I'm actually starting to get people's names down now. The New Zealand girl is Amy, the Irish girl is Stephanie, the Venezuelan is Ilse, the Iranian is Mor, the American living in Florence for the past two years is Rachael, the weird American guy (he looked like a pirate yesterday and a cowboy today) is John, one of the Swedish guys is Johann, the German guy is Ulrich, the older Canadian lady is Laura, and then there's another American girl I've been talking two named Sara.
Whew.
Internet is thankfully working at the school. My computer just died before I had a chance to play around on the internet there. Turns out Susan (the assistant director) noticed one of the lights on the modem was out yesterday before she left and jostled it around a bit and it turned on. It works now. Apparently that stupid little light not being on was the problem.
I should be finishing my Bargue drawing tomorrow and hopefully starting on a new one. I'll post pictures tomorrow of it and a couple of the model pencil drawings we've been doing. I just need to tweak a couple of things on the Bargue drawing. I know it isn't exact nor up to being any of my best work, but I see it as me getting into the swing of things again.
I had a cigarette today. Ilse bummed me one and I've been craving one since I got here because EVERYONE HERE SMOKES. I'm really not kidding. It's hard to find someone here who is not a smoker. I think Lucas and maybe a couple other of the students are the only people I know here who don't smoke. But I honestly don't think I'm going to have another cigarette for a while.
I'm as exhausted as I've been the past couple of days. I stayed up to talk with Erik last night, but not for too long. I was asleep by 1am. I've also been waking up 20-30 minutes before my alarm goes off as well and I usually sit in bed a while before just getting up because I can't fall asleep again. Plus, standing for around 8+ hours a day and walking everywhere really takes a toll. My feet hurt so much and my shoulders and neck and back and knees are really taking a beating from standing for so long. My knees were really feeling it today because to correctly measure each time while standing and drawing, you have to lock your knees. So that's 3 hours a day or more of locked knees. And trying to hold your arm still to measure correctly as well is killing my shoulder. I have a migraine right now because of all the tension from it.
Lucas and I went to the vegan/organic store today after school. We walked and walked and I couldn't help thinking that we were walking too far, even though it was far anyway (30+ minute walk). I looked at the numbers and we were at 220. The store was at 90. So we had to walk another 10 minutes backtracking. Finally we get to the store and I'm happy. The prices are still expensive, but WAY cheaper than the other store we went to. And they had a pretty good selection of vegan/vegetarian food. They even had a huge gluten/wheat free section that I might go back for. Eating all these grains again is giving me really bad heartburn and I think supplementing my sore and stiff back and shoulders as well.
Finally just got home maybe an hour ago. Lucas made some lo-mein with lo-mein noodles he found at a little Asian store that's on the way to the Duomo. We also go (fake) oyster sauce and coconut milk there. But he made the noodles, threw in some vegetables we had that needed to be used in the next day or two, and threw in some oyster sauce. We had some white wine with it as well. Made in Florence. It's VERY light and doesn't have much taste to it at all. But you can definitely feel the alcohol in your throat.
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
9/28/10
Second day of class. Today I actually was able to draw from life. I'm happy to actually have new models now, instead of the same models I've been drawing for the past 3 years.
I'm bored with the class, though. I love life drawing, but the way that they're making us work and the fact that I'm not allowed to go past a certain point irks me. It's going REALLY REALLY slow. Right now we're just doing basic pencil/line drawings without any detail or contour. We're supposed to keep it mainly just straight line. I realize that they're trying to teach us to really look and everything, but I've been doing this almost every day for the past 3 years. They're using the sight-size method which is really what I've been doing except a little less structured.
I hate standing. And I hate that they are making us stand a certain distance from the easel as well. It's near impossible for me to draw that way because I always end up having it really sketchy or incorrect. My hand doesn't seem to respond the same way drawing with an outstretched arm. I need to rest my palm or finger or have some base point to be able to get the correct lines.
I should be finishing my first Bargue drawing tomorrow as well. I hope they don't think I'm going too fast.
The teacher and assistant both came around today and critiqued me a bit. It irks me, some of the things they said because that's just how I work and I'm uncomfortable working another way. But they did point out a couple of things that made me fix my drawings.
During lunch I hung out with Lucas, Rachael (American who's been living in Florence for 2 years), a girl from New Zealand (didn't catch her name), and a girl from Iran (Mor). We ended up generally talking about modern and conceptual artists. It was interesting to hear everyone's opinion. The New Zealander had the same general feeling towards it that I do; if the artist cannot show that they understand basic anatomy, composition, color theory, etc (ie the basics of what all artists should know), then I don't care for their work and don't really respect them as an artist.
The internet there is also being awkward. It turns out the password wasn't FAA, but the actual network was named FAA without a password. So all I had to do was search to connect to the network FAA. But then for some reason it wouldn't load anything. None of my programs would connect to the internet, even though my computer said I was connected and had full bars as well. The assistant director, Susan, said she would contact someone who would probably know what's up and get back to me. She helped me with getting my computer connected in the first place, helped get more light into my studio (because for some reason the lights were dim and randomly flickered), and was talking to me about the fall weather and such for a while. I like her.
I just hope she hears back from whoever she contacted soon. I want to be able to be on the internet without having to constantly worry about being disconnected and wait 5+ minutes for one website to load.
It's been getting chilly also. It rained on and off the past couple of days and I've been wearing light jackets/hoodies. It's definitely not as cold as it is back in Chicago, but it's definitely Fall now. For some reason it's been getting really cold in our apartment. I think because we're up on the top floor. I taped pillow cases over my window so that the heat stays better, but it's still pretty chilly. I'm hoping to keep the heaters off as long as possible so as not to rack up the electric or gas (not sure which one the heaters are).
Also found seitan (fake meat, not soy but wheat based) and tofu. The only problem is that it was 6 euros for about a meal's worth. That translates to about $10. Icky. I'm hoping to find something cheaper at another specialty/organic/vegetarian store that I found online. The only problem is that it's about a 30-40 minute walk away. I'm hoping to head there tomorrow after school.
