25 + 2 Things Italy and the ADA Have Taught Me

1. When traveling somewhere that requires a train transfer, be sure to buy your ticket for the final destination when you start your journey. If not, you probably will not have enough time to buy your second ticket and you will probably have to chase after the train.
2. Do not cross the train tracks. You will get arrested and you will get your passport taken; if not, you will just have to run away from the police and hide in a bathroom until they leave.
3. Avoid traveling in large groups- you will want to punch something.
4. The yellow validation boxes will become your best friend.
5. So will any Kebab place you happen to encounter.
6. Bring lots of Vitamin C- Italian germs will want to devour your soul.
7. Don’t come to Italy if you don’t like old things, art, or visiting churches.
8. Speaking of churches- yes, that is someone’s jawbone you’re looking at and no, they don’t think that’s weird at all. In fact, they really like that sort of thing.
9. Yes, Scott McGehee does look like an older Harry Potter.
10. Yes, that is the music professor playing Beer Pong with his students.
11. Ricardo’s cooking will make you think you’re seeing God.
12. When asked why something is the way it is, Dory’s response will always be, “Well, you see in Italy there’s a law…”
13. While all Italian men may look gay, they’re not. They’re just European.
14. Showering is useless here.
15. When in Venice, you will get lost, you will ask for directions, and they will always tell you to just go straight, cross the bridge, and it’s on your left.
16. When in doubt- look at the audience.
17. Even the walk to the grocery store has the most beautiful views you’ll ever see.
18. There’s no such thing as too many pictures.
19. If you’re not a wine drinker- you will be.
20. The aqueducts are really cold at night- unless you’re there with someone else- then it’s only a little cold.
21. Make sure there is something really exciting to go home to, because you probably won’t want to leave. Christmas helps a lot.
22. Sometimes being around other people is the last thing you want to do, but sometimes it’s one thing you need the most.
23. Sometimes laughing is the only thing you can do- and sometimes it’s the best thing you can do.
24. It is possible to laugh and cry at the same time.
25. Take life one day at a time
26. Enjoy what you have while you still have it.
27. Don’t be afraid to take risks- sure, you could fail miserably and end up hating yourself for the rest of your life, but then again, it could turn out really well…plus, you never know who it will bring into your life.

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"And in the end the love you take is equal to the love you make."
~ The Beatles, In The End

Nothing is more satisfying...

...than consuming olive oil made from olives that you picked.

Webshots: Random/Past Few Weeks, Assisi 11.15, Firenze 11.16
Facebook: Olive Picking/Tramonto 11.9, In-Between Face, Assisi 11.15, Firenze 11.16

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One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating.
~ Luciano Pavarotti and William Wright, Pavarotti, My Own Story

Clearly I'm terrible at this.

Clearly. Considering that last time I wrote was about two weeks ago I would say that yes, my hypothesis is correct. Oi vey.

Okay...quick update on my life. Last Saturday (November 8) a bunch of people went into Florence to go to the Uffizi. Sweet. Before that we stopped at the Accademia to say hi to David and the Prisoners. I heart Michelangelo. While at the Accademia, Liza and I discovered a name for our character we made up (ask to meet her sometime, she's great). The Uffizi was snazzy- we got to see Botticelli's Birth of Venus and La Primavera (which in my head I always translate to English and then I want to call it Rite of Spring. Sigh). I'm also in love with Botticelli's Madonna and Child with Six Angels, of which, unfortunately, I could not (or rather forgot to) find a postcard of. Sigh. We aso got to see Michelangelo's Tondi and Da Vinci's Adoration of the Magi. Cool beans.

After the Uffizi we walked around for a little bit- I bought myself a mask from the mask store that Pete, Zach adn I discovered way back in September. Yay masks.

SUnday was a lazy day. I spent most of it lounging aroudn the Villa pretending to do Philosophy reading. That night, I went out to dinner with Pete, Vanessa, Staci, Liza, Rich, and Natalie. We Went to this Belgian beer and Pizza place- it was yummy.

Monday nigth we went to see a show in Roccastrada, adn by Roccastrada I mean we thought it was in ROccastrada but really it was in Grossetto. Sigh. At least the guy in Roccastrada was cool and elt us see the theatre. Anyway the show as really amazing- it was jsut three actors using full masks the entire time, no dialogue. It was really astounding to see them use theur bodies in order to illustrate the different characters- it made me want to get into the studio and practice.

Friday afternoon we went to a wine tasting, and I actually drank wine and liked it. That was a first. We had a wine called PoggiodiPonte, which was made in central Tucsany from SanGiovesse grapes. We also had another one that was Merlot/Cabernet and it was really bitter and gross. Clearly SanGiovesse grapes are superior to French grapes, or maybe I'm just biased. Anyway- wine, thumbs up. Also, I'm a lightweight. The end.

Later that night we went to see another show- this time in Arezzo. It was a Dario Fo piece (if that name means anything to you) and I did not understand a darn thing in it. It was a one-man show and I thought that it was going to be more movement-oriented, but no- it was ALL text. And not just in Italian. Nope. It was in 'mariner speak', which is a combination of Italian (dialect, if you will), French, and Spanish. And it was all spoken REALLY quickly. I could pick up a word or two here and there, but for the majoirty of the show I was lost. Oh well.

Saruday (yesterday) a bunch of us went to Assisi, which was absolutely beautiful. The old part of the city is up on a hill and has the most beautiful views I have ever seen. Pictures will be up soon. We went to the Basilica di San Francesco, which was kind of a given but hey, you know. We got to see St. Francis' tomb, which was really beautiful and moving. Plus, there were monks EVERYWHERE...I heart monks. I think they are so precious. We walked through the town a little, too. We stopped in the Temple of Minerva, which is now a church. We also went to the Basilica of Santa Chiara, who was a hardcore follower of St. Francis. And we go to see St. Francis' sock.. Oh yeah. Liza and I also discovered that pullig our scarves up over our face kept us rather warm, although it looked mildly politically incorrect. Oops.

Today (Sunday) I went into Florence all by myself. Yup...I'm a big girl. I just kidn of wandered around in teh general direction of Santa Croce, which was my ultimate destination. I meandered off to Dante's House, which was kind of cool to look at even though I didn't go inside. I also went to the church where Beatrice is buried- you know, the chick that Dante wrote all of his poetry about. Yeah. Her. Anyway, next to her grave is a basket filled with notes that peopled have left asking for her help in love. Precious.

Santa Croce was next on the list. 'Twas pretty. I saw a lot of dead people. Not really...I just saw their tombs. Michelangelo. Galileo. Dant. Machiavelli. Marconi. Ghiberti. Pictures soon.

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“Remember tonight.. for it is the beginning of always.”
~ Dante Alighieri

Well fudge.

So I haven't written for awhile. Sue me.

In all seriousness, I have had so little free time in the past week and a half- and when I do I don't have the energy to think of anything remotely intelligent to say. Such is life at clown school. Anyway, two weeks ago was my fall break, which meant excursions to Verona, London, and Milan. 'Twas much fun, despite the fact that I got sick AGAIN while traveling...it was really nice to see KC, Julie, and Hanna though. Pictures from that can be found at the following links...

Facebook: Verona1, Verona2, London1, London2, Milan
Webshots: Verona, London, Milan

Last week in the Villa was pretty hectic- we had our last few classes of Commedia, which meant class for about 8 hours every day. It was fun though. We started working on improvs with larger groups- 3 or more characters- which was really difficult and challenging but in a good way. Then that weekend, Vanessa, Natalie, Liza, Jesse, and I went to Rome to have playtime with KC, Hanna, anf Julie. We did St. Peter's, Castel Sant'Angelo, the Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, the Parthenon, the Colloseum, Palantine Hill, the Forum, and the Cappuccin Crypt. It was a lot of fun (and way hotter than we expected it to be). Pictures are in the process of being uploaded, some are already up though so here are the links from that.

Webshots: Halloween, Rome
Facebook: Halloween, Rome1, Rome2, Rome3

Additionally, there is a video from Commedia that I will post as soon as I figure out how to do that.

*ETA* I finally got around to doing some work in Photoshop...it's only a few things but hey, they're the first things I've done since I got here.
Facebook: 1, 2
Webshots: 1, 2

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It is my pleasure to sleep and even more to be stone.
As long as shame and dishonor may last,
My sole desire is to see and to feel no more.
Speak softly, I beg you, do not awaken me.
- Michelangelo Buonarroti

Here we go...

I leave tomorrow for fall break! I'll be heading to Verona, London, Milan, and Perugia during my break, so if you want to talk to me or feel like reading some new blog entries....I won't be here and there won't be any. Sorry. Expect lots of updates and pictures once I get back though. I'll be staying with Vanessa's family when I'm in Verona so that will be really fun. I'll be staying with KC, Hanna, and Julie when I'm in London so I'm really excited to have playtime in the city with them. I'll only be in Milan for a day and a half, so I'll probably only do the Duomo, Duomo museum, La Scala, and window shopping. Then I'm coming back to Arezzo on Friday night and going to Perugia the next day for the CHOCOLATE FESTIVAL. That's all.

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The only way of catching a train I ever discovered is to miss the train before.
~ G.K. Chesterton

Oops My Bad.

So I haven't written for quite some time (oops, my bad!) and now I'm writing because I really do not want to read Aristotle right now. Or do any other kind of work right now. But I just had a moment where I looked at our calender for the upcoming week and out of habit flicked through the rest of the packet with the calender for the rest of the semester in it...and we don't have much time left! I don't know..I just got this really weird feeling in the pit of my stomach, and I don't want to have to say goodbye to anything I have here...the villa, my classes, or Italy itself, but most of all I don't want to have to say goodbye to my friends. There are a lot of people here that I'm going to miss horrendously when December 14th rolls around, and I don't even want to think about what's going to happen when I have to say goodbye to them.

I went to Venice last weekend, which was pretty gosh dern awesome. First of all, it was organized by the Accademia, which means it was free-tastic (and by free-tastic I mean transportation and housing was free, which isn't too bad). The only thing I had to pay for was food, which I surprisingly didn't spend too much on. Let's recap- we left really early Friday morning and got there around midday. It took us awhile to find our hostel because 1) Venice is rather difficult to navigate and 2) Kevin was leading us. After we checked in we had the majority of the afternoon off, so some friends and I wandered around, got some panini, and window shopped for masks. We wandrered right on over to St. Mark's Square, which is huge and amazing and the Basillica is even more astounding. Venice was part of the Byzantine Empire, so the architecture in completely different than anything I had ever seen before. San Marco is beautiful, but we didn't have time to go inside because we had to meet up with the rest of the group to go to the Goldoni Museum. Hence more trekking around the island of trekkers.

We (finally) found the rest of the group at the Chiesa dei Frari and headed over to the Goldoni Museum, which was okay. It was small (it used to be his house) and I guess only interesting if you do theatre (Goldoni wrote plays for Commedia troupes). Anyway after that Liza, Ann Marie, adn I went to the Chiesa di Frari, which was beautiful. It's where the tombs of Monteverdi (a composer), Titian (Renaissance painter) and Canova (sculpter) are, so it as really cool to see their tombs- Canova's was beautiful and apparently originally built for Titian. Crazy. Anyway funny story- I couldn't remember who Canova was at first (I recognized the name) but then I realized that he did one of my favorite sculptures and that I've used it in one of my photoshop thingies.
Silly, huh?

Anyway after the Chiesa we got dinner, which was really good if not expensive. It was pretty late by this point so we headed back to the hostel, which took quite some time becasue it's Venice nd nearly impossible to navigate. Anyway that was day one.

Day two (Saturday) meant early morning wake-up and class. We took a vaporetto (water taxi) over to Giudecca, which is an island next to Venice that is infinitely less toursity- like, people actually live there and don't depend on tourists to make money. Class was cool- it was really nice to be in a different space, which I think brought a different energy to the group. After that a few of us hopped on a nother vaporetto witht he intentions of going to the cemetary but, alas, the cemetary was closed so we ended up on Murano, which is famous for it's glass industry. We didn't stay there long, only long enough to go in a few shops and eat some gelato. After that we heded back to the hostel to get ready for dinner. Vanessa and I decided we didn't want to go out with a big group, so instead we had girl date, which was fun. We jut kind of walked around and ended up at various toursity poitns (mainly the Rialto and St. Mark's). Then we sat on the steps that led down into the canals and had a relly nice chat about life. Yay for girl dates.

Sunday meant semi-early wake-ups and trudging over to St. Mark's with the eexpectations that we wouldn't be able to go in due to Mass being held. Much to our surprise, there was a line of people outside, so we jumped on the line too and realized that it was the line for the museum, which is located on the upper levels of the Basilica. It was a really wonderful experience, because not only could we go out on the balcony, which gave us a really great view of the Square, but since Mss was going on we coul dhear the choir singing too. It was really beautiful to be able to hear the choir and stand there in awe of the mosaics that cover the ceiling of the Basilica- that memory will definitly stay with me for the rest of my life.

Later that night we took a train over the Padua, where we spent the night and went to the Mask Museum the next day, which was pretty snazzy since it's filled with masks made by Sartori, who was like THE mask-maker of all mask-makers. I just wish that we had been more time to walk around and actually enjoy the masks rather than having to listen to some woman talk about them(in Italian, which half the group doesn't understand) for two hours. Anyway the masks were still pretty cool but I was ready to get home after that. The only thing I was really upset about was that I didn't get the chance to go to the Basilica di San Antonio, which I really wanted to go to because 1) it's pretty and 2) half of my family is named after him. Anyway suffice it to say I was really glad to get back on the train and sleep for a little bit on the way home.

Other than Venice not much has happened inthe past week. Marathon Commedia has been fun if not really frustrating, but I just keep telling myself it's something to work towards. Additionally, I just posted a LOT of pictures so here are the links.

Facebook: Florence1, Florence2, Florence with Pete & Zach, Scavenger Hunt
Webshots: Florence with Pete&Zach, Venice (only half of which are currently up- I am now in the process of uploading the rest).

Additionally, my death rattle of a cough is finally starting to go away. And it only took about four weeks.

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But friendship is precious, not only in the shade, but in the sunshine of life, and thanks to a benevolent arrangement the greater part of life is sunshine.
~ Thomas Jefferson

Long Days Journey into Night...

I'm starting to realize that the harder the week (or day) is, the better it will end. Last week felt like it dragged on forever, since we were so busy and we barely got any time to rest. However, the weekend I had was definitely worth the wait.

On Saturday, Pete, Zach, and I went into Florence for the day. It was really nice to spend time with them outside of class, plus I needed boy time (I miss my Cuddle Crew!). Pete had yet to venture to Florence, so it was fun to show him around the city. We started out at the (Whoa) Duomo, which, for every ounce of decor there is on the outside the inside is equally as bare. Seriously. Thank God it was free, because I would have been upset had I paid 6 euro to get in there. Nevertheless, it was still pretty cool- if you go down into the basement there's an archeological dig (which we didn't see cause you have to pay) and Brunelleschi's tomb. Brunelleschi designed the dome of the duomo, and it was kind of a big deal since it was the first dome to be built since ancient times. Go Brunelleschi.

After that we walked over to Basillica di San Lorenzo. Pete and I posed for some pictures out front. We headed in and proceeded to surrepticiously take more pictures, since we technically weren't allowed to. We got to see Donatello's grave (the artist not the turtle), which was pretty cool. While we were in the Old Sacristy this little kid knocked over one of the ropes that keep people from walking over things...suffice it to say, it was loud. And we ran away.

After that we grabbed some lunch, wandered through the Central Market, and found this really neat mask shop. The shop was closed, so we decided to go to Santa Croce until it opened. On the way over to the Basillica we stopped at the Loggia dei Lanzi to show Pete the pretty sculptures. By the time we got to Santa Croce it was closing, but we're definitly going to go back, because Galileo and Michaelangelo are buried there. On our way back to the mask shop we stopped in the Bargello (we snuck in as it was closing so we didn't have to pay teehee) and got to see Donatello's David. Pretty awesome. After that we went back to the mask shop, which turned out ot be really cool and now I want to spend all my money there. We ended up talking with the owner and his friend, who teaches anthropology in Tokyo. Snazzy.

Sunday was a pretty lazy day. Monday night was stressful as hell, since I had the write my first paper since last semester, and I pretty much ended up rambling in circles. Today I woke up feeling even sicker than I have been lately. I almost fell alseep in Philosophy- thank God I had already made my contribution to the discussion (Kafka's the Hunger Artist is a comment on capitalism- take that Scott McGehee!). Movement helped a lot though- I only did the warm-up and sat out for the rest of the lesson, but I think it was good for me to get the blood flowing for a little bit, even if it did knock what little energy I had left completely out of me.

Siena/Florence Pictures on Webshots (these are from a week and a half ago)
Siena Pictures on Facebook

More should be coming soon, I've been having trouble with the internet and Facebook is being difficult. Last weekend's Florence trip will (hopefully) be up tomorrow. Maybe.

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Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.
~ Pablo Picasso

Sunrise, Sunset..

I just wanted to say that tonight's Tramonto was really beautiful. I don't think I mentioned this before, but every two weeks we have this meeting called Tramonto (Italian for 'sunset') during which we essentially st around and talk about our feelings. It sounds really lame, but it's actually a really good way to get rid of stress and what not. Plus it's planned by students so they make sure it's something that everyone needs during that specific week.

Well, this week, they had everyone write down 3 things- the funniest thign that has happened ot them, the most touching thing that has happened to them, and their biggest worry. We put the funny ones into a bucket, and everyone pulled one out and read it (it was a anonymous). It was really great ot be able to laugh our bums off- I love laughing! Then we went around and read our touching moment ones, and a lot of people has some really touching moments. My friend Zach talked about how he had taken a walk to the cemetary with Natalie and that they had foudn a grave that wasn't taken car eof very well, so they found it a flower and tried to put together the headstone again. He jsut talked about how he doesn't think we should ever forget anyone, and how this experience is going to stay with him for the rest of his life, and I think he really summed up how a lot of us are feeling at the moment. It was a just a really wonderful experience, because you could feel the love in the room (cheesy, I know, but it's true). I just find it so amazing that after such a short period of time, we have all become to close-knit- very much like a family.

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Laughter and tears are both responses to frustration and exhaustion. I myself prefer to laugh, since there is less cleaning up to do afterward.
~ Kurt Vonnegut

Minor Threat

Today started out rather poorly, but by the end of of the day it wasn't so bad. First of all, it was a loooooong day. Since we were performing tonight, and we had Commedia all day, we had to use our break time (read: siesta) to put together out piece for tonight. I still haven't recovered since the weekend and my throat is all congested, so right away I knew it wasn't going to be fun. But during Commedia today I had to get up and do some improv (while masked) and I completely blanked and had no idea what to do. I don't even remember what I did, but I just got really frustrated and kind of emotional, which wasn't good. I'm not very confident in myself, especially when it comes to performing, so being put on the spot liek that kind of freaked me out. Plus, I don't like putting things on my face (which makes mask work rather difficult). I was actually okay today, but I kind of got lost in the mask and forgot what I needed to be doing. Everyone has been really supportive though- we all know we need to be able to work together so we're all pulling for each other, becausee if one person gets left behind then that ruins the whole group dynamic. So if any of ya'll are reading this...thanks. :)

The performance tonight went REALLY well. I mentioned before that I was doing a duet movement piece (there were actually two duets going on at the same time, so essentially it was a quintet), which I was a little worried about, especially because the stage was raked and we changed a lot of it around, but it felt really good while we were performing, which means it probably looked too. I know some people recorded it, hopefully I can get a video to post here for you all.

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If you hear a voice within you say, 'you cannot paint,' then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced.
~ Vincent Van Gogh

Someone's got a case of the Mondays...

Not much to talk about for today. We have a performance tomorrow night in one of the theatres in town. The event is sponsored by this group called Nausika, which, well...I'm not entirely sure what it is, but I think it essentially consists of groups of artists and art supporters. Anyway, the ADA has done a lpt in the past with them, and they invited us to do some stuff tomorrow night. We're doing about 15 minutes each of movement and voice work- so 30 minutes total. I think for voice we're singing a song andplaying aroudn with that, then for movement our professor asked me and Liza to do our movement duet, which is really excting. The entire class is doing something together, but there are only 2 other duets, and 4 people are doing solo movement work, so I feel really honored to have been chosen. I know it's only a small performance, but a) it's exciting to be getting onto a stage and b) it's wonderful knowing that the amount of work I'm putting into class is being recognized and appreciated.

Additionaly, I forgot to mention that we started Commedia last week. We're working with two people on Commedia, Marcello and Michella, both of whom speak little English- Michella actually speaks a fair amount, but Marcello knows about two words (one of which is "stop"- we hear that one a lot). Despite this, I've actually been surprised with how well I've been able to understand them, although responding to them is compeltely different! I'm glad though, since my goal was to be nearly fluent by the end of the semester, and I think that if I'm at the pint tha I'm at now I may very well be able to reach that.

On a compeltely different note, my computer/internet has been on the fritz lately, so pictures are in the process of being posted. Webshots may be up by the end of the night, but Facebook keeps wimping out so Lord knows when those will be up.

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We are such stuff
As dreams are made on; and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.
~ William Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act IV Scene i

Whoa Duomo!!!

I've noticed that I for the little time I have to write in this blog, I tend to have even less energy. Alas, life must go on. Speaking of energy, this weekend was insanely fun. Friday night we had a karaoke party, which was fun despite the fact that I had to get up at 5am the next day to make it to the train station on time for my first weekend excursion!!!! Yaaaaay!!!

My first weekend excursion consisted of: Saturday in Siena, Saturday night and Sunday in Florence. Both equally as beautiful. There was a group of about 12 of us that went to Siena, but only 10 of us went to Florence. We got into Siena around 9:45am after a few, um, incidents. First of all, we had to switch trains in Florence and had about 5 minutes to do that. Those five minutes consisted of frantically buying tickets and running (literally) to the other side of the train station to make it to the train on time...which some of us almsot didn't. Then, after we got into Siena, we almost got arested. Yeah...about that. We crossed over the tracks, which you're not supposed to do. In our defense, there was a road-lloking thing that went across, ad we were following two other Italians, but we were the ones who got stopped. The security guard who stopped us asked for our passports- but didn't tell us why- so I, being slightly suspicious, didn't give mine up. Me and the few other peopel whose passports he didn't take ran off and hid in the bathroom for a bit. Turns out he didn't give anyone a fine-jsut told them not to do it again. Even still, the catch phrase of the day quickly became "Hey guys, remeber that time when we almsot got arrested?"

Once we were free from the judicial system, a few people in the group opted to take the bus into the city (the train station is jsut outside the city walls), butthe rest of us decided to walk into the city, which was a great choice. It wasn't too far of a walk (about 15-20mins) and it was worth it just to get to see everything. We stopped at few cool-looking buildings, but our ultimate destination was the Piazza del Campo, the main piazza- this is where the famous horserace, Il Palio, takes places ever summer. It is HUGE- I think I read somewhere (i.e. Rick Steves) that it's the largest piazza in Italy. We got some lunch, looked at the Fonte Gaia (Fountain of Joy), which was being worked on to it wasn't all the fun to see, plus it's jsut a reproduction (the original is in a museum because it was starting to corrode). We walked around to the Torre del Mangia (literally, the Tower of Eating) but opted not to climb to tower and save our money for something else.

We then headed over to the Duomo, which was beautiful. The facade is made with pink, white, and green marble in teh Romanesque style, and the interior looks like a quarry vomited into the building and happened to end up looking really nice. I saw my fist Michaelangelo sculpture! It's super small and was behind this scaffolding they had put up (i guess they're doign renovations) but it had a little window so peole could still see the statue. There's also a whole bunch of sculptures by Bernini and Donatello (St. Jerome and St. John the Bapstist, respectively, are the ones that come to mind at the moment). Inside the Duomo is also the Piccolimi Library, which houses a set of illuminted musical scores (I thinking mostly chants) which were stunning.

Fun Duomo Fact: The Sienese and Florentines were big artistic rivals, which comes through in their respective Duomos. Siena was cosntantly adding to theirs, and they had started an addition to the nave and got as far as the exterior wall when the Black Plague hit the city and wiped out a third of the poulation and the extension as never finished. The wall is still there though, and part of it forms the Duomo Museum.

Afer the Duomo, we got some lunch (which was rather tastey) and moseyed on down teh the Basillica di San Franceso. While not as large or as ornate at the Duomo, it was still really pretty (plus it was free and it was nice to be away from the crowds). We then met up with eveyoen else in Il Campo and headed back to teh train station for our Florentine Adventure! We spent the night in a hostel righ next to the Ponte Vecchio, which was really convenient. Ate a late dinner at a place called MammaMia (canyou say toursit trap? I can!) but it was really good so it was almost wort it. Plus we ate outside anad there was a Christion rock concert- complete with worhsip dancers- so it was really nice to experience some of the culture and listen to some music while dining. Then it was off to bed for some sleep (which I got very little of).

We started off today (Sunday) at the Boboli Gardens at the Pitti Palace. We spent most of the morning wandering around here...there wasn't much, since it's fall and all teh flowers are gone by this point, but it's worth it jsut to be able to experience the sheer size of the gardens themselves. Pus there's statues and excellent views of the city (of which pictures do little to no justice). We also popped into the Costume Museum, which woul dhave been worth it even without the costumes- all the ceilings had paintings on them, and the rooms themselves were amazing. I kept saying to everyone, "Okay, let's do a role-playing game. That's your house (pointing to the palace) and this is your backyard. Go."

After the gardens, we stopped at a caffe and got some really great (and inexpensive) panini. We head over to the Uffize Gallery, knowing full well tht we wouldn't be able to get in. However, the couryard of the Gallery is lined with statues of famous Italians (Dante, Vespucci, Da Vinci, Michaelangelo, etc.) so it was fun to see how many people I recognized. Afer that was the Loggia del Lanzi, which was the original home of Michelangelo's David. Now there's just a lame reproduction (the original is now in the Galleria dell'Accademia) but there are several other statues, including works by Donatello. I pretty much peed my pants running around to each of them, since sculptures are my favorite art form. I'm pretty sure I took enough pictures to fill about ten art hsitory textbooks, and even then the photos don't capture what it's like to see them in person. Suffice it to say, it was definitely worth the stop.

After that, we headed over to the Church of San Lorenzo, not to go into the actually church (which I eventually want to do) but to go to the Medici Chapels. This was the one thing that I knew I absolutely had to do while I was in Florence or I would have kicked myself. What had initially spike my interest was the fact that one of the Chapels included several of Michaelangelo's sculptures. Can I just say...whoa. I didn't realize that the chapel I wanted to see wasn't the main Chapel, so when I walked in I was confused for about half a second until my jaw completely fell off my face and bounce along the marble floor. The place was gorgeous. And HUGE. Can you imagine being so gosh darn rich that you could say to yourself, "Hell, I'm gonne build a ridicuously large and beautilful chapel to bury my dead family members in. By the way, Michaelangelo, chisel me some sculptures. Kthanksbye." The main chapel is made with red and green marble and contains six tobms- all of which are humogous. Off of te main chapel was a smaller room which contained quite an array of Holy Relics- i.e. the bones of saints. That's kind of a big thing here- wait for someone to do somethign really holy, then die, and cut off a part of their body, put it in a really pretty container, and display in your church.

Anyway, I was itching to see me some Michaelangelo, so I took one last look at the main chapel and ran off (literally) to find the second, much smaller (and simpler) chapel. And Oh. My. God. Absolute beauty. It was so much simpler thatn the main chapel, but no less astounding. The room contains 9 statues in total, four of which are the sculptures Night, Day, Dawn, and Dusk, all my Michaelangelo and all unfinished- Michaelangelo left Florence before he was finished becasue he was fed up with the political turmoil that was going on. Even still, despite the lack of fnished, the scupltures are amazing and completely worth the 7 euro I paid to get in. I honestly would consider going back. No joke.

So I've got 3 of several things to do in Florence crossed off my list. I definitely plan on going back (it's so close, so how could I not?) to do the Uffizi, the Accademia, the Duomo, and probably the Duomo Museum and the Bargello (sulptures galore!).

