I could in broken Italian, as he spoke moderate English himself. (I'm pretty proud of how much Italian I've been trying to use! The brush up study session on the plane helped immensely). The conversation began asking us about our study abroad and quickly dissolved into this Italian guy hitting on us relentlessly in a trying-to-be-cute way. Hilarious, until it got annoying and I found as many ways as possible to flat out say in both Italian and English that there was no way in hell I was going to leave my boyfriend. (Besides... my Italian's definitely more handsome than the men I've been seeing here!) Either way, Kate and I found our way to the hostel and had a good laugh over the whole ordeal.
We showered and stowed our bags before wandering around town, taking pictures and exploring. This city is absolutely beautiful, and I've got a feeling that I'll be saying that about many more to come in the future. We took the train out one more top to Sorrento itself, stopping for dinner: traditional pizza and wine, followed by gelato eaten as we strolled along the coast and cliffs before hitching the train back to the hostel.
I've taken so many pictures so far. Yes, it's all beautiful. Yes, they all drive crazy. And what's with the horns? Still can't figure out exactly why they use them so incessantly, what their code is for when to honk. When in doubt, honk the horn. When you're sure of yourself, honk your horn. Hell, just honk at whatever you damn well please. I delight in the Italian stereotypes walking around in greased back hair, chest hair, and stylish button up shirts with bling. And the super duper adorable kids with huge brown eyes. And then there's the 3 soccer fields I pass through in the streets, constantly occupied.
Well, I am thoroughly sleep deprived at the moment, and my drooping eyes and sore shoulders are showing it. Look forward to picture uploads! I love you all and miss you something terrible, especially my certain someone.
Love from Italy!
I've met some pretty interesting people so far, beginning with a girl who was going on a trip to Israel (Jewish heritage trip), backpacking Europe for a month before heading over to Ghana. I've got some great book suggestions, and the company was wonderful for the long layover. During my flight from JFK to Dublin, I sat next to this Irish woman and we ended up talking almost the entire flight. We talked about traveling, Italy, Obama, the American political process, American sitcoms, careers, women's status in the home and in the workplace, ambition, and Georgia Dawgs football fanatics among other things. Wonderful conversations... not a bad way to start out this experience.
After sitting for so long on planes and in airports for the last day and a half, lugging around overly large backpacking packs and a horrendous duffel bag (DEFINITELY will be re-packing),
I met up with Kate, another girl from the program who also arrived early. She liked my idea of booking a place at 7 Hostel in Sorrento (highly recommend it, folks!) and we ended up navigating out way here. From Naples International to a shuttle to Stazione Centrale (the train station), taking Circumvesuviana line out to Sorrento and getting off at S. Agnello, to walking through the streets in order to find the hostel itself.
The train ride itself was probably one of the more eventful things that happened today... A random Italian guy came up and started talking to us. I responded as best I could in broken Italian, as he spoke moderate English himself. (I'm pretty proud of how much Italian I've been trying to use! The brush up study session on the plane helped immensely). The conversation began asking us about our study abroad and quickly dissolved into this Italian guy hitting on us relentlessly in a trying-to-be-cute way. Hilarious, until it got annoying and I found as many ways as possible to flat out say in both Italian and English that there was no way in hell I was going to leave my boyfriend. (Besides... my Italian's definitely more handsome than the men I've been seeing here!) Either way, Kate and I found our way to the hostel and had a good laugh over the whole ordeal.
We showered and stowed our bags before wandering around town, taking pictures and exploring. This city is absolutely beautiful, and I've got a feeling that I'll be saying that about many more to come in the future. We took the train out one more top to Sorrento itself, stopping for dinner: traditional pizza and wine, followed by gelato eaten as we strolled along the coast and cliffs before hitching the train back to the hostel.
I've taken so many pictures so far. Yes, it's all beautiful. Yes, they all drive crazy. And what's with the horns? Still can't figure out exactly why they use them so incessantly, what their code is for when to honk. When in doubt, honk the horn. When you're sure of yourself, honk your horn. Hell, just honk at whatever you damn well please. I delight in the Italian stereotypes walking around in greased back hair, chest hair, and stylish button up shirts with bling. And the super duper adorable kids with huge brown eyes. And then there's the 3 soccer fields I pass through in the streets, constantly occupied.
