More Life Goals (Short-Term)

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.

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!

We have let

in our spirit friends.

We say go forth

and remember

everything I have to do today.

They come back

emptyhanded

and with me burrow

heads under pillowcases.

Tomorrow,

they whisper,

might be another day.

Though I had my doubts, but I know it now

So, with much shamefacedness, I must slink back without a substantive update... but in my defense, immediately after I posted last, the internet in my house died and has yet to be resurrected. This of course does not necessarily prevent me from going to some place like, say a coffee shop to participate in the World Wide Web, but my time management skills, as one might easily notice, are less than stellar. Plus the temptation to continuously consume $5 lattes for the duration of my stay would inevitably prove to be overwhelming. Anyway, the lack of internet has more or less kept me away from my laptop completely, so the promised last round of pictures hasn't even been sorted through yet. (On the plus side, my house is pretty damn clean and I've read probably a dozen books in the past month... gotta find something to do to procrastinate)

However, as expected, my schedule is gradually working itself out and firming up... now all I have to do is find four-plus extra hours a week or so to do the stuff I want to do.

I really need to take less naps.

Anyway, for a window into my life, my TO-DO list for this evening (post-3:30 PM):
-go to bank
-buy running/work-out shoes (current pair has literally been worn through, possibly on all sides)
-translate Psalms 5 & 6 from Old English to Today English
-make tasty breakfast hashbrown mini-casseroles (we'll see how this goes...)
-visit cousin-friend (and get a blender!)
-write a verse of poetry


If I can get 3+ of these things done, I am doing pretty well. Aim high, right?


OH, almost forgot to mention that I saw Bright Eyes in concert last night. Amazing. I have seen Conor Oberst before, touring on his solo stuff (also fantastic), but this was Bright Eyes itself, reaching al the way back to Fevers and Mirrors, aka into the most formative years of my life. Still incredibly moving for me. Incredibly glad for the chance to see them (though no touching of Conor Oberst this time...damn), as this might be the last time they tour as a band. I just wished indie kids danced more... people in that crowd (the amount of black plastic-framed glasses, my god) clearly felt very strongly about Conor/Bright Eyes, but the most they did was bob their heads and shuffle their feet, maybe throw up a hand once in a while. Oh well. Conor Oberst had enough energy for all of them, twirling like a madman and vigorously chucking "his iPhone" to the ground and stomping it into oblivion. The exhaustion I'm feeling today after getting in post-2AM and waking up at 7is absolutely worth it, and will be every time.

Yet Another Short, Apologetic Update

So I thought I was doing well with updating on Italy, etc., but then the full force of summer hit me--and not the "fun" summer force. This one was more a combination of obligatory seasonal mood downswing, boyfriend moving away to BFE, silly but essential paper due the first day of school (ridiculous and frustrating, by the way. Worst thing I ever churned out) all glued together with the overwhelming, stifling heat of a particularly nasty Louisiana summer. It has all the charm of living in an overenthusiastic armpit.

Anyway, these things have significantly dampened my drive to... well, do anything. But now that school's back in session (yay?) I'll hopefully have the drive and (pray god) the free time to actually get stuff done. Me-stuff, like this blog, as well as icky school papers.

This ramp of excuses is, of course, leading up to yet another promise: will update soon, and yes, with pictures.

Retrospective Italy Update, Part II

Went on several more excursions, especially while we were based in Bologna. Some of the more notable ones (i.e. the ones from which I have pictures) are these:

Ravenna. A smaller town, with a weird hodgepodge of really, really old stuff and ugly industrial stuff. Was seat of the Western Roman Empire for a

while, no big deal. Lots of super old churches like this one: San Francesco, built 4th c. renovated 10th c. Where Dante had his funeral and was buried.

Speaking of which, saw his tomb as well. There was something moving about it; I was standing in the presence of Dante's final resting place, just as I was reading his (albeit hypothetical) account of the afterlife. It would have been a really great experience, if there hadn't been a line of 50 people behind me, all waiting to also have their solemn bonding moment with Dante's remains. All the same, a worthwhile pilgrimage.

