http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGoi1MSGu64
the title of this entry is from this video that i think is hilarious....
anyway, the future! a lot of exciting things are in the works that i'm really hoping come through. Recently, I went on a splurge of finding the cheapest tickets I could that fit in my academic schedule, and boy do I have quite the packed schedule.
Yesterday, I went on a trip with my study abroad program to Florence, where I've clearly been before (if you're a reader, you know) I've seen most of the jaw dropping churches and heard about the significance of ponte vecchio, but yesterday, we did something really special. We went to the uffizi, one of the more incredible art museums in Europe, but instead of getting lost in the massive collection, we went straight to a private tour of the Prince's escape corridor from Medieval times. It's a hidden/"secret" corridor where the prince would escape to if danger struck in the city or for quick communication between different parts of the city. The corridor starts in the uffizi, goes over the Arno river on ponte vecchio, and ends right next to one of the garden vista points on the other side of the river. The corridor itself is packed with selfportraits/portraits done of royal family members, artistic members of the courts, politicians, artists, everyone who mattered in florentine life for the last 700 years, basically. The paintings start from the 1200s and as u get to the end of the corridor, they're all modern. There was a chagall painting from the 50s or 60s, even. Also, during WWII, Mussolini brought hitler to the corridor to show him the grandeur and beauty of florence and the arno and the uffizi, but at that time the corridor only had a window once ever 20 feet or so. So mussolini decided to knock out one side of the wall, fill it with large bay windows, and bring hitler for a private tour. Hitler was utterly moved by the view, and also seemed to identify with the idea that it used to serve as a private pathway for a prince, for royalty, because he considered himself to be a sort of divine omnipotente leader, as a prince. Because of this, many think Hitler decided to spare Ponte Vecchio during the war when they were bombing Florence and fighting against the allies and Italian resistance soldiers for fascist control of italy. So that was a really sweet opportunity to have, given that its rarely open, and that our group got a private tour of it.
Next friday, I'll meet up with my study abroad program in Napoli (for the 2nd time!) right after i finish 7 hours of conservatory on friday this week for a 4 day trip of the region. We're going to see pompeii and do a tour of vesuvio the volcano and the historic center, la la la. Last time I went was wonderful, but I'm excited to have a guide and hear some more detail. Then straight from Napoli, I'm going to Sicily for a week with 3 american friends. I have been wanting to get down there since a lot of american friends from last semester went in september, but I never knew when I would get a chance. Since we're already gonna be down in napoli, and have a week of spring break, its clearly the perfect time. We're going to palermo, cefalu, taormina, catania, siracusa. I guess i could say guilty as charged for hitting all the toursit beach cities (plus the capital, palermo) but with the sicialin train system (that seems severely limited) I don't really know we'd be able to see much else.
Then, after I get back from sicily, a hilarious good friend/my ex-RA form sophomore year Amelia is coming from london to stay with me for 4 or 5 days! I'm really excited because seeing familiar american faces that aren't on my study abroad program is one of the best things in the world, after being over here for so long, now. In the end of march, I'm going to berlin for a weekend. I've heard only phenomenal things about berlin, so I really cant wait to finally go see it.
Early april just in time for my birthday and easter, Katie and Melissa, two dear friends form Wellesley are swinging down to italy for about 2 weeks. They're going to swing around italy a bit and see the sites and a few small cities in the north, and then melissa and I are gonna go to Vienna and Budapest around the middle of April. I'm DYING over that because budapest has seemed like a wonderland since I met a few hungarians a few years back, and I have a wellesley friend, Tess, in Vienna that I'm really excited to see.
In may, I'm going to Barcelona to see a deear italian friend, my exroommate from last semester, Enza. She lives in an apartment with space for 3 guests so hopefully my two housemates Annalisa and Miriam will come with me! The dream of actually traveling with europeans in europe might come true, if I'm really really lucky. I think I'll be able to roll over and die of happiness if I get to drink sangria, go to the dalì museum, and look at the gaudì works all in barcelona with 3 awesome italian friends. :)
THEN! last but not least, i'm going to Porto and Lisbon Portugal for 6 days in june. I'm most excited about that trip because the weather will be awesome (we can only hope, right?) I'm staying for quite a bit of time, I won't have any school work at that point except conservatory exams, and it's my last trip before leaving europe for a year. I'm going to portugal by myself, but I've found what seems like a good hostel, so I'm ready for it. I don't know what it is about portugal, but i'm entirely too fascinated by it.
