Haribo Happiness

There was a German Christmas market here for 3 weeks and one of my favorite parts, even though I didn't buy any was the Haribo candy stand. I have a thing for the berry candies which I do buy at the grocery store every chance I get.

Let it snow!

It did snow here in Florence but I didn't get much in the way of photos. I did take some video so I'll upload it when I get a chance. It is still freezing here but I guess it's not near as bad as the East Coast and other parts of Europe.

Did I mention the construction in my piazza? Well here it is...

To date or not to date?

I’ve had a LOT of questions about dating, am I dating or who and on and on. The answer is no. I don’t actually get out from under my school work much to hit a bar or club to meet anyone. I don’t think that is how I would prefer meeting someone anyways. I went on a few dates when I first got here but the cultural difference is vast. I watch my friends date young Italian men and frankly I’m not up for the cultural struggle right now. I came to Florence to learn how to be a restorer. My boyfriend is art right now and I’m good with that. Honestly, for those of you that know me well there has never been a shortage of men in my life, now is really no expectation. I have my “guy friends” online that keep me amused, entertained and feeling pretty lucky for many reasons but now most of my “loves” are made out of marble or oil paint. Every week I meet an artist I fall in love with. So there it is…the answer.

Here is a painting by Hayez...one of my new artistic loves.

Around every corner there is a new guy, usually about 400-500 years old dressed in a cloak, long dead that captures my attention. For now that has to be enough.

What I miss…who knew?

It’s funny how you think you are going to miss things and then in the moments you realize how off your estimation really was. This morning I woke up thinking of pumpkin pie and blueberry Pop Tarts. Who knew?

Aside from missing the people I love, which seems to have escalated since all my school friends flew home, I miss some of the strangest little things.

I miss the food. There is little diversity here and once you’ve had pasta for just about every meal for months you just want a damn California Roll! A little sushi place just opened up and I’m saving the experience for when I am really homesick. Good think I ate my weight in sushi at Goshi’s before I left.

I miss listening to my car radio and singing out loud. The music here is funny in a good way and there are American language stations but some of the songs I haven’t heard since the early 80’s. It’s good to clean house by but I feel like I am very much out of the loop now.

I miss my stuff. I know it’s not very Buddhist like of me but I do. I miss my comforter, and my movies. Thank god for Chris or I would have lost my mind by now. I realized that in order for me to “produce” I need something running the background and it was usually a movie. Who knew? I can study and do notes so much more efficiently when I have a little background noise going on. I think it might occupy a part of my brain that holds imagination and then I can get the other parts to work without interruption. Whatever it is if it wasn’t for Chris keeping me in movies I don’t think I would have gotten the grades I did. (The final grades aren’t out yet but I think I did okay.)

I miss internet and my cell phone. Enough said there…

The things I don’t miss are just a numerous. I don’t miss driving. I had a feeling that it was entirely overrated and it is. I actually like walking around even though on cold days like we have been having I do feel like a bundled up baby and is sweating under all the layers, but it’s still good.

I don’t miss getting bills in the mail. I had them all forwarded to my Mom’s house which is really genius in a way. They aren’t getting paid but I don’t have to look at them either!

I don’t miss the big grocery stores. The food shopping here is like an Olympic event that everyone comes away with a gold medal. The sights and smells are just gorgeous even if pasta does get old, the cheese never does.

I don’t miss TV, since I consider HBO separately which I do miss, but the standard TV not so much. Since I was never an avid news program watcher that seems to have slid under my radar.

I do miss salad dressing a little. Some blue cheese or ranch would be nice right about now. I have one of my school friends bringing me back a packet of ranch dressing mix. I know…that is bad huh!

I know that this experience will change even the very small details of me, and how I live which might be scary if I were the type to think about it. But since I’m not and I’m more involved in the how-to every day it is just happening on it’s own. So many things will be new again when I get back to the states.

I wonder if my friends will recognize me, because some days I don’t recognize myself.

It’s been a series of learning, more than just school.

Time seems to move at a different speed when you are so engrossed in a task of this nature. Learning compressed is the only way to explain this. Each day is not only a series of classes, practical and note taking but also moving into a different culture that seems to be so directly opposite than my norm.

The school work has been fantastic. After the break it seemed to pick up speed at a rate I don’t think any of us was quite prepared, or ready for. We have an ever changing schedule based on ability to make trips and schedule in a lecture. Even now, I can’t tell you what my schedule was for last semester. I had to have the schedule hanging by my door to check every night before bed so I would make it there on time. The last week of class was a type of stress I haven’t felt in years with so much due and so much responsibility directly related to the artwork we were touching.

I don’t feel nervous when I work, mostly because everything is reversible but it is still a pretty awesome experience. There is always the ethical debate that constantly changes the atmosphere of restoration that weighs in the back of my mind. On top of the fact I’m not really ever clear on what is expected when I do a retouching which adds an element of immediate failure in my estimation. How can I achieve what is necessary if I don’t know what it is? Good thing I went to Cal Poly because they also had a, “learn by failure” policy and so in some ways it’s a natural process for me.

Now before I write this next part let me preface it with I am entirely grateful to be here, with the art and the school and the whole experience. Having said that, I have to say that Italians aren’t really that welcoming. I guess I am used to walking down the streets and seeing people smile, not just in general but at each other. Here it’s not so much like that. I can understand being sick and tired of foreign students, hell I am for that matter but there is an overall sour look to the people on the streets that I just don’t get. Surrounded by all this and yet…grumpy! I honestly have never seen a group of people so uniquely alike in their stature as they walk around. And can I just say the women are far worse. They seem so sour all the time that I’m just not sure why. I could speculate for days on this but I think you get the picture.

I’m glad to be on break. I feel like each day even if I don’t leave the house I am returning to the world at large. My friend Jason and I were joking because we see so little of Florence while entrenched in the semester that we could literally be almost anywhere and studying. Okay, that is an exaggeration because we do get to go on some VERY cool trips but you again, you get the picture.

Thank you Florence, you may not welcome all of us, but some of us are going to get you to give up your gifts regardless.

Holy Geez

I have been way to busy to blog and yet so much has happened. It’s the weekend before finals, basically crunch time for us. I have 5 journals of all my work this semester due and 10 pages of my eventual thesis…2 more tests as well. I already too one final and got the grade back so I’m pretty happy that is out of the way. I will catch up in blogging as the next week goes by, with photos!

I just wanted to stop and take a little moment to thank Michael. I have been struggling with the lack of technology since I’ve been here and he has gone above and beyond the call of duty in helping me out.

Software incompatibility has been plaguing me when it comes to printing out my journals and he stayed up until the wee hours of the night converting files for me and sending them back so I could print. Words like miracle and Divine Intervention come to mind when I think about it. Although all this happened over 6,000 miles in distance, it felt like he was down the street.

So all the pages for me to proof are right now neatly sitting on my bed thanks to him. I did end up going out and buying a printer because it was so nightmarish that I am hoping to avoid that in the future. A sound investment in my education I think and you can’t put a price tag on solid piece of mind.

So Thank you Michael...