So, I have recently decided on two small but non-trivial life changes I will be making in the near future (i.e. within the next month).
1. I am going to QUIT MY JOB on/around the first week of December!
This is pretty big for me; this has been my only off-campus job my entire college career. I've been there for 2 1/2 years, and I was expecting to stay there until I graduated. Or until I moved. Or maybe died from server doldrums. But after weeks of daydreaming about quitting (working 8 hour shifts until midnight or two in the morning on school nights is less than optimal), I started to seriously run the numbers, and between what I save this semester, my scholarships and student loans, and the pittance from my student job, I (think that I) can actually pull it off-- and not have to work my last semester of school! Excite! The only downside it that I won't really have money saved up before I graduate, which means I'll probably have to spend some more time working here over the summer or beyond before I can move to a Real City.
That's the bigger change, and now that I only have T-minus 5 weeks, I am really chomping at the bit to get out of there.
2. I am going to start buying one (two?) books of newly(ish) published poetry a month.
Less dramatic, but still an important resolution. More words need to go in my brain, and those words should be new and fresh and innovative and all those other buzzwords. Not that Anne Sexton and T.S. Eliot are losing their places on my bookshelf, but One Must Be Current.
Well, more class now. More procrastination later.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Retrospective Italy Update, Part III
Allora! Been promising this one for a while, and finally grabbed a handful of pictures to represent the last--but not least! part of my trip-- a Roma!
Well, we didn't actually stay in Rome, but in a beautiful little hill town called Frascati, about 20 minutes away by train. Lovely place, with about a dozen family-owned butcher shops per square kilometer-- porchetta (freshly roasted suckling pig) every night, and locally produced, tasty wine! Bit of a strain on the thighs, though, as every walk from the train station to the hotel required going up about 142 stairs. (Literally, we counted.)
Anyway, what follows is mostly pictures of ruins, as that was by far my favorite part of Rome. The stuff with living people populating it mostly just stressed me out (though the Metro was, for the most part, extremely convenient).
Arch of Septimus Severus in the Roman Forum
Trevi Fountain (Yes, I threw a coin in over my shoulder)
Requisite Colosseum photo!
And inside the Colosseum-- it's kind of gone downhill since its glory days.
Arch of Septimus Severus and Temple of Saturn (which is really really big up close!)
Inside of the Pantheon
Some violent sculptures from the Vatican Museum (the tour of which was actually one of my least favorite parts of the trip-- all that beautiful art stuffed together in one hot, crowded, anxiety-inducing place where I can't properly enjoy it. Still remarkable through.)
Oh, but it was worth it for the Raphael Room! Got to see the School of Athens in person. (The Sistine Chapel too. Don't have any decent pictures of that, though, and it's a bit of a strain on the neck after a while.)
Long view of the Roman forum-- this is one of my favorite pictures I took in the city. Can you tell I spent the most time here? Well over three hours (including the Palatine Hill). Shadow being cast is from the Temple of Saturn.
The Tiber River at night, with St. Peter's in the background. The teachers took us on a dinner cruise for our last night-- it was a great way to go out.
Well, that was my trip to Italy, in a greatly condensed and abbreviated nutshell! I intend to go back as soon as possible, and for as long as I can. So until next time!
Ciao ciao!
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