Well hell...

Why, exactly am I posing a blog? I'm not sure, for myself I think. B/c I don't know who reads this or do I really think I care. Today, I post this blog for myself to make myself feel better.

Since being home my world has been turned up side down.  He broke up with me, can you believe it? I certainly didn't there for a while.  But I think I've come to terms with it in some ways. It'll take a lot of time to come to peace with it but its something I'm working towards.

For a while, I hated the fact that I went to Italy b/c I thought it was the reason he broke up with me. And maybe it was. But I don't regret it anymore, my time in Italy empowered me. I know I can live on my own, in a foreign country for at least 4 months. I know that I can make myself happy when thats all I have. I know that I am strong, so much stronger than I know and give myself credit for. I can't even count the amazing things I learned about myself while in Italy.  Today, I am grateful for doing it, and I think I will be forever grateful for it too.  

I think thats why I felt the need to post this blog.  B/c I need to remind myself that I did love my time abroad, as hard as it was, I am thankful for it.

I'm a strong person for keeping with it and seeing it to the end.

Now the real question is this : what kind of man was I with that it took 4 months of me being away to realize he "wasn't happy" with me? the answer: a weak, lying, coward. 

I'm stronger than him. And one day I'll prove it to the world.

If you pray, pray for me. If you don't (and thats cool b/c I don't pray either) then send strength and happy thoughts my way. 

I know I can do this.

Italy has made me a better, stronger person.

Thanks,

Peggs.

Tomorrow, I go home...

Things I’m going to miss about Florence:

The People

Nicole: a girl whom is quickly becoming one of my best friends, has a wonderful little shoulder to cry on, says “gotcha” all the time, enjoys a good meal, likes to pre-game early, keeps me optimistic even when I don’t feel like it, my painting and pastry buddy.  I’m going to miss her.

Marsha: Oh how I’m going to miss Marsha with her 20 (or so) necklaces, two pairs of glasses, distinctive voice, take-no-crap attitude, wise advice, unflattering energy, amazing teaching abilities,  stories about her amazing life journey, and the way she calls me by my last name because its fun to say.  Can’t I just take her home with me?

The Contessina Faculty: what would the Contessina be without asking for an internet card nearly everyday for 2 months and the young daughter and her husband (whom speaks no english), and their two incredibly cute young kids? Or the way the mother goes out of her way to make sure that we are happy, sometimes surprising us with a home baked cake.  Or Kiara, my bffl, who speaks wonderful english and fishes for compliments to make her feel like shes not old.  Or her husband, who looks very different in regular clothes.  And lets not forget Franceso, and his awkwardness, his passion for knowledge, the fact that he’s never wrong according to him, how he would never date me because I have tattoos, the way he first had a crush on Megan then moved to Caitlin, or the way he gets so bored and will talk your ear off for as long as you let him. Oh the Contessina, what will you do without the girls in 204?

The going-out crew: Sarah Jane and Leo, Melissa, Nicole and Leo (my drinking buddy!!) I miss the good times with them.

The Places

The Boboli Gardens: where dreams can come true and fairy tales are real. I will miss killing time just because, reading a book under a tree, taking a nap in the open grassy field at the bottom of the gardens, sitting on the benches near the lake, watching the fish in the fountain, and enjoying a sunny day away from the crowds. I’ll never forget the photoshoot with Keith in the gardens and our picnic afterwards.  Oh the ways in which I will miss the Gardens?

The Museums: bored? go to a museum.  Simple as that, go see some kick-a art, something different every time from all the different museums to choose from.  

Via dell’Alloro 14: The LdM art building, smells of turp and oil paint, how theres always an art kid in the building somewhere, the outrageously early hours in which they close, the moody tetris guys who don’t like their jobs, J.R. the cute little guy who cleans the building and is so nice, how theres always at least two different sources of music coming from the same room, and the comforting fact that art kids converge there.

Misc. things: the cobblestone streets, the beautiful buildings, the windows and doors, gelato, the central market, the dried fruit guy, fresh food, walking EVERYWHERE, dogs in bars, drinking with an open container on the street, the wine bar on the corner, the Duomo, Ponte Vecchio, the way the italians say OK, using words like Grazie and Ciao daily, H&M and Zara, the freaking amazing pastries, the carousal, street artists, San Lorenzo Market, the paninis, the AMAZING art supply stores!!!, the amazing art, the condom dispensers on the street (hilarious for a Catholic country), fresh mozzarella, pretty much everything.  

Sculpture

Here's a couple of pictures of my sculpture since I got yelled at for not posting earlier. 

This is the front side.

Detail. The inside is not polished. It needed some texture contrast.

The other side.

The flaw which I love. :)

P.S. I solved the problem of packing stuff.  I bought a BIGGER suitcase today off the street, super cheap, will probably fall apart after it gets me home, but good enough.  I can breathe easy now.  :)

2 days.

Peggs.

Finals and Packing Dilemmas...