Well, I am thoroughly sleep deprived at the moment, and my drooping eyes and sore shoulders are showing it. Look forward to picture uploads! I love you all and miss you something terrible, especially my certain someone.
Love from Italy!
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Positive Energy
I'm going to Cortona this summer! It's all happening really fast, and each step of the way I'm not quite sure if things will actually pan out. But the point is things are happening.
Starting with my acceptance into the program, things have accelerated and - though I'm not really sure how - have fallen into place. My passport came in the mail and, not too long afterward, came a marvelous letter from the Cortona office awarding me a $1,500 scholarship. This is in exchange for assisting in studios, the visual library, and in setting up the galleries - and I can't wait! At that point, I knew that I couldn't simply let this pass me by. I applied for a private loan for $10K without a co-signer and was approved online (thank you, financial gods!). After talking with Financial Aid, I was able to adjust my estimated cost of attendance in order for me to keep the entire amount of the loan AND the scholarship, along with the money that HOPE will cover for tuition. I made the gutsy move to book my flights already, and I've got the hefty price sitting on my credit card. Waiting. I've been nervously drumming my fingers this whole time, waiting and hoping that I'll be able to go: it all depends on the loan.
Ten minutes ago, I found out that everything's set: the payments will be dispersed starting next week.
My flight leaves on Thursday, June 4th. I'll be flying from Atlanta to New York, and then from New York to Naples via Dublin. In Naples, I'll be staying in a hostel overnight until we meet up on Saturday night, giving me a chance to wander and explore. Coming home, I'll be leaving Venice on August 10th and flying back to Dublin for a 5 hour layover (checking out the city briefly, of course). Then, I'll return to New York and stay in a hostel (hopefully in Harlem, so I can check out the jazz scene at night and Chinatown in the morning) finally returning to Atlanta mid-day on the 11th.
This entire process has been eye-opening. From day one, the moment I decided to actually go for it, I've kept this unreasonably positive outlook in my head. I haven't been genuinely worrying about anything, including the loan; I've kept my "well, if it doesn't work out, it doesn't mean I didn't try" attitude. Holding that scholarship letter in my hands, I felt that positive energy coming back to me, a HUGE nudge that solidified my determination. I'm still in the process of getting my visa approved, and I still need to book some hostels, and try to find someone to fill my sublease this summer. At this point, I'm confident everything will continue to fall into place. Positive energy. Positive thinking. Positive actions.
I'm going to Italy... totally baller.
Starting with my acceptance into the program, things have accelerated and - though I'm not really sure how - have fallen into place. My passport came in the mail and, not too long afterward, came a marvelous letter from the Cortona office awarding me a $1,500 scholarship. This is in exchange for assisting in studios, the visual library, and in setting up the galleries - and I can't wait! At that point, I knew that I couldn't simply let this pass me by. I applied for a private loan for $10K without a co-signer and was approved online (thank you, financial gods!). After talking with Financial Aid, I was able to adjust my estimated cost of attendance in order for me to keep the entire amount of the loan AND the scholarship, along with the money that HOPE will cover for tuition. I made the gutsy move to book my flights already, and I've got the hefty price sitting on my credit card. Waiting. I've been nervously drumming my fingers this whole time, waiting and hoping that I'll be able to go: it all depends on the loan.
Ten minutes ago, I found out that everything's set: the payments will be dispersed starting next week.
My flight leaves on Thursday, June 4th. I'll be flying from Atlanta to New York, and then from New York to Naples via Dublin. In Naples, I'll be staying in a hostel overnight until we meet up on Saturday night, giving me a chance to wander and explore. Coming home, I'll be leaving Venice on August 10th and flying back to Dublin for a 5 hour layover (checking out the city briefly, of course). Then, I'll return to New York and stay in a hostel (hopefully in Harlem, so I can check out the jazz scene at night and Chinatown in the morning) finally returning to Atlanta mid-day on the 11th.
This entire process has been eye-opening. From day one, the moment I decided to actually go for it, I've kept this unreasonably positive outlook in my head. I haven't been genuinely worrying about anything, including the loan; I've kept my "well, if it doesn't work out, it doesn't mean I didn't try" attitude. Holding that scholarship letter in my hands, I felt that positive energy coming back to me, a HUGE nudge that solidified my determination. I'm still in the process of getting my visa approved, and I still need to book some hostels, and try to find someone to fill my sublease this summer. At this point, I'm confident everything will continue to fall into place. Positive energy. Positive thinking. Positive actions.
