Joy: Rendered

This week has felt like what I’d imagined studying abroad in Italy would be like for the whole semester (with a little added finals stress)! The weather has been incredibly beautiful; Florence seemed to skip right over spring into summer. In between classes, I’ve had some time to explore the city. I finally got to sit and draw in Piazza Santa Maria Novella, which is right near my apartment but it’s been too cold to until now! I also found a spot right down by the Arno river dam to sit in the sunshine; the water sounds and the view are wonderful, and my friends and I are down there almost every day.

On Saturday, my art history class took a day trip to Bologna. The weather and the city were beautiful! It was one of my favorite field trips because it wasn’t raining, but also because we did a few things out of our field trip norm: we toured many churches as usual but also a medieval dissection room and a wax museum with amazing and creepy anatomy models! We also were treated to ice cream at the end of the day by our art history professor. 🙂

This past week has also been full of shows! On Friday, a group of photo students took a trip to Montevarchi to our very own photo show at Bottega Antonio Manta! It was such an amazing opportunity to have the show, and it was so cool to see our work professionally printed and hung. SACI also held a few student shows, and three of my photos and one of my drawings made it in!

I turned in my High Renaissance term paper on Wednesday, which was about the different Annunciation paintings through the High Renaissance, Mannerist, and Baroque periods and how the style of each period was shown in that subject matter. I’ve also been studying for the final for that class which is next Wednesday, printing my photographs for the final color photo critique which is on Tuesday, and preparing for my final critiques for painting and drawing which are Monday.

Lately, I’ve not only been juggling this studio and art history work, I’ve also had home on my mind all of the time. New England School of Art and Design is only a few blocks away from the Boston Marathon finish line where the bombings took place on Monday. Thankfully, all of my friends and loved ones in Boston are safe and sound. Even so, and even though I’m not in Boston, I’m still shook up by what happened. When a tragedy hits so close to home, it’s hard not to think about it all the time. I wish I could be home to hug my friends in Boston, but I’m thankful for the NESAD community and the service men and women of Boston for keeping everyone calm and safe. My good friend Jess wrote a beautiful post on this week at NESAD, which you can read here.

Hi all! Everything here has been crazy this week: I’m wrapping up my studio work, writing a research term paper for Art History, and registering for my junior year of college! It is such a weird feeling to be almost half-way done with my undergrad. Registration is usually pretty stressful, and I was doubly worried about it since I’m not in Boston to meet with my advisor! Everything turned out fine, however.  I emailed my advisor about my fall classes, got priority registration (a few hours before everyone else!) and ended up with a great schedule! In the fall, I’ll be taking these fine art classes:

Fine Arts Seminar
Contemporary Trends & Practice
Figure Studio: 2D

as well as these Gen Eds:

Finite Topics in Mathematics
Science & Life in the 21st Century

It’ll be a full plate, but I’m really happy with how my schedule came out. I have Fridays AND Monday mornings off! Plus I’m really excited to get more in depth in my Fine Arts classes. I was hoping to get a Women & Gender studies class this fall, but I think it’ll have to wait until next spring. Hopefully this summer will be a good time to catch up on some Gender Studies reading! 🙂

As for this semester’s classes, everything is wrapping up so quickly. I’m almost finished with my term paper and my photography project, and I still have a painting and a couple drawings to work on. Tomorrow, I have an art history field trip to the Uffizi and the Bottega de Antonio Manta photo show! Then on Saturday, our art history class takes our last day trip to the city of Bologna.

This week was very busy! Not only was my mom in Florence, but on Tuesday, my grandparents, aunt, and cousin flew in to visit! I had lots to do in class during the week, but the weekend with my family was relaxing and a treat to catch up with them.

The end of the semester is really sneaking up on me! I’m starting to work on my term paper for High Renaissance, which is a research paper on a topic of my choice (that I definitely should’ve started earlier). I also am working a lot in my studio classes; I have an ongoing painting project as well as a new three-part project. In that class as well as drawing and photography, we’re working independently during class time on our own final semester projects. It’s nice to have the freedom to work on what I want and at my own pace!

