New Semester at the Accademia

We just finished our "semester break" at the Accademia di Belle Arte and I am so happy to be back in school :) It is probably the only year where I can say I love every class I have taken... I am feeling so blessed to be here.
It isn't like any school at home. It is hard to explain. In Italy, students study for free, so in turn the schooling is very.... relaxed. My first semester, my art teacher just had us staple our paper or canvas up on the wall and paint as much as we could. She would smoke and walk around the classroom with her arms crossed, stop by you and... va bene, va bene, continua... Not much feed back, but I loved the atmosphere and I learned I just work so much better when I have a schedule of when to be in class, even when it isn't really mandatory. Since I have been loving painting, I have no problem getting to school in the morning (as long as I have had my espresso).

But that class is over, and to "find classes" to take at the accademia, you really just walk around to find classes... It is confusing and intimidating, especially since everything is in Italian, but eventually I got enrolled in 2 classes that I am really looking forward to (at least im pretty sure I am enrolled). A few weeks ago, I talked to the foundry teacher. I am so excited for that class, the teacher seems awesome; we create a wax sculpture, make a silicone mold of it and then... create a bronze sculpture! I am anxious to start.

Today, I thought I was going to be able to go back to my painting classroom on Wednesdays like my old professor had told us, but apparently not and now that classroom is for drawing. So, I litterally accidentaly walked into the perfect class for me this semester. A painting class with a great professor, who wants the students to really work how I have been working. I am so fortunate that I have found classes that I enjoy, because not all of the students feel the same way about thier classes. There are 14 CSU students and we are divided into seperate classes, based on our themes and styles of painting. I love that it is organized like this because some students prefer to work on the nude figure and some are completely abstract. I wish this is how the classes were organized back in the states...

Anyways, where as I did not really get much feedback from my last professor, this one is different. He sat down and talked to us about our "project" for the year, and he was really patient with my Italian. My roomate and I will be in the same class also, which is exciting. I am so glad this semester can be as productive as the last.

Incredible Interlaken

I just had such an incredible weekend in Switzerland. I truly feel like the luckiest person in the world. On Thursday night, we left Florence by bus, an 8 hour bus ride. It was me and my roommate AB. We arrived in Interlaken, Switzerland at 7 in the morning after a long bus ride. We took short naps then decided to venture around Interlaken. We went to the grocery store, picked up Brie, bread and beers (as usual) then had an hour long beautiful walk to the east lake. There wasn't a cloud in the sky. We stopped at a park to relax and drink our beers. The lake was so serene, the whole walk there was unreal. I felt like I was in a screensaver, walking down small dirt roads in a luscious green valley between the snow covered mountains. We drank our German beers by the lake and took plenty of pictures. We were there over an hour, eating and drinking and just taking in the sun. We took a bus back to the town, then walked back to the hostel. We were starving again, I had an amazing veggie burger at the hostel. Our hostel was really nice, it had a great restraunt and surprisingly "the most popular club in Interlaken", however one of the only ones but still. We went to happy hour at the club and I had my first cider :) we went to bed early so we could wake up to snowboard.

We had breakfast at the hostel then headed to the mountain. It was the only time I will be able to snowboard this year... I just wanted to get there. After about an hour, we got to the top of the mountain... It was about 55 degrees, sunny, warm and gorgeous. Our first run was so amazing, it was incredible to be snowboarding again. I was able to board with no jacket, it was phenomenal weather. After a few hours, we decided to grab some beers and food. There was an awesome Tipi Bar with drinks, music and heaters, all in a Tipi. The sunshine felt so amazing, we went back on the mountain for the rest of the day. The scenery was unreal. After a long day, we headed back to the hostel for dinner. Afterwards, we went to happy hour again at the club; 2 for 1 cider. The DJ was playing great old songs... There were these hilarious local guys in super elaborate costumes. Sherlock, Castanova, a box... There were about 10 of them. It was a fun night, me and AB had a great time dancing together haha

Next morning, we checked out of the hostel and walked around the town. It was a quiet Sunday, but we bought some Swiss chocolate that was mouthwateringly delicious. We got back on our bus at 2, exhausted and ready to watch movies on the long bus ride home... Interlaken was mind-blowingly perfect.

My Art for the Year

I haven't written yet about what I have been painting this year... I commited this year to painting sharks. I struggled in the beginning of the year trying to decide what I wanted to spend my year in Italy painting. Probably my favorite piece I have ever worked on had to do with shark fin soup, but I wanted to do something that reflects that fact that I am in Italy and I started to obsess over many different ideas. When I started talking to the rest of the art students and my teacher, telling them that I was having a difficult time deciding what to paint, I said I wanted to paint some of my photographs from this year or sharks and animals in the ocean that deal with over-fishing. People were curious when I mentioned shark-fin soup and the fact that about 70 million sharks are killed each year, mainly for the production of this soup. Once I began talking, I realized how passionate I am about educating people about what goes on in our oceans, and especially with sharks.

There are over 400 species of sharks, and while only a small percentage have attacked humans, people tend to be scared of all of them. But just because we are scared of an animal doesn't mean we get to hunt them into extinction, which is what we are doing very rapidly. The process of shark-finning, starts with long-lineing. There is an extremly long line of baited hooks sent out into the water to attract sharks, or whatever animals wants to feel on that bait. When a shark is found on the line, he is pulled off, sometimes alive, and his fins are chopped off and he is thrown back into the ocean. The finless shark is unable to swim, but still very much alive. They suffer a slow death sinking to the sea floor, ironically suffocating without being able to circulate water through thier gills.

It is so gruesome and cruel and it is finally being stopped in many places. Only time will tell if we are taking action too late in this situation; sharks are slow reproducers. I aim to show people what is being done and what ignorance and selfishness is doing to our oceans.

I recently watched this youtube video, tough to watch but important. There is also a documentary called Sharkwater I would really recommend watching.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r65FgUYdBOc

Carnivale in Venice

I am so glad we made it to Venice Carnivale. We took the train in Friday morning, it was me and my two roommates, AB's aunt and cousin, SR's brother and ER. We all stayed in a rented apartment in Lido, an island just a couple minutes from St. Mark's Square, and it worked out perfect and inexpensive for Carnivale in Venice. After arriving in Lido, we stopped at the grocery store, of course to get Brie and wine :) we settled down at the apartment, had a glass of wine and relaxed, then went out to dinner. I had great soup and I was just getting over a cold so it was perfect, but all the wine probably didn't help. We got some rest then headed out to celebrate Carnivale in the morning. We bought a few beers and took the vapporetto (water taxi) over to St. Mark's square. There were soooo many people with great costumes and the weather was sublime. We all spent the day together and had an amazing time, a great lunch, lots of beer and ended by going to a violin concert of Vivaldi's four seasons. It was an unforgettable day. 

Finals.... Off to Barcelona!

Max Leaves... Back to "Work"/Field Trip

My Favorite Italian Restaurants