I'm going to Italy... totally baller.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Re-evaluation
I’ve decided to alter my plans for this summer. After giving the matter quite a bit of thought, I’m putting off going abroad to Morocco until next summer and taking this summer to finish a few required studio classes for my major… in Italy.
One could say that this was a rather last-minute decision. I filled out the application, put together my portfolio, and rounded up references all within a week before the deadline. I realized that, with summer approaching so rapidly and with so many variables left in the air, my going to Morocco was better left to another year of saving up and planning. I don’t want to jump into an AIESEC traineeship without a lot more time to plan things out and hopefully get some sponsorship to help with the costs. Unfortunately, my new job leaves much to be desired and I have not been able to set aside any extra money. I reliably work 20 hours a week with a guaranteed hourly wage, but the random nights I’d make bank at Wild Wing are nowhere to be found. Still, I don’t want to miss out on possibilities of going abroad THIS summer.
I’ve talked with the Cortona advisor quite a bit about the money situation. She says that quite a few students have to wait on financial aid to come in before they can pay the deposits, and they’d be more than happy to work with me while I’m trying to get funding. Plus, if I’m not able to secure a loan, I can get all of my deposits returned to me. It’s a win-win situation, and I’m not out anything for trying! I’ve applied for a work-study stipend scholarship while abroad, which means I’d be an assistant to the professors in the studios and offices and get a chunk of money towards the program in return. Sounds like an awesome deal! Plus, HOPE scholarship covers the costs of tuition while I’m abroad. Totally baller. So for the rest of the program costs, I’m looking into taking out a loan. Hopefully I can take out enough to cover BOTH Italy and Morocco… I’m thinking about $11k (((holy shit that’s a lot of money))) would MORE than cover all possible expenses for both programs, plus outside travel while I’m on my AIESEC adventure: Ma’andi, I’ll see you in Egypt; Adam, I’ll meet you in Spain! This is all planning extremely optimistically, which at this point is quite all right with me.
The Cortona program is something that I’ve been interested in since I started school at UGA. Wistful images of painting in the Italian streets, sketching in cafes, and taking photography classes in the countryside have been tantalizingly nudging at my “plans” for college. After deciding on going on an AIESEC tranieeship, I had resigned myself to having to choose one or the other. I’m going to have to take studio classes over the summer anyway… Why not try for both? I mean, come on… I’m here on HOPE scholarship, which covers tuition entirely. My living expenses are (barely) covered by me working my ass off, and I have a few thousand dollars in federal student loans I’ve used freshman year for housing/meal plan plus my graphic design computer/software requirements this past summer. It may take a few more years to pay off, but for me, it’s worth it.
So I’m just waiting on acceptance into the program… I can’t wait. I want to make this happen, and if I take out a loan, that loan could also make Morocco a reality as well. Plus I’ll have time and experience abroad, giving me a foundation of global travel to work on before going to northern Africa. I’m really, REALLY looking forward to this. One of the requirements of the program is an art history course, where lectures are given during the week, and every weekend we travel to different cities in Italy and visit the art in person. We’ll be traveling all over Italy to Florence, Siena, Perugia, Urbino, Sansepolcro, Arezzo, Assisi, Pompeii, Paestum, San Gimignano, Montepulciano, Ravenna, plus multi-day trips to Rome and Venice. The program costs cover these trips, plus most meals, health care, AND living arrangements in a reclaimed monastery. My studio classes will be taking place in outdoor studios for the most part, out on Cortona’s terraces. If you want to check it out for yourself, the website is here.
My happy map is nudging me. I’m listening.
One could say that this was a rather last-minute decision. I filled out the application, put together my portfolio, and rounded up references all within a week before the deadline. I realized that, with summer approaching so rapidly and with so many variables left in the air, my going to Morocco was better left to another year of saving up and planning. I don’t want to jump into an AIESEC traineeship without a lot more time to plan things out and hopefully get some sponsorship to help with the costs. Unfortunately, my new job leaves much to be desired and I have not been able to set aside any extra money. I reliably work 20 hours a week with a guaranteed hourly wage, but the random nights I’d make bank at Wild Wing are nowhere to be found. Still, I don’t want to miss out on possibilities of going abroad THIS summer.