Ravenna is also famous for its mosaics, especially these in San Vitale. They are pretty damn intricate and appropriately Byzantine, considering they were commissioned under the rule of the Byzantine emperor Justinian. Poor Ravenna's been reconquered about as many times as Poland, but these and others like them in the city have luckily stayed in pretty good shape, encouraging tourists from all over the world to take frustratingly blurry pictures of tiny patterned tiles.

Then: Florence!

View of Florence and the Duomo from its belltower

The Fountain of Neptune in front of the Palazzo Vecchip

View from the Ponte Vecchio

Love locks along the Ponte Vecchio

Duomo and the Baptistry

Facade of S. Maria del Fiore (aka the Duomo)

Florence was, of course, beyond beautiful--and incredibly exhausting. I didn't stay long enough to get museum fatigue this time (in fact, I didn't even get to see all the museums I wanted to go to!) but the sheer amount of bumbling tourists, street vendors, and other assorted annoying people made me want to lock myself in the hotel room and watch the Fairly Odd-Parents in Italian (apparently the show is much-beloved over there; it came on three different channels every night). And I didn't even run into the cast of Jersey Shore (though quite a few of my classmates did, the lucky dogs). When I return to Italy, it will definitely be in the winter--less heat, less tourists.

Finally, went to Siena to visit my friend Jade

Siena is a beautiful (and incredibly steep) little hill town with tasty food and a crazy annual medieval horse race in the main piazza. Unfortunately, I missed the Palio by just a few days, and I only got to spend an afternoon in the city. Ah, well, something for me to hit up on my next trip!

Up next: Rome

Retrospective Italy Update, Part I

So, it turns out I have been studying in Italy for five weeks! Unlike some people, I am not capable of keeping an up-to-date travel blog, so let me just do a quick overview:

It was beyond awesome!

(But next time I return to Italy, I will do so in the winter)

Maybe more details later, but my schedule is incredibly chock-full of being lazy for the next two months or so, so we'll see. In the meantime, some pictures:

Here's Bologna, the first town we stayed in (and my favorite by far). It's pretty awesome-- a university town, but it's university is the oldest in the world. So it's full of hip ragazzi (young people) but also assorted neat old stuff. And the best part of it is that it's in Italy, so you can pretty much walk to everything. And if not, there is legitimate (mostly) functioning public transport.

Here's some of that neat old stuff:

Ridiculously detailed Madonna mosaic

Former Merchant's Guild, now home to Bologna Chamber of Commerce

Statue of Neptune in the Piazza del Nettuno

Some delicious products produced in the nearby Emilia-Romagna region. Our first week we visited a Parmesan cheese factory (they actually call the real stuff parmigiano-reggiano, but who has time for that when there is cheese to be eaten?) and a balsamic vinegar place. There was many a delicious sample consumed.

Also: Wine is pretty popular in Italy. Each region kind of does its own thing, but everybody has a local wine. This one is made by the balsamic vinegar place in Parma-- a frizzy white, quite refreshing! The typical hang-out thing (especially when we were in Bologna) is to grab a bottle of wine and socialize on the steps of some historic building. It's a really nice way to pass an evening, actually. Oh, did I mention that wine is also incredibly cheap there?

Went to Venice our first weekend:

Honestly, didn't expect to like this city... but I did. Everything, including and especially the architecture, is ridiculously decadent. Our obligatory gondola ride just before sunset was pleasant and charming, despite a distinct lack of singing from our gondolier, and the dinner we ate at a restaurant over the Grand Canal was lovely. Don't think I could live there (it's way too touristy) but I would love to have a rich people house there!

Alright, selecting pictures to post is actually kind of an exhausting process (I took literally thousands), which I'm guessing is why I haven't done it so far. So this update will be broken into parts. Up next: Ravenna and Florence!