During the weekend, I got to show my family around Florence! It was so great to show them my favorite places and get some bonding time with all of them. At night, we went to a few delicious Tuscan dinners around Florence (as well as a few excellent local pubs)! On Sunday for Easter, Florence has a huge celebration, Scoppio del Carro, involving a 30-ft tall cart that explodes with fireworks in the middle of the Piazza del Duomo. My family and I went to the show, and got a spot next to the cathedral (which kind of blocked the cart, but we saw the fireworks)! The entire Piazza was packed and it was really fun to be a part of! For the rest of the day, my family and I relaxed and cooked easter dinner as a family, which was delicious and homey.

On the Monday after Easter, I didn’t have classes so I got more family time. 🙂 We took a trip out to Castello Verazzano, a vineyard, winery, and castle in the Tuscan countryside! We knew we wanted to go on a wine tour at the beginning of the trip, so we signed up for a tour of the winery and a huge lunch with plenty of different wines! We were surprised to find out that the winery was at a castle, and even more surprised to find out that the original owner of the castle, Giovanni da Verrazzano, was a Florentine explorer who actually was the first to sail and map up the east coast and into New York Bay! The combination of the amazing views, wine, food, and atmosphere made for an incredible day. It also helped that the weather in Florence is finally warming up, so we had some Tuscan sun!

It was so nice to have my family come to visit. It made my stay here feel so much more real, and now when I come home spewing study abroad stories, my family will have a setting to place them in. Now that they’ve left, I have a month left to pump out a bunch of art and a paper; time to get to work!

 

This Wednesday, my mom arrived for her two week visit! The next day after my Thursday classes, my mom, my friend, and I left for our weekend trip: Croatia! Many people take a ferry from Italy to Croatia, but we decided to rent a car because we couldn’t wait for the Friday ferry (and lose a day of travel? No way!). We got the rental car and got all the way to Trieste by Thursday night, which is a seaside city at the very tip top of Italy. After a yummy dinner near the water, we spent the night there. In the morning, we explored the city and the harbor a little before hitting the road again.

We drove through the country of Slovenia and came into Croatia pretty quickly, then stopped in the adorable peninsula town of Zadar. Everyone we talked to around Croatia said Zadar was their favorite, and I can totally see why. We had lunch there and got a couple cute souvenirs before splitting for Split (hehe). We stayed right near the town center and promenade in Split, an awesome town on the coast known for its old town, which is right inside the ruin walls of the ancient Diocletian’s Palace. At night, we explored the bars of Split and discovered Medica, a delicious traditional liquor made from honey! Then in the morning, we wandered through the walkways of Diocletian’s palace and found the open air fish market, an amazing bakery, and the bell tower of the palace (which we climbed)!

Since it was already Saturday and we had to drive all the way back to Florence before our Monday classes, we drove most of the way up the Croatian coast to Jadranovo, a tiny town that was pretty much deserted when we were there. Croatia is busiest during the summer, because tourists often come to towns like Jadronovo to stay in beach houses or Split to go on cruises! Although it wasn’t swimsuit weather when we were there, Jadronovo was still incredible. We had an unbelievable fish plate for dinner, then on Sunday morning went down to the water before heading back to Florence. It was long weekend of driving, but it was so nice to spend time with my mom and be able to see a new place one little town at a time instead of from a train or a plane. I hope to go back to Croatia in the future, maybe with my swimsuit next time! Now I’m getting back to work in my classes and preparing for some more of my family to visit. 🙂

I cannot believe that my semester abroad is already halfway finished! I’m happy with how my work is looking and I’m especially excited to go more in depth with my ideas for the remainder of my time here. I’m also relieved about my High Renaissance midterm exam; we got our grades back this week and my studying paid off!

After midterms, I flew to London for my spring break to visit a friend studying there. We also took a day trip to Geneva, Switzerland! Random, I know, but the flights were very cheap. While in London, I saw all the touristy London things (Big Ben, Parliament, Buckingham Palace etc.) as well as some awesome museums like the National Gallery, National Portrait Gallery, The British Museum, and the Tate Modern. I really enjoyed Camden Market, an area full of shops, stalls, and food carts that you can get lost in for hours. I also had some excellent pub food (and a pint!), Thai food, Mexican food, and some awesome Indian food. When you have nothing but pasta and pizza for a while, the food diversity in London is fantastic!

