Sono in Vacanza

Sorry to leave you all hanging for so long, but on the road internet is easy to find, but hard to spend a reasonable time with. Last week I spent in the Alps on a Student Catholic Retreat. It was incredible. I went hiking in the alps, and learned a lot.

After that I met up with Logan and Eric Horne, Maths brother and sister in law, along with their twins and their friend molly. We spend a few days by Lake Garda, in Riva, rock climbing and swimming. Now we are in Southern France. It is totally strange being here. I will write more later, but I will not be back in Florence until Tuesday.

proverbo

Al contadino non fare sapere quanto e bouno il cacio con le pere.
So totday I learned a proverb instead of a word. I still dont know exactly what it means, but I sort of get it. I learned how to say it both in Italian and florentina.
Today I fell of my chair when I was working. I still laugh about it when I think about it.
Valeria, my official tutor usually makes us lunch. Today she made pasta….well its always pasta, with tomatoes and garlic. When I finished she said I wasnt allowed to kiss anyone for the rest of the day.

Today a whole bunch of commotion came into the studio in the form of clients. It was really interesting to see Italia business first glance. The formal verbs, and expressions that I am not used to were exciting to hear. I didnt really know what was going on, and I couldnt help but feel awkward. I didnt know if I was suppose to keep working, or talk to the clients, or observe, so I kinda did all of each. When I go to work related things, people expect that I know Italian, and dont speak slowly to me until I tell them. I like that.

I talked to the barista at the bar I go to daily today. Usually when people ask where Im from I say America, and they respond yea I know but where. This time I said I was from Washington DC, and he was surprised that Im American. I havent had many bad experiences with being America here. There is a lot of tension between many american students and Italians in the center, but I have found myself far from that. Italians love a lot of American Pop culture. It is strange to me that some Italians embrace MTV and American culture so much, but then stereotype the very Americans that they see and look down on them.

Luxury packs

When Liora was here she commented on how Europe is becoming less and less of a place to hardcore backpacking. I agree with her. I think every day I see larger and larger backpacks, which are impossible to travel with. I dont really understand why people buy them just to fill them with crap that they wont be able to carry for more than 200 yards. I dont even understand how they get them on their backs. It just seems to defeat the purpose of backpacking. Living off of one bag isnt a significant thing when that one bag is the size of your room.

Today I ate lunch next to a really beautiful painting. That was really exciting. I am learning pronunciation one word at a time. I have 3 words down very well, Schiaciatta–the best bread in the whole world, Fulmine -lightening and requadrattura-relining of paintings. I cant wait to learn a new word tmw! I also have to say each of these words correctly before I can learn a new one.

I am starting to really get along and joke with my co-workers. Its nice to not always feel akward, which I do still at times. But it is getting less and less.

Daniele, is a huge baseball fan. When I told him Math was coming in august he asked if he was from washington as well. I said yes, and he got so excited and asked if he could bring a nationals cap with him. Its great to make relationships here. I am so fortunate to have found such wonderful people that have really cared about how I am doing and legitimately want to help me. Today I was talking quickly in Italian, and got a Brava for it! I still love off of them. I might even mop the floor tmw just to get one. But tmw we will hopefully finish relining the canvas, so that will be pretty intense, and I hope to learn a lot.

Whew!

So I got my grades completely transferred to UMW. That is nice to have completed. I got an A- in Painting, and an A in Art Conservation. Im pretty excited about that.

Today at work, was great as usual! I am learning so much Italian, but still not understanding a lot of things. Today was super labor intensive. We finished making Pasta Fiorentina for the new canvas. It is huge! And then prepared it, and stretch it, and vaccum sucked it, and everything. It was great getting to be so active. I really love the Italian life style. I am embracing it more and more. I love eating late, and eating pasta and drinking coffee. I had a prior goal before I came not to get addicted to coffee. But I think I left that in the dust. I usally average about 3 espresso’s a day if not more. Sometimes less. But I love it. I think thats the important part. I know that I could make it through the day without coffee, but I would rather not.

come se dice come se dice?

