Before I left for Italy, I was starting to become extremely fed up with American culture.  I was tired of hearing about the war, I was annoyed and sick of all of the superficiality both in real life and on TV, and I was ready to give up the fast-paced lifestyle that apparently makes America so unique.  I kept thinking about how nice it was going to be to escape all of that for a good couple of months and live a relaxed European lifestyle.

Since the moment I arrived in Florence, I have constantly been comparing European ideals with disappointing American standards and mores.  It wasn't until a couple of days ago when I was doing research for my internship on Oliviero Toscani (see below), that I realized how hard I have been on my country.  Toscani is Italian but he has spent a significant amount of time living in the U.S...sometimes even hanging out with Andy Warhol!  He has a really interesting perspective on both countries, and on life in general.  I was reading an article in which he was quoted saying,

"you can say anything you want in America.  There is the worst, but there is also the best, in America.  When Europeans talk about America it makes me laugh.  They don't know.  America is anything you can say, do, be...Americans are great because they get so mad, they get so passionate."

I paused when I read this because I forgot about all of that.  When you are living outside of the states, the only thing you hear about America are the stories that make the headlines.  But just because our government has seen better days, because we are at war, and because people like Paris Hilton are the face of our country, does not mean that that is America.  It's the entire lifestyle, the "we the people," the "American dream" ideas that I forgot about.  Or, maybe I didn't forget, maybe I just never realized it.  It's hard to recognize what it is like to live in America until you have lived somewhere else, at least for me.

Italy is probably not even a very good example to use in comparison.  Countries that are still run by communism or lagging behind economically make this difference significantly more drastic.  But given the mere fact that one can still recognize the difference between America and anywhere else, says a lot.

I have never been a patriotic person, but it wasn't until I was living away from my home that I realized how lucky I am that I do live at home.

I really miss this guy

I went to the Uffizi the other day to spend some time with Leonardo's Annunciation before I gave a presentation on it in class.  The museum was crowded but I stayed in front of the painting for at least 15 minutes.  I was very focused and very serious.  As I was walking out of the museum, casually passing by Botticelli's, Michelangelo's and some of the other most important artwork from the Italian Renaissance, a little girl about 7 years old said, "wow, thank god that's over!"  It definitely shot my emotions to hell, but it was the funniest goddamn thing I have heard in a long time!

"Picasso is Spanish-me too.  Picasso is a painter-me too.  Picasso is a Communist-me neither."

Part of an email that I wrote to my parents:

"Sometimes, at night, when I lay in bed, I have trouble falling asleep because I begin to fret that my arteries are clogged.  I haven’t worked out in ages and all I do is eat…SO, if you want to spare me from my fast-approaching heart attack, I would be forever indebted to you if you could send me a pair of shorts and my running shoes."

nosh vamosh

It's been a while...

I have been traveling a lot so I haven't had the chance to update this thang as much as I'd like.  Lots of fun stuff to report, though.

Went to Spain last weekend to visit Katie, had a great time.  Madrid:  excellent graffiti.  Went to a fantastic Picasso exhibit (I got some ideas for possible thesis topics), did a lot of jumping, learned about "no-no bags," and drank Kalimocho (red wine and coke).  Oh, and flying to Madrid, the captain called the airplane an "airbus!"  I loved that, of course.

I got an internship here in Florence!  I will be interning at the SUF art gallery for the semester.  I have been assigned to work on an exhibit that will consist of a collection of photographs taken by the former fashion photographer for United Colors of Benetton, Oliviero Toscani.  Toscani has recently been noted as a controversial artist because of his shift in subject matter from fashion to the documentation of negative social aspects in contemporary culture, such as people suffering from anorexia and AIDS.  Our gallery will be displaying a body of Toscani's photos of men on death row.  As of right now, I am doing research in order to write Toscani's biography for the exhibit, but hopefully I will be doing more hands-on work as we get nearer to the exhibition opening in early April.  I am so stoked about it!

What else...ah yes.  Congratulations to the Strange Bedfellows for kicking ass at Skidmore's "Comfest!"  When I was little I had an imaginary friend named Gupperman.

The largest art left to ever occur in Europe happened on Sunday in Zurich, Switzerland.  Four paintings by van Gogh, Cezanne, Degas, and Monet were stolen from a museum just outside of the city.  As an art history major, this was a horrific event to read about but I think it is pretty awesome that I was in Switzerland when it happened.

(fig. 1 photo of me skiing the Swiss Alps)

jump

song of the day: "jump" by Magik Johnson.

I saw a really cool thing today...

I was standing at the counter at a cafe having a cappuccino when a woman's cell phone rang.  Instead of putting the phone to her ear, the woman held it in front of her face. The phone was an average sized cell phone but it had a very large screen in which you could see the entire upper half of the other caller.  The woman in the cafe proceeded to communicate through sign language to the person who called, who was also signing!  It was phenomenal.