In Geneva, my friend and I walked pretty much the whole city, which was quite small and cold but very scenic and lovely. We didn’t really go with a plan, so we went to a lot of museums and galleries, which was great, and ate a LOT. My favorite meals there were my chicken and pesto crepe & our swiss fondue dinner. I think my favorite part of the trip was the contemporary/modern art museum, which was quite an experience. It was in a sort of warehouse type building, with one side a typical museum set up and the other side more installation type art, some of which was super out-there. I loved it!

The day after  I got back to Florence from London, my girlfriend flew in to spend her spring break here! It was such a great week. She rented an apartment right near the Duomo in the center of Florence, so it was so easy to go out an explore. Even though it was pretty rainy all week, we were busy while she was here! Besides our strolls around Florence, we saw David at the Accademia gallery, ate shameful amounts of gelato, climbed the Duomo, had incredible pizza, and saw a movie at an awesome movie theater here called the Odeon. It’s actually an old theater made into a movie theater that plays English-speaking films with Italian subtitles- so cool! We saw an incredible film called Beasts of the Southern Wild about life in southern Louisiana. We also found a very cool restaurant/cafe/book store called Libreria Brac. They have coffee and pastries, a hang out spot to buy and read books, and serve incredible vegan/vegetarian food for dinner. My favorite time of her visit was her last day here: we woke up at 5 am and walked across the river and up hundreds of steps to Piazzale Michelangelo to watch the sun rise. The Piazzale has an incredible view overlooking the city of Florence and the surrounding mountains, and the sunrise was just incredible. A perfect ending to a wonderful few weeks! Now, I’m getting ready for my mom and family to visit in the coming weeks and preparing for a visit to Croatia this weekend. 🙂 Ciao!

Midterms are upon us! Of course the week that I have absolutely no time to blog, I have a million things that I want to write about! I’ve been studying like crazy for my art history midterm and starting a new project in drawing class that involves a reading. We’ve also been painting the figure in my painting class for the past two weeks for our current project, which has two aspects: the objective and the subjective. For the objective painting, we are meant to paint the figure as the model really is, observing her carefully and trying to achieve the closest likeness. For the subjective painting, we use the same model and set up and paint her expressively: we don’t have to have the whole model in the painting, and we don’t have to make it realistic.

The class that has been taking up most of my week, however, is photography. I had a presentation due this past week for photography on a photographer of my choice, and I choose Cindy Sherman. Cindy Sherman is a female photographer whose work has always struck me and who I often look to for inspiration not only aesthetically but also through the feminist messages of her photographs. Some of Sherman’s most famous works are her Untitled Film Stills, which are a series of Sherman playing all different dramatic stereotypical female roles. In her work, Sherman is usually her own model, but she’s very specific in stating that they aren’t self portraits; she is playing a role that the viewer should project their own meaning or themselves onto. With the film stills, I think that Sherman is so convincing in her portrayal of these roles in order to show that females can adapt to any role they are given, not just the assumed “female” ones. I found out a few weeks after picking Cindy Sherman to present on that some of her work is being shown here in Florence! Earlier this week I made a trip over to the Gucci Museo to see some very cool old Gucci items as well as the early work of Cindy Sherman. This included two sets of photographs, Bus Riders and Murder Mystery People, and a short film, Doll Clothes. In the Bus Rider series, Sherman plays different people that she would see riding the bus every day in New York, and in the Murder Mystery People series, she plays different characters in a made-up murder mystery movie. Cindy Sherman made the short film Doll Clothes while still in college. It is a short and simple stop motion film that sends a clear message about how society controls women and figuratively dresses and undresses us.