Today my co-worker asked me this….how do you say how do you say? I thought that was pretty funny. I also made chocolate chip cookies for everyone at work for having so much patience with me. Danielle said that I shouldnt worry myself with that, but I still do. I just think its important that they know how much I appreciate working in the studio with them. The chocolate ship cookies were quite a hit. I also found a list of Art words, in English and Italian. I made a point to memorize them all today, and I used almost everyone of them. We were re-lining a painting, and they told me to get the Punti Rame, copper staples, and I knew!!! I was super excited about that, and they were pretty surprised that I knew what they were talking about. Also Danielle was looking at them, and trying to pronounce everyone in English, its funny how Italians cant say an R without rolling it, and how Americans have a really hard time rolling their R’s. I feel like the two languages were never meant to be compatible. Today we also made Pasta Fiorentina, it smells really bad, and is SUPER labor intensive. It took about 3 hours to complete, and a lot of stirring. I kinda liked it, and the smell though.

I’ve continued working on my wooden man statue, I dont know when I will every finish with him. But I have gotten so much better with leveling plaster. It is a long process mainly because I keep making mistakes and then have to re-apply plaster and level it again. But Im getting better, so Im excited about that!!

Yesterday I went into one of the Medici Chapels. It was really beautiful. I made a small conversation with the door tendant, who wants to learn english. He owns a touring company, and talked to me about working for it. I hope that works out. Ive been trying to find small day jobs on the weekends to make some extra cash….I am going through so much here! I’ve applied to about 3 jobs, and havent heard back from them. I think it might be because my resume is in English, I should probably change that.

La mia bicicletta!

Today was another eventful day. It was my first day riding my bike to work. The trip there was terrifying. I went a really bizarre way, and the wheels were super flat, and the seat broken. And then when I finally made it to work, the back tire broke! So I went to work as normal, working on my wooden statue man. I also talked to my boss about vacation, which will start on the 26th of July, and they dont know when it will start back up, because it all depends on whether they come back or not!
So I already have plans to go with the Firenze University Catholic student retreat in the Alps, and then babysitting/hanging out with Logan and Eric and the Twins in northern Italy and France. So I am super excited about that!

Then in the afternoon we went to another conservation lab, to re-line a painting. There I met a woman from PA who has been living in Italy since the 70’s. I asked her opinion about getting into the field, and she recommended the university of Delaware program, an getting a masters in general in America. It is great getting so much advice from so many different people! Its really great to get diverse opinions so I can really figure out what s best for me!

After we got back, my co-worker fixed my bike, and put air in the tires, and fixed the seat too! I have really found wonderful people here, and have been so blessed with my experiences!

The Italian Stomach bug

Today I left work early because my stomach is not happy! I felt weird asking to go home early, but it was obviously fine. When I got home I felt better, and then felt bad that I didnt stay at work. But then I felt worse and was glad I went home. I also got majorly attacked by some sort of bug. On my shoulder I have about 20 bites from something, but to me mosquito bites dont make sense with so many in a small area. But the everything here is different, in terms of health. I have allergies, I get really bad reactions to the mosquitoes here, and I’ve gotten sick more than usual. It sounds like im falling apart, but really Im not! Its a good thing that I am healthy, because I am able to function normally even thought this place has strange viruses.
Thats all for my symptoms.

learning Italian in Italia is so hard. When I learn something from someone, and then say it to someone else, they correct it! For example I was told by my roommate that Motorini in Firenze are called motore. So then I called one a motore, and my other friends corrected me and told me it was a motorino. There are different words for everything!

Today I went out to dinner with some of my friends from the Catholic student group, and then listened to their choir practice. When they start up in september I will start with them. They practice in this beautiful and crazily old church that has incredible acoustics. The choir is just voice. It is absolutely incredible. I was so fortunate to be there, looking at beautiful art, listening to incredible music….exactly for what the church was made for. Bellissima!

