doodles? (sketches?) whatever.

these are from those hill towns. i never put them up, so, here ya go.



these are just little river/bridge studies



and this is from the pantheon


more later.

last night with len for some time

sorry the picture quality ain't so hot.
maybe i'll replace it later.
we'll see.
anyway.
len, on cardboard....

blah blah

somehow it became saturday, and even more surprising, somehow it became saturday the 22nd. not so sure how that happened, but i'm here. time seems to move so fast here, which is an interesting concept for a place that has so much time. (time in various forms... but time all the same)
classes took off at about a million miles an hour. i suppose mostly because the semesters here are so short. i keep finding myself in moments of looking around and thinking "wait.. what? when? oh good god..." midterms are in about 3 weeks or so.
(let me reiterate: "wait.. what? when? oh good god...")
it is slowly getting colder here, but is still rather beautiful out... most of the time.
first of all, this is for gianna. this is that guy that sing that really... odd.... music video you made me watch. remember? dutchland? take me to dutchland? that guy. yeah. this is by him. he scares me.

len and his feelings about the vatican. "the place of evil" - jan (the most best awesome art history man in the world)

a little more roman art

around the corner from my apartment, they put up lights... don't know why... but it is pretty.

and, len and i at the "colosseo"

and we're walkin'/some things about feet/a very scattered mentioning of things

so, i took an art history trip to a Musei Capitolini and saw one of constantine's feet. such a pretty foot. he has a hand, a knee, a face, some other things too, but feet are important to me right now, so here is the foot.
i really like my teacher. he gives a whole other better possibility of what art history could be.
the guy on the horse, Marcus Aurelius, was an interesting stop on our tour. first of all, a word about bronze.
if you ever see art that is bronze, take a moment and realize that something fortunate happened for it to still be with us.
bronze, a re-meltable/re-usable material. a whole lot of art/artifacts were melted down and used for... you know... military shit, and of course some other things too.
so anyway, good old Marcus over here is only with us because when he was found people thought he was Constantine and saved him. if they had known, he would have been melted away into other various shapes and uses.

so, about feet,
len and i went with a nice big handful of temple rome students on the FAMOUS WALL WALK.
this ment meeting at 8:30am and walking around the city via the path of The Aurelian Wall. this wall which makes its way around the city of rome, dissapearing into the ground and then seems to pop right back where it first and always was. i believe it was started in the 270's? or something. anyway, it was a nice 13 mile walk. with little pauses for information by one of my new favorite people in the world. in. the. world. Jan (said like "yaan") Gadeyne (said like "gah-dine"). i am not sure if that is how he spells his name. but he is the meaning of the phrase "the shit"
this is one of the many, many portals in the wall.


so, as a final note, after this walk, i took what was possibly the most enjoyed shower of my entire life.
and here are a couple pictures of me trying to get my used-for-making-things gears oiled and back in motion.
these are two quick little landscape thingies. yeah, they're on cardboard.


these are a couple of blind contour drawings. just in case anyone does not know what that is - just in case! - that means you are doing a drawing with line only to describe whatever it is you are drawing (i could go into contours, but i will leave it at this... for now) and not looking at the paper while you do this. no looking allowed. (also, that last one has some bad lighting, and you can see some stuff from the paper under it. my bad)





ok,
my feet are the best ever because they hold me up and i love them for it.

it never is as good as it was

todi

titignano

you can only find peanut butter in "ethnic" food stores here

first of all, a little late night vs. early morning for your viewing pleasure.


and second of all, i took a nice long day trip with Temple Rome to two small hill towns that have been here since some time in the 1100's. the first town was todi. it was beyond beautiful. it is that small hill town that everyone imagines.
i would say more, but i really don't know how.
after Todi we went to an even more remote little "town" called titignano. i mean, this little place was surrounded by sky. it was really just a piazza. a church, some little house types of things that used to be slave-dwellings and this huge "house" that belonged to the castle up the way.
this place was even more beautiful. and again.. we'll just all have to go there, cause i can't even describe it.
so at titignano we (all four busses of "we") are greeted with the beginning of a 4 (plus) hour meal.
it was about 12 courses long and included everything from wild boar to olive and mushroom spreads to onion piazza to home made wines. oh man.... all i keep thinking is that i get to do this again in the spring semester.... seriously... got'damn.
so yeah, the bus ride home was hilarious due to everyone being at least a little buzzed thanks to either the red wine, white wine, or grappa.
a good time had by all.
met some new people who were cool.
met some new people who weren't.
che sara sara.
also, i was told today that high fructose corn syrup is illegal here.
and you read things on syllabi like "due to changes (weather, strikes, etc.)
and also, i must say that the names of some of the clothing store are well...
here:
"energy"
"ethnic"
"ok fashion"
(and my favorite) "expensive"

anyway,
more later.

only appropriate for a saturday morning

since i was a baby (and probably before that...) my parents have been taking me to Reading Market on saturday mornings (afternoons) to pick up food for the week, and you know... schmooze. after all these years they (we) have created a nice little ritual of greetings, jokes, and small talk - and the women of the family have all taken on the nickname "smiley."
so today, saturday morning, i wake up and decide to make my way over to the outdoor/open-air market.
it was wonderful. imagine the most italian parts of the italian market in philly, plus some of the ambiance of reading, and everything else was just... italian - and also, dare i say, roman?
it went on for blocks on top of blocks. the fruit and vegetables went on for piles and piles. fresh, dried, fried, everything. things hung, strung, packed, and stocked in as many ways as you could imagine. there were stocky italian fellows chatting up anyone and everyone, as helpful and friendly as can be, and behind them were italian women, in command posts, all business, but with some smiles.
it was great.
the pictures i took just from the entrance are not that telling, but no worries, i am planning on going back every saturday. so there will be more to come.


