February 28

Today the food tour continued. In the morning, we stopped for cappuccinos and croissants filled with cream before heading to the central market. 

While touristy, the central market is still my favorite place to buy cheese, fresh pasta, dried fruit, etc. My mom had fun speaking in japanese with some store owners and we got some snacks for our train ride to Rome tomorrow. 

After lunch at the place across from my apartment, we did a little shopping and then went for cannoli at my favorite cafe near the Duomo. 

We walked around more, came back to rest and had dinner. Tomorrow will be a fun day (hopefully) because we are going to Roma!!! 

Ciao for now! 

February 27

Today I gave my mom the touristy tour of Florence. We started off at my school, where I showed her my artwork and I also showed her my favorite coffee/snack places around school. From there, we eventually headed across the Arno to go to my favorite pizza place. But first... We had to take a touristy picture with the Ponte Vecchio!

THEN it was time for Gusta Pizza-- the only place I'll get pizza. We got the two specials today, which were eggplant/mozzarella pizza and pesto/mozzarella. It's always the same man working there and if you ask him, he'll tell the pizza chefs to make the pizza in the shape of a heart.

We took the more touristy way back, crossing the Ponte Vecchio. Of course, we had to do a little window shopping, which turned into actual shopping. This was the view from one of the stores on the Ponte Vecchio.

I ended up getting a rose gold ring, which will always remind me of Florence because the design is the city's emblem. 

The day started off beautiful but eventually got pretty cloudy, but that makes for beautiful pictures of the cathedral, campanile, and duomo! 

After taking a quick nap (my mom was jet lagged and I was tired from my last midterm today which went very well) we went to my Mexican restaurant for dinner. Out of all the people who could have showed up at the restaurants, two of my roommates and their friends came in. 

Well... 

Ciao for now!

February 26

Today I was very impatient. Why? Because my mom landed in Florence at 6:30pm and I wanted time to go faster. Today I had my ceramics midterm which was super easy because our professor used the exact same questions as the review sheet questions. It took less than 5 minutes. Then, we had our midterm critique of all our work which went pretty well. All that being said, we managed to get out of class an hour early. 

From there, I had museology which was really boring today-- that or I was too excited to see my mom. In any case, shortly after my class ended it was time to go to the hotel to see my mom. We went to dinner at one of my favorite places and took a walk to the central market and the duomo, stopping for Nutella and Crema gelato on the way home. 

I'm staying at the hotel tonight even though I have a midterm early tomorrow morning. But I took a nice bubble bath, something I missed A LOT, and that relaxed me. 

My mom also brought some good American junk food I've been missing, as well as more books and clothes that I wanted here. Yay! 

Today was a good day. 

Ciao for now! 

February 25

Today was a little frustrating. Right when I thought I've been done with my plaster horses, I found something else to fix on it. Unfortunately, this means my mom won't be able to take it home like I had initially thought, and thus it is one more thing to ship home at the end of the semester (or potentially even carry it on the airplane.. plaster scratches extremely easily). If that wasn't frustrating enough, I'm trying to figure out what to add to my stone elephant. I think I want to do some kind of decoration on the front of the trunk but the dimensions of the stone are throwing me off. I'm glad it's almost spring break because I'm having artist's block (at least for sculpture)!


Ceramics, on the other hand, is going pretty well. I have to have some sketches by the end of break, so I've been working hard trying to figure out the technical aspects of making my globe actually spin as well as figuring out design aspects. At this point, I'm still working on the basics. This was a freehand (super rough, pretty simplified) sketch I did of the world. From here, I'll probably have to draw each continent individually to figure out where I'll place animals, monuments, flags, or all of the above (I have yet to decide).

I'm writing this entry super early tonight because I'm really excited for tomorrow and tomorrow needs to come sooner. Why? Because my mom is coming to visit me! I'm glad I have a long day of classes tomorrow to keep me busy, and as soon as I'm out of my last class she will be landing here! 

Ciao for now!

February 24

Today was a good day. First of all, my cinema class got out 2 hours early because people wanted to study for midterms. So instead of a half hour break between classes today, I had a two and a half hour one! Then, in ceramics I was super productive. Not only did I finish my  vase...