Not only did I have the presentation and a midterm photography critique to prepare and print for this week, but this past weekend we had a very special trip. Antonio Manta, a well known Italian fine-art printer and photographer, invited my photo professor and his classes to a two day workshop at his studio, Bottega Antonio Manta (BAM). It was truly an incredible opportunity! I unfortunately came down with a cold on Saturday morning so I couldn’t attend the first day, but apparently Antonio taught my classmates how he shoots portraits and how to use his lighting equipment. On Sunday I was feeling much better so I went for the second day, and I’m so glad I did! Antonio had us all put some work on his computer so that he could show us some of his Photoshop techniques on our photographs. After a delicious lunch that his staff had prepared for us (!), Antonio spent the rest of the day personally editing and printing our photographs. Everyone got at least one print by the end of the day! In the large group session in the morning, he had discussed my photographs with me as a comprehensive concept, and I think that he must have liked them a lot because he printed 5 of my photographs! He was a little intimidating and spoke only Italian (imagine translating a Photoshop lesson!), but he was one of the kindest and most generous people I’ve ever met. I’m so thankful to Antonio, his staff, and my photo professor for such an amazing opportunity! On top of everything, at the end of the workshop, Antonio offered to put together a show for all of us. I’m so amazed at how much he wanted to teach us and help us with, and I can’t wait to start shooting for my first photo show..in Italy. Holy cow.

With the photo show, my spring break trip to London, and some visitors from home in March and April all on the not so distant horizon, I think I can get through my midterms just fine. Happy studying to everyone with midterms this week, and you’ll hear from me in 2 weeks when I return from spring break!

Since my blog posts so far in Italy have been set up the same way, I thought for this week I’d do things a little differently. I want to write about some of my favorite things in Italy, a list which is composed mostly of food!

My apartment is near the Santa Maria Novella Basilica, which has one of Florence’s train stations across the street from it and a beautiful plaza behind it. This week in the plaza in honor of Valentine’s Day there was a chocolate festival! My roommates and I spent a shameful amount of time and money there over the course of the week. On my first visit, I spotted a stand with French Macaroons (I know they’re not always chocolate, but I’m obsessed since I had them in Paris) and got myself a violet flavored one; unique and delicious! My roommates got these giant Italian donuts called bombolones which had sugar on the outside and different fillings (usually chocolate or Nutella) on the inside. My other favorites were a giant chocolate covered strawberry, a chocolate cannoli, and all the different flavors of truffles!

I try to make most of my meals in my apartment to save money, which is easy to do since we have a nice kitchen and multiple grocery stores around us. One in particular near SACI is my favorite, and I’m sure they recognize me now considering how often I go. I get a 79 cent french baguette (fresh and warm from the bakery!) after my morning class pretty much every day to either eat with pasta, make a sandwich with, or just eat with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and some cheese..I’m out of control. Although my friends and I have made some different dinners together a few times, I mostly stick to pasta when I cook for myself and eat out every once in a while. I also have gone through about a jar a week of Nutella here..It really does taste good on everything! For breakfast I usually have a banana (with Nutella, duh) and then grab a cappuccino piccolo on my way to class.

This brings me to my next favorite thing: Mario’s. Mario owns the little snack bar across the street from the main SACI building. He sells awesome pastries and the best cappuccinos ever. To-go coffee is definitely not common in Italy; everyone here either sits to enjoy their caffe or has it standing at the bar. Since there are so many SACI students on break at the snack bar, however, Mario does to-go coffee for us 🙂 My friend and I go there so often that he knows just like we like our cappuccinos (with sugar and a little chocolate!) and they’re so delicious.

In terms of eating out, I have a few favorites. Apertivo is the greatest invention and I wish we had it in the states. It’s basically a thing that bars do where you pay a certain amount for a drink and that gets you access to a buffet of food! Some are better, some are cheaper, some are every night and some only on certain nights. We found one with a great view of the Duomo that does themed apertivo nights once a week and we went to the Argentinian and Japanese ones. Another favorite place of ours is The Diner, which has a menu full of American food and serves breakfast all day! I don’t eat there often because I love Italian food, but sometimes I just crave a nice juicy burger. They have awesome burgers, milkshakes, and I’m a huge fan of their breakfast for dinner. Other than The Diner, everywhere else I eat out has the type of menu you think of when you think Italian food: antipasti, pasta, and pizza. I love all the pasta here and the pizza is great. I’ve had gnocchi with truffle oil, ravioli with cream sauce, and pear and gorgonzola pizza, all delicious!

