a couple more photos to tide you over until a writing urge hits...

Friends on Cinque Terre beach. 11/21/2009.

Church on Capri. 11/14/2009.

The famous duomo in Firenze. 11/7/2009.

Budapest. 10/21/2009.

The Prater ferris wheel in Vienna, as seen in The Third Man! 10/19/2009.

Outside eating area at the Accademia, overlooking hills and vineyards. 10/14/2009.

On Amalfi Drive with a visiting mother. 11/15/2009.

I keep finding these in my room. I still won't touch them, but I can get close enough to take pictures! 10/8/2009.

Best sunsets are seen from my window. 10/2/2009.

A beautiful artist's mess in Orvieto. 10/3/2009.

Tomorrow's my last day of classes. How strange! Very bittersweet. We have a final undergrad theater performance tomorrow that we've developed with Joe Fenner. It's wacky and silly and stylized. We all get to wear crazy costumes and play fun, ridiculous characters in little scenes that began with goofy improvs. My two big characters are a sugary sweet, brainless nurse in a crowded waiting room who repeatedly says, "Be patient. Take a seat." and a young lover who blindly feeds her boyfriend pieces of a clementine while witnessing a woman fall from the sky. very fun!

mega catch up

Okay, I admit it, I completely fail at blogging. My life as a future professional food blogger is completely null and void. (Not to mention the fact I haven't done either of those things in three months...)I enjoy this blogging thing, really I do, I just... fail. I'm going to say this is a good thing because it means my life here has completely taken over. Of course, that's not completely true, but there is much truth in it. I'm little miss guilty for not being up to par. So instead of writing 2000 pages about boring day-to-day stuff now (which is what i'll probably miss most when I leave here in a week (ahhh!)), I'll give myself 5 catch up points.

1. Most excitedly, since being here, I have felt my creativity expand tenfold. For the first time in my life, I'm creating something out of nothing. And this, friends, is a FANTASTIC feeling! It's also why the European theater scene is so much more inventive and edgy (or tends to be) than the American scene. I improvise on piano before class starts, take pictures I'm proud of, have read at least 5 books, have filled an entire journal with thoughts, stories, and inspiration, and have developed a solo, site-specific, water-awareness movement piece. This place inspires all of us to try things we've never done before.

2. I ADORE traveling. I've discovered one of my favorite feelings in the world: getting off a train/bus/airplane and being completely lost. Then I realize I'm not an incompetent individual, and slowly begin to feel my way around. It has been so exciting to explore new places, meet new people, eat new food, and encounter new ways to look at the world. I like change! and go-go-go! and getting lost (which is really good because my sense of direction has not improved in the slightest)! I like finding the bare minimum of how to get by; I like finding how to get to know a new place. Italy makes exploring so easy--trains are the preferred way to get around, and every place has its own aura. An updated list of places I've been in Italy: Rimini, Venezie, Orvieto (Umbrian town), Casentino Forrest (Tuscany), Cinque Terre, Amalfi Coast (Capri, Pompei, and Sorrento), Perugia, and Florence. On fall break, I traveled to Vienna (Austria), Budapest (Hungary), and Bratislava (Slovakia). Crazy, beautiful, and memorable. I'm so so lucky.

Positano, on Amalfi Coast.

Casentino Forest and Monastery.

Budapest.

Flying over the Alps.

However, I'm ready to get out of Europe and see something else! Don't get me wrong--Europe has culture, beauty, art, tradition, and familiarity. And all the places are somewhat varied and ahve their own feel, but at the end of the day, it's all Europe. Which is why I'm so excited for EGYPT! I'll be embarking a week from today (eeeeh!) to Cairo with Elizabeth, Jenny, and Zach for our Egypt adventure. We're planning on Cairo, Alexandria, and Dahab. I could not be MORE excited! I've had this idea to visit Abe in the back of my mind since before I came to Italy, but was unsure about it working out. So glad this has actually become a reality! We're all a bit scared and apprehensive, but I'm excited to be truly challenged and in a completely unfamiliar world for the first time in my life.

3. I am so thankful for Skidmore's take on theater. Our theater group here is pretty freain scattered. And we're completely incapable of working together. That's perhaps a bit harsh, but the past few days have been frustrating to say the least. Our last 8 days of class are a full-time physical theater workshop with a completely new teacher. We're having such ISSUES listening to each other and responding in the moment, which is kind of a BIG theater concept! One of those BIG things you have to be able to do! and our group SUCKS AT IT! individually, some people are very good actors. but put a lot of people together, and no one listens or leads. I feel so many times like I've become a bitchy director, since no one else takes charge or thinks about the greater whole of the piece besides their immediate part. Thank you, Skidmore, for making me do directing and working on ensemble pieces all time. In this contemporary theater environment, it does not pay to be a good actor who cannot work in a group. This skill is hard to teach in a few weeks, and I think our teachers are also frustrated. I'll be glad to get away from our class environment.Oh, and I don't think I'm destined to be a Commedia dell'Arte actor. Which, frankly, is okay, since its kind of a dead art form. But I got other great things out of working with Commedia! That class challenged me incredibly much and taught me so much about theater and maskwork and characterization and working as a group.