But I also came up with a pretty cool idea for my final project.. That is, if I can pull it off! Since my mom and I travel so much, I want to make a globe. Sounds easy enough right? But wait... I want it to spin like the ones at the store do. We have to use other materials besides clay for our project too, so this is perfect. I think I'll do a non-traditional globe, though, something like in the picture below. That way, it will be easier to stick a metal rod in and attach a base to the piece.

As far as decoration for my piece, I want to have the continents be built up a little with either animals, flags or both coming out of each place I've been to. In case I go with the flag idea, I did very rough sketches of 32 flags of countries I've been to... Can you tell I like to travel???

On top of that, we had our midterm review in class today and I am feeling very confident about my midterm on Thursday. While my classmates haven't studied, I knew the answers to almost every question on the review sheet. Hopefully the midterm will be exactly like it!

When I got home, I did a quick Conad run, where I found a mug that we have in the apartment. Of course I had to buy myself a touristy mug... But it was only 3 euro and it's perfect for tea so it was worth it!

Well, it's time to get back to studying and sketching...

Ciao for now!

February 23

Today was pretty mellow since I only had one class. I got a lot done in sculpture today and I am now almost all done with my elephant, which I think I'm going to name Tembo (Swahili for elephant). So far, my travels have had a huge impact on my art here in Italy whether it be my box representing all seven continents, the rhino which I named Msanii, and this elephant and I'm glad I'm able to produce art that is is so personal. I have to add a few finishing touches on Tembo, and then he will be done! I'm still not sure how he's coming home though...

After class, I had a quick meeting with my group for my museology presentation. We ran through our entire powerpoint and it went well, so hopefully we will get a good grade when we present this Friday. After that, I made a quick pharmacy run to get bandages for my ankle (it hurts to stand but walking has been okay so far) and it feels better already. Tomorrow is a long day with cinema and ceramics, where I have to finish painting my vase so....

Ciao for now!

February 22

Nothing much to report today.. I didn't end up needing to go to the hospital which was good because everyone I asked to come with me had an excuse not to go with me. It's good to know that if I needed help in a foreign country, I wouldn't be able to rely on anyone... It only makes me miss home and my friends there more! Anyways, the injured girl spent all day in bed studying, watching NCIS, and sketching. My ankle feels a lot better but is still very swollen so I've been icing it all day. I'm concerned about class tomorrow, however, because I still can't stand on it for long and I can't work on my sculpture sitting down. We'll see how that goes. I have midterms this week, and then my mom comes on Thursday which I really need right now. Anyways...

Ciao for now!

February 21

Today was both good and bad. Let's start with the good... I went to Siena and San Gimignano with school today. I had been to Siena before, but I was sick when we went so I was able to appreciate it much more this time and loved it there. Fun fact: legend has it that Siena was founded by Senus, son of Remus who was said to have founded Rome with Romulus. So, the Sienese thought that Siena would become the new Rome, hence the name Siena, named after Senus. This is in the main piazza.

I had already been to a few of the sites we visited, but for the most part everything was new to me. I was especially happy to see the Allegory of Good Government, Allegory of Bad Government, Effects of Good Government and the Effects of Bad Government, which I had studied in Art of the Renaissance at AU. I had thought the pieces were framed and not on a wall, so I was very surprised to walk into a room where each of the four walls depicted Good or Bad Government and the Effects. This is part of the Effects of Good Government by Ambrogio Lorenzetti.

Now we get to the bad part of my day... It was very rainy in Siena (and San Gimignano). We were walking out of a church which had a marble-like patio, similar to the Taj Mahal. I was being super careful and walking very slowly, but I slipped and fell (there were no railings). I felt fine after falling, but when I got back on the bus to return to Florence, I felt my ankle popping and my backside hurting. So now I will most likely be taking a trip to the Italian hospital tomorrow... Yay. But back to my field trip...

After Siena, we went to San Gimignano-- a really small medieval town nicknamed the Manhattan of Italy because of its towers. This was the view of the Tuscan country side from San Gimignano...

And this was the view from the top of a tower I climbed... (I certainly am climbing a lot of towers over here!)

This was a look of the stairs on the way down from the tower... This wasn't even all of it.

After our tour, we had a quick wine tasting and then we left for Florence. These were my souvenirs at the end of the day... A very good bottle of white wine, San Gimignano's speciality, a postcard of vespas, and a typical touristy vespa keychain.

I have a feeling tomorrow is going to be a long day so...

Ciao for now!

February 20

Today was a food day. A non-Italian food day... I'm getting sick of Italian food (if that's even possible!) But to back track for a minute... In museology today I went to the strangest museum, called Museo Marino Marini. For the most part, the exhibit consisted of sculptures but it's not your typical idea of sculpture. Far from it, in fact. As in, there was a sculpture made to resemble a mountain that wasn't more than a foot tall in the middle of the floor. We walked into another room and there wasn't anything there-- only the sound of trees. And in another room, there was a small piece of stone with 38 corners. I've never been to a stranger museum.. Once we learned the back story behind the pieces, they made sense but it was still the weirdest museum I've ever been to. 

Afterwards, I went to the market where I finally found something I've been craving.....

And from there, the food spree started. My girl friends and I went to get Mexican food again tonight during happy hour. It wasn't nearly as good as LA, which is why I just got nachos with shredded chicken, cheese and guacamole. It tasted much better than it looks in the picture!

My friends also got coladas (which I will have to get next time!) and I got the cranberry margarita that I had last time. Can you believe these are the smalls? I can only imagine the large and pitcher!

Well I have to be up by 6:30am tomorrow because I'm going to Siena and San Gimignano with school so...

Ciao for now!

February 19

Today was way less chaotic than usual in the ceramics studio. We are now decorating our vases using colored slip, but because my vase needs to dry more I had to apply many layers and wait for it to dry. While I was waiting for the layers to dry, I got on the wheel to trim my bowls, which are now finally all done. I must have been holding the board a little crooked because the bowl on the left looks lopsided... But here are my two! Luckily my professor did the demonstration on one of my bowls, so I only had to trim one. Whew!

After ceramics, I had museology which was very boring for once. We were supposed to watch a movie but our professor couldn't find it, and therefore didn't really have anything planned for class. Instead of letting us go, she brought up pictures of paintings and had us determine whether or not it was original. That dragged on for about an hour. But afterwards, my friend and I went to our favorite pizza place across the river (Gusta Pizza). We got there right at 7pm when they opened, but there were so many people there. We ended up getting the last two seats. 

Anyways, I have to be up early for a lecture tomorrow and then I have to go to the studio to do some work so...

Ciao for now!

February 18

Today was a very good day in the sculpture department. I finished beveling the back legs of my elephant and then began to sketch out a design. Drawing on this kind of stone is super difficult because it gets rubbed off easily. As it was, I used up almost an entire pencil sketching on my elephant. Below is the sketch of the design I'm doing-- a blanket with decoration draped on top of the elephant, and a sun-like pattern on the legs.

Then, it was time to start carving! I'll have to take away stone under the last row of triangles but I think it's coming along pretty well and it looks even better in person. I'm just not sure how this is getting back to LA!! 

After class, I had to meet my group to do our powerpoint for our midterm. One group member was nearly 30 minutes late (why I hate group projects) so we have to meet one more time to finish it, and again to rehearse our presentation. Oh boy! I have to finish some sketches now so...

Ciao for now!

February 17

Today was my long day (and extra long because of a SACI event) but a good day. In my cinema class, we watched The Sheltering Sky-- another Bernardo Bertolucci film. I got really excited because our professor said it took place in Africa but the movie was horrible and there was hardly any dialogue. Oh well! 

In ceramics, we continued work on our coil pots because we have to decorate them on Thursday. My pot was originally supposed to be taller but I like it how it is now (and even cut down the neck more). After spending nearly 40 minutes smoothing the entire pot, I can now say at least this phase is done.

When I got home, I gave in to my craving and made a hamburger with arugula, egg, grilled onions, and grated cheese (it was the only one I had at the apartment.. as you can see from the top of the burger it didn't go so well). 