Pictures wil be coming soon- it's getting alte and I need to get up early for class tomorrow. Until then, I'm goign to work on putting together a list of gelato flavors I've tried (my goal is to try everything at least once before I start repeating flavors). I also have a few other projects in mind, but they're not worth talking about here because it would be too hard to explain. Until next time, buona notte.

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I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.
~ Michaelangelo

Rain, rain, go away...

It smells like Vermont when it rains here. One might ask, "Why the hell would she know what Vermont smells like?" Well, I used to go camping there, and I've always associated a very damp, cold scent with those memories. It smells like that when it rains and therefore it has been smelling like Vermont for the past few days due to the amount of rain we have been having.

It's actually kind of nice. It's been giving us a break from the eternal heat that seems to bear down upon the Villa, although it did make us cancel our Saturday morning hike- we were supposed to take a hike through this old chestnut forest that's kept up by San Franciscan monks. Cool, huh? Too bad it didn't happen.

Despite the hike being canceled, we did have a rather enjoyable weekend. First of all, it was the first time in a week that my body was properly functioning, due to the extreme decrease in muscle soreness. Well, let's start with Thursday night. We had a cabaret, and it was lovely to see so many people show off their stuff, and even lovelier to see some people do things that were sligtly out of their element- like one of the music students doing a dramatic reading of Dr. Seuss' One Fish, Two Fish. My friends and I did an interpretive dance to Alanis Morisette's 'Ironic', and we've been talking about starting a musical improv group. And then, we had a toga party. Yes...togas. It seemed appropriate, being in Italy and all.
And yes, I am wearing my Little Mermaid towel as a toga. Be jealous.

Friday night was rather uneventful. We were supposed to watch La Vita E' Bella but everyone was being loud so I left early. Instead I went on to of the Teatrino (one our the theatre studio spaces) and tried to take some pictures of the lighting- it had stopped raining at this point, but there was some sweet lightning going on up in the sky.









Cool, huh?

Saturday, like I said, was the date of the non-hiking trip, so some friends and I spent the down in town. There was supposed to be a circus-type thing, but that was half-cancelled because of the rain, so instead we played with all the cool circus toys and showed off some of our sweet acrobatics.

Sunday was mildly uneventful. We got dinner at this restaraunt called Buca di San Francesco, which is in the basement of some building and all the walls are covered in frescos. Nifty, huh? Anyway, we ordered our food, thinking we were just getting entrees. however, our order also inclused a bread salad- a Tuscan specialty- and some dessert wine. Yum.

Again, if ya'll want pictures, you have two options...Facebook fiends can go here and here, while all the non-creepers can go to my Webshots here.

---
All was silent as before -
All silent save the dripping rain.
~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

My body hurts.

I had to act like a monkey today. And I HATE monkeys. In the past two days, my classes have forced me to deal with two of my fears: pregnancy and monkeys. What are the chances?!


Today I woke up feeling like every inch of my body was rebelling against any kind of movement- something I was not alone in. Due to a combination of walking up and down hills for the past four days and being in class for the past two days, everyone is sore like the dickens. Well, at least the theatre kids are. Everyday I look at the music kids and wonder why they're not wearing more comfortable clothes and tell them that they're lucky that they aren't as sore as the rest of us...then I remember that that they have to sit at desks all day. heh heh heh. Not that I don't enjoy music- I'm minoring in it!- but I wouldn't give up what I'm doign for anything in the world right now.

Can I just give you all a direct quote from my movement teacher? Today she says to us (in reaction to us being sore), "Go easy on yourselves today..." and then proceeds to have us hold downward facing dog for about tens minutes, lunge for a nother ten minutes, do handstands, and roll over each others backs from a kneeling position, and carry each other around on our backs. Personally, I couldn't consider that 'going easy'. But I'm totally okay with that, because that's what I like most about this program- it's challenging me and making me push myself harder than I've ever wanted to push myself before. Not that I've ever had motivational problems when it came to theatre, but being knowing that I need to push myself harder to achieve my goals just excites me. Or maybe I just like being sweaty and sore. You choose.

Kevin's class today was nice. We did a lot of partner massaging, which was definitely appreciated. But that's not the part hat stick out in my mind. The part that sticks out in my mind is the part WHERE HE MADE ME ACT LIKE A GORILLA. We were doing a call-and-response vocal improv, where one person would do something and the others would have to respond to it. Well, my turns comes up, and I ended up making these really deep, dopey kind of sounds and was bent over and letting my arms flail around and DING! Kevin gets this grand idea to make me act like a gorilla. He calls up one of the other people and has up improv together, and I nearly cried. I used to love monkeys, but now they kind of creep me out (thanks a lot, Dean Koontz). Anyway, we did out little improv, and it actually turned out okay! I was able to put aside my dislike for monkeys, and we actually had a really great moment where we were fighting over food and pantomimed eating it all, then turned around to the other kid like "Oops...I don't know where it all went!" He then proceeded to pick me up and march me aroudn the room. My gorilla self was not pleased.

We ended the class with an African lullaby, which was sooooo pretty. It kind of sounded like a Gregorian Chant, and when we sang it in cannon we ended up with these really haunting and dossonant harmonies. Anyway, he had us separate into our groups and aget as far away from the other groups as we could...my group went into the bathroom. We started singing and moving across the room (as if we were nomads roaming through the desert). I was worried that I wouldn't be able to sing my part, becaise we were still singing in cannon and I tend to have trouble with harmonies and what not, but I was surprised that I could more or less carry y own weight.

Italian is still kind of daunting, but everyone in the class is at different levels (even thought we all have at least some experience in the language). I jsut hope I remeber eough by the time we start workign with Marcello next week, since he speaks zero English (although apprently he knows the word for 'water' and is very proud of himself for knowing). Other than that, I am super excited to work with him, since (from what I've heard) he's pretty much insanely good at what he does.

Right-o. Time for bed. Buona notte, i miei bambini.