I'm bored with the class, though. I love life drawing, but the way that they're making us work and the fact that I'm not allowed to go past a certain point irks me. It's going REALLY REALLY slow. Right now we're just doing basic pencil/line drawings without any detail or contour. We're supposed to keep it mainly just straight line. I realize that they're trying to teach us to really look and everything, but I've been doing this almost every day for the past 3 years. They're using the sight-size method which is really what I've been doing except a little less structured.
I hate standing. And I hate that they are making us stand a certain distance from the easel as well. It's near impossible for me to draw that way because I always end up having it really sketchy or incorrect. My hand doesn't seem to respond the same way drawing with an outstretched arm. I need to rest my palm or finger or have some base point to be able to get the correct lines.
I should be finishing my first Bargue drawing tomorrow as well. I hope they don't think I'm going too fast.
The teacher and assistant both came around today and critiqued me a bit. It irks me, some of the things they said because that's just how I work and I'm uncomfortable working another way. But they did point out a couple of things that made me fix my drawings.
During lunch I hung out with Lucas, Rachael (American who's been living in Florence for 2 years), a girl from New Zealand (didn't catch her name), and a girl from Iran (Mor). We ended up generally talking about modern and conceptual artists. It was interesting to hear everyone's opinion. The New Zealander had the same general feeling towards it that I do; if the artist cannot show that they understand basic anatomy, composition, color theory, etc (ie the basics of what all artists should know), then I don't care for their work and don't really respect them as an artist.
The internet there is also being awkward. It turns out the password wasn't FAA, but the actual network was named FAA without a password. So all I had to do was search to connect to the network FAA. But then for some reason it wouldn't load anything. None of my programs would connect to the internet, even though my computer said I was connected and had full bars as well. The assistant director, Susan, said she would contact someone who would probably know what's up and get back to me. She helped me with getting my computer connected in the first place, helped get more light into my studio (because for some reason the lights were dim and randomly flickered), and was talking to me about the fall weather and such for a while. I like her.
I just hope she hears back from whoever she contacted soon. I want to be able to be on the internet without having to constantly worry about being disconnected and wait 5+ minutes for one website to load.
It's been getting chilly also. It rained on and off the past couple of days and I've been wearing light jackets/hoodies. It's definitely not as cold as it is back in Chicago, but it's definitely Fall now. For some reason it's been getting really cold in our apartment. I think because we're up on the top floor. I taped pillow cases over my window so that the heat stays better, but it's still pretty chilly. I'm hoping to keep the heaters off as long as possible so as not to rack up the electric or gas (not sure which one the heaters are).
Also found seitan (fake meat, not soy but wheat based) and tofu. The only problem is that it was 6 euros for about a meal's worth. That translates to about $10. Icky. I'm hoping to find something cheaper at another specialty/organic/vegetarian store that I found online. The only problem is that it's about a 30-40 minute walk away. I'm hoping to head there tomorrow after school.
Monday, September 27, 2010
9/27/10
So things are better and worse.
Things happened back home yesterday and made me even more stressed out and depressed. I went out to dinner with Lucas to an 'American/NFL' bar that was mostly filled with American student douche bags. The food was really good though. The rest of the night wasn't so good and I didn't get much sleep.
Woke up exhausted in the morning, but I obviously could not have missed the first day. We get going and are some of the first people there. Eventually everyone shuffles in and we all sit down. The director of the drawing department introduced herself and blahblah. Then we all had to introduce ourselves and say something about our background and all that fun stuff. I was surprised to find out that most of the people there don't have much of a real art background. There are some very interesting people literally from all over the world in the class, though. Ireland, South Africa, Venezuela, Hong Kong, Sweden, Poland, Canada, France, Hawaii, Ukraine, Germany, and I believe the rest are just from all over America. No other Chicagoans, though.
I can honestly say I was bored most of the day. She went over the student handbook and all that fun stuff. Then she talked about the technique that they teach here. Which is something I've been doing for the past 3 years and learned about 5 times over.
One of the instructors then took us to Zechhi, the local art store. Very tiny and very basic. Not much in the way of carriers, which is one of the things I was hoping to get. We get our stuff and it's break, so Lucas and I head back to the apartment to drop stuff off and grab things we already had that we needed, then get back to the Academy.
We eat lunch and chat with some of the other students. Kinda made friends with the Venezuelan (don't remember her name) and the Irish girl, Stephanie. We also talked with an American girl who has been living in Florence for the past two years working in the museums.
Then we pick our Bargue drawing to copy, and head to our studios. One student get the studio in the morning, one in the evening. Some times there's two students in there at a time, depending on the room you are assigned. Thankfully I get a studio cubicle to myself for the morning. We set everything up and start copying.
4pm rolls around and most of the students leave. We didn't get a model session because there was no real time. But I get the 3 hour studio first, the hour for lunch, then 3 hours with the model, then an hour, then 2 hours of anatomy, art history, or more model work depending on the day. So I'm pretty much there from 8:30am until 7-7:30pm.
The only problem so far is that I tried the internet there and for some reason the password is not working. The two Swedish guys were trying to get on the internet and couldn't as well. I really hope it's not too long of a problem because I have a feeling the internet there is A LOT faster than it is here in the apartment. Where it takes 5 minutes or more to load a page.
After we left the Academy (around 5?) we went with the American girl, Rachael, to COOP to do a little shopping. Went our separate ways and Lucas and I brought everything back to the apartment, then headed back out to Zechhi to grab some things we needed still for tomorrow. We stopped at a little Asian/Indian food store on the way back and we also stopped at this Dungeons & Dragons/Magic/general geekery store. They have the most it's so ugly its adorable statuettes of cats and owls and trolls. I really want to get one but I'm afraid of the price and I have a feeling I would have no where to really put it anyway.
Making fennel soup tonight for dinner. I should probably go check on that right now.
Again. I am so freaking exhausted. I walked around for a good portion of the day and I haven't eaten much and didn't sleep much last night.