But my day wasn't over yet! I had to sketch more for ceramics and at 7:30pm, I headed back to SACI for movie night (with the professor I have). As you can see from the picture below, it was not crowded... In fact, only three other people were there.

I'm definately not complaining about how few people were there though, because we each got our own bag of popcorn and bar of chocolate courtesy of Tina, who was expecting a few more people. We watched I Cento Passi, translated to The One Hundred Steps, which was all about the mafia and a true story. It was very interesting, very dramatic, and very touching. This movie was one of the few movies that Tina is showing that I haven't seen so I am very glad I went tonight even though I couldn't get anyone to go with me. We had a great discussion following the movie but were then practically kicked out of SACI because it closes at 10pm! It was an eventful day to say the least.

Ciao for now!

February 16

Today was very easy going. In the morning, two of my roommates and I went on a much needed cleaning spree in the apartment. We clean on a regular basis and we aren't messy, but for some reason these Italian apartments get dirty really quickly. 

After our spree, I had to go to sculpture. Unfortunately, part of my elephant's back leg chipped off (when I wasn't even working on it) so I had to improvise. My professor suggested I create a bevel effect on the legs, so that is that I am going to do. It will make my piece a little more modern but also "more valuable" according to my professor. Whatever that means. I also started working on the trunk. This is what it looks like now, but you can't see the bevel effect on the picture that well. 

After sculpture, I went to the front desk to see if there were any field trips coming up and there are-- for free too! So, I signed up to go to Siena and San Gimignano this Saturday. I went to Siena when I was studying abroad in Rome the summer before college, but I wasn't feeling well that day so I'm excited to go back. 

For dinner, I gave in to my weakness and made a hamburger. It's pretty funny that I miss food I rarely eat at home. I was also pretty happy when I found M&M's at Conad. Mmmmm! 

Ciao for now! 

February 15

Today was very busy. Once SACI opened, I went to the sculpture studio to work on my elephant (even though this project will take us to the end of the semester). I need a lot of different tools for the project-- these are only some of them (hammer, saw, shaver, and chisel.... and my super stylish protection glasses)!

While it may not look that different from yesterday's progress, I was able to get even more stone out so hopefully my elephant will be light enough to take on the plane... I probably should have picked a smaller piece of stone!! 

After about an hour in the studio, it was time to head to the library to prep for midterms. For my museology class, I have to give a group presentation on a curator. My group and I chose Alfred Barr, the first curator of MOMA, because that is now my favorite museum in the States. It's crazy to think that midterms are almost here (week after this coming week) and that the semester is almost halfway over. Below are some of the books my group and I looked at today... It was a very intense study session! We'll have to meet again during the week to put all our information together for the powerpoint.

Ciao for now!

February 14

Today was very mellow. I slept in and went to SACI in the afternoon where I covered some of my ceramics pieces and did a little work on my elephant for sculpture. I still have more work to do on his leg, but it's coming along...

By that time, it was almost time to go out! This is my new do... Side bangs (I'm too scared to get my bangs cut here in Florence...)

Tonight, my girl friends and I (eight of us total!) went out to dinner. We're tired of Italian and SACI writes up some restaurants in the handbook, so we decided to try a Mexican restaurant not too far from the Duomo. It was really cute and had red and white heart balloons all over the place for Valentine's Day!

I had chimichanga's (yummmm) and.... a cranberry margarita! I'd definately go back to this place again to order nachos (best nachos I've ever had-- pulled chicken, guacamole and cheese on top).

Well, I think tomorrow may be an early day. I may go back to the Uffizi for my homework, or I may do more work in the sculpture studio. I also have to meet with my group for my midterm museology presentation on Alfred Barr, the curator of MOMA. I can't believe midterms are almost here and the semester is halfway over!

Happy Valentine's Day and as always....

Ciao for now!

February 13

Today was my field trip to the Uffizi (finally!) with my museology class. I knew it was going to be amazing, but it exceeded my expectations. I had taken Art of the Renaissance at AU last year, and so I recognized a lot of the paintings on display. What I didn't expect, however, was to remember everything we talked about in class (I wasn't a fan of my professor's teaching style). So not only did I feel good about seeing these paintings in person, but also for remembering the analysis of each one. Some of my favorites from the ones I saw in person that I studied in Art of the Renaissance were...