---
Many of our fears are tissue-paper-thin, and a single courageous step would carry us clear through them.
~ Brendan Francis

Pictures...finally.

I don't think I explained it before, but the reason why it took me so long to get my first Italy post up/why it is so long was because the adapter that I had bought didn't work in my room. It was for the new kind of outlet, but my room still has the old outlets. Anyway, the one I had was useless to me. So I marched my bum down to Pam, our friendly neighborhood grocery store, only to find out that they did not have US to Italy adapters...they only had various kinds of Italy adapters. One large question mark, a few tantrums, and one confused clerk later we decided to buy an adapter for the adapter we had, hoping that it would work, which it did! Anyway point being was that I now have pictures of my first few days here for you all.

After reading all of that, I feel it is only proper to give ya'll some links. For the Facebook stalkers (although being Facebooks talkers, you probably have already seen them), you may go here, and for all you other non-stalker types out there, you may go here.

Additioally, we started classes today. First we had Movement with Claudia who is simply fantastic. We focused a lot on how we get down to the ground- down we curve our spines of keep them straight? Is it easier to use hands or not? Where do we place our weight? We also did some partner work where we had to lift each other onto our backs. It was really interesting, because so much of it relied on trust, and this was our first day of class! It went well though. I was actually surprised at how quickly i was able to pick everything up...I guess I was expecting to not be able to do any of it, which is a completely ridiculous thing to think, I know. I also find myself getting worried about doing something really interesting or cool so that the professor will be impressed, which again is a completely ridiculous thing to think. It's not a constant thing, but I know I just need to remind myself and do the best I can with the activities I'm given.

We also worked with Kevin Crawford today, which I have been looking forward to for awhile, partially because I need to take a voice and speech class so I can stop losing my voice and partially becuase he was one of the original members of the Roy Hart Theatre Group. We started out doing some simple breathing while lying on the ground, where we would lift our pelvises and slowly lower them on a sigh. Then we went a little further with that and lifted nearly our entire torso off the ground and slowing drop back to the floor. We also did this with partners, who would touch the parts of our torso which needed to be dropped next. This was rather helpful, since it always felt like we had dropped more than we should have or didn't drop enough, so it was good to know exactly where we were. We then did this with three people, which turned out to look a bit like we were giving birth, which didn't help considering my unnatural and inexplicable fear of pregnany.

We then did this activty where we would jsut wiggle and make whatever sounds would come out. It was a little daunting, becuase I couldn't help but think that I looke dlike an idiot, but then again, we probably all did. ANyway, he would single peopel out and have them do it by themselves, and he had this one girl, Rebecca, do it, and she kept holding this long, high notes, so he ran over to the piano and had her sing more and gradually got her singing higher and higher. It was really thrilling to see and hear, especially because Rebecca tends to be a little quiet and I was relly glad to see her do something that required so much confidence (I don't know if I woul dhave been able to hang onto it!)! Then Kevin taught us this little song that went like this:

'Spirit of the wind, carry me home.
Spirit of the wind, carry me home.
Carry me home to myself.'

He had us running all over the room, and eventually had us split into 3 groups and do it in cannon. He then pulled a few people into the middle and starting soloing with them, which as way cool. We were all dancing around and singing and ahving a good time, but it was really nerwracking to be in the middle soloing- again, the thoughts of "OMG I NEED TO IMPRESS PEOPLE" kept running through my head, but I finally beat them into submission and had fun with it.

I think it was a nice start to our classes. We also had Italian today, which was...well, let's jsut say I need the practice. I'm in the intermiediate class, and our professor only speaks in Italian (very, very FAST Italian) but I can understand most of what she's saying (which is good) but I can never respond (which is bad). I think I just need to get back into the mindset of Italian and look over some vocab and I'll be okay. I hope.

---
He who does not know foreign languages does not know anything about his own.
~Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Kunst and Alterthum

Sono in Italia!

So I have arrived in Italy (after nearly 12 hours of plane rides and layovers), I have moved into my room at the Villa (which overlooks the entire town of Arezzo- bellissima!), and I have just had my first glass glass of wine (bianco- Pino Grigio). I may not come home.

It didn't really fully hit me until I was in the car driving to JFK airport that this was actually happening, that I was finally fulfilling my lifelong dream of going to Italy. It still hasn't fully hit me that I'm here. I mean I know where I am, I love where I am, but it still doesn't seem real. Well...it hit me a little bit when I was Skyping with my parents last night- my mom asked me, "So what's it like?" and I kinda stopped and went, "...amazing..." and couldn't really say much else because I had started to tear up. I thought it would feel weird or different somehow, but it almost feels like fate. I know that sounds strange and maybe a little dramatic, but it just feels so natural that I would be here at this time and being doing the things that I am doing.

How was getting here? Well, let's jsut say that was an adventure unto itself. Seven hour plain ride from JFK to Zurch, Switzerland, during which I tried my darndest to sleep but just couldn't...collectively, I think I got maybe 20 minutes of sleep on that flight- and the only reason why I knew I was awake was because I was listening to my Ipod and I would suddenly realize that I was in the middle of a completely different song that I didn't remember starting. But it was worth it to be able to catch a glimpse of the Alps right before landing. They were beautiful- completely awe-inspiring. I've never seen anything like it, and probably never will. I think I also caught a glimpse of a wee Swiss and/or French village before the sun had risen- all I could make out was this ball of orange-ish light coming through the clouds, so I'm hoping it was a village or town and not some crazy wild fire running rampant through the European countryside. But then again, I may have been imaging it (remember, 20 minutes of sleep). Then a 5 hour- yes, 5 hour- layover in Zurich, during which we tried to keep ourselves from falling asleep in the middle of the airport. Instead we entertained ourselves with dancing (physical activity- keep the blood flowing!), finding free chocolate samples, and trying to figure out why EVERYTHING WAS IN ENGLISH. You would think that being in Switzerland, a country which has four, count "em, four, languages (those being French, German, Italian, and Swiss, which is a conglomerate of those three) would use at least one of them. Nope. We stepped off the plane and were greeted by good "ol English. It was actually surprising how many people spoke English in the traveling areas- it is completely different in Arezzo, but I would rather have less English since it gives me more of a chance to practice my Italian (which, by the way, it quite horrible right now).