In between all of that, the only things I have to do are: write a 2 page essay in italian for every thursday, go to conservatory class on thursday and friday, keep working to make money for these trips, and read books/study.
anyway, I'm really excited. I'm going big, probably against the will of my pocket and my budget, but if it means more rice and fewer lunches in the city center, than so be it. Hope everyone's good. miss you all stateside. ( and whoevers in europe that might read this)
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Monday, February 22, 2010
strange man at my window
so, that happened last night, the thing about a strange man at my window. I was chillin in bed, which faces a window, that faces a street with lots of parking spaces along the building. There's a sidewalk and then a bunch of leaves and trees in front of our windows, so you can hear when someone walks on it. I heard some crunching leaves, then saw a shadow on the lower part of my window. Then I see some dude look over the opaque part of the glass INTO my room, sees me sitting on my bed in pjs chatting with amelia on skype (2nd blog guest appearance, btw). So i get out of bed, sort of like, wtf? and walk over to the window. The gu is leaning up against a car, just staring at me. He totally knows I saw him, we're totally still looking at each other, but he doesn't make an attempt to move. So i walk into the living room and tell my housemate, yo strange man outside my window what the fuck do i do? She looks outside of our living room window, which faces the same way as my bedroom window, sees the guy, and gets super scared. we lock the door, then we call the 'door guy' that works at our dorm. He says he'll go out to talk to the guy. he goes out to talk to him, we watch, then the door guy calls us back when he's inside and says, yea the guy doesnt speak italian, I guess I'll call the cops. So the guy STILL hasn't left, he's basically watching us in the kitchen, and then 4 or 5 police cars (half the bologna police force) rolls up outside. They come to the window, asking for the person who made the call, (i didn't call them obviously, but had to talk to them, which was hard cuz a lot of law enforcers are generally...well i dont want to generalize, but there's this idea that young guys without opportunity from the south work as police..basically it was really hard for me to understand them, but i had to explain myself.
They said that another girl (stefania, who is actually best friend of my ex roommate from the month of september, so i know her pretty well) called the cops also because this same dude had approached her window with 'pantaloni abassati', or slightly lowered pants. They ask me for a document, what the guy did, etc. I guess in the end they took him away, i don't think to jail or anything, but at least away from us. The WEIRDEST thing was why the heck wouldn't the guy go away after he knew we were watching him and he'd already sort of invaded my privacy. why was he looking in? I mean, i'm not sure about the lowered pants thing cuz i wasn't there for that, but.... fuckin creepster right?
So i get all shaken up by that. Can't sleep. then I have this extra strange day including working on an essay about what I'd like to do with the next 7 years of my life. For one of the fellowships i'm shooting for, i basically have to know, or at least sell myself like i do, and stuff like that just screws me up. I started getting pretty overwhelmed and agitated about the idea of telling a fellowship comitee that I want to be a doctor of italian, teaching and researching for the rest of my life, when I'm less than 50% sure that that's true. At any rate, I was corresponding with 4 different Wellesley teachers/advisors at the same time about, all of them giving me advice about how to change my essay, or even just what to do, and so i spent most of the day just staring at this essay being like what the fuck. i don't know. i had to find campuses of Ph.D programs that I want to do. hell if i know.
And i guess it's chill that i dont, because clearly I don't have to do any schooling that I don't want to, however, Its a bummer that if I get this fellowship I'm only gonna be able to use it for this one thing, at least thats my impression for now, that its a rather conditional thing. That means if i full throttle chose italian that music, once and for good, will be the official backburner love of my life...................................and that thought sort of haunted me all day
oh yea, then my tooth is falling out. lol not really, but one of my OLD fillings from way back in the day started falling out a few days ago, which just sucks because I don't really want to go to a dentist and pay hella $z to fix it right now, but you know, shit happens. so i have to go to an appointment for that tomorrow/soon.
After the crazy essay work, I planned the rest of the weeklong trip to sicily I'm doing with 3 friends from my program. We're doing a big circle around the island, right after Napoli, and i'm REALLY excited, because hopefully the weather will be nicer there than it is here. Anyway, that took like 2 hours of checking rates, entering credit card numbers and just figuring out the trains and crap, but at least its done.
So then i get back from centro, and i'd left a bunch of coats on my xroommates bed, but today the dorm administration came by our apartment to check that the extra bed in my room was free for someone that would be arriving today. They told my housemate that they wanted to fine me for having left shit on the other bed, since it wasn't mine, they assumed that I'd been illegally hosting a guest in my room (because there's a regolamento, a protocol for guests, and i would have had to file a registration for a guest) so they said like shame on her, she cant leave her crap on this empty bed. Which is probably true, i shouldnt, but its been open for like 1.5 months, and i hadn't heard ANYTHING from the dorm association that someone might becoming, so i had no idea. plus u know when theres empty/extra space in ur room, u tend to use it just like absentmindedly. So the administrative people throw all my crap on my bed, and my roommate helps me (lol <3 miriam, shes the greatest) organize my stuff, which was long overdue and sort of funny. So then I call the doorman, to tell them, yo i'm not trying to start trouble, havent had a guest i swear, please dont fine me, la la la. they were like ya, no its cool, just you cant leave anything on that other bed, and i was like, ya ok i wont my bad, and then i was like well wtf is someone coming why cant u people tell me, and they say they have no idea they just came to check.
so then later, i get a new roommate. A girl from spain, an erasmus student, just arrived today, but she's only staying in my room for 16 days. I REALLY hope that no one comes to stay for good, just because friends will be able to travel easily without any nuiscance. I had a friend stay with me in january without trouble. I really hope it continues that way.