That's another problem: trying to figure out lunch every day. There's not much to really make for lunch here that wouldn't need a fridge to keep it cool or a microwave to heat it up and I don't think the Academy has either. We'll have to see.
And it turns out that the registrar told me to just have all our mail sent to the Academy. So for anyone who wants to send me ANYTHING, here's the address.
Jessie Koepke
Via delle Casine 21/R
50122 Florence, Italy
I completely lost my train of thought....
Things happened back home yesterday and made me even more stressed out and depressed. I went out to dinner with Lucas to an 'American/NFL' bar that was mostly filled with American student douche bags. The food was really good though. The rest of the night wasn't so good and I didn't get much sleep.
Woke up exhausted in the morning, but I obviously could not have missed the first day. We get going and are some of the first people there. Eventually everyone shuffles in and we all sit down. The director of the drawing department introduced herself and blahblah. Then we all had to introduce ourselves and say something about our background and all that fun stuff. I was surprised to find out that most of the people there don't have much of a real art background. There are some very interesting people literally from all over the world in the class, though. Ireland, South Africa, Venezuela, Hong Kong, Sweden, Poland, Canada, France, Hawaii, Ukraine, Germany, and I believe the rest are just from all over America. No other Chicagoans, though.
I can honestly say I was bored most of the day. She went over the student handbook and all that fun stuff. Then she talked about the technique that they teach here. Which is something I've been doing for the past 3 years and learned about 5 times over.
One of the instructors then took us to Zechhi, the local art store. Very tiny and very basic. Not much in the way of carriers, which is one of the things I was hoping to get. We get our stuff and it's break, so Lucas and I head back to the apartment to drop stuff off and grab things we already had that we needed, then get back to the Academy.
We eat lunch and chat with some of the other students. Kinda made friends with the Venezuelan (don't remember her name) and the Irish girl, Stephanie. We also talked with an American girl who has been living in Florence for the past two years working in the museums.
Then we pick our Bargue drawing to copy, and head to our studios. One student get the studio in the morning, one in the evening. Some times there's two students in there at a time, depending on the room you are assigned. Thankfully I get a studio cubicle to myself for the morning. We set everything up and start copying.
4pm rolls around and most of the students leave. We didn't get a model session because there was no real time. But I get the 3 hour studio first, the hour for lunch, then 3 hours with the model, then an hour, then 2 hours of anatomy, art history, or more model work depending on the day. So I'm pretty much there from 8:30am until 7-7:30pm.
The only problem so far is that I tried the internet there and for some reason the password is not working. The two Swedish guys were trying to get on the internet and couldn't as well. I really hope it's not too long of a problem because I have a feeling the internet there is A LOT faster than it is here in the apartment. Where it takes 5 minutes or more to load a page.
After we left the Academy (around 5?) we went with the American girl, Rachael, to COOP to do a little shopping. Went our separate ways and Lucas and I brought everything back to the apartment, then headed back out to Zechhi to grab some things we needed still for tomorrow. We stopped at a little Asian/Indian food store on the way back and we also stopped at this Dungeons & Dragons/Magic/general geekery store. They have the most it's so ugly its adorable statuettes of cats and owls and trolls. I really want to get one but I'm afraid of the price and I have a feeling I would have no where to really put it anyway.
Making fennel soup tonight for dinner. I should probably go check on that right now.
Again. I am so freaking exhausted. I walked around for a good portion of the day and I haven't eaten much and didn't sleep much last night.
That's another problem: trying to figure out lunch every day. There's not much to really make for lunch here that wouldn't need a fridge to keep it cool or a microwave to heat it up and I don't think the Academy has either. We'll have to see.
And it turns out that the registrar told me to just have all our mail sent to the Academy. So for anyone who wants to send me ANYTHING, here's the address.
Jessie Koepke
Via delle Casine 21/R
50122 Florence, Italy
I completely lost my train of thought....
Saturday, September 25, 2010
9/25/10
Not so good day.
I have extreme homesickness. Everyone will probably say I should be shot for saying this, but I don't want to be here anymore. I want to go home. It's cool here and a place that I wish everyone could visit, but it's not for me. I think I would be handling this a lot better if I knew I was only going to be here for a couple weeks or maybe a month. But I know I have a long time yet before I can go home. People were saying how I'll love it there so much that I probably won't want to come back. But the truth at this point is that I love it so much back home that I want to go back.
Today started off ok. Lucas left to go to the Duomo museum again to sketch the Michelangelo statue there. I was in my room reading and waiting for some eggs to finish boiling when I heard someone knocking at the door. I ask who it is before I look through the peep hole and some lady starts babbling in Italian. Looking through the peephole, I see an old lady in a blue dress with flowers on it. I tell her I don't speak Italian and I don't know what she wants and she just shuts up. So I start walking back to my room when she knocks on the door again and babbles again. There's a very good chance she's not just some random woman off the street because the door to get into our building requires a key. Unless someone didn't close the door all the way, no one can get in without a key or without being buzzed in. So I open the door and she starts babbling more, raising her voice. I tell her 'non capisco' or 'i don't understand'. She stares at me for a second and then starts talking again, even louder. I know little enough Italian to get that she was talking about a box, then the television or something like that. And then she wanted me to go downstairs with her. I told her no, I was cooking and tried to get her to understand with the little Italian I know that I couldn't go anywhere and leave my food cooking. If I just turned off the stove and left with her and then turned the stove back on, the eggs would be ruined. She just kept trying to get me to come downstairs. So I tell her to wait a minute 'uno minuto' (I think that's correct) and she seemed to understand.