I’ve talked with the Cortona advisor quite a bit about the money situation. She says that quite a few students have to wait on financial aid to come in before they can pay the deposits, and they’d be more than happy to work with me while I’m trying to get funding. Plus, if I’m not able to secure a loan, I can get all of my deposits returned to me. It’s a win-win situation, and I’m not out anything for trying! I’ve applied for a work-study stipend scholarship while abroad, which means I’d be an assistant to the professors in the studios and offices and get a chunk of money towards the program in return. Sounds like an awesome deal! Plus, HOPE scholarship covers the costs of tuition while I’m abroad. Totally baller. So for the rest of the program costs, I’m looking into taking out a loan. Hopefully I can take out enough to cover BOTH Italy and Morocco… I’m thinking about $11k (((holy shit that’s a lot of money))) would MORE than cover all possible expenses for both programs, plus outside travel while I’m on my AIESEC adventure: Ma’andi, I’ll see you in Egypt; Adam, I’ll meet you in Spain! This is all planning extremely optimistically, which at this point is quite all right with me.
The Cortona program is something that I’ve been interested in since I started school at UGA. Wistful images of painting in the Italian streets, sketching in cafes, and taking photography classes in the countryside have been tantalizingly nudging at my “plans” for college. After deciding on going on an AIESEC tranieeship, I had resigned myself to having to choose one or the other. I’m going to have to take studio classes over the summer anyway… Why not try for both? I mean, come on… I’m here on HOPE scholarship, which covers tuition entirely. My living expenses are (barely) covered by me working my ass off, and I have a few thousand dollars in federal student loans I’ve used freshman year for housing/meal plan plus my graphic design computer/software requirements this past summer. It may take a few more years to pay off, but for me, it’s worth it.
So I’m just waiting on acceptance into the program… I can’t wait. I want to make this happen, and if I take out a loan, that loan could also make Morocco a reality as well. Plus I’ll have time and experience abroad, giving me a foundation of global travel to work on before going to northern Africa. I’m really, REALLY looking forward to this. One of the requirements of the program is an art history course, where lectures are given during the week, and every weekend we travel to different cities in Italy and visit the art in person. We’ll be traveling all over Italy to Florence, Siena, Perugia, Urbino, Sansepolcro, Arezzo, Assisi, Pompeii, Paestum, San Gimignano, Montepulciano, Ravenna, plus multi-day trips to Rome and Venice. The program costs cover these trips, plus most meals, health care, AND living arrangements in a reclaimed monastery. My studio classes will be taking place in outdoor studios for the most part, out on Cortona’s terraces. If you want to check it out for yourself, the website is here.
My happy map is nudging me. I’m listening.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Life is good. Fast, but good.
It's coming up on the close of another semester of my college life and, as usual, I have no idea how the hell it slipped by me so fast. I feel like digging my nails into the ground behind me in an effort to slow things down... It's not exactly like I particularly like everything about "now"; I could do without the stress of random unrelated assignments and grading rubric (after fifteen years, grades are getting REALLY old), along with trying to juggle working outside of classes on college income trying to keep my head above the proverbial financial waters. But all this aside, I really, really love being here. And I don't want to race through this without getting the chance to explore, take lots of pictures, and make plenty of stupid decisions.
I'm a graphic design major and loving it. From here on out, my schedule is pretty much set out before me, and I'm on course graduate Fall of 2010. Part of me wishes I could stay here for another year... pick up Spanish, take some more studio classes (what I wouldn't give for space for a ceramics, printmaking, jewelry making, sculpture, or another figure drawing class!), or tack on a second major. But unfortunately my schedule restrictions don't have room for any more classes outside of what's left ahead, and I've got to snag a good internship after classes are done in order for me to graduate. I'm feeling as though I'm tied down from here on out - yes, it'll be good, but there's so much structure it's, well, rigid.
Morocco is underway. Just the fact that things are falling so assuredly into place is incredibly freaky. I've started the process to get myself into the system so I can search/apply for traineeships - I'm aiming for marketing - and I'm applying for my passport first thing after finals. I've now got over $1,600 saved up and estimate that I can put aside at least $700 more come May. Not a lot, but by my calculations with Liz's help (she went to Morocco this summer), I've so far got enough to live and travel comfortably for the summer. Now all I need is the plane ticket and outside travel I choose to embark on: Egypt? Europe? Who knows! All I can say is thank goodness for loan money. I'm starting to count down the months. That's the freaky part. It hasn't quite hit me yet that this is something I'm actually going to make happen, that I'm actually going through with this. Holy shit. Morocco. I'm sure there will be more panic later, so I'll leave that to when it really sinks in.
I can't tell you how amazing it's been, having Adam by my side as support through all of this. My parents are definitely less than enthusiastic about the idea of me going to Morocco - "we'd really rather your first experience abroad be someplace in Europe" - which is understandable, considering they're my parents and it's their job to worry about me. My mom has the wonderful knack of adult logic that unintentionally shoots down my optimism, her latest argument being over how the hell I could even consider spending money I don't have to spare on going abroad in an economy like this. Morocco has become so more than a trip I'm planning for... a year or so ago it was a bar thrown higher than any I'd ever set that is suddenly becoming reachable, it is a promise of excitement and personal challenge that I know will change me forever, but most of all, Morocco is the silent test of whether or not I can actually keep a promise I make to myself, allowing myself to go out and do something I've always dreamed of doing.
I don't know how, but Adam seems to know this. He looked me in the eye and told me something that did more to boost my confidence in this summer than anything else could possibly come close to: "This may not be my dream, but it's something you want to do. By God I'm going to do everything I can to support you and help you make this happen." It literally brought tears to my eyes, and all I could do was sink against his chest and smile in his arms. It's going to suck, being away from each other for the entire summer, but we're now looking at this as an opportunity to soul search what we want to get out of the near post-college future and figure out what we want to go after. We know we'll be just fine in terms of being a relationship, and I think this'll strengthen what we already have. After all, "absence diminishes mediocre passions and increases great ones, as the wind extinguishes candles and fans fires." -Francois de la Rochefoucauld.
Adam is unbelievable. He's blown me away since the day I met him, and now that we're together, I can't see myself touching down again... It sounds incredibly naive, I know. But the more I learn about him, the good, the difficult, the scary, the more I love him for being human. He's got his issues, and I've got mine, and we're open about them and with each other. We want similar things in life and are toying with the idea of living together in the near future. I am well aware of the fact that this whole thing might not last - we both are - and we both can't see ourselves wanting or causing this to end. I'd say these ideas of a future with him are scary... but I feel a bizarre and reassuring sense of calm stability being with him. He's the first person I've ever met that I can honestly say I could see myself winding up with. And what's even more amazing is curling up with him, conversations leading in no particular direction, the two of us realizing that we both feel the same way.
I love him. I have no idea what's ahead for us... I can only hope for the best, and that we both go after what makes us truly happy, and that that leads us to one another along the way. Nobody ever says what to do at this point. Adam and I aren't really sure, so we're just enjoying what we've got going on right now without worrying about things or thinking too far ahead. Right now, I think that's the best possible thing: we're both happy, and that's all that matters.
Chris and I were talking the other day... Another one of our late night, post-AIESEC meeting chats. We were talking about relationships and futures and careers and college: the usual. I have no concrete plans after graduation besides a general compulsion to check out the Pacific Northwest. I have no idea how - or if - this college relationship will adapt to this next stage. He smiled at me. "You're on your way to a career you enjoy, you have a job, and you've found someone you want to be with. Most people would kill for that." I'm not about to argue with him.
At this point in my life, I feel happy; really, REALLY happy. And though things may be moving faster than I'd prefer, I'm not so worried about where I'm being pushed so much as enjoying what I'm being pushed through. Things'll figure themselves out as long as I set myself up for a plethora of options and leave things open to interpretation. And I know I've got a man at my side that'll be there through thick and thin.
Life is good. (Insert smiley here)
I'm a graphic design major and loving it. From here on out, my schedule is pretty much set out before me, and I'm on course graduate Fall of 2010. Part of me wishes I could stay here for another year... pick up Spanish, take some more studio classes (what I wouldn't give for space for a ceramics, printmaking, jewelry making, sculpture, or another figure drawing class!), or tack on a second major. But unfortunately my schedule restrictions don't have room for any more classes outside of what's left ahead, and I've got to snag a good internship after classes are done in order for me to graduate. I'm feeling as though I'm tied down from here on out - yes, it'll be good, but there's so much structure it's, well, rigid.