At any rate, this spanish girl doesnt speak much italian really at all, and its so interesting to have an american, spanish girl, and italian girl all in the same kitchen talking, because of course we're trying to help orient her, and that becomes much more exhausting and interesting with language barriers. Its like charades (how do u spell that?) legit, because we have to act out everythign we're talking about. The other interesting linguistic thing is that I can understand a LOT more spanish than I thought. Like this girl, i can hardly understand her italian but when she speaks spanish I basically understand. weird!
The good thing about this girls arrival is that its making me see how close i am with my housemates. especially since she doesn't speak italian and doesn't really know us that well, and is also only here for less than 2 weeks, it just sort of made me realize that I've been living with these girls, who are now my relatively good friends i'd say, for like 5 months now, and we have another full 4 months. i'm lucky that we get along so well. Last night we talked to our housemate (my roommate) who just went to spain, and we're really planning to get to barcelona to stay with her. It's seriously too bad that Enza left.
So things are proving to be really interesting. I'm speaking a lot of italian, trying to get used to having someone in the room again. The first few days are always like that with someone new.
peace. i'm exhhhhaaaauuussted.
They said that another girl (stefania, who is actually best friend of my ex roommate from the month of september, so i know her pretty well) called the cops also because this same dude had approached her window with 'pantaloni abassati', or slightly lowered pants. They ask me for a document, what the guy did, etc. I guess in the end they took him away, i don't think to jail or anything, but at least away from us. The WEIRDEST thing was why the heck wouldn't the guy go away after he knew we were watching him and he'd already sort of invaded my privacy. why was he looking in? I mean, i'm not sure about the lowered pants thing cuz i wasn't there for that, but.... fuckin creepster right?
So i get all shaken up by that. Can't sleep. then I have this extra strange day including working on an essay about what I'd like to do with the next 7 years of my life. For one of the fellowships i'm shooting for, i basically have to know, or at least sell myself like i do, and stuff like that just screws me up. I started getting pretty overwhelmed and agitated about the idea of telling a fellowship comitee that I want to be a doctor of italian, teaching and researching for the rest of my life, when I'm less than 50% sure that that's true. At any rate, I was corresponding with 4 different Wellesley teachers/advisors at the same time about, all of them giving me advice about how to change my essay, or even just what to do, and so i spent most of the day just staring at this essay being like what the fuck. i don't know. i had to find campuses of Ph.D programs that I want to do. hell if i know.
And i guess it's chill that i dont, because clearly I don't have to do any schooling that I don't want to, however, Its a bummer that if I get this fellowship I'm only gonna be able to use it for this one thing, at least thats my impression for now, that its a rather conditional thing. That means if i full throttle chose italian that music, once and for good, will be the official backburner love of my life...................................and that thought sort of haunted me all day
oh yea, then my tooth is falling out. lol not really, but one of my OLD fillings from way back in the day started falling out a few days ago, which just sucks because I don't really want to go to a dentist and pay hella $z to fix it right now, but you know, shit happens. so i have to go to an appointment for that tomorrow/soon.
After the crazy essay work, I planned the rest of the weeklong trip to sicily I'm doing with 3 friends from my program. We're doing a big circle around the island, right after Napoli, and i'm REALLY excited, because hopefully the weather will be nicer there than it is here. Anyway, that took like 2 hours of checking rates, entering credit card numbers and just figuring out the trains and crap, but at least its done.
So then i get back from centro, and i'd left a bunch of coats on my xroommates bed, but today the dorm administration came by our apartment to check that the extra bed in my room was free for someone that would be arriving today. They told my housemate that they wanted to fine me for having left shit on the other bed, since it wasn't mine, they assumed that I'd been illegally hosting a guest in my room (because there's a regolamento, a protocol for guests, and i would have had to file a registration for a guest) so they said like shame on her, she cant leave her crap on this empty bed. Which is probably true, i shouldnt, but its been open for like 1.5 months, and i hadn't heard ANYTHING from the dorm association that someone might becoming, so i had no idea. plus u know when theres empty/extra space in ur room, u tend to use it just like absentmindedly. So the administrative people throw all my crap on my bed, and my roommate helps me (lol <3 miriam, shes the greatest) organize my stuff, which was long overdue and sort of funny. So then I call the doorman, to tell them, yo i'm not trying to start trouble, havent had a guest i swear, please dont fine me, la la la. they were like ya, no its cool, just you cant leave anything on that other bed, and i was like, ya ok i wont my bad, and then i was like well wtf is someone coming why cant u people tell me, and they say they have no idea they just came to check.
so then later, i get a new roommate. A girl from spain, an erasmus student, just arrived today, but she's only staying in my room for 16 days. I REALLY hope that no one comes to stay for good, just because friends will be able to travel easily without any nuiscance. I had a friend stay with me in january without trouble. I really hope it continues that way.
At any rate, this spanish girl doesnt speak much italian really at all, and its so interesting to have an american, spanish girl, and italian girl all in the same kitchen talking, because of course we're trying to help orient her, and that becomes much more exhausting and interesting with language barriers. Its like charades (how do u spell that?) legit, because we have to act out everythign we're talking about. The other interesting linguistic thing is that I can understand a LOT more spanish than I thought. Like this girl, i can hardly understand her italian but when she speaks spanish I basically understand. weird!
The good thing about this girls arrival is that its making me see how close i am with my housemates. especially since she doesn't speak italian and doesn't really know us that well, and is also only here for less than 2 weeks, it just sort of made me realize that I've been living with these girls, who are now my relatively good friends i'd say, for like 5 months now, and we have another full 4 months. i'm lucky that we get along so well. Last night we talked to our housemate (my roommate) who just went to spain, and we're really planning to get to barcelona to stay with her. It's seriously too bad that Enza left.
So things are proving to be really interesting. I'm speaking a lot of italian, trying to get used to having someone in the room again. The first few days are always like that with someone new.
peace. i'm exhhhhaaaauuussted.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Tea
I made a butter sauce in a small pot for pumpkin raviolis this afternoon for lunch, but then I wanted to make tea an hour later. I went to wash the sauce pot, which i had also put cheese in, because its the only pot we can use for tea (the other one smells like burnt tefflon when u boil water in it) so i washed it as best as i could and boiled tea water. Moral of this story is I think i'm drinking butter tea.
Tea in italy is really uncommon, which was a hard transition to make after so much tea in my wellesley room last year, tea in california, tea everywhere always in my life. They have some staple kinds of tea, but its nothing like the INCREDIBLE tea i had in england, or the types of strange flowery, spicy teas i was used to drinking.
Tea in italy is really uncommon, which was a hard transition to make after so much tea in my wellesley room last year, tea in california, tea everywhere always in my life. They have some staple kinds of tea, but its nothing like the INCREDIBLE tea i had in england, or the types of strange flowery, spicy teas i was used to drinking.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Altrettanto
I was on the bus the other day to go grab the microphone for the concert when i saw a transit police/immigrant interaction. I got on a bus and the doors closed, like normal. I moved to the middle of the bus where the exit doors are located so that I could get out easily at my bus stop, and there were 2 mid 20's african immigrants standing with stone faces staring at the door. The bus didn't move and a transit authority and an older italian man took to forcefully asking documents from these 2 guys. At first I thought maybe they'd done something like tried to rob someone, only because of the anger the italians were demonstrating. As the tension grew between the two of them, the 2 immigrants didn't respond. I'm not sure whether they genuinely didn't speak italian or were pretending not to understand, but either way it was aggravating the shit out of these 2 italian men. I realized that they probably didn't have bus tickets, and so when the controller came by to ask them for tickets, if they didn't respond and didn't have tickets, they were probably asked for documents, which either they don't have, genuinely didn't understand or knew they'd be in deep shit if they showed what they had.
So after 5 minutes of standing right next to this incredible tense cultural clash (it seemed like it wasn't even about whether or not they had tickets, but more about the fact that they are stranieri (foreigners)) the driver asked everyone to get off the bus except these 2 men and wait for the next bus.
I don't even know how i felt, not that its important how I felt anyway, but something in my chest burned. I hate seeing humiliation like that. It was pretty unsettling. I guess its something i've come into contact with a lot in the states. Working in a restaurant on the east coast I saw the same treatment of the Brazilian dish washer that worked at Cafè Mangal. No specific events but just the passing names and phrases they used to refer to him aggravated the fuck out of me. When i worked at McKesson in San Francisco the executives said some pretty horrendously hateful things in passing too. I guess the entire state and concept of immigration sparks something really real in me. Its so fucked up how people react to it-i understand there are a lot of economic issues and repercussions from having unregistered people in any country, but I think these people have paid their part in sheer humiliation and exploitation.
It's the things like that about being in Italy that make my reality feel so weird. At night I'll calmly cook dinner for myself, chat with my lovely roommates, go to a bar or a club for a little bit, go to class....my reality is running alongside that of these 2 guys in the bus. We're in the same place for hardly a minute, and I only see a fraction, a sliver of what its like to be them. rant....
I bought two cds the other day-one used that I'm really excited about. Both I've heard either from friends or have read about on the internet, but its the RH factor "Distractions" and Robert Glasper "double booked". 25€ well spent. there's a d'angelo track on the RH factor cd that i dig pretty intensely. I know music can be had so easily on the internet, but on a moral level, I'm really afraid of what will happen to music if we don't keep purchasing it and supporting it. I was talking to a musician here in italy, a historian, who was saying that in old Italy, since it used to be broken up into a bunch of city states, the different courts and patrons would vie for the best composers and musicians by paying them incredibly high wages. The highest wages were given to the best musicians, and so musicians were also highly motivated to excel, write good music, and even if you were mediocre, you would still probably be able to find work in some court, even if it wasn't in one of the bigger, richer city states/kingdoms. Oh how the times have changed. I was born in the wrong time, wrong place.
I've learned something about my italian. I've gotten a LOT of the speaking nailed these days, as in i respond rather quickly, when I fumble, whoever I'm talking to generally knows exactly what I'm trying to say, and I'm starting to be able to crack jokes and get laughs (important for me!) However, one thing i still SUCK at is hellos and goodbyes. My roommate, yesterday, told me that everytime she says buona serata to me, which means like 'have a good night!' i either dont say anything, awkwardly say ciao or just mumble. She thought it was so funny and strange considering i'm rather natural in a lot of other italian cultural respects, but this salutations linguistic skill i don't really have. When i think about that, it's pretty funny, cuz i'm not really sure i have it in english either. When im on the phone, i alywas feel like i'm like, eh uh ok bye? when i try to get off the phone. It's hard to be sincere in another language saying hello and goodbye when you don't really know what the normal customs are. So i've found I opt for not saying anything often because i don't want people to think I'm faking knowing what I'm doing, and hellos and goodbyes just stump me the most. Anyway she taught me that I should say 'thanks you too!' whenever i'm leaving the house and she says 'hey have a good night!' I can also say 'altrettanto' which means 'to you too' but i think i just fuck up the pacing and flow of it all. Thats a really culturally subtle thing if u think about it. I mean i say hello and goodbye differently to different groups of friends I have in the states depending on what part of the country im in. If im in california it's most likely a 'yo' or something equally casual. Maybe it has to do with comfort level?
I'm going to Sicilia (sicily) for a week in march. Just bought plane tickets and hostels today. I'm psyched because i've wanted to go since before I got here, but i didn't think I'd ever get a big enough chunk of time to see quite a bit of the island. Since we'll be there for a week we'll probably girare un bel po (go around quite a bit) and we will have been in napoli for 3 days before with our study abroad program. I'm ready for another trip! I've got travel fever real bad. The other places I REALLY want to go while I'm here this term are budapest, vienna, barcelona, sardegna, portugal, switzerland and croatia. Not all of its gonna happen, but I REALLY WANT TO GO. votes on which of those places i should go?
So after 5 minutes of standing right next to this incredible tense cultural clash (it seemed like it wasn't even about whether or not they had tickets, but more about the fact that they are stranieri (foreigners)) the driver asked everyone to get off the bus except these 2 men and wait for the next bus.
I don't even know how i felt, not that its important how I felt anyway, but something in my chest burned. I hate seeing humiliation like that. It was pretty unsettling. I guess its something i've come into contact with a lot in the states. Working in a restaurant on the east coast I saw the same treatment of the Brazilian dish washer that worked at Cafè Mangal. No specific events but just the passing names and phrases they used to refer to him aggravated the fuck out of me. When i worked at McKesson in San Francisco the executives said some pretty horrendously hateful things in passing too. I guess the entire state and concept of immigration sparks something really real in me. Its so fucked up how people react to it-i understand there are a lot of economic issues and repercussions from having unregistered people in any country, but I think these people have paid their part in sheer humiliation and exploitation.
It's the things like that about being in Italy that make my reality feel so weird. At night I'll calmly cook dinner for myself, chat with my lovely roommates, go to a bar or a club for a little bit, go to class....my reality is running alongside that of these 2 guys in the bus. We're in the same place for hardly a minute, and I only see a fraction, a sliver of what its like to be them. rant....
I bought two cds the other day-one used that I'm really excited about. Both I've heard either from friends or have read about on the internet, but its the RH factor "Distractions" and Robert Glasper "double booked". 25€ well spent. there's a d'angelo track on the RH factor cd that i dig pretty intensely. I know music can be had so easily on the internet, but on a moral level, I'm really afraid of what will happen to music if we don't keep purchasing it and supporting it. I was talking to a musician here in italy, a historian, who was saying that in old Italy, since it used to be broken up into a bunch of city states, the different courts and patrons would vie for the best composers and musicians by paying them incredibly high wages. The highest wages were given to the best musicians, and so musicians were also highly motivated to excel, write good music, and even if you were mediocre, you would still probably be able to find work in some court, even if it wasn't in one of the bigger, richer city states/kingdoms. Oh how the times have changed. I was born in the wrong time, wrong place.
I've learned something about my italian. I've gotten a LOT of the speaking nailed these days, as in i respond rather quickly, when I fumble, whoever I'm talking to generally knows exactly what I'm trying to say, and I'm starting to be able to crack jokes and get laughs (important for me!) However, one thing i still SUCK at is hellos and goodbyes. My roommate, yesterday, told me that everytime she says buona serata to me, which means like 'have a good night!' i either dont say anything, awkwardly say ciao or just mumble. She thought it was so funny and strange considering i'm rather natural in a lot of other italian cultural respects, but this salutations linguistic skill i don't really have. When i think about that, it's pretty funny, cuz i'm not really sure i have it in english either. When im on the phone, i alywas feel like i'm like, eh uh ok bye? when i try to get off the phone. It's hard to be sincere in another language saying hello and goodbye when you don't really know what the normal customs are. So i've found I opt for not saying anything often because i don't want people to think I'm faking knowing what I'm doing, and hellos and goodbyes just stump me the most. Anyway she taught me that I should say 'thanks you too!' whenever i'm leaving the house and she says 'hey have a good night!' I can also say 'altrettanto' which means 'to you too' but i think i just fuck up the pacing and flow of it all. Thats a really culturally subtle thing if u think about it. I mean i say hello and goodbye differently to different groups of friends I have in the states depending on what part of the country im in. If im in california it's most likely a 'yo' or something equally casual. Maybe it has to do with comfort level?
I'm going to Sicilia (sicily) for a week in march. Just bought plane tickets and hostels today. I'm psyched because i've wanted to go since before I got here, but i didn't think I'd ever get a big enough chunk of time to see quite a bit of the island. Since we'll be there for a week we'll probably girare un bel po (go around quite a bit) and we will have been in napoli for 3 days before with our study abroad program. I'm ready for another trip! I've got travel fever real bad. The other places I REALLY want to go while I'm here this term are budapest, vienna, barcelona, sardegna, portugal, switzerland and croatia. Not all of its gonna happen, but I REALLY WANT TO GO. votes on which of those places i should go?
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
Italian Libraries
Like most things in Italy, convenience is not a priority at libraries. Because Italy is home to such ancient literature, with so much intellectualism packed into a country smaller than the state of California, they have a very interesting archive system at the libraries. In america, (at least from what I knew of libraries) most of the resources you may need in a library, you just find in the shelves and can take it home with the right card and no late fees. Here, they have these huge informational crypts, Mass storage of books under ground. In order to have access to these books, you have to have the book number, submit a written request on a little peice of paper, and every half hour all the requests are taken downstairs and library workers come up with piles of books to deliver to eager-waiting students and intellectuals.
I haven't even managed to get a book out yet. I've been trying to locate all the books I need for this semester, and each library in bologna has different open hours, different delivery times, and different request submission deadlines. Not to mention that with so many decentralized libraries its annoying to have to walk all over the city to dig up these ancient greek and german philosophies I need to study. However the process interested me immensely.
I think its really interesting that so much of this country's story is underground. I don't know if any readers remember, but I went over 200 feet underground in Italy at the end of the summer to these incredible underground cavern and that was solely a natural phenomenon in the ground. But the rest of the country is littered with Roman ruins, entire cities, layers of culture and civilization under the ground. the modern city thrives above, and under ground the memories of old societies still exist. But the weirdest thing to me is how much *information* actual manuscripts and theories and philosophies are underground. Not that it would really be any different if they were above ground, I suppose its just a question of space, but the idea that these ancient books (and some not so old) are buried underground just makes me think about how separated they are form our reality. I guess the other reason it gives me a strange sensation is because with my incredibly high level of interaction with the internet and digital text, its hard for me to fathom underground CRYPTS of books, just words upon words, information... i guess all libraries are amazing for that reason, but these just seem so separated since they don't even enjoy the same air we do above ground....
Rant. sorry
I haven't even managed to get a book out yet. I've been trying to locate all the books I need for this semester, and each library in bologna has different open hours, different delivery times, and different request submission deadlines. Not to mention that with so many decentralized libraries its annoying to have to walk all over the city to dig up these ancient greek and german philosophies I need to study. However the process interested me immensely.
I think its really interesting that so much of this country's story is underground. I don't know if any readers remember, but I went over 200 feet underground in Italy at the end of the summer to these incredible underground cavern and that was solely a natural phenomenon in the ground. But the rest of the country is littered with Roman ruins, entire cities, layers of culture and civilization under the ground. the modern city thrives above, and under ground the memories of old societies still exist. But the weirdest thing to me is how much *information* actual manuscripts and theories and philosophies are underground. Not that it would really be any different if they were above ground, I suppose its just a question of space, but the idea that these ancient books (and some not so old) are buried underground just makes me think about how separated they are form our reality. I guess the other reason it gives me a strange sensation is because with my incredibly high level of interaction with the internet and digital text, its hard for me to fathom underground CRYPTS of books, just words upon words, information... i guess all libraries are amazing for that reason, but these just seem so separated since they don't even enjoy the same air we do above ground....
Rant. sorry
Monday, February 8, 2010
What are you waiting for?
A particular week including:
1) issues with conservatory classes and transfer credit to wellesley
2)extreme nerve issues at the conservatory when i go. I have playing/speaking fright in front of everyone there. unusual for me
3)went out on friday night to a certain club in bologna that i'll probably never go back to. haha. it was fun, just not my style. (hobby one) for future bolognese student readers
4)decided not to go to paris due to a series of financial decisions. Instead, I did some shopping therapy at the AMAZING sales that happen in italy for the whole month of january with money that I'd saved for paris, and go clothes that I'm glad I didn't pass up. YEEE
5)had dinner with the year long students/girls from my program. its SO lovely to see familiar faces that speak beautiful youthful english.
