Schedule

This week is pretty crazy, schedule wise, because we had 2 Art History classes yesterday and an extra long Photography class today (9-2 instead of 9-12).  We have Art History again tomorrow and then we're leaving for Pietrasanta and Cinque Terre on Thursday at 8:30am.  It is kind of a double edged sword for me because the Pitti Uomo fashion show starts tomorrow in Florence and runs through Sunday.  We get back from our excursion on Sunday night so I won't be able to go to the show, but I'll take some console in lying on the beach and eating pesto anything by the beach.  Last night, the program director and four of us went to this little enoteca (wine bar) that is just west of the Ponte Vecchio on the river.  You pay €5 for a glass of wine and then the owner brings out these huge platters of pecorino cheeses, prosciutto, olives, and bread.  It was awesome and we all had a really great conversation for about an hour.  I love little private restaurants like this where you can just sit and soak up the goodness of life and the culture.  Speaking of the program, for my final project for Photography, I am doing a series of photos of tourists taking pictures at famous sites.  I have 5 that I am extremely pleased with at the moment, but I want a little more geographical diversity so I am going to try to take the final 1 or 2 photos during the upcoming excursion.  I am exploring this idea because I have found it extremely comical to watch people look at a statue or bridge and immediately lift their camera to their eye to capture a memory of it.  Unfortunately, most of the people don't bother digesting or experiencing what they're photographing once they have their memory stored safely away on their memory cards.  I am trying to portray this idea of memory making as opposed to memory through visceral experience in my final pieces.  I also have to finish my accordion book project by next Thursday.  Basically, it is a little accordion fold out book we had to make from scratch with 6 sleeves that will contain a photo and a "captured" or "found" object that relates to the photo.  I am doing half of the photos about stereotypes that Americans have for Italians that are fallacies, and the other 4 about more contemporary stereotypes that one experiences in Italy, that are positive and usually applicable.  The weather here was beautiful in the late afternoon yesterday and this morning.  I hope it holds up for the beach on Sunday.  A presto.