Me with the Pulcinella mask I made.

Breakfast view at the villa.

Firenze rooftops from top of the duomo.

Elizabeth and Josh in an underground cave in Orvieto.

Alright, points 4 and 5 to come later! Thats enough catch up for now! For anyone willing, these pictures are the very very tip of the ice berg. When I get back (on Dec. 23rd), we can have a mega picture showing. Also, maybe you can see these facebook albums, which have a few more of my shots(?):
Amalfi Coast and Cinque Terre:
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?v=info&ref=ts&id=1241820185#/album.php?aid=2027582&id=1241820198

Vienna, Budapest, Bratislava:
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?v=info&ref=ts&id=1241820185#/album.php?aid=2025622&id=1241820198

oh the sun comes up-up-up in the opening sky...

...thats the first line of a poem by ee cummings that we're working on in voice class. it's forever stuck in my head.

a real life praying mantis on the door to the villa!

Just had the most wonderful last couple hours. mmm... hard work and good pay off.

Started with a great movement class--we tried this acrobatic move where you scoop a partner onto your back and they balance there with no hands. Then you lower your body (and therefore the partner) down until their hands touch the floor. Then they go into a handstand and flip off your back. it's the starting point for many other harder things. Yesterday we stood on a partner's back while they were on all fours. That's the starting point for learning to stand on someone's shoulders. My body has been through so many new experiences in the last couple days. I feel so aware of the way I move, how I transfer weight, what my limbs are doing, and where my balance is.

So then we had voice! Our teacher, Kevin Crawford, decided to take us on a little field trip. So we all jogged as a group through some vineyards, stopping here and there to do some stretching and humming. We eventually got to this amphitheater in a nearby park. We did singing and 5 minute improvs in groups. We all became a Commedia character, and hid somewhere in the park. Then we came out of hiding as our characters and interacted with the others. Most hilarious when passerbys noticed what we were doing, or were confused by our hunched over, overexaggered il Dottore walk. And then we jogged back and had risotto con funghi and macedonia (fruit salad) per il pranzo! Just lovely. and very sweaty.

I feel like I totally deserve the lazing around that will happen for the rest of this afternoon. Maybe I'll laze around in a park--or not, looks like its raining for the second time since I've been here. I started reading the book Sarah's Key on the train to Venezia last weekend, and would love a couple hours to sit and read. Yesterday the theater group had our most productive studio time yet. Studio is when we have 2 hours to be together without a teacher and work on whatever we want. So far it has been very individual--people have worked on acrobatic stuff or individual movement improvs. But this time we worked as an ensemble and worked on a movement piece we could perform in a piazza in town. Basically one person would say a word (like "ocean") and one at a time we go into the space and strike a pose. And one at a time people join in new poses. Then we have a couple fast movements and slow movements into other poses. And we interact with other people in poses. And then go back into neutral and leave the space. It looks so much cooler than it should. Kind of looks like an ever-changing tableau. It's frustrating working with 15 opinionated people and no leader--everyone wants their opinion heard and many people want to be in charge. but by the end, we had this collaborating thing kinda down! It was very cool.

This weekend I think I'm going to take a day trip to somewhere in Umbria--many place are 6 euros by train and about about 1.5 hours away. I'm ready for some calm. I'd also love the huge bug on my wall to leave my alone. and i have NO CLEAN CLOTHES LEFT! laundy is very high on the list of weekend priorities. and going to the fruit market. mmm!

Have a great weekend, all!

grrr

I'm just going to reiterate how frustrating this picture posting thing is. The place where you write your entry looks different than the "preview" it shows, which looks very different than the way the blog actually looks. So you can play a bit of a game, and try to find out what caption goes to what picture. Gosh this is frustrating! If you're curious about a picture, I can give you information about it. Also, fun fact, you can see a bigger version of any picture if you click on it! Woo hoo!

un po' di fotografie di venezia

Hello, hello. Returned from our 4 day excursion to Venice yesterday. Such a cool, beautiful, unique city--anyone can take a gorgeous picture there with any camera. So these are my attempts. I got so frustrated with how touristy the entire city was--but it wasn't completely impossible to find signs of real life. Lets see, some highlights. The trip was paid for by ADA (my school), so we only had to pay for food. Our hostel was nice, and there's no WAY I would've paid that much for a room if I was funding this trip! We had class one day on the island of Guidecca, so we had free Vaporetto (like the subway, only boats) passes for a day. One day we decided to meet as a group (the 15 theater students) in Piazza San Marco and do some guerilla street theater--it was moderately successful! We just did some simple movement stuff and headstands. People were taking pictures of us! And that night I came back with some friends and we walked in slow motion with some quick starts and stops across huge stretches of the piazza. Looks WAY cooler that it sounds. People video taped us and applauded! And one guy came up after and said "Bravi!", so that was very exciting. We all decided to watch the sunset on Sunday morning over San Marco. It was exhilerating and a bit nervewracking walking alone through the still alleways. The normal hustle and bustle adds so much character to the city. And San Marco looked so defeated in the morning light--there were no people to disguise the fading, crumbling exterior. And, as is usually the case, we did a TON of roaming and exploring. I got lost a few times, looked in about 1000 glass/mask shops, ate gelato once a day, and took pictures of lots of mundane things. Here are (hopefully) the most interesting and beautiful!