I close the door and try to call my landlord to ask him who the hell this woman is. His phone is apparently out of service, which is a whole other fuckery I have to deal with now because he was supposed to set up a box for us to get mail as well. So I call Alto but the phone cuts out or something before I can get him to try to figure out what she wants. So I grab my phone, keys, and shoes and go out the door. The woman isn't there anymore. I walk down the first flight and look around for her, but she's obviously gone at this point. So I go back upstairs and try to open the apartment door again. The keys are assholes and you have to use it every time you open the door (unless you're on the inside) even if it's unlocked. It's pretty much impossible to open the door anyway because you have to turn it just the right way in the right angle for it to open. So I stand there for a good 10 minutes trying to open the door. I text Lucas telling him I can't open the door. He sends me back a couple of texts giving me tips on how to open it because for some reason it always opens when he does it. Part of the problem might be my key also because my key is obviously the copy key. 25 minutes in and still no open door.
I start having a panic attack and ask Lucas if he could just come home and let me in. I feel shitty because I hate to interrupt him and I know I'm just an idiot and I should be able to open the door on my own. But things weren't getting better and having a panic attack in a situation like that would be much worse if I just kept trying on my own. So finally, after about 35 minutes of being locked out, Lucas arrives and lets me in. Of course the key works for him. I go and take a Xanax, then try to figure the fucking door out so that this shit doesn't happen again. I finally get it. You have to apparently slowly turn it while pushing in and kinda up and turn it so hard it feels like you're going to break the key. And it sometimes works when you do that.
This is bullshit.
Lucas leaves again after making sure I'm ok on my own. I settle down a little and then pass out for about 4 hours. I had some really weird dream that I can remember quite clearly too. Most of it points out to severely missing my family and Erik. And my video games, haha. I told Lucas the dream when he came home about 10 minutes after I woke up and he said as much as well and that it sounds like it's just my brain trying to process a lot of thoughts.
The internet is being really wonky. The USB modem thing has been really crappy today and randomly cuts out of the internet. It's never really cut out before, just decided to go really really really slow at random times for 5-15 minutes.
There are other stresses that are back home as well. It's even more difficult being here knowing that there are so many problems still back home and there's nothing I can do about it.
I'm sure I'll get over this hump. I know I signed up for this and there's no turning back. But it still doesn't change the fact that I just want to go home.
I have extreme homesickness. Everyone will probably say I should be shot for saying this, but I don't want to be here anymore. I want to go home. It's cool here and a place that I wish everyone could visit, but it's not for me. I think I would be handling this a lot better if I knew I was only going to be here for a couple weeks or maybe a month. But I know I have a long time yet before I can go home. People were saying how I'll love it there so much that I probably won't want to come back. But the truth at this point is that I love it so much back home that I want to go back.
Today started off ok. Lucas left to go to the Duomo museum again to sketch the Michelangelo statue there. I was in my room reading and waiting for some eggs to finish boiling when I heard someone knocking at the door. I ask who it is before I look through the peep hole and some lady starts babbling in Italian. Looking through the peephole, I see an old lady in a blue dress with flowers on it. I tell her I don't speak Italian and I don't know what she wants and she just shuts up. So I start walking back to my room when she knocks on the door again and babbles again. There's a very good chance she's not just some random woman off the street because the door to get into our building requires a key. Unless someone didn't close the door all the way, no one can get in without a key or without being buzzed in. So I open the door and she starts babbling more, raising her voice. I tell her 'non capisco' or 'i don't understand'. She stares at me for a second and then starts talking again, even louder. I know little enough Italian to get that she was talking about a box, then the television or something like that. And then she wanted me to go downstairs with her. I told her no, I was cooking and tried to get her to understand with the little Italian I know that I couldn't go anywhere and leave my food cooking. If I just turned off the stove and left with her and then turned the stove back on, the eggs would be ruined. She just kept trying to get me to come downstairs. So I tell her to wait a minute 'uno minuto' (I think that's correct) and she seemed to understand.
I close the door and try to call my landlord to ask him who the hell this woman is. His phone is apparently out of service, which is a whole other fuckery I have to deal with now because he was supposed to set up a box for us to get mail as well. So I call Alto but the phone cuts out or something before I can get him to try to figure out what she wants. So I grab my phone, keys, and shoes and go out the door. The woman isn't there anymore. I walk down the first flight and look around for her, but she's obviously gone at this point. So I go back upstairs and try to open the apartment door again. The keys are assholes and you have to use it every time you open the door (unless you're on the inside) even if it's unlocked. It's pretty much impossible to open the door anyway because you have to turn it just the right way in the right angle for it to open. So I stand there for a good 10 minutes trying to open the door. I text Lucas telling him I can't open the door. He sends me back a couple of texts giving me tips on how to open it because for some reason it always opens when he does it. Part of the problem might be my key also because my key is obviously the copy key. 25 minutes in and still no open door.
I start having a panic attack and ask Lucas if he could just come home and let me in. I feel shitty because I hate to interrupt him and I know I'm just an idiot and I should be able to open the door on my own. But things weren't getting better and having a panic attack in a situation like that would be much worse if I just kept trying on my own. So finally, after about 35 minutes of being locked out, Lucas arrives and lets me in. Of course the key works for him. I go and take a Xanax, then try to figure the fucking door out so that this shit doesn't happen again. I finally get it. You have to apparently slowly turn it while pushing in and kinda up and turn it so hard it feels like you're going to break the key. And it sometimes works when you do that.
This is bullshit.
Lucas leaves again after making sure I'm ok on my own. I settle down a little and then pass out for about 4 hours. I had some really weird dream that I can remember quite clearly too. Most of it points out to severely missing my family and Erik. And my video games, haha. I told Lucas the dream when he came home about 10 minutes after I woke up and he said as much as well and that it sounds like it's just my brain trying to process a lot of thoughts.
The internet is being really wonky. The USB modem thing has been really crappy today and randomly cuts out of the internet. It's never really cut out before, just decided to go really really really slow at random times for 5-15 minutes.
There are other stresses that are back home as well. It's even more difficult being here knowing that there are so many problems still back home and there's nothing I can do about it.
I'm sure I'll get over this hump. I know I signed up for this and there's no turning back. But it still doesn't change the fact that I just want to go home.