Portraits of the Duke and Duchess of Urbino by Piero della Francesca, which I recognized from the back panel (not pictured) which made me feel even better.

The Birth of Venus by Sandro Botticelli 

Annunciation by Leonardo Da Vinci. This was especially interesting to me because if you stood at the far corner of the small gallery room, the picture looked completely different. When you look at it straight on, it looks distorted as far as spacing and anatomy. When you view it from the corner, however, it looks normal. Our professor then proceeded to tell us that the curator of the Uffizi recently discovered that for whatever reason, this painting was intended to be seen from a far corner.

This was one of the main hallways of the Uffizi.

From the top floor, we had an amazing view of the Arno, the Ponte Vecchio....

 ... And the hills of Tuscany.

I think the Uffizi is my favorite museum in Florence so far, so I'm very happy that our museology professor is making us go back as a homework assignment! 

Happy Friday the 13th and as always...

Ciao for now!

February 12

Today was an exhausting day. To start, I had to be at school by 7:45am in order to go to the police headquarters. Now, before you freak out, no one is in trouble. When you live in Italy, you have to get a permit of stay (and pay a heavy fee to the police). So, today a group of us were completing the process. I was really freaked out going there because SACI had told us that it is a very long process. However, it wasn't that bad. The computers at the headquarters were down for an hour so we just sat around zombie-like (I'm guessing not many people had coffee) until the system was up and running. Once it was, all they did was take our four photos that we had brought and then they proceeded to fingerprint us. Luckily, I went fourth (out of the 30+ people from SACI who were assigned this registration date) so by the time I was done and home it was only 9:30am so I was able to go back to sleep before my 1:15pm class).

Once I woke up from a much needed nap, it was time to go to ceramics. Today we threw more on the wheel. I have a love-hate relationship with wheel throwing because it is so incredibly difficult and frustrating to get the clay centered (which you have to do before you can even start making anything) but on the other hand, it's pretty cool once you make something. We're still in the bowl making stage, since that's what you learn first. Once they dry, we trim them (and shave off the excess clay at the bottom, where we had to cut it off the throwing wheel). These were my two bowls today.. I like the one on the left more! The one on the right almost reminds me of a small dog bowl.

We also continued to work on our coiled vases. This is mine so far. I have to smooth out the bumps from the coils along the side and make the neck even more narrow and taller. Then it will be time for decoration. Luckily, it's almost done and I am right on track with the rest of the class.

After ceramics, my day wasn't over yet. I had a quick dinner break and then had to go to Museology. By that time, I was very sleepy (even though I had taken a nap) so I'm glad we had a short lecture today (we had a very long discussion on the reading).

It's only 8pm here but I'm exhausted and my Museology class is visiting the Uffizi tomorrow (finally!) so I want to be awake for that so...

Ciao for now!

February 11

Today was a fun day. I had sculpture, which is probably my favorite class, and today meant it was time to start our second and final project: stone carving. First, it was time to sketch in my sketchbook... I brought my soap elephant for reference!

Then, I had to pick a piece of stone. I chose one that is medium sized, though it is still slightly heavy. Hopefully it will be okay to take home (which I have to figure out how to do). Then, it was time to sketch on four sides of the stone piece...

After that, I was finally ready to start carving. I'll admit, I was pretty terrified to start especially since once you take something away, you can't get it back. No pressure or anything. We also were using pretty fancy tools-- saws, chisels, hammers, shavers that remind me of cheese graters... we even needed googles! Here's me just starting off with my saw. I quickly learned that the saw doesn't work the way I want to.

SO, I've been shaving my entire piece so far, which results in a lot of dust (though it almost blends in with the table here). It's really good arm exercise and it is also giving me the curves that I want for the elephant. 

 This was my piece by the end of class. I still have to work on the top and the sides, but once I do that (and take out the circles inn between the legs and the trunk) it should be smooth sailing with the decoration. I'm wondering what I'm going to do in class once I finish this if this project is supposed to last until late April.

I have to be at school by 7:30am tomorrow to go to the police headquarters for my permit of stay (yay...) so 

Ciao for now!