lloyd, i'm ready to be heartbroken - camera obscura

liz was right. this is definitely my song.

the fog has finally rolled in, this famous ferrarese fog. the fog where when you wake up in the morning the windows are an impenetrable grey. i am a bit scared of biking in it. apparentley it is supposed to get worse. where you can't see the front of your bike. i think i should get a bike light before i get hit.

we leave for paris monday night. it seems so surreal. six days. a real holiday. everything is planned, thanks to ProvaViaggi! and my Urbanistica class. 9 hours in pullman there. 5 days to see all the architecture we can. then a drive back, stopping briefly in switzerland. pretty damn excited. i need to go buy a suitcase and new memory card. i want everything to be perfect.

the weeks are going faster and faster and i can feel myself grabbing onto the only time i have left. we had a long, very italian, 3-hour dinner the other night. all the other ERASMUS kids are staying a year. i am a bit jealous. i will be sad to say goodbye to them all. strange that i am getting nostalgic already. i should really wait until it matters.

so people are offically coming to visit me. Brendan arrives for 6 days on November 17th. My sister comes on December 7th for 12 days. i am very excited but seeing how close that all is just reminds me even more of how little time i have left! so much to do.

i have started working (finally). my books are not as hard to read as i had originally thought. urbanistica is just interesting to me in any language i suppose. it is nice to see it from another point of view than american.

mas que nada - ella fitzgerald

yeay i'm blogging from architecture school. i brought my computer today to work with a group. my stupid mammoth-should'vediedinthelasticeage-huge computer won't fit in my bike basket so i have to carry it. it makes me off-balance but i made it here alright. no bike accidents today.

so i'm working on an exhibit project with some friends. it's kind of exciting. i've never designed with a group before but i'm finding it interesting. i'm not being too crazy control-freaky and things are going well. we came up with our concept (analyzing the layers Carlo Scarpa created to mitigate the relationship between the preexisting castelvecchio and the newer museum space) and made a small presentation. i hope we're able to explain ourselves tomorrow in our limited italian.

i'm really early for class.

italian class ends november 10th-ish. which means it will be done by the time brendan comes to visit.

should i go to svizzera this weekend? i leave for paris on tuesday... too rushed?

i don't feel like dancing - scissor sisters

i'm obsessed with this song right now. majorly. i want to be in their music video.

i'm feeling a bit meh. i cancelled my plans a bit for the weekend. planned to go to perugia for the chocolate festival but it seemed to far and rushed for the money. instead i'll go to bologna with julie and mal to look for some winter wear. it's damn cold.

should be doing some reading tonight. or research on carlo scarpa. classes are picking up. but i'm not. and everything takes twice (or thrice) as long in italian. group projects are beginning. and i don't know when i will have time to meet with everyone. my intensive language program class is still going on even though it should be over. but the schedule is all fucked so it's all over the place and basically takes up any free time i want to be using to meet with my groups. sigh. i'm kind of over it. i don't know if i really improved much. i feel like the worst student (ie of brenna jeremiah and i). i talk without thinking usually and forget to conjugate my verbs. i think i'm trying but i'm probably not.

i told the richmond girls i didn't want to go out tonight. but now i'm a big bored. i want brendan to call. i guess it's a phase but i am pretty lonely right now. i miss my gilroy girls. my berkeley girls. studio kids. and brendan. i like everyone ive been spending time with but i hate how long friendships take to develop. i think i miss studio. i wish i was busy. (i should be busy but i've been avoiding).

i've taken to writing obsessive letters to my boyfriend at every possible moment. i feel like such a freak. bike to class like a maniac. get in 10 minutes early. sit at the bench in the park outside the walls and scirbble madly for a couple minutes. always just little notes. things i want to remember to tell him. things that happened. things i want to show him when he comes....it's a phase. it'll pass.

i payed my last fee instalment for paris. going in a week and a half! pretty excited. a week in pullman. we get to see everything! including the villa savoy. (which i can now pronounce correctly, thanks manon.)

i wiped out um. twice in the past two days on my bike. the streets are so narrow and i have a hard time getting out of the ways of cars. the first time i got close to the curb and though i could push myself along with my foot. unfortunately i'm too short so instead shoe fell off and i lost balance and fell over. jimena couldn't stop laughing. the car stopped to see if i was okay. i ripped a hole in my favorite tights. the second time i tried to ride up on the sidewalk but misjudged how tall it was and instead ran into it. and the the wall. it's all good. i can't be afraid of my bike because otherwise it would just take way too long to get anywhere. at least people know my nerdster tendencies now and still like me.

i'm finding more and more that i slip into italian with friends and don't notice. i like it.

ps. picture from the wine festival in treviso last sunday. local wine. some roasted chestnuts. tiramisu. little dancing. lead to a fun day until the train home is crowded and hot.

i just don't think i'll ever get over you - colin hay.