As far as non food-related things go, I do have a few favorites! Since Florence is pretty compact, there is some public transportation but I never really need it. I love walking everywhere I go, even though it’s still a little cold out. I like wandering around the city and getting a little lost on purpose and exploring. The conversations I overhear are interesting, it’s good exercise (considering all that food), and of course the views are incredible. I walk by the Duomo on my way to class every day! I still can’t get over it. There are also little markets scattered around Florence that sell the coolest stuff. I went to one near the Arno river on Tuesday and it had stalls of food, knick knacks, and huge piles of 1 Euro clothes! Of course being able to travel around Europe so easily is a huge plus for me, but Florence itself is amazing. We have hundreds of works of art all around us, whether they’re meant to be or otherwise. I love being able to make art here!

Luckily on Monday morning after Carnevale, we had art history lecture in the classroom instead of out on a field trip, which was relaxing. On both Monday and Wednesday we learned more on Michelangelo and his work on the Sistine chapel ceiling to prepare for our trip to Rome!

Since this week was the last full week to work on our painting project in the studio, I worked hard on my drawing and painting in class. On Monday, I worked up the detail and contrast in my drawing, and on Wednesday I worked to make my painting more finished. For the drawing, I decided that since the photograph I’m using for reference has a very small depth of field (meaning only a small part of the image is in focus) that I would make that part of the drawing in focus. For the center of the drawing, I used very controlled marks and high contrast, and as I got closer to the edge of the page I made the marks and values more vague. I like the feeling that this focus gives the photograph and in turn the drawing because of its dreamlike quality that reminds me of memories.

This dreamlike quality relates directly to my photography class on Tuesday! Each person in my class had a one on one with our professor about what we’d like to photograph and work on for the course of the semester. I started off by bringing up my reflection photograph of the Duomo (which I posted a couple weeks ago) and the possibility of doing a project based on reflections. My professor stopped me and asked me if that was something that I felt passionate about, and I had to admit that it wasn’t. We discussed what made the photograph of the Duomo successful, and he told me what he thought I should pursue based on that photograph and some of my past work that I showed him. We concluded that I should keep taking pictures like the Duomo in the way that I did, which was to convey a memory or an emotion. This could involve a reflection, but it could also involve double exposures or printing on a transparent surface. I left class feeling so inspired and confident in my work; it was truly a wonderful and eye-opening talk. I can’t wait to make photographs!

In drawing this week, we did a very interesting and at times frustrating exercise. We set up a station to draw in and a station to observe ourselves with in order to draw a self portrait. Instead of the two set ups being next to each other, however, as usual, they were in two separate rooms, meaning we would observe our face then walk back to draw it and repeat. This helped us practice observing and measuring our subject before drawing it as opposed to making assumptions about what our own face should look like. We spent two classes on this. It was difficult but I’m happy with my result!

Bright and early on Friday morning, my High Renaissance class met at the train station for what has come to be known as THE Rome Trip. It can only be described as three days of non-stop art history touring! I don’t even know how many miles I put on my shoes. Luckily the weather in Rome was sunny and lovely all weekend; chilly, but not a drop of rain! From the Florence station, we took a train right into Rome and a bus to our hotel. After dropping our stuff off, we started our walking! We saw some of the typical sights of Rome- the Pantheon, the Colosseum, and the Trevi Fountain- as well as Santo’Ivo all a Sapienza, San Luigi dei Francesci, Sant’Agostino, Santa Maria sopra Minerva, Piazza Venezia, Victor Emmanuel Monument, Via dei Fori Imperiali, San Pietro in Vincoli, the Arch of Constantine, the Palantine Hill and Forum, Capitoline Hill, Santi Luca e Martina, Gesu mother church of the Jesuit Order, Chapel of Saint Ignatius Loyola, and Piazza Navona, which held paintings, sculptures, and architecture of the great artists Michelangelo, Caravaggio, Bernini, and Raphael. And that was just Day 1! Once we were back in our hotel area, a friend and I went to dinner, had some wine, and went to bed early to prepare for the next day.