Well, since I last updated you I had my sculpture final.  Which was no biggie b/c "we don't have time for that test crap". We just worked to finish everything up.  I finished my piece.  Its now sitting upstairs near my bed.  I'm proud of it.  Its definitely not anything amazing though.  And I can't even imagine the time, patience, and work that would go into doing a LARGE marble sculpture.  I have a whole new appreciation now thats for sure.

I also had my italian final, which I did survive although I was nervous about it.  I find out tomorrow what I made on it and in the class.  Pray for a C.

Today I had my World of Museums final, which was harder than I thought it would be but still pretty easy.  I'm sure I got an A in the class, or atleast thats what I'm hoping for.  Today I also started to think about packing.  And had a little bit of a dilemma with the artwork.  It was going to cost me about 168 euros to ship my five paintings home.  No do-able. Period. So, I decided to take 3 off the frames and tube them (tube 6 euros).  Then pack the two-panel painting b/c I didn't want to un-stretch them and I figure I could just pack them and the tube in my suitcase.  Great idea. 

Except that they will NOT fit into my suitcase.  Which sucks.  So, now I have to rethink everything.  I think I'm going to go to the train station or market to see if I can haggle for a large suitcase. I will NOT pay over 60 euros for a suitcase because I simply don't have the money.  If that doesn't work I'll have to resort to shipping the package home and praying the airlines will let me take the tube on the plane.  Nothing is simple.  I worked my ass off all semester, and this is the drama that is sending artwork home.  I got sooo frustrated today.  I am so thankful for my roommate Megan to be an optimistic and help me figure it all out.  I love that girl and am so happy we got placed together as roommates.  Tomorrow I will update you on how the problem-solving goes.  I also have my last final tomorrow morning.  Last final of my Italian semester, last final of my junior year.  I'm going to lose my mind.

3 days counting.

Peggs.

Painting Final...

My last painting class was today.  So sad.  Its by far my favorite.  Every Monday morning with painting is a good way to start the week.  And today we had our final critique.  We had to make corrections to the paintings we did for midterm, then we had two new pieces that we hadn't critiqued yet.  The first new one was a double portrait of me and a model.  The second one was a two-panel painting that we had full rein over, only stipulation was that it had to be from life/photograph.  I'm still not happy with the double portrait but oh well.  But I'm really happy with my two-panel painting.  I got a lot of positive feedback on it.  That one might actually go up in the our apartment when I get home.  :)

Heres some photos of my class' work:

Nicole with her naked woman and boob.

Vic with her work. (sorry its blurry)

Kendal and her work.

My two-panel painting. :) Mi piace.

All my work.  See the improvement?

Note: there are two more kids in my painting class but they ditched before I could get a shot of them and their work.  :( 

Sculpture tomorrow.

Italian tomorrow.

Art History on Wednesday.

Jewelry on Thursday.

Party Thursday night.

Pack on Friday.

Leave early Saturday morning and arrive in KENTUCKY at 5:30 pm Saturday afternoon.

Crazy huh?

Peggs.

Eating it up.

Time is growing short here in Italy.  I only have about 6 days left, 4 of which are finals, 1 is going to be a recovery day/packing day, and then the sixth one is going to be going to the airport early in the morning.  So, not a lot of time.  Which is good and bad.  I'm really going to miss the people that I've met here, the things and places I've seen, the art, the cobblestone streets and the food.  But I'm going to be happy to be back home with my Keith, my dogs, my friends and fam, the american cheeseburger and mac and cheese, my car, my privacy, my art building and friends.  Everything. So its very bittersweet.

Ahh Venice (lots of pictures)....

Boats, not cars.

How cool would this be?

Ambulance.

My fav shot from the whole day.

view from the train.

I went to Venice this past weekend, and fell completely in love.  So in love that now I wish I had considered studying for the semester in Venice.  Gorgeous.  You step out of the Train Station and into water.  Its amazing.  Then you can walk, take a water taxi, or a ferry to where ever you need to go. There are NO CARS anywhere, how different then what I'm used to.  Absolutely beautiful. And whats funny about it is that I had no desire to see Venice whatsoever, but as soon as I seen it I fell in love.  There was an Italian family sitting near me on the train and when I seen the vastness of the water for the first time I gasped out loud, they laughed at me (not in a "I'm making fun of you" way, but in a "Yeah, Venice does that to you" way).  The ferry ride (my first) was interesting to say the least, very crowed, and they cram way too many people on the things and the ferry guy was really rude, but I guess if you have to deal with tourists all the time you would be kind of cranky.  The weather was wonderful, upper 70's, clear blue skies, in other words a wonderful day to go to Venice.  And there were soo many people there in the main squares, but less down the smaller streets.  The buildings look so run down and old, but beautiful all at the same time.  And I like how you can tell how high the water gets because of the green moldy slime on the bottom of the buildings.  Something else that I got a kick out of is the fact that many streets dead-end...into water.  

I took alot of pictures and already wish I could go back.  I'll let the pictures speak for themselves but in no way do they do the beautiful city justice. Ahhh........I LOVE VENICE (& you would too)!

Peggs.