classes are starting to pick up. we picked groups in Allestimento. i'm working with manon (france) and lau (mexico). i don't think the italians want to work with us foreigners. (we're slow.) this is the first time i've designed in a group. it should be interesting. unfortunately. this leads to a great deal of scheduling issues. we need a concept by wednesday. and it seems that we can't meet until tuesday. i don't like leaving this until the last minute. this makes me nervous. i'm not the best group member. (control freak). i hope i don't bitchy and freak out. sigh. maybe i should've pulled a brenna and gone solo.

we're going to a discoteca tonight. i haven't decided if i want to go but i'm going. it's free so that's a plus. first discoteca. don't really think i'm that kind of girl. i'm more of a read at home in bed talk with close friends at coffee watch a movie with my boyfriend nightime girl. we'll see how it goes.

went to the tsunami bar ERASMUS (exchange students) last night. surprised me by being enjoyable. saw most everyone. got some good practice with my italian.

i don't really have anything to say. this post sucks.

be still my heart - the postal service.

sometimes i really just want to sit in and spend some alone time. i don't understand how antsy brenna gets and needs to go out every night. i know i should try harder but i guess i am just not that interesting.

less exciting. i have to hold back on my caffiene and alcohol intake. i went to the doctor yesterday and he thinks there is something wrong with my thyroid. i have to get more tests. so i need to find a lab. i hate needles. i am such a wimp. i hope it is what he thinks and i can get back to being normal soon. and hopefully it is why i am feeling so listless recently. all i want to do is sleep.

in good news. i am working on my portfolio and resume. scouting for internships. jobs. something. i am very worried to come home to nothing.

we had a "symposium" today and a literature professor came to speak with us about the literary history of Ferrara. it was pretty interesting and i was pleasantly surprised by how well i could follow her lecture.

sono stanca. . .

jerusalem - mirah.

So I guess it has been awhile. I kept meaning to post but it never happened. I got my bike last week. A friend told me about an old man who kept a garage near the Architecture building. He fixes and sells used bikes but his main passion is creating Pinocchios. The garage is full of them, small ones hanging from the rafters and larger ones in the back. heads and limbs float around the floor. I don't know what his real name is but he calls himself Geppetto. He talked to Jeremiah and I for a long time about his life, where he’s been, what he does. We also bought two small pinnochio keepsakes (“fratelli” says Gipetto –brothers—because they are similar). Jeremiah took me on a ride outside the walls abit to get acclimated. I screamed a little but didn’t fall or hit anyone. I think it was a success. I have since ridden to school all of once. But it went alright so more times are coming.

We went to Cinque Terre this weekend with the Richmond Girls and our International posse. We got in on Friday evening around 9:30 and had dinner in a touristy restaurant on the main drag. Cinque Terre is a set of 5 coast towns built into the cliffs along the western coast of the country. We stayed in a hostel/hotel/orphanage-looking apt. in the first town, RioMaggiore. From there we hiked to the last city, stopping in each along the way (to eat). It was raining slightly when we set off and turned into a downpour around the third city. We took refuge in a small enoteca (wine bar) and had some white wine and snacks, listening to the big band italian jazz (which we eventually purchased). When the rain stopped we headed back out and decided to push ahead to the end. The weather cleared and it was gorgeous. it seemed as if there was no way to take a bad picture because everything was just so amazingly beautiful. the little cities look like colored dominos stacked into the mountains and the multicolored boats sit side by side in the tiny docks. At the last city we got gelato and wandered a bit before taking the train back to RioMaggiore.
On the Second day we headed to the last city of Monterossa. We took a ferry along the coast to survey where we hiked. and let's just say that i am very impressed with myself. it was far! the weather couldn't have been more perfect. We headed to the beach where some swam in the clearest water ever, and the rest of us rock hounded in the surf. i was very excited with my finds. rock collection italy 2006. i don't think i will ever get less nerdy. when we got hot we headed up the restaurant overlooking the water to lunch before our long trainride home.

now it is thursday already.

no plans for the weekend yet but a bike ride to a friend's home in the country is in the works. pretty excited.

ps. my english spelling and grammer skills are diminishing... i wish they were at least being replaced with italian counterparts.

pps. an italian finally told me i spoke italian well! we had a nice long conversation in class about california. he may have simply been hitting on me but either way! at least someone took the time to listen to my babel! friends for life!

right. forgot. went to Verona yesterday for my Allistemento class. i would translate that if i knew an exact definition of Allistemento. I think it has to do with exhibit design/restoration. We took a tour of the CastelVecchio, a museum renovation inside a Medieval Castle. The project was designed by Carlo Scarpa. It was amazing. I managed to forget my camera. I am not amazing. i think we have to pick an area/space/room of the building and do a new allistemento for it. i'm not sure if we have a program. if we are supposed to get rid of what Scarpa did... or what. I walked through the building so slow I missed most of the final lecture from the Professor.

I got a ride back with two belgium boys and a french boy. they were very nice. the french boy spoke english but no italian. one belgium boy spoke a little english and a little italian (and french obvi) and the last spoke only french and italian. so... conversation was a little stilted but it was okay. we stopped at a gas station and i was really excited and ran around a little bit. it wasn't really all that different like i was hoping. but still! first euro gas station! their gas is soooo expensive.

i'm home. and tired. and still a little sick.