On Saturday morning after our free hotel breakfast (which was excellent), we began our second day. The majority of the day was dedicated to our visit to the Vatican. Before we got there, we visited Campo dei Fiori, Palazzo Farnese, Palazzo Spada, Ponte Sisto, San Pietro in Monotorio, Bramante’s Tempietto, and the Farnese Villa. While in the Vatican, we toured the Pinacoteca, the Belvedere Courtyard, the Vatican Collection, The Borgia Apartments, The Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter’s Basilica. After the Vatican, we visited Santa Maria del Popolo, the Spanish Steps, and Santa Maria della Vittoria. A bunch of us relaxed with more delicious Roman food, then turned in early again to prepare for our last day.

Sunday morning brought us another yummy breakfast, more sunshine, and the least tiring schedule of the three days. We visited the Borghese Gallery in the Villa Borghese in the morning, which holds hundreds of incredible works. There are 6 famous Caravaggio paintings there, as well as masterpieces by artists such as Raphael, Titian, Correggio, and Bronzino. Some of my favorite works of the trip were there; I absolutely loved Bernini’s marble sculptures of Pluto and Persephone & Apollo and Daphne. The Borghese was our last stop in Rome: from there we took a bus to the town of Tivoli up in the hills. We visited the Villa D’Este, a giant estate of former Cardinal Ippolito II d’Este and others. The estate had incredible gardens and fountains, which made for wonderful photo-taking combined with the sunshine! After lunch and gelato outside, we got on the bus again to head for Hadrian’s Villa. Once a giant estate, the villa is the largest ancient Roman villa today. The surrounding landscapes with the skeletons of ancient buildings in the sun were so picturesque! After exploring the estate, we started on our three hour bus ride back to Firenze.

Although the trip was exhausting physically and mentally, I feel so lucky to have gone on it. My roommate has described my professor as “a whirlwind of knowledge” and I think that nails it! She moves so quickly that it’s hard to keep up at times, but she knows so much and I can tell the lectures and the tours are starting to sink in for me.  It was also interesting to compare this type of travel to my travels on my own. On one hand, when I went to Paris alone, I picked each place personally so I remember each one well and will for a long time because I put the time into the planning, whereas I didn’t plan this Rome trip. On the other hand, the weekend in Rome was unlike any trip I could’ve planned myself because I have nowhere near the knowledge on Rome that my professor does. I feel lucky and happy to be able to do both types of travel!

Hi all! I’m writing to you after another wonderful busy week in Italy. This week, I had classes, a few field trips, and a weekend trip to Venice for Carnevale!

In art history on Monday, our class met at Piazza Santa Croce and walked over to Casa Buonarroti. The building was once owned by Michelangelo, who we’re studying right now. Michelangelo left the estate to his nephew Lionardo Buonarroti, and his great nephew Michelangelo Buonarroti made it into a museum. We were lucky enough to see two of Michelangelo’s earliest sculptures: Madonna of the Steps and Battle of the Centaurs.

On Wednesday, we had a field trip to the Accademia Gallery. I went on my own to the museum earlier this semester, but it was great to have my professor’s explanations of the pieces and of course have another chance to look at that handsome David! 🙂 Afterwards, we walked over a few blocks to the Opera del Duomo, the museum behind the Duomo of the Florence Cathedral, which holds many beautiful works from the cathedral. This includes the original Gates of Paradise, a pair of gilded doors from the Cathedral Baptistery. We were lucky to go to this museum when we did, because it’s going to close for a few years for renovations soon!

In photography, we learned how to print on the school’s printers as well as some new photoshop techniques. We also watched a film by an Italian filmmaker, Federico Fellini, called Amarcord, a sort of coming-of-age, self portrait film about the filmmaker’s hometown. It was ridiculous, silly, and funny, but also beautifully filmed and written. The colors in the movie were incredible.

During painting on Monday, I continued work on my painting and drawing of the same subject. On Wednesday, instead of having a day in the studio, we each hung up what we have so far of our projects and had a discussion. It was the first sort of critique I’ve had here at SACI, so it was nice to get a feel for how they’re going to be. It was also more relaxed than usual because it was more of a work-in-progress critique than a final critique. Everyone got some feedback and suggestions from the professor and classmates on their project and now we still have some time to work on them.