6)had a music/thesis revelation. I really want to see if wellesley will let me write some sort of a hiphop/r&b/jazz thesis. there's not much literature for research...but it be cool if they let me. i've been listening to everything i can get my hands on.
7)organized things for the concert i'm doing at Caffe' Zammu on saturday night next week, went to meet a family i'll be working for teaching the kids english and babysitting, and went to a concert at a caffe'
8)Went to florence for a day, there was another chocolate festival (the 3rd one thats occured in italy that i managed to go to) and it was the last day, so florence was teeming with ppl and chocolate.
Things for the coming week?:
1)sing a lot, get ready for this concert. *sigh* i'm nervous.
2)do the credits thing w/ the conservatory
1) issues with conservatory classes and transfer credit to wellesley
2)extreme nerve issues at the conservatory when i go. I have playing/speaking fright in front of everyone there. unusual for me
3)went out on friday night to a certain club in bologna that i'll probably never go back to. haha. it was fun, just not my style. (hobby one) for future bolognese student readers
4)decided not to go to paris due to a series of financial decisions. Instead, I did some shopping therapy at the AMAZING sales that happen in italy for the whole month of january with money that I'd saved for paris, and go clothes that I'm glad I didn't pass up. YEEE
5)had dinner with the year long students/girls from my program. its SO lovely to see familiar faces that speak beautiful youthful english.
6)had a music/thesis revelation. I really want to see if wellesley will let me write some sort of a hiphop/r&b/jazz thesis. there's not much literature for research...but it be cool if they let me. i've been listening to everything i can get my hands on.
7)organized things for the concert i'm doing at Caffe' Zammu on saturday night next week, went to meet a family i'll be working for teaching the kids english and babysitting, and went to a concert at a caffe'
8)Went to florence for a day, there was another chocolate festival (the 3rd one thats occured in italy that i managed to go to) and it was the last day, so florence was teeming with ppl and chocolate.
Things for the coming week?:
1)sing a lot, get ready for this concert. *sigh* i'm nervous.
2)do the credits thing w/ the conservatory
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
The greatest thing you'll ever learn
is just to love and be loved in return? i love moulin rouge. 2 reasons that movie and song are relevant right now. 1) i'm going to paris on the 18th of feb, prob staying in montmarte region, i.e. near the moulin rouge. 2) At the concert on feb 13th with my piano professor we're probably going to do 'nature boy' (the name of that song) and lately i've just been completely enamored with it. Its simple. don't know why i like it so much.
I guess a much more loosely related reason it's relevant is because I just started taking a philosophy course, which may be the worst or best thing thats ever happened to me/i've ever learned. Italian school is really strange in general, so i always have this feeling that the way I learn any subject here is severely skewed and biased, because in american classrooms, teachers (especially in college) try to remain more neutral. I even had a history teacher who never once used 'I' or opinion frases in class until the very last day in which he gave a long monologue about how he felt about the 60s (when he was a professor at columbia teaching a political history class about dissent--imagine that!) But here, for instance, my philosophy teacher is really sort of preaching to us, its kind of like being in church. He gets SO heated and tells us millions of personal anecdotes about all the famous european philosophers who were his teachers in the post WWII period, and i don't know what to make of it. Firstly, philosophy is a TOTAL (pardon the language) mindfuck for me. Most ppl who read this can tell that I write a lot, which sort of logically leads to I think a lot. Probably too much. I probably do both of those things too much. And i dont know what to make of being in a class where modes of thinking are instructed... at least thats what this class is like. The title of this course is theoretical philosophy, which means it doesnt focus on one aspect of philosophy, one type, or one application. Its more like a historical like at philosophy... i think? from what i've gathered so far?
Anyway, This week has been super strange. I guess with the beginning of classes on monday morning, I'm starting to feel and realize more directly just how different my life is going to be this term from last semester. My schedule is a little nuts, not wellesley style, but pretty packed for being abroad. I have 2 classes that meet 6 hours of week at the university, literature and philosophy. monday and tuesday they are back to back --4 straight hours without breaks. Then i have 8 hours of conservatory each week, 1 week they are split between 2 days, and the next week, its ALL on friday. Then I'm babysitting 2 days a week for the italian-american family, every once in a while for the director of my study abroad program, and I'm starting to teach english to a little italian girl. I'm also going to be teaching english at an elementary school once or twice a week for an hour, something kids from last semester did that I regret not having done. It seems awesome.
But i guess the other reason this all HIT me pretty hard and fast was because, with the graduate study fellowship i was applying for being due this week (yesterday-thank god its done) and after having been in london for a week without doing an OUNCE of work on the application, I sort of flipped when I got back. The thing is, I might not even need the fellowship, but I always like to cover my bases because I dont want to start a masters and than not be able to finish it because of money issues. Plus this fellowship was too perfect to miss. But the point is I started getting seriously nervous, which I don't really do sooo much anymore, just occasionally. In any case, the application is in and I did everything I could do from being abroad to get it there in a timely manner, so now I just have to wait.
