I am in desperate need of nail polish remover!!! It’s a lot more difficult than you’d think to find a supermarket over here (“supermercado”) and it seems like every one I’ve been into is out of nail polish remover….and my nails look pretty bad at this point. I did, however, make my first big purchase yesterday: a beautiful wool coat from my new favourite European store Zara– the coat was relatively inexpensive for something in a store like this and will be perfect for when it gets cold here and then back in Hillsdale. I am quite pleased with myself   The only other thing I really want to purchase for myself is a good pair of Italian leather boots…. Still doing lots of shopping though, and keeping an eye out for Christmas presents and souveniers to distribute when I get back.

This afternoon we depart Florence for Cortona! I am so excited and ready to get there and get settled in and not have to live out of a suitcase anymore. I also was able to complete final registration for my classes the other day and this is how my schedule looks:

Monday & Thursday (all classes are 2.5 hrs)

8am Photography

11am Painting

2pm Drawing

5pm Art History

Wednesday

Demo/Critique Day for all classes

Tuesday & Friday

NO CLASSES!

Saturday

Art History Field Trips

I am thrilled about classes and very ready to get started. I have lots of goals for the semester and really would like to improve my technique and abilities and what better place to do it than Italy!  I wish that all of you could be here to share this with me…. keep checking back for PHOTOS, hopefully they will be up by tonight.

Buona sera da Firenze!

Florence is beautiful — everything looks like it comes from a movie set. The galleries are wonderful and I’ve never seen so much art close up in my life, but it is definitely an experience worth having. The past couple of days have been spent walking through art galleries, through winding streets and into markets full of everything from fruit and cheap trinkets for tourists, to real leather bags and pure silk scarfs. Although nothing is ever as inexpensive as you want it to be, I’d say anything that is stamped “Made in Florence” is pretty cool. I have taken lots of pictures but have not yet gotten the chance to use a computer that will enable me to put them online. I will do that once I get to Cortona. We have two more days here in Firenze and then off to classes in the mountain town!

Until then… Ciao!

Greetings from Rome!

It has been a very busy past few days and this is the first chance I’ve had to get online access (10Euro for 1 hour )… It is absolutely beautiful here and I have seen more art and history in the past 48 hours than I can believe! Yesterday was the Pantheon, the National Museum of Modern Art; today was the Vatican Museum and St. Peter’s Basilica, to which we will return tomorrow to take the 15 minute climb up the stairs to the cupola where there is said to be an an amazing view of the city…

A few things to note:

Transportation in Rome is quite convenient, buses and the metro system take you almost anywhere you want to go. Beware of pick-pocketers!

Wine is served with EVERYTHING. Our evening meal consists of three courses and just about anything you eat is amazing. Gelato is everywhere but never buy from the street-vendors….far too expensive.

There is enough art here to last me a lifetime….one day per piece is not even enough!

Sketching is so much more enjoyable when the subject is the perpetual beauty of ROME.

This is going to be a wonderful three months but I miss ALL of you dearly and will try to write and call often. Look for postcards!

Alright. I really am feeling ready now. After a brazilian loads of laundry (the number not the country), daysanddays of cleaning, packing and re-packing, good-byeing till I thought my heart would literally break (and it’s not over yet…), and a goodly amount of diet coke……
I think I am finally prepared (in the only ways that I know how) to GO. It’s a funny thing, to want something like this soooo badly for soooo long and then when it finally comes, I feel like shying away, backing out, saying no-thank-you-I ‘ll-just-stay-home-if-you-don’t-mind.
But in the end, I do mind. I do want to go to Italy; I do want to paint and draw and take pictures and make art to my heart’s content; I do want to meet new people and learn a small portion of a different language; I do want to ride a mo-ped and eat gilato and gape at the Coliseum just like Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday… Frankly, I want to do it all. So there.

In the words of my seven-year-old alter ego:

“Bye Momma, I’m going on an expedition. I’ll be back in a little while.”

The whole countdown thing is getting slightly tedious, but for the sake of mental awareness let’s review one more time . . .

3 days, 8 hours, 11 minutes and 58 seconds

Oh my, that is dangerously close. But, I’m packed (for the most part) and reconciled to the idea of being away from everything and everyone that is so dear and familiar to me and so it appears the only thing left to do is pray for safe travel and await my departure…

In other news, Roman Holiday is a charming movie (I am recently enamoured of Audrey Hepburn) and I suggest it to all those old movie-lovers out there. It would even make a reasonable date movie — I say reasonable because it’s not pure fluff like a lot of the current chick-flicks out there, but it’s got just enough romantic inclination to make any individual of the male persuasion roll his eyes or gag at least once. The scenery and film photography is lovely (entire thing filmed in Rome, Italy); the plot-line is whimsical with just enough 50’s style suspense to keep the “action” strolling along at a moderate pace; and as a whole it’s the sort of movie that makes you feel a little bit more at peace with the cinematic world. So check it out!