Italian Life

It's been two weeks since I've been here. 

     The time is going by so incredibly fast. My drawing study is due on the 17th and I have to have a good chunk of my painting done by the 24th and I'm still working on the study. My 21st birthday then falls on the 28th and the 30th-4th is our trip to Florence/Venice and I think a couple of us are going to try and head up to Switzerland and knock a couple of more things off my bucket list such as canyoning and skydiving.

     The USA/England football game was today. Got to go to the Scholars Lounge (a student bar here in Rome) and watch the game there. It was so packed, I couldn't move. I ended up meeting some people from Michigan who are studying abroad here and we went and walking around and saw the Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountain at night. It was gorgeous. I threw 20 cents into the Trevi Fountain and it's supposed to be really lucky so let's hope I land an internship for the fall.

     That's been stressing me out for some time. I couldn't get a hold of my previous employer to write a letter of recommendation for me and the due date is quickly approaching. My professor here in Rome said she would write me one because she said she knew me well enough and could tell my level of integrity.

     I then got an email back from Mote Marine Biology Laboratory in Sarasota Florida saying my GPA is a little bit under the qualifying level so I was not eligible for consideration for the scholarship (I can't take the internship without the scholarship). So, I sent an email back explaining how a year and a half of engineering lowered my GPA but my GPA in my current major is around a 3.7, which is well above the criteria for the scholarship. The intern coordinator emailed me back saying maybe they could take my grades at the end of the summer so I'm really pushing to do well in these classes.

     I'm starting to get a lot of my drawing done. I have a couple of pictures, but there are from the middle of last week and i have over twice the amount done now. I'll try to take a picture of it sometime and get
progress pictures for my painting. I picked De Chirico as my muse and I'm so glad I did. My professor said my personality shows in my work and it is so similar to what De Chirico used to paint. There's an exhibition down the road of his work until July I believe so I am for sure going to get there to see it sometime.

    Speaking of exhibitions, on Tuesday we went to see Caravaggio at the Quirinale. There were 24 of his ORIGINAL works on display there. It was such an awe-inspiring experience. We waited in the sweltering sun for 3 1/2 hours before finally getting in but it was worth every second of it. His works and the use of space and light and focus just blow me away. Wednesday we went to the Roman Forum. Got to see the ruins and learn the history behind the first christian basilica and the set up of the Roman and Imperial Forum. Speaking of which, I still need to do my homework on that..

     So, I really need to send out postcards.. I'll get around to it someday. I'm so exhausted and it's 2am. We were supposed to go to the beach again today but it rained so we decided to go tomorrow, but then Ashley and Meghan decided they were on a roll so I guess we aren't going to go now. There's another weekend gone to waste. I actually do work during the week so I can have my weekends off. -sigh-