Friday, September 24, 2010
9/24/10
Went out walking around with Lucas today. We went to the Loggia dei Lanzi (stone garden) and Palazzo Vecchio and just walked around the streets. Of course there were tourists aplenty. I didn't feel so out of place snapping pictures of everything today. However, the pigeons seemed very aloof.
After taking pictures, we stopped and got some pizza. Lucas got Tonno pizza, pizza with tuna on it. He ate the entire thing. I could only finish half of my Caprese (just plain pizza with fresh tomatoes on it). The other half will be dinner tonight. Lucas has a picture of me eating it. I'll share as soon as he gets it online.
I'm also stealing Lucas' pictures of the apartment.
As you first enter.
The living room.
Upstairs.
Me in my room.
Lucas' room.
The bathroom.
Lacking a picture of the kitchen. But a kitchen is a kitchen.
Two and a half more days until classes start. I need them to start.
After taking pictures, we stopped and got some pizza. Lucas got Tonno pizza, pizza with tuna on it. He ate the entire thing. I could only finish half of my Caprese (just plain pizza with fresh tomatoes on it). The other half will be dinner tonight. Lucas has a picture of me eating it. I'll share as soon as he gets it online.
I'm also stealing Lucas' pictures of the apartment.
As you first enter.
The living room.
Upstairs.
Me in my room.
Lucas' room.
The bathroom.
Lacking a picture of the kitchen. But a kitchen is a kitchen.
Two and a half more days until classes start. I need them to start.
Thursday, September 23, 2010
9/23/10
Stayed in again today.
I did my laundry today, then attempted to hang it on the clothes line. One pair of jeans and the line was sagging dangerously. So I put the one pair of jeans on the line and another on the wire holding the clothesline posts. Then I hung the rest of my laundry on the wires of the lights (they go from one side of the living room to the other). Worked fine except that my pants are still damp, 6 hours later.
I also cleaned the apartment today. Not that it needed much. Did the dished, cleaned the counters and the stove, cleaned the table, and swept.
The 'chili' is going to last us a couple more days. I made a bunch of it, hoping it would be dinner or lunch for us for a while. It is like real chili where it's gotten even better after sitting in the fridge for a day.
I did a watercolor today. I haven't worked in watercolors really since my trip to Savannah (May 2010) so I feel a bit rusty.
I might be going to the stone garden (Uffizi) tomorrow. Depends on if I get caught up doing something in the apartment again or not.
I did my laundry today, then attempted to hang it on the clothes line. One pair of jeans and the line was sagging dangerously. So I put the one pair of jeans on the line and another on the wire holding the clothesline posts. Then I hung the rest of my laundry on the wires of the lights (they go from one side of the living room to the other). Worked fine except that my pants are still damp, 6 hours later.
I also cleaned the apartment today. Not that it needed much. Did the dished, cleaned the counters and the stove, cleaned the table, and swept.
The 'chili' is going to last us a couple more days. I made a bunch of it, hoping it would be dinner or lunch for us for a while. It is like real chili where it's gotten even better after sitting in the fridge for a day.
I did a watercolor today. I haven't worked in watercolors really since my trip to Savannah (May 2010) so I feel a bit rusty.
I might be going to the stone garden (Uffizi) tomorrow. Depends on if I get caught up doing something in the apartment again or not.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
9/22/10
Actually had a decent night of sleep last night. The bed is still uncomfortable and hard but I guess I'm getting used to it now.
I swear the mosquitoes here have a higher IQ and are much more agile than the American ones. Probably because they don't live off of chemically altered and fat-filled blood. But there's been this mosquito haunting me for the past week. I have over 10 bites on me, most of which I don't even notice until I'm in the middle of scratching them. I swear I've swatted the bitch dead every time I've noticed it. But still it returns. And I haven't seen more than one at a time, so I'm pretty sure it's still the same mosquito. Especially since I haven't opened my window all day today.
Back to what happened today.
I woke up around 8:30, made a smoothie with our last banana, and did the dishes. Woke Lucas up around 9:30 so we could get to the fresh market before all the good fruits and veggies were gone. Went to the ATM (yay, my cards work!) except it decided to hate on Lucas today. It didn't give him the money and we have no idea what it said because both of us were distracted by the most obvious and obnoxious American tourists trying to figure out where they were while they were waddling around the piazza.
Anyway. We got to the fresh market, bought two bags worth of veggies for 7.15 euros (score!). Then we headed to COOP where we got a couple more odds and ends for the vegetarian chili I am making tonight.
I would like to state that we are addicted to these COOP cheese puffs. They are wonderful and delicious and only 0.36 euros for a larger bag of them. That's about $0.50. You can barely get a snack bag of Cheetoes for that much back in the states.
Made the 'chili'. It's more of just a mix of vegetables, beans, some spices, and tomato sauce. They don't have a lot of the spices I needed for it to make decent chili and they didn't have any green or jalapeno peppers that I saw either. And what I thought was an onion actually turns out to be fennel bulbs. I'm an idiot. But I know we can make roasted fennel or fennel soup with them later, so no loss.
This time difference thing is going to be difficult for talking with everyone. I was on Skype until about 1am talking to people because for them it was only around 5 or 6pm. Pooooooooooop.
I'm thinking of having Lucas bring me to the stone gardens and statue park area that he was talking about that he went to yesterday. He showed me some sketches of what he had done and it makes me even more interested to go see and possibly sketch as well. He said there were a bunch of other artists and students hanging around sketching there as well and it was amusing because there were people from all over the world there so no one really understood each other but was still complimenting on each other's work.
I think the 'chili' is done. So I'm going to finish this up and be done with this as well.
I swear the mosquitoes here have a higher IQ and are much more agile than the American ones. Probably because they don't live off of chemically altered and fat-filled blood. But there's been this mosquito haunting me for the past week. I have over 10 bites on me, most of which I don't even notice until I'm in the middle of scratching them. I swear I've swatted the bitch dead every time I've noticed it. But still it returns. And I haven't seen more than one at a time, so I'm pretty sure it's still the same mosquito. Especially since I haven't opened my window all day today.