We had a very different style of drawing class this week- surreal and abstract drawing. Our professor gave a quick introduction on what he wanted us to accomplish and we got to work. Everyone set up their paper on the floor and used whatever combination of mediums we wanted and draw whatever we felt like. We worked on two drawings: one that we drew with an idea of a subject in mind (like a landscape or a portrait), and one with a completely open connotation. Drawing with no subject or purpose was daunting at first, but after the first few minutes I started to really enjoy it. For my drawings, I used pencil, ink, charcoal, conté crayon, and cut pieces out of the paper and glued them back!

Keeping up with my tradition of traveling every weekend, this weekend I was in the city of Venice for Carnevale! The Carnival of Venice is annual festival throughout the city to celebrate Fat Tuesday, and it is best known for its elaborate costumes and masks. SACI had a group trip planned for the whole weekend, but a group of us planned our own trip for just Saturday night and Sunday. All day Saturday it poured rain while we wandered through the winding streets (and canals!) of Venice. Although it rained, I still got to take in some of the beauty of the city! After exploring, I went to the Peggy Guggenheim Museum, home to some Picasso, Pollock, and a beautiful temporary exhibit of Giuseppe Capogrossi’s paintings. We had a delicious lunch at the Guggenheim cafe and managed to find some cheap rain boots so that we could enjoy the city with dry feet! We went to a restaurant near San Marco square and had a fantastic dinner (fish risotto and rosemary chicken!) before going to a Carnevale dance party. 🙂

Sunday in Venice felt like being in a different city. It was sunny and beautiful outside all day! After breakfast, we went to San Marco square, which was the heart of the Carnevale celebration. At noon, a Venetian “angel” came down from the bell tower on a wire to show the start of the Carnevale celebrations. The square was full of people, some in simple masks and some in amazingly elaborate costumes! I feel so lucky to have visited Venice during such a beautiful and lively time, it was a truly unforgettable trip.

I apologize for the late post! Sunday night when I usually post, I was on my way back to Florence from Paris, and yesterday I had class all day. Last week was wonderful! Classes started to pick up pace during the week and I had an amazing trip to Paris over the weekend.

In High Renaissance art history this week, we had 2 lectures, one on the rest of Leonardo da Vinci’s life and one on Michelangelo. We went over multiple pieces of art from both of these artists. It’s wonderful being able to not only learn in depth about these works but also go to see them in person- everything is so close.

In painting, our class is really coming along with this first project. Since we have to create two pieces- a painting and a drawing of the same subject- I worked on the painting on Monday, and I worked on the drawing on Wednesday. The drawing is definitely easier for me right now, because I don’t have nearly as much experience with painting as I do with drawing. However, I’m feeling good about how far I am in the process, especially since we still have 2 weeks to finish the project.

On Monday in drawing class, we took a walk as a class to Piazza della Signoria, where Palazzo Vecchio, the Uffizi gallery, and many beautiful sculptures stand. Our professor had us walk around individually to the difference statues and sketch them quickly in the way that he’d taught us gesture drawing. This exercise helped me practice my gesture drawing, and I really enjoyed it! We stayed in the Piazza for about an hour sketching, and then returned to the classroom to draw from a live model for the remainder of class. On Wednesday in class, our professor gave us a presentation on the haptic sensibility in drawing, which has to do with tactile drawing and the sense of touch in how we draw. With that in mind, we did some exercises, one of which was Blind Contour. This means that we drew our subject looking only at the subject and not at our paper. The drawings aren’t meant to be perfect, they’re just meant to train your eye to move as fast as your hand and vice versa. It was definitely an interesting exercise!

In color photography, we looked through the photos that everyone had taken over the weekend. It was great to see everyone’s style of making photographs and what they chose to photograph since it was a very open project. I took my photographs while I was walking home from class one day past the Florence Cathedral. I caught a glimpse of the Duomo in a puddle on the ground (there are plenty, it has been raining here nonstop!), and snapped a few pictures. The pictures went over well with my class, and I would like to continue this idea of reflection or possibly the idea of monumental pieces made small or less significant.