Top Pictures:
L: Little boy statue at the end of the island--Punta della Dogana.
R: an amazing old bookstore near our hostel. Right on the river and full of old books in every language. I got Twelfth Night in Italian!
Bottom: About 7:00 a.m. I get the expression "rosy fingered dawn"!


Streetlights are beautiful.

At the Guggenheim modern art museum 2 pictures above; below that is excitement about 50 cent gondola ride!





L: firefighter band in san marco.








+sunset from Vaporetto









+glass on Murano, the famous glass blowing island.

















+our awesome rehearsal space!



















+performing in San Marco. Note people (fine, person) watching in background.













R: hanging out with Marcello, an acting teacher from the Accademia. We watched an open rehearsal of a show he's currently working on.

Formatting these posts with pictures is QUITE annoying. Captions are almost impossible. (I've probably been working on this for an hour, so no complaining that it STILL looks crappy! aihw;erh;wor how frustrating!) Anyways, hope yall like the pictures!

Today we had our first class with the new Italian teacher--she's DYNAMITE. thanks GOODness! Our class is so happy that we get a competent person! And this week we get more Commedia classes--today was a really exciting 4 hour class. We did a cool exercise where we physicalized 4 stages of life: curious child, bold teenager, hardened middle-ager, and dying old person. The trick was in the eyes and not overacting. It was so challenging and took all of us on quite a psychological journey. I'm exploring the character Colombina. I love working with masks--we have 6 hours more tomorrow! Yay!

Goodnight!

Rimini !

Long time no post! So a week and a half of class has gone by, as has our first travelling weekend. Everyone warns you about Week 3 when you study abroad--it's supposed to be when the "honeymoon stage" wears off. For me, so far so good. I'm still enamored by Arezzo and feel like I have so much to explore still. The more time goes by, I get to know people better. We're all learning who has similar travel styles, who brings what to class, and how we work as an ensemble. I definitely like some people's presences more than others, but I respect (almost) everyone artistically, and am interested in their progress as performers. So nothing too awful yet with others.

My Italian class has been constantly struggling with our terrible teacher, Maria Grazia. I took the most ridiculous quiz of my life--she had never taught us anything on it and it had no instructions. I got one thing wrong and got 6 points off on a 50 point quiz. All of us have been complaining to the higher-ups, so today she was supposed to be observed. Well we got to class and were told she had QUIT! She went right up to the head language teacher today and said, "I'm sorry, I don't work here anymore." So THAT was exciting! The head teacher, Monica, is like our mommy here. She's lived in Arezzo her whole life and knows English perfectly, and she's HILARIOUS. So she taught our class today, and I learned more in those 2 hours than I have in 2 1/2 weeks with the old teacher. So we'll see what happens next week with a new teacher!

Right now its almost 6 in the afternoon on Wednesday, and I feel like its my first bit of free time in over two weeks. We've been barraged by a rush of class, homework, meetings, movies showings, group events, and travel. Last weekend was a beautiful but slightly stressful trip to Rimini. Even though I LOVE travelling and seeing new things, its kind of tricky! Italian trains are confusing, you have to spend money on everything you put in your mouth, and you have to be well informed about where you are.

In Rimini, I felt like I was the only one who had any idea what they wanted to do--I wanted to go to the beach, try the local food, check out the historical piazza in the centro, and not spend much money! I was the only one with a tour book or a map. So the 4 other people seemed to follow me. That was strange because all I really wanted to do was explore and appreciate the small things--I felt bad for not providing entertainment at times. That's not really how I want to feel when travelling. I want to sit on a bench in a piazza and watch/talk to the locals, or take 35 pictures of a fountain, or get lost in a residential area. Myabe thats not "fun" for everyone. But then, they didn't have any opinion on the matter, so they just followed me!

Also, food was SO expensive! we were lucky we got free breakfast at the hostel, though. Our hostel was the Jammin' Party Hostel--we were a little bit wary because of the name, but the reveiws online were excellent. And this hostel will probably ruin all future hostel experiences--it was the nicest place. ever. We got our own linens in the room the 5 of us shared, we had free breakfast, internet, and bikes (!!!) which we used on our last morning to do some great exploring. It was in the perfect location--right near the beach and the main strip. It's probably a really crazy place during the summer, but we were right after the rush. It was a great resting place--oh we also had our own balcony.

So we decided in the end that Rimini was a great place to visit--fun and beautiful and interesting, but not necessarily crucial. I'm not necesarilly going to tell everyone to go to Rimini for the weekend, but it was perfect for what we needed that weekend.