Back to what happened today.
I woke up around 8:30, made a smoothie with our last banana, and did the dishes. Woke Lucas up around 9:30 so we could get to the fresh market before all the good fruits and veggies were gone. Went to the ATM (yay, my cards work!) except it decided to hate on Lucas today. It didn't give him the money and we have no idea what it said because both of us were distracted by the most obvious and obnoxious American tourists trying to figure out where they were while they were waddling around the piazza.
Anyway. We got to the fresh market, bought two bags worth of veggies for 7.15 euros (score!). Then we headed to COOP where we got a couple more odds and ends for the vegetarian chili I am making tonight.
I would like to state that we are addicted to these COOP cheese puffs. They are wonderful and delicious and only 0.36 euros for a larger bag of them. That's about $0.50. You can barely get a snack bag of Cheetoes for that much back in the states.
Made the 'chili'. It's more of just a mix of vegetables, beans, some spices, and tomato sauce. They don't have a lot of the spices I needed for it to make decent chili and they didn't have any green or jalapeno peppers that I saw either. And what I thought was an onion actually turns out to be fennel bulbs. I'm an idiot. But I know we can make roasted fennel or fennel soup with them later, so no loss.
This time difference thing is going to be difficult for talking with everyone. I was on Skype until about 1am talking to people because for them it was only around 5 or 6pm. Pooooooooooop.
I'm thinking of having Lucas bring me to the stone gardens and statue park area that he was talking about that he went to yesterday. He showed me some sketches of what he had done and it makes me even more interested to go see and possibly sketch as well. He said there were a bunch of other artists and students hanging around sketching there as well and it was amusing because there were people from all over the world there so no one really understood each other but was still complimenting on each other's work.
I think the 'chili' is done. So I'm going to finish this up and be done with this as well.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
9/21/10
Yes! The internet is finally working, obviously by the fact that I am now posting this blog.
Both of my checking and my credit card accounts are back up and working again. Yeah.
I feel crappy today. I actually got to sleep around 11pm last night and woke up around 8:30am but I still feel ucky. Been just laying in bed reading some more and watched the rest of Gladiator that I started last night. And now on the internet.
Lucas has been gone all day. I heard him leave early this morning, but it's kind of bothering me that he hasn't been home yet at all. I knew he was going out today because he told me he was going to take photos along the river and such. It's probably just him getting caught up in taking pictures of everything, like he usually does.
I was going to go to the store today but I really don't feel up to it. Lost my promise to get out of the apartment every day, but today I have the excuse of feeling icky not just because I don't want to. I'll just make some casserole or something with the veggies we still have for dinner tonight.
I WANT CHOCOLATE SO BAD. But it's so damned expensive here.
Still trying to figure out the mail as well. We know there are these little mailboxes right when you walk in the building, but we have no idea which is ours. And I want to know what happens if someone sends up a package or something that doesn't fit in the little mailbox. I really don't want to call the landlord again because, honestly, he seems like he's kind of an idiot and half the stuff I've asked him about he didn't quite know.
FYI for you all. I now have Skype since I have the internet. My name on there is jesskoepke. I should be on around the time most of you are getting off of work/school so if you want to talk to me, get on right then because it'll be around midnight for me (5pm-ish central time) and I want to go to sleep, but it's the only real time to talk.
Both of my checking and my credit card accounts are back up and working again. Yeah.
I feel crappy today. I actually got to sleep around 11pm last night and woke up around 8:30am but I still feel ucky. Been just laying in bed reading some more and watched the rest of Gladiator that I started last night. And now on the internet.
Lucas has been gone all day. I heard him leave early this morning, but it's kind of bothering me that he hasn't been home yet at all. I knew he was going out today because he told me he was going to take photos along the river and such. It's probably just him getting caught up in taking pictures of everything, like he usually does.
I was going to go to the store today but I really don't feel up to it. Lost my promise to get out of the apartment every day, but today I have the excuse of feeling icky not just because I don't want to. I'll just make some casserole or something with the veggies we still have for dinner tonight.
I WANT CHOCOLATE SO BAD. But it's so damned expensive here.
Still trying to figure out the mail as well. We know there are these little mailboxes right when you walk in the building, but we have no idea which is ours. And I want to know what happens if someone sends up a package or something that doesn't fit in the little mailbox. I really don't want to call the landlord again because, honestly, he seems like he's kind of an idiot and half the stuff I've asked him about he didn't quite know.
FYI for you all. I now have Skype since I have the internet. My name on there is jesskoepke. I should be on around the time most of you are getting off of work/school so if you want to talk to me, get on right then because it'll be around midnight for me (5pm-ish central time) and I want to go to sleep, but it's the only real time to talk.
9/20/10
Didn’t get to sleep until about 3am last night again. I keep waking up around 9-9:30, though. Today I forced myself to sleep until around noon so that I wouldn’t be so tired all day.
In a blah kind of a mood. Again, I’m bored. I promised myself that I would try to get out of the apartment for a little while at least once a day. So far I’ve kept that promise, but that still hasn’t kept boredom from me.
We went to the Duomo again today except this time we went into one of the museums. It had a bunch of statues, some frescos, and reliefs from the Duomo. Took some pictures. Got to see a Michelangelo statue. Most of the statues looked very judgmental and I didn’t like the way they were looking at me. They also had an entire wall of reliefs that had creepy children on them. Did not care at all for those.
My debit card finally worked. I only took out 20euros though because I still have no idea what’s in my account. I already close to spent all of it, though. We stopped and got some groceries and spices and some twine for the clothesline. Plus the museum cost 6euros. I’m hoping to go to the fresh market or COOP tomorrow to get the rest of what I need to make some vegetarian chili tomorrow night.
I saw a Great Dane today. It might not seem that odd in the states but here all of the dogs that I’ve seen have been small, no more than 30lbs usually. I miss Chevy.
The internet should be up tomorrow. Lucas went to the store again today and they apparently fixed everything and everything should be set by tomorrow by the time we wake up. Hopefully.