Brava!

Today I had a lot of fun. I wore my new boots, and I think that had a lot to do with it. At work I worked again on my wooden bust friend. I applied plaster to all of the holes. The radio stations here play both English and Italian songs. Today I heard an English song, and thought I was hearing “vieni con me” instead of the actual English words, I was kinda excited about that.

I learned a lot today. My tutor is letting me borrow her restoration dictionary. I am using it to learn all of the Italian words and vocabulary and techniques that I will be encountering. Also I got a really long lecture from Danielle. But it was a good lecture. We walked around to all of the paintings in the Lab and discussed them. He also talked about how hard of a field it is, and you can only do if you love it. But today I got my first Brava at work, its like good job in a way, but is used more frequently and not as formally as good job.
Of course I also made mistakes. Three times I had to be repeated a question. And then did the wrong thing because I didnt understand. But the good thing is that everything in Italian Restoration is reversible…so that is definitely good for me.

Last night I went to a Brazilian festival. It was really interesting! There was a lot of dancing, and it was such nice weather. Me and my friend Barbara were the first ones to start dancing, and then like 20 minutes later everyone else started too! I went with a huge mix of people. Barbara is from the czech republic, Chris from Brazil, Fabio from Jordan, and me from America! It was fun because we all said “cheers” in our own language, and then tried to say it in everyone elses, and it was just bizarre.
Also before we went, we were at Chris’s house, where there are always people playing music. I eventually got the guitar, and everyone wanted to hear an American song, so I decided to play and Sing Tom Petty’s Free falling, they all loved it. When I finished they kept commenting on how perfect my english is. Its strange but I actually get that a lot. A lot of my Italian friends will ask me to pronounce certain words, and the say “wow that was perfect.”

It’s Sale Season!

Yesterday I went into the center with my roommate and her boyfriend Gianni. July is a sale month along with Feb. I know I will not be here in February so I am going to try and live it up now! But the Sales here are ridiculous! You wouldnt believe them. I got a pair of boots…..80 percent off, only 12 Euro. A lot of my American friends said how they thought that all Italians are rich because they can buy designer stuff, and thats all they wear. But really, the designer stuff is normal priced when it is marked down in the sales months, and everyone goes crazy. Luciana was looking for shoes. It was really fun seeing which shoes she picked out. We have completely different taste in shoes! Its not that she picked ugly ones, but ones that I wouldnt have chosen!

I went to Mass this morning at the church across the street from me, it was a lovely chorus with simple but beautiful folk music. I’ve been to two really nice musical masses. Both had folk guitar and singing. I went to the duomo for mass once and it had the organ….I just cant stand organs, I dont know why, I just dont understand how they sound pretty.

Ciao Bella

So this week has ended. And it was another fine week. I have really been enjoying my job. Yesturday I got to work on a real painting!!!!! I added the varnish layer to spots and tried to blend them in perfectly with the paint. It was hard and I messed up. I am so nervous so make errors, but it is inevitable. It is hard for me to make the proper colors, I would like to take a color theory class. My boss said “imparerai”…you will learn. It seemed like me messing up was expected….which is good and bad for me. But its obviously better than getting yelled at!

Today when I was taking a break and looking at the paintings around I found this old one sorta tucked away. It was a Madonna and child, with Jesus handing Mary a crown of thorns, in the foreground there were nails and a hammer. I have never seen a depiction of this sort of subject matter. I found it quite strange, and very intense. I have a theory that the Catholic church can be summed up in the Pieta or the relationship between Jesus and Mary, but I might add this painting to that at well. Mary’s face was painted with such care, she knew his fate and delt with that every day.

My Italian roommate Luciana finished her exams for the semester! We had a nice dinner and drank beer and wine and watched a movie. It was a lot of fun. I practiced Italian, and she English….it was good for us all! But now I am tired and want to go to bed!
bounanotte!