So a 2 hour car ride followed by a 7 hour plane followed by a 5 hour layover followed by a much shorter plane ride into Florence (during which we flew over the Alps!) followed by the meeting of a few other Accademia folks followed by a long-ish train ride (during which I slept...finally) and a rather short taxi ride, we arrive at the Villa Godiola. OH. MY. GOD. The place is gorgeous. It is located just outside of Arezzo, in an area called San Fabiano. The city of Arezzo is actually in the middle of all his mountains, and we are up on this hill and we overlook the city...I nearly peed my pants the first time I looked out over it. We have a great view of the Duomo (that is, the main church) and most of the city walls, all of which dates back to the Middle Ages. The villa itself was built in the 16th century (I think) for an Archbishop as his summer home, and was also where part of the Medici family children were educated. Fun fact: Italy has very strict rules about the preservation of old things, so, for example, if one were to want the paint the walls of the Villa, one woul dhave to find a specific kind of paint that was used when the Villa was first built. Well, the Villa was built when people we still dealing with the Plague, therefore the paint is made with lime, which was though to cure/ward off the plague, which means that it rubs off very easily. Onto all of your clothing. Fun.

The first full day (Saturday) we just did some general orientation stuff- getting shown around the Villa, academic stuff, student life getting-to-know-each-other shenanigans and what not, which made me a little sleepy, not gonna lie. But that night we went into town and got some gelato- my first one ever! It was cheery (I forget the Italian word for it) and it was delicious. Apparently there is a better place further in town which I definitely want to check out. We then went further into town (meaning inside the city walls) and got some drinks. Even though I was never a drniker at home, it still is strange to me that I can just walk into a store or a bar and buy some alcohol. Kinda like using dollar and two-dollar coinage. It takes some getting used to. I have decided that I am not much of a wine drinker, or that wine is very much an acquired taste. I do want to broaden my horizons (while still remembering everything, dont worry!) but whatever. Im not too fussed about it.

Today (Sunday) was our first official trip into the city. We got shown around for a little bit and then we were given some time to just wander which was fun. We stopped and got some really good (and really cheap! €3.50!) pizza, wandered the the antique fair where we found a really great view of the surrounding area of Arezzo- including the Villa! We also walked through the Duomo, during which I tried to analyze the architecture...Curtis would be so proud! And then...thisis the best part...we went to a joust! The Giostra di Saracino (I think I spelled that right) is held every year on the first weekend of September and it is a competition between the four quarters of Arezzo. Since the Accademia is located in the Porta Crucifera, we of course rooted for them. The event dates back to the Middle Ages, so all the people involved were dressed in these crazy costumes that looked so hot and uncomfortable, but it was so much fun to watch! Apparently nobody likes Porta Crucifera because we have won so many, and our big rival is Porta San Andrea (there are 2 more quarter but I forget the names). Anyway, it was pretty intense, since the Crucifera fans were taunting the San Andrea fans and vice versa but still a lot of fun. We were standing near a HUGE groups of Crucifera supporters, so we tried to join in on their chants but, obviously, did not understand a darn thing they were saying. We did join in on a clapping one, the text of which turned out to be "Bianco e verde (the colors of San Andrea), pezzo di merde"- meaning "White and green, pieces of shit." Polite, no? Anyway, we lost and San Andrea won, which is why we are all avoiding going into town right now because they are probably all celebrating very loudly and quite frankly we dont want to get eaten alive by crazy Italians.

So that is all the news that fit to print for now. Sorry this took so long, the adapter that I bought does not work in the outlets so my laptop battery died and I have not been able to use it (obviously). Not to mention, I dont really want to spend all my time in front of a computer when I am in the middle of Tuscany. Pictures will be coming as soon as I can charge my battery. Additionally, I start classes tomorrow, so I will have plenty to talk about my the time my computer is happy again. Buona notte!

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There are only two emotions in a plane: boredom and terror. ~Orson Welles

2 More Weeks.

Have I started packing yet? Nope. Do I remember any Italian that I learned in class the past year? Not at all. But am I excited? You bet your bottom dollar I am.

Okay, all references to the most annoying musical ever written aside, let's get to the heart of the matter. I will be leaving very soon to spend the upcoming fall semester abroad in Italy, so presumably you are all here because you want to keep in touch with me. Well, you've come to the right place. I've decided to set up this blog to chronicle my semester abroad, document my travels, and keep everyone updated on the work I'm doing at the Accademia. Let's face it- writing a few paragraphs each night is WAY easier than answering about six emails everyday.

So here it is: the first post of my four-month journey through Italy. I'll leave you all with some basic facts about where I'll be and what I'll be doing.

Accademia dell'Arte
http://www.dell-arte.org

Located in Arezzo in the Tuscan region, about a 2 hour drive south of Florence

Program: Physical Theatre
Courses:
Italian Language
Commedia dell'Arte with Marcello Bartoli & Michela Mocchiutti
Mask-Making with Lino Spadaro
Voice & Performance with Kevin Crawford
Movement, Acrobatics, and Feldenkrais with Claudia Schnurer
Clown Workshop with Eli Simon
Philosophy of Art and Performance with Scott Mcgehee


Right. Now I'm off to watch more Olympics.

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A passport, as I'm sure you know, is a document that one shows to government officials whenever one reaches a border between countries, so the officials can learn who you are, where you were born, and how you look when photographed unflatteringly.
- Lemony Snicket