and on another note. when walking back to the bus with my two small bags of fresh goodness, i saw this wall. i am starting to wonder if some of this stuff is commissioned, cause... dang.

an idea of the back perch and my new baby

this is my bambino basilico rosso. (red basil) he smells lovley. and please send me your blessings, because if i kill another plant...

yes i am in rome. and yes this is the picture i chose to post first and foremost.

on being hard to contact and other things

sorry the title is not any better.. god knows it shuold be. sorry yall. my fingers are having a hard time finding their way around a forgien keyboard, with the "a" "s" "n" and "m" practically gone, i did not realize i would miss them. just another different thing here... anyway, the german girl, Nadina, who lives in the apartment with me showed me to a internet cafe -god bless her soul- and i feel a little closer to home.
so here is how it went down... well, the short of it anyway.
airport in philly:
after getting ready for dealing with the possibility of having to practically breakdown and re-pack my bags at the airport due to carrying too much weight (which could mean so many other things) nothing happened (again.. so many other things)
so, all went smoothly, i got to secruity (a.k.a. the final goodbye to my family) and mom gets teary, i try not to, ruth gets teary, i try not to.. it doesnàt work, i get all teary, dad stays strong, but not completely veiled, and i give lots of hugs, and some other words of strenght are passed around, and i walk away to the security guys, who say, "it is ok, no one will know it happened." to which i respond "yeah, i am ok, but when my mom starts cryin..." to which they smile and check my ticket.

security at the airport in philly:
well, you will all be glad to know that our country is safer because yours truley had to get the full pat-down. people walking by looking at me - barefoot, spread, and clutched - and all i can think back at them is "yeah... i am that person you guys.. i am that person..."
anyway, with that all finished and my things and self re-collected, my gate is two seconds away and i have 2 hours to wait. and... no internet... (i hadnàt realized how connected i really was...)

the flight to heathrow:
not bad.
long but not bad.
sat next to extreamly annoying husband and wife.. do not feel like getting into it..
it is in the past... and thank goodness.
cute british staff on plan sympathized with me over hidden winks and smiles and rolled eyes. oh the brit.s

getting through Heathrow a.k.a Hell:
too many damn people
too many damn people
and again!
too many damn people.
i got to go through so many lines, funny story actually, with a girl who worked at Java. she was also going to rome, but leaving from there for somewhere else.
anyway. we went through lines together.
and then finally, right before the security gate there, it being time for our place to board, i asked some security woman for help, she slipped us through and told us we should run, in an all too calm voice.
so we ran. and arrived to find our flight delayed. so we waited... again.

arriving in rome:
knowing that Micaela (the woman who rents the apartment) would no longer be waiting for me, i knew i did not need to rush for her. thank god. a little less stress.
go my big mother-load of a trunk, and wheeled it to train number one. i talked in broken italian to a very nice young woman on the train and she reassured my directions. then i got on the second train and thank god for italian men. of all the steps i would have had to haul this trunk, there seemed to always be a sweet italian man who after smiling at me and saying "ciao" would grab my trunk and haul it aup for me. "swoon" so sweet those italians...
anyway at this point i am soooo tired, and a little hungry, but not really thinking about anything but a shower and then sleep.
and i find my way to the apartment building. can not get in. wander back down the street to a little butcher kinda shop, and he calls micaela for me and tells me where to go. i manage to get in the door of the building by bzzing a random buzzer and saying in italian that i forgot my key. but then i cannot find my room.
i wander up and down, and finally this younge womand and her mother let me in to this place on the first floor saying yes yes this is it. but i knew something was off. i ask for miceala and she says she will be back tonight or at least tomorrow morning, so i think, sounds good. i go to my room, take a shower, pass out.

the next morning:
things do not seem right.
fredirica knocks on my door. miceala is her boyfriend. am i lost?
aparently, yes.
so she calls my miceala and finds me the right place.
turns out, i snuck my way into a bed and breakfast.
yeah...

e adesso (and now):
the first couple days, aside from sleeping like a madwoman... who needs sleep... were a little lonley. but last night and today have been very very nice. Nadina and i have been spending time together, have rather great conversations for both of our limited italian. i realize how much i really enjoy/want company. i think things will only get easier from this point on. people said that at first everything is amazing amazing amazing, and then it tapers down to missing home, the familiar, etc. but i think i am opposite of that. i think the hard part for me is the beginning. finding my feet again. then finding my mind again. then my mouth, then my smile, my eyes, etc. then it all gets more good-er. :) i am excited for what happens next. and my italian is getting back to where it was! yea!

and then:
i will send more and write more when i figure things out. i think when school picks up, communication will get easier. so, this coming week should be good.
on that note, my neck hurts, and this is costing my some euro. so, goodbye for now.
i will write more when i can.
i love you all.

oh, and p.s. ...the coffee here... too good. just too too good.