Morocco is underway. Just the fact that things are falling so assuredly into place is incredibly freaky. I've started the process to get myself into the system so I can search/apply for traineeships - I'm aiming for marketing - and I'm applying for my passport first thing after finals. I've now got over $1,600 saved up and estimate that I can put aside at least $700 more come May. Not a lot, but by my calculations with Liz's help (she went to Morocco this summer), I've so far got enough to live and travel comfortably for the summer. Now all I need is the plane ticket and outside travel I choose to embark on: Egypt? Europe? Who knows! All I can say is thank goodness for loan money. I'm starting to count down the months. That's the freaky part. It hasn't quite hit me yet that this is something I'm actually going to make happen, that I'm actually going through with this. Holy shit. Morocco. I'm sure there will be more panic later, so I'll leave that to when it really sinks in.
I can't tell you how amazing it's been, having Adam by my side as support through all of this. My parents are definitely less than enthusiastic about the idea of me going to Morocco - "we'd really rather your first experience abroad be someplace in Europe" - which is understandable, considering they're my parents and it's their job to worry about me. My mom has the wonderful knack of adult logic that unintentionally shoots down my optimism, her latest argument being over how the hell I could even consider spending money I don't have to spare on going abroad in an economy like this. Morocco has become so more than a trip I'm planning for... a year or so ago it was a bar thrown higher than any I'd ever set that is suddenly becoming reachable, it is a promise of excitement and personal challenge that I know will change me forever, but most of all, Morocco is the silent test of whether or not I can actually keep a promise I make to myself, allowing myself to go out and do something I've always dreamed of doing.
I don't know how, but Adam seems to know this. He looked me in the eye and told me something that did more to boost my confidence in this summer than anything else could possibly come close to: "This may not be my dream, but it's something you want to do. By God I'm going to do everything I can to support you and help you make this happen." It literally brought tears to my eyes, and all I could do was sink against his chest and smile in his arms. It's going to suck, being away from each other for the entire summer, but we're now looking at this as an opportunity to soul search what we want to get out of the near post-college future and figure out what we want to go after. We know we'll be just fine in terms of being a relationship, and I think this'll strengthen what we already have. After all, "absence diminishes mediocre passions and increases great ones, as the wind extinguishes candles and fans fires." -Francois de la Rochefoucauld.
Adam is unbelievable. He's blown me away since the day I met him, and now that we're together, I can't see myself touching down again... It sounds incredibly naive, I know. But the more I learn about him, the good, the difficult, the scary, the more I love him for being human. He's got his issues, and I've got mine, and we're open about them and with each other. We want similar things in life and are toying with the idea of living together in the near future. I am well aware of the fact that this whole thing might not last - we both are - and we both can't see ourselves wanting or causing this to end. I'd say these ideas of a future with him are scary... but I feel a bizarre and reassuring sense of calm stability being with him. He's the first person I've ever met that I can honestly say I could see myself winding up with. And what's even more amazing is curling up with him, conversations leading in no particular direction, the two of us realizing that we both feel the same way.
I love him. I have no idea what's ahead for us... I can only hope for the best, and that we both go after what makes us truly happy, and that that leads us to one another along the way. Nobody ever says what to do at this point. Adam and I aren't really sure, so we're just enjoying what we've got going on right now without worrying about things or thinking too far ahead. Right now, I think that's the best possible thing: we're both happy, and that's all that matters.
Chris and I were talking the other day... Another one of our late night, post-AIESEC meeting chats. We were talking about relationships and futures and careers and college: the usual. I have no concrete plans after graduation besides a general compulsion to check out the Pacific Northwest. I have no idea how - or if - this college relationship will adapt to this next stage. He smiled at me. "You're on your way to a career you enjoy, you have a job, and you've found someone you want to be with. Most people would kill for that." I'm not about to argue with him.
At this point in my life, I feel happy; really, REALLY happy. And though things may be moving faster than I'd prefer, I'm not so worried about where I'm being pushed so much as enjoying what I'm being pushed through. Things'll figure themselves out as long as I set myself up for a plethora of options and leave things open to interpretation. And I know I've got a man at my side that'll be there through thick and thin.
Life is good. (Insert smiley here)
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