Memories of 09

It was a year ago that I was blessed to be in Italy and now notice how I let this pass me by. I'm going to post pix from my trip there and the one to guatemala. Most importantly I'll also post work that has been inspired directly from my travels. I'm working on this series of b/w drawings that feature pleople/places/things I encountered while away.

first pix:
adorable! I know. This is an example of the wonderful cars that run through Italian streets.

first weekend here!

Being here has distracted me from posting... sorry for that! cuz i'm sure many of you have been holding their breaths waiting for me to post ptthrrrrrrr! but I apologize none the less.

My first weekend here was awesome and some of my favorite moments were shared with my new roommates Morgan, David and my old roomie Emma! we got along pretty well, and the apartment is small yet comfortable for us to live in. I however had been keeping Emma up because I'd been going out a bit and coming in late at night. What can I say! I'm in florence exploring the city is my duty.

On saturday (or was it) it could of been on the thursday or even friday! (that's what happens when I wait to long to post) anywhoo! one of these nights cait (friend from MICA) and I had arranged for our apts to meet and go out to this club called full up, which was having a freen entrance for international students night. AWESOME!! we all met and hit it up pretty well! it was very very fun. Two of my roommies backed out on me (emma and david) but Morgan came along! in all it was like eight of us (7 girls and me!) when we walked in the club it was apperent that they were all with me, so the bouncers came up to me and welcomed me with open arms. it was quite funny, they called me a pimp, though I was not about to let any of these girls go with any of the douche bags in the place! anywhoo! the welcoming was nice, I got their buissness cards, cuz they wanted me to bring more people to the clubs they worked at. (if your not laghing by now I don't know what else to say)

Getting here!

Things to do before departing.


-visa: get as soon as possible, you can contact the italian embassy in Baltimore and they will check the paper work and send it to the right place. remember to ask for the sealed letters back. (you'll know what i mean when you get it from SACI)
-BANK: make sure your cards will work in Europe, or you have a way of getting money while you are here. call their 800 number to activate the card in Europe so they don't freeze your card thinking is some thief going on a shopping spree in Italy!!!
-pack some supplies, I was able to bring some oils with me. bring a good four hundred Euros for at least the first week of the SACI program cuz half of it will go on the first day between fees and food and having fun.
-CAMERA!- bring charger, and converter for the charger. The apt comes with at least one charger but you'll need at least one more. Make sure it works for your camera, if it needs a special adapter, especially for your computer. (though I'm just using the adapters provided and it's working fine, but if you have a newer model then you might want to reconsider my advise!)
-PHONE!: if you can get the sim card from your phone unlocked, it will save you SO much money, and you can save all the numbers you get here... like the... emergency n u m b e rs o_O.


SO these are some of the tips I have for pre-departure, because I'm having problems with some of these already. The major one being the money issue, but it should be fine now. The apartment is really cute, it has three bedrooms, and I'm living with three other SACI students, Emma, David, and Morgan. I'm glad they are my roommies!

I don't think I've taken pics of the apt but i have of the city and the plane ride so I'll show those now!
Germany!

Why Italy?!

mmmhh!
I was applying for NY and Italy, i was pushing for new york more because it was a more realistic place for me to go after college, or visit period. Italy was more like the dream house that we all picture in our heads but few get to have. I've always been drawn to classical art, greats like Da Vinci, Raphael, Michael Angelo...yes, yes I know... the ones that everyone knows, but I admire their skill! of course now that I've learned a bit more about art history there is one in particular that blows my mind: John Singer Sargent (http://www.abcgallery.com/S/sargent/sargent.html). His paintings, his draftsmenship and ambisious scale is just breath taking.
ok.
So back to why Italy. It has always been a place that I admired and some of my "idols" (way to make myself sound like an art nerd) have studied or were born and raised in Italy. Being there will allow me to take an in depth look at this countries rich history, and breath taking scenery (or so i've been told).
For those who don't know me; I was born in Guatemala, a country filled with mountains, lakes and rivers which were at my finger tips through most of my childhood. When I moved to Houston TX there were not many montains to admire... ha actually there are NONE what so ever. But I've always held an interest for landscape and even landscape paintings; I know it's not really an exciting thing, but I love seeing how colors in nature have been documented in paintings.
I'm interested in exploring the colors i see in the landscape and on peoples clothes to create a series of fashion illustrations that will make me happy. In terms of architecture, I want to study how the structures around me are made and embelished to come up with stage backgrounds for runways and for plays. (I'm not sure what plays or stories to illustrate but it will come to me soon... I hope)

It is now the end of December and it is crunch time for packing. Well... more like making a list of what I should take for Italy. Yes I'm going to italy... weird.... I found out in November that I was going, but then there were all these complications with passport, and visa, and the Italian embassy which asked for a lot of stuff.... BUT ITS ALL SET AND DONE!! I received my flight Itenarery last week and I'm pretty much set to go.

My trip will begin this Saturday when I return to Baltimore to place all my junk in storage for the next semester. After that I will be traveling to NY on Tuesday morning (Jan 6th) to NY city where I will then find my way to JFK airport to take off for Germany (o_O I think) at 9:45 pm. I should be arriving in Florence from Germany at around 1pm (Italian time).

Well Why this Blog you might ask yourself?! I hate being unorganized, and this is just another one of my attempts to become better at it. My plan is to use Italia 09 as a documentation of the traveling, sites, restaurants, and people I encounter in Italy. Then my other blog will keep documenting the work I will be producing.

lets hope I can keep up with these two blogs. I'll pencil both in my planner, maybe that will help.

I will post some stuff I learned about the Italian visa process in the next couple of days. I'll make more sense then. I'm rushed now to go pick up my mom from work.

see ya'll soon, and have a happy new year! Wooht!