9/19/10
I am so bored. I’m really hoping that once school starts I won’t be this bored. And I know that I should not be saying that I’m bored while I’m in Florence either. But I am.
I’ve read a 500 page book. I’ve finished the entire story mode of Diner Dash on my phone. I’ve been writing this diary(?) out every single day. I’ve been going out and walking around every day. I’ve watched 4 movies. I’ve done a couple of drawings. I’ve started a digital painting. I’ve drawn out and started a watercolor painting. I’ve cooked and cleaned. I've been writing this blog. But I am still so bored.
Today I tried the internet. It turns out it wasn’t the storm (which was still happening when I fell asleep at 1am btw). It won’t connect for some reason. Lucas and I tried going to the store again today but the guy said he couldn’t help people who were having computer problems today, just phone problems. Not sure why, but whatever.
So we walked around some more. Hung around the Duomo. I sat and sketched out a painting and started painting it, then my butt hurt from sitting for too long and the sun was out full blast, so my neck was getting burned. So we continued walking around to a couple different Piazzas and took some reference pictures. Then we headed back to the apartment. We started a stopwatch then walked to the school. Strolling, it took us around 10 minutes. We went back to the apartment another way and it took us around 12-13 minutes. Not much of a difference. It’ll take us 10-15 minutes to get to school every morning and back every evening.
Over half of the stores were closed today as well. Sunday being a holy day is a lot more serious here than in America. The only places that were open were some cafes and restaurants and a couple of food stores. Although close to all the stores around the ‘tourist’ areas (i.e. the Duomo) were open.
I also realized today that I forgot my cord for my camera to be able to upload things onto the computer with it. And it is such a weird cord that I doubt I’ll be able to just ‘pick one up’ like any other simple USB cord. Fuck you, Canon.
My debit card is also still not working. It could have just been the ATM I went to because I saw the guy after me leave without any cash, but I don’t think that’s the case. I really need the internet because I need to figure out what the hell is going on with my card. I don’t have access to any money until I do and the only money I have on me right now is around 2 euros.
I miss my dog. I miss my boyfriend. I miss my bed. I miss my internet. I miss my books. I miss my family. I miss being able to understand everyone. I miss being able to eat when I’m hungry. I miss being able to know how much money I have.
I really hope things get better in the next couple of days. Because as of now, I really just want to go home and be done with this shit.
9/18/10
I couldn’t get to sleep at all last night. I think my body kept thinking that it was around 5 pm like back in the states rather than almost midnight. I finally got to sleep around 3am, then woke up around 10am.
Like I’ve mentioned before, I’ve had to cut down on the eating and snacking. So breakfast was just a simple smoothie with only banana, greek yoghurt, soy milk, and some fruit juice.
I really didn’t feel like it, but Lucas and I headed down to the fresh market earlier today. I became confused and angry because both my debit card and my credit card were denied to get any money out of an ATM. With my debit card it was saying I was over my daily limit, which was really confusing considering I hadn’t used the card at all today and I already set it up where they know I’m out of the country. The credit card was more understandable because I have it set up that I’m out of the country on the 20th. So a couple more days before I can used that one.
But back to the fresh market; it’s great. It’s hectic, but great. Obviously some of the food stands are better than the others, you just have to look around. It is a little cheaper than the COOP (pronounced 'co-op') which is a lot like a Jewel or Dominicks. Except smaller. Everything is smaller here. Or probably it’s normal sized and everything in America is just oversized. There’s also and inside area with some food stands and mainly meats and fish and the like. I really want to try these HUGE mushrooms (larger than my hand). I might get one of them once I can get money out. Which I should be able to because I can look and my bank account and figure out what’s up now that we have the internet here.
Money is an issue. I checked it out and I’ve spent more these past couple of days than I usually do in a week or more back home. Stupid exchange rate.
Lucas had problems setting up the internet thing, so he went to the store we got it from and got it fixed. So now we have internet in the apartment! It’s really slow and sucks, but it’s still internet.
Lucas was also talking about going to Rome or some city close to Florence some time this week. I’m not quite sure I want to. Ok, more like I’m not sure I can afford to. Already this trip is costing more than I would ever want it to and I am more grateful than words or actions can express to my mom and step dad for funding this for me. I still am supposed to have two checks from my job coming in, but that honestly isn’t much money when it comes down to what I’ve been spending.
I’m going to try to make a budget idea for Erik and my mom considering both were thinking of coming and visiting me. More so for Erik than my mom because if it isn’t too expensive than he will definitely be coming with me. I don’t think it will be as expensive as he thought it would be. I think the money worries I’m having is just that obviously one is going to spend more money within the first week of moving into a new place rather than later on. And I’m already starting to learn where to buy stuff cheaper and better.
It’s also getting easier to know where I’m going. I don’t much pay attention to street names, more just the stores or other landmarks. I’m sure by the end of the week I will be pretty damned familiar with everything.
I’m still slowly getting basic Italian down. I know that I won’t be able to carry a conversation with anyone (MAYBE by the end of the trip) anytime soon, but I will hopefully be able to generally communicate with people here.
I’m pretty sure it’s just the season, but it rains daily here. It looks like a downpour is coming in the next hour, but its usually just drizzle here and there.
We also have very loud neighbors. The walls are so thin that when I’m in my room across the apartment with my door closed it sounds like our neighbors are inside the living room. I haven’t seen them yet, but I think it’s 2-3 girls that live there because all I hear is them laughing and screaming and talking very loudly and then the cabinets and drawers slamming.
I’m trying to have it so that my legs don’t cramp up and get too bulky by stretching a lot too. I’m extremely inflexible as it is and I think becoming more flexible with the muscle I’ll be gaining and the weight I’ll be losing doing all this walking and going up and down stairs will help.
I turned on the TV today as well. There was Italian dubbed Monk, Italian MTV, some Italian soap operas, and a lot of Italian sales channels. I saw a commercial for Ibuprofen, which was weird but quite interesting. I also flipped through the yellow pages, not able to understand pretty much everything.