The highlight of this week, obviously, was my trip. I bought a single round trip ticket to Paris weeks ago, because I knew I would want to travel this weekend and I didn’t want to miss a good deal! I went by myself because I love to explore and I don’t mind doing it alone- it gave me an amazing sense of independence when I could plan exactly where I wanted to go and navigate there successful on my own. I spent last week and the week before researching places that I wanted to visit in Paris in the short amount of time that I had and I used a few different websites to map out and organize the order of my trip.

On Friday, I took an 11 am train from the train station in Florence, which is right near SACI, straight to the Pisa airport. I didn’t fly out of Florence because the flights are much cheaper from Pisa. From Pisa I flew to the Beauvais airport in France. This added another leg to my traveling, because I had to take a 1-hour shuttle from Beauvais to downtown Paris. Although it was cold and snowy in France when I arrived, everything with the flight and the shuttle went smoothly, so I was in Paris by around 9 pm. I was super tired from traveling so I took the Metro to my hostel and went to sleep! I really recommend staying in hostels when traveling- I spent so little money and I used reviews online to research which Paris hostel looked nice and clean- mine was wonderful.

Saturday was my only full day in Paris so I had to make every bit count! I woke up early and had my free hostel breakfast (french bread, a croissant, cereal, juice, and coffee!)

before taking the speedy Metro to the Notre Dame Cathedral. I walked around inside and out before walking down the bank of the Seine river. I wanted to check out the architecture of a building my photo professor told me about: The Museum of the Arab World has a building that is designed completely with apertures like in a camera. These lens-like windows expand and contract to let in more or less light according to the sun hitting the building. It was amazing!

 

After walking around that area for a bit, I took the Metro to the Musée d’Orsay, a museum with hundreds of beautiful impressionist paintings, famous Van Gogh paintings, and plenty else to explore. I spent a good chunk of time exploring there and grabbed a snack at the cafe before heading to the Eiffel Tower! I walked around admiring the tower for a while and took some pictures, then I crossed the river and walked along it until I reached the Champs-Élysées, which I walked all the way down on until I reached the Louvre Museum. The Louvre (which was free for me since I count as a European Union student!) has so much art that I could’ve spent a week there and still not have seen everything, but I tried to squeeze as much into my visit as I could! After the Louvre, I took the Metro up to Montmartre, which is a neighborhood on the edge of Paris with a basilica, Sacré Cœur, up on a hill. Once I took alittle train up to the top, I got to go in the basilica as well as enjoy the view overlooking the city from its steps; it was truly breathtaking. I was exhausted after that, and grabbed the Metro train back to my hostel for the night.

On Sunday, I only had time to do a couple of things so I got up early again. After my breakfast at the hostel, I took the Metro to the Centre Pompidou, a contemporary art museum with a super funky building. I got there an hour before it opened and there was already a line! It was also raining, so when the line finally moved from the rainy cold to the toasty museum I was very happy! I was also super excited because the Pompidou is currently having a huge Salvador Dalí exhibit, and he is a favorite artist of mine. It included many of his paintings as well as some sculpture, theatre, movie, and installation work! It was an amazing exhibit and I would definitely recommend the trip to the Pompidou. After the museum, I only had a little time before I had to catch my shuttle to Beauvais, so I bought a quiche lorraine and some French macarons for a delicious French lunch!

This trip was a lot of different things to me. I had never been to Paris before, so I knew that I wanted to visit there, but I had no idea the effect it would have on me. Paris was beautiful and lively, everything ran smoothly and lovely in every way, even in the freezing rain. Not only did I fall in love with the city in only a few short days, I also learned a lot about myself. I know now that I do enjoy traveling alone; I can choose exactly where I want to go and since I put the work into the whole trip, I’ll remember it that much more. If I had any nervousness about traveling alone when the trip started, it was replaced with more and more confidence as the trip went on. I especially loved the independence and the liberating feeling of figuring out a new city and public transportation system all by myself. I can’t wait to go on more solo weekend trips in the future!