This week was kind of crazy, because it involved signing up for classes for next semester. And because next semester is my last semester of classes, I had to get into very specific classes, so that was a little nerve wrecking, but in the end it all worked out. I'm going to take glassblowing, ceramics, women in literature, my art capstone (writing intensive/art intensive), and an art education class. I can't believe that I only have one year left at Temple. Crazy...

This morning, I went to the modern art museum with my photo class. I'm not so big on modern art, but some of the photography in the museum was pretty cool. I took a nice long walk today too. The weather has been gorgeous.

I'm going to the reggae circus tomorrow night, and then my family is coming to visit on sunday!
More updates soon!

Florence and Siena

This past weekend, I took a trip with my friend Jill, my roommate Molly, and the rest of my art history class to Siena and Florence. We took a private bus on friday to Siena, which was much colder than I had expected. For lunch that day, I got the most delicious meal that I have had in, at the very least, a month. I had homemade pasta with a mushroom sauce. Mmmm. Oh, the luxury of eating out for every meal during the weekend...I think that I have only eaten out once in Rome, the day that we went ice skating. Anyway, after Siena, we took our bus to Florence, got situated in the hotel, and found a restauraunt for dinner. Over the course of the weekend, we made our way to 13 different churches and museums, including the Ufitzi gallery. Saturday night, we went out to dinner with our professor which was cool, because he is incredibly knowledgable about his subject matter, and interesting to talk to. The trip was really awesome, because we saw al of these famous and beautiful pieces of art from the early rennaissance period that I had heard about and read about for such a long time (Cimabue, Giotto, Duccio, Donatello, Mosaccio, Botticelli, Leonardo, Michelangelo, etc etc etc). Also, the timing of it all was great. We saw Donatello's David in the same day that we saw Michelangelo's David. I especially enjoyed that.

My photos from Florence and Siena:






http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2024881&id=1340490149&l=ea7f451c57

Classes.

School.

I'm taking five classes this semester. I've done semesters where I have taken more credits, but this is proving to be my most difficult and time consuming semester. I really don't mind that my semester is so intense, because I am learning so much. The issue that I have though, is that I am living in Rome, and barely have time to go outside. I spend 12 hours a day, on average, in the basement at school. I am taking two drawing classes, which is great because I needed a lot of practice with the basic art elements, and I have finally had the time and the focus to work on these very basic things. It also helps that I have helpful professors. I really like all of my professors this semester, which is great. My printmaking class is the most frusturating, because it is so time consuming, and every time that I think I did something right, it turns out that I did ten things wrong. But, at least I'm learning. Darkroom photo is definitely my favorite class. The process is so cool to me. I'm also glad that my Sketchbook class and Art History of the early rennaissance class are both set up so that we take field trips around the city, because I likely would not have time to get to many of these places otherwise. I will try to upload some of my artwork soon.

Also, I'm working on my entry on Florence and Siena. So, that'll come soon too!

Spring Break 2010

So, after a grueling week of midterms, my reward was six days in the warm, beautiful country of Tunisia. I was warned dozens of times about how dangerous it was going to be, but I felt incredibly safe, the whole time that I was there. I was with a group of around 40 other students from my study abroad program, plus one of the Italian professors, and her friend who was our tour guide. We spent a lot of time on a bus throughout the week, but it meant that we were able to see most of the country. We started out in Tunis, spent a night in Sousse, saw El Djem, took a ferry to the island of djerba, saw the outside of the synagogue where the oldest Torah in the world is kept (but we weren't allowed to go in, because it was Purim), spent a couple of nights in Douz, one of which was spent in the middle of the Sahara desert in a tent, rode camels, went to several souks (markets of sorts), among many many other things. I really like the traditional Tunisian style of clothing, so I bought myself a dress, a shirt, and a sweatshirt. I also had an opportunity to read Angels and Demons, (thanks, Laura for letting me borrow it!), and for the first time in years, I had a "can't put the book down until I finish it" experience, which was awesome. Every night (besides the night in the desert), we had beautiful rooms in some of the fanciest hotels I've ever been to, and there was a buffet dinner and a buffet breakfast every day of the trip. My favorite night, though, had to be the night in the desert. Last year, I had a similar experience when I went to Israel, but there were less people around this time, and the night was less structured. It just felt so much more peaceful. There were moments where I could lie in the sand and not hear anything besides the wind, my thoughts, and my breathing. I could not have asked for a better spring break.




These are the links to my pictures from Tunisia:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2024742&id=1340490149&l=2ffb720530
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2024783&id=1340490149&l=b9d4b20aa7
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2024781&id=1340490149&l=5c340a1309