One of the more interesting things the professor talked about in my philosophy class was the importance of reading and speaking. That learning to read and speak (well converse, really) is the only pathway to really thinking. And he pointed out endlessly, that even when people think they're eyes are open seeing things, taking the things around them in, they aren't necessarily thinking about it. I always have this sensation--not to pull a catcher in the rye, but i always wonder how many people are faking their intellectualism, if I'm faking my intellectualism, or if I'm really thinking at all when I experience things, or if its all just a part the dull process of moving throughout space in our extremely brief lives.........
I also filled out my major concentration form for italian, and I somehow have done WAY more credits than I need. I'm hoping I can drop this lit class i'm in at the university, cuz i don't really like it, but i really should read/need to read in italian a lot more if I have any hope of keeping up this summer.
I'm home sick. not too bad. I'm starting to imagine what it will be like when I have to leave bologna in june. All the other americans will be gone-again, like when I was back in january a bit by myself. It's pretty insane how attached i am to this house, I got so bummed the other day when I thought about having to leave it, and its not even for another 5 months. Sometimes I just want the whole world to be smaller....
I guess a much more loosely related reason it's relevant is because I just started taking a philosophy course, which may be the worst or best thing thats ever happened to me/i've ever learned. Italian school is really strange in general, so i always have this feeling that the way I learn any subject here is severely skewed and biased, because in american classrooms, teachers (especially in college) try to remain more neutral. I even had a history teacher who never once used 'I' or opinion frases in class until the very last day in which he gave a long monologue about how he felt about the 60s (when he was a professor at columbia teaching a political history class about dissent--imagine that!) But here, for instance, my philosophy teacher is really sort of preaching to us, its kind of like being in church. He gets SO heated and tells us millions of personal anecdotes about all the famous european philosophers who were his teachers in the post WWII period, and i don't know what to make of it. Firstly, philosophy is a TOTAL (pardon the language) mindfuck for me. Most ppl who read this can tell that I write a lot, which sort of logically leads to I think a lot. Probably too much. I probably do both of those things too much. And i dont know what to make of being in a class where modes of thinking are instructed... at least thats what this class is like. The title of this course is theoretical philosophy, which means it doesnt focus on one aspect of philosophy, one type, or one application. Its more like a historical like at philosophy... i think? from what i've gathered so far?
Anyway, This week has been super strange. I guess with the beginning of classes on monday morning, I'm starting to feel and realize more directly just how different my life is going to be this term from last semester. My schedule is a little nuts, not wellesley style, but pretty packed for being abroad. I have 2 classes that meet 6 hours of week at the university, literature and philosophy. monday and tuesday they are back to back --4 straight hours without breaks. Then i have 8 hours of conservatory each week, 1 week they are split between 2 days, and the next week, its ALL on friday. Then I'm babysitting 2 days a week for the italian-american family, every once in a while for the director of my study abroad program, and I'm starting to teach english to a little italian girl. I'm also going to be teaching english at an elementary school once or twice a week for an hour, something kids from last semester did that I regret not having done. It seems awesome.
But i guess the other reason this all HIT me pretty hard and fast was because, with the graduate study fellowship i was applying for being due this week (yesterday-thank god its done) and after having been in london for a week without doing an OUNCE of work on the application, I sort of flipped when I got back. The thing is, I might not even need the fellowship, but I always like to cover my bases because I dont want to start a masters and than not be able to finish it because of money issues. Plus this fellowship was too perfect to miss. But the point is I started getting seriously nervous, which I don't really do sooo much anymore, just occasionally. In any case, the application is in and I did everything I could do from being abroad to get it there in a timely manner, so now I just have to wait.
One of the more interesting things the professor talked about in my philosophy class was the importance of reading and speaking. That learning to read and speak (well converse, really) is the only pathway to really thinking. And he pointed out endlessly, that even when people think they're eyes are open seeing things, taking the things around them in, they aren't necessarily thinking about it. I always have this sensation--not to pull a catcher in the rye, but i always wonder how many people are faking their intellectualism, if I'm faking my intellectualism, or if I'm really thinking at all when I experience things, or if its all just a part the dull process of moving throughout space in our extremely brief lives.........
I also filled out my major concentration form for italian, and I somehow have done WAY more credits than I need. I'm hoping I can drop this lit class i'm in at the university, cuz i don't really like it, but i really should read/need to read in italian a lot more if I have any hope of keeping up this summer.
I'm home sick. not too bad. I'm starting to imagine what it will be like when I have to leave bologna in june. All the other americans will be gone-again, like when I was back in january a bit by myself. It's pretty insane how attached i am to this house, I got so bummed the other day when I thought about having to leave it, and its not even for another 5 months. Sometimes I just want the whole world to be smaller....
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