I am bored.
I really should not be saying that, but I’ve already gone through 4 movies, half of a 400-page book, done 3 different drawings, etc etc. I dunno.
I have beans soaking so I can make some rice and beans or something. I really want to make a type of chili but that will have to wait until we get spices and some more vegetables. Maybe I’ll save half the beans and go out tomorrow to get the spices and such. I’m not sure what we will be having for dinner. I’m going to try this COOP store brand beer that we got just for the hell of it. Lucas tried his already and said it tastes like Bud Light.
UPDATE:
The beer tastes like skunky piss. Haha. But I guess that’s what we get for cheap store brand beer.
The internet isn’t working again. We’re hoping it’s just the thunderstorm that’s been going on for the past couple of hours. I also hope that long storms like this are every once in a while if at all if that’s what’s causing the internet not to work.
9/17/10
Finally in Florence. We won’t be getting the internet normally for another couple of days because it takes that long to get through all the conformation crap.
I used to be ok with the French and actually love French culture. Now I can completely understand people who say they hate the French. The only person that I met there that was halfway polite to me was the baggage services lady. Everyone else was very rude or was very short with me. The food (even the airport food!) was amazing, but that’s the only nice thing I have to say about the French for now. I was only in the airport, but I still think that gave me a good idea of how the natives are.
I was supposed to have a connecting flight in Paris to Florence at 12pm. I go to check in about half an hour before the flight leaves and they say the flight is full. So they say I’ll be on standby for the 4pm flight to Florence. Of course, that flight fills up. Then they said they’d see if someone doesn’t show up for the 645pm flight. Of course not. They overbooked all of their flights to Florence because there was other people I saw and heard go up to the customer service desk and complain that they couldn’t get on their flight to Florence either. Free advice for all of you: NEVER FLY AIR FRANCE. They tell me that all their flights to Florence are booked for the next couple days. So I ask where is the closest I can get to Florence that is open? Piza. There is a flight at 8pm but then I would have to take the train at night from Piza to Florence, which would not be a good idea. So I have to wait until tomorrow morning for the 10am flight to Piza. Then take the train from Piza to Florence. I ended up sleeping at the airport because after talking with the baggage service lady to see if my bags were good to go for the Piza flight and not somewhere else, she told me that there was a very good chance that all of the hotels in the vicinity were booked up. She gave me a little overnight/toiletry package and I slept on a bench.
But that crap is done and over with. On to good things.
Things here in Italy are quite different than in the US. A lot of things you wouldn’t think that would be different are very different. You push a button to flush the toilet. You turn on the gas before using the stove and then turn it off again when you are done. No screens in the windows. Dogs are welcome pretty much everywhere and you see a lot of people out with their dogs (I miss Chevy L). Haven’t needed to do laundry yet, but we don’t have a dryer as some of you know. I’m hoping it doesn’t rain or one of the many pigeons don’t poop on our clothes while they’re hanging out to dry. The stores are insanely small here as well. Maybe 10ft by 20-30ft, if that, unless it is a certain store like an Internet café or a supermarket. Even then, there are food stores and cafes that are smaller than that. It’s pretty damned clean here as well, other than the random dog poop and pee. For some reason people don’t clean up after their dogs here. However, there is no garbage on the streets. That could also be because there are the HUGE garbage bins every couple of blocks. Yellow is paper, all blue is cans and plastics, and white with a blue lid is organic. That’s been confusing me as well because there’s some garbage where I have no idea which category it should go in. Pretty much everyone here smokes as well. Cigarettes are very costly here (only 5-6 euros, but that equals about $10 per pack). It’s hard to think that they smoke so much here and yet are so fit. You don’t see a lot of overweight people here at all, mainly just the tourists. And the tourists are quite easy to point out.
The food here is great. IT IS REAL. No processed crap, everything is just so simple and delicious (shut up, Dani). The espresso is amazing. I’m excited to go get some gelato. Italians must eat a LOT of ice cream because there is a gelato shop close to every block here. Lucas ordered a pizza today for lunch and could only finish half of it, which was odd because most of the food here is often correctly portioned unlike in the US where you can order food and then take home enough for two extra meals. We haven’t been eating a lot due to the prices of everything (around double) so I’m pretty sure our stomachs have been shrinking. Which is a good thing in the long run because then we won’t need to eat as much to be full. I have a feeling we’re going to eat a lot of pasta and rice and beans, though. No problem with that because there’s so many different ways to cook those three things. Open air/farmers market is daily until about noon a couple blocks from our apartment as well so we can close to always get fresh fruits and veggies and meat (for Lucas, not me obviously). Italians also love Heineken beer as well because that beer is EVERYWHERE. I have yet to see American beer here.
I expect to be quite fit when I return as well. Our apartment is the top apartment in the building. So we have to walk up 4 flights of stairs every time we come home and walk down 4 flights every time we leave. It’s also stupidly expensive to rent a car or scooter, which I would never be able to drive here anyway (the drivers here are insane but oddly safe). So we’ve just been walking everywhere. The roads/blocks are a LOT smaller than in the US (think 4 blocks here probably equal 1 block in Chicago), but it’s still a lot of walking. We were out walking for about 4 hours today and we’re going to walk to the supermarket again pretty soon. And like I said earlier, the food here is all very fresh and doesn’t have all the chemical crap.
I’ve been slowly trying to catch up with the Italian. I know a lot of the basic Italian but I have a LOT to learn still. It’s easy to get by just speaking English because almost everyone here knows at least some English. There are a lot of tourists and students here as well as the native Italians.
I’m pretty exhausted right now, but that’s mostly probably because of all the activity I’ve been doing, both physically and mentally.
The apartment is very nice and cute. It’s pretty much completely furnished by IKEA. Even the silverware and plates and stuff are from IKEA. The beds kind of hard, but still generally comfortable.
We’re about 6-7 hours ahead of the Chicago area. It’s going to be difficult to time talking to people back in the US.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)