St. Vincent

My brother got me a CD for Christmas. It's St. Vincent. I like her and you should too.

Plans

I've decided I don't like plans. They're dumb. A hazy guide, an idea, is ok, but not plans. Plans are just arrogant.

And episodes of The Office never get old.

And here is a donkey and some friends on Christmas Eve.

The Christmas Blog Post

Chicken and stuffing are a-cooking. We had a big yummy Christmas brunch and now are awaiting our big yummy Christmas dinner. I'm wearing a new Christmas watch and listening to my brother's new Christmas record player. Earlier I watched an episode of my new Christmas DVD set of the first series of The Office (the British version). It's a beautiful day but I've barely set a foot outside and now the sun is thinking about setting. Where do the days go? I only have a few left of 2007. I guess I should start thinking of a New Years Resolution.

Here's me and my Christmas mommy. With my haircut that makes me look like a business woman, apparently.

Home

I deleted my link to Florence University of the Arts from my bookmarks. It's apart of my past night. I did it.

I'm home now and it feels good. It feels like I've only been gone a day. The unpacking I still have to do tells a different story though, but I have time for that. And I'm going to a yoga class at 11! I've so missed yoga, and just working-out in general. And my car Timmy, is having troubles, so a new car for me is in the works. And I played guitar last night for the first time since August. I haven't forgotten how. And I'm anxious to get back to Baylor, but that doesn't mean I don't love being here.

So that's my life at the moment.

Last Day

I feel like I'm in some sort of limbo, this last day. I'm just waiting to leave.


Isabel left early yesterday morning

Jenny left yesterday at around 11.

Ady and Anna left early this morning.


Hannah left at noon.

Tomorrow morning, at the buttcrack of dawn, Vanessa, Whitney, and I will leave.

And Melissa is sticking around with her family until Monday.


WEIRD.

Finito

I finished finals today, and I think I did pretty well. Home is so close I can taste it. But I'm still here for two more whole days. That's weird. It's weird to be here without a purpose. I guess I do have some purposes--packing and cleaning. And I have some rolls of film left from my photography class. I want to walk around these next couple of days and take cool Florence pictures.

Melissa's sis is here visiting. It's fun walking around here and seeing things through her eyes-- fresh eyes. Makes me appreciate it before I leave it.

So I'll see you soon.

Everybody's gonna love today.

There is this infectious song that plays on the radio a lot here by a UK guy who goes by MIKA. It's such a fun song; you can't NOT be in a happy mood when you're listening to it. I remember paying for my groceries earlier this semester and it came on. I started dancing a little in line and the Italian cashier started dancing and singing along. It was a beautiful moment I dont know if he's popular in the US, but I just bought his CD and am in love with it. Here's the video of the aforementioned song.



He's just so fun! I want to be his friend.

My People

What I'm going to miss most about this place isn't the art, it's not the beautiful churchs nor Tuscan landscape, not the wine, gelato, nor pasta, not the shoppping nor the traveling nor the catcalling Italian men, not the language nor the cappucini nor the pastries. It's my roommates. I'll miss this most.

And this.

And this.

And this

And this.




We're just really cool people.

I miss people wherever I go. Here, home, Baylor. And as I get older I'm just going to miss more people There will just be more people and more places and people and places and faces and memories. It's the beautiful burden we bear.

Serial Killers


Today I visited Florence's Serial Killer Museum. *shivers* It seemed like a good idea at the time. In the museum, you learn about and see wax reproductions of the world's famous serial killers--Jack the Ripper, Ted Bundy, Charles Mason, John Wayne Gacy Jr, to name a few. It was intriquing and disturbing. I felt dirty afterwards, and suspicious of everyone.

I learned that the United States has had more serial killers than any other country in the world, by a land slide. Out of all recorded serial killers, 58% have been American. The runner up is Italy with %6. The rest are dispersed throughout a plethora of countries. It makes you wonder about us.

And did you know that Tuscany was the first country to outlaw the death penalty? Tuscany is the region of Italy where Florence is located, and was it's own county back in the day. They did so back the the 1700s. The anniversary of the ban of the death penalty was a few weeks ago actually. There were these people walking around dressed in 18th century garb, led by a guy that looked like an executioner, walking to the beat of some boys following, banging on drums. We were all perplexed at the time, but then learned the significance of the day.

So those are some fun facts for you.

But on a happier note, I finished my paper. Yay! I'm done with papers for this semester! Now all I have to do is study for and take finals.

Naked

My brain is about to ooze out of my ears. I've been working on this paper for too many hours. It's for my Renaissance Art class and is about the emergence of female nudes in Western art. I'm calling it, "The Renaissance Takes Off Her Clothes." I dig the title.

Since I've been studying Art History, I've become much more comfortable with nudity in general. It's all over the place here. And it's interesting to see the changing face of beauty, from the voluptuous women of Giorgione (to your right), to Kiera Knightley.

Maybe I should go walk around or something. My back is starting to hurt.

One and a half weeks, people.

Lemonade.


I went to Italian Mass this morning at the Duomo (pictured to your left). Actually, it was not so much in the morning, more like the afternoon--it can be hard ro rouse up my roommates. It was my first time to go to a church service since I've been in Europe. I've never gone so long without attending church, but at the same time, I've never been in so many beautiful churches. Mass today was a cool experience. I didn't understand much of it, but following along in the program helped. And they had all the verses they were reading in English on page five. Next week we want to go to an English Mass in one of the other beautiful churches around Florence.

I've had fun this weekend being a tourist in Florence. I went to the Pitti Palace today by myself and wondered around the
opulent rooms and beautiful paintings. I went to the Uffizi Friday, and yesterday, I went souvenier shopping with Melissa and Vannessa (pictured to your right in the Piazza della Signoria, which I walk through at least once a day). It's been pretty chill.

And then I have one week left of actual classes, one week of finals, and then I'm finished. Egads.

In other news, we've already ruined are kitchen table from multiple people neglecting to use cutting boards, and our landlady has told us we are going to pay her for a new one, and so, like the free-spirited, Florentine art students we are, we've taken to decorating said table with colorful sharpies.

We plan on selling it on ebay and making making thousands of dollars to donate towards AIDs research or some such disease.

I believe this is the meaning of the phrase, "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade."