Kid in an Italian Candy Store

Snow. It's beautiful but disruptive.

Thu, 02 Dec 2010 14:27:45 +0100

So here I am, stuck in London because of the snow. Jackson was a lifesaver and used his good Internet to get me a flight to Dublin for tomorrow morning to replace my flight that was canceled today. Yay sleeping in the airport tonight! Haha
This is just a short update since I am typing it on the wonderful iPhone my amazing parents brought to me.
Traveling with the fam last week was fun and trying and memorable and awesome. We saw lots and ate good food.
Paris was also pretty great. It snowed just enough to add to the magic of that already magical place. I walked more than I ever have in one day and saw so much incredible art in the louvre and the d’Orsay.
Now I am in the wonderful London (the city I have wanted to come to since I was 15 for some reason) and I am feelin okay win being stuck since now I am here for one more day. It’s super cold and icy so I slip alot but is fun and eclectic and exciting.
I am going to walk around and enjoy the city befor I head to the airport to wait for my flight!
I’m so excited to come home! But I cant believe it’s already over…

So many homes...

Sun, 14 Nov 2010 12:53:09 +0100

I know, I know, two posts in one day. It’s just not allowed and so silly, but the last one was all about life here and there is just a whole other side of studying abroad. So here goes, I know this one will be long too but I don’t care!

One of the girls on our trip has done this whole series on home and what it means and it has really spoken to something that I have been thinking about alot lately.

As I grow up, I am having all these amazing experiences, like having a strong home/family center, going off to a wonderful college that I love, getting to live and work in beautiful Minnesota, and now, studying in Italy. And as much as I have grown and experienced through all of it, all of these experiences have a major down side. (Well maybe a downside that some would call an upside. The jury is still out on that one)

I now have 4 different places that I call home. 4 very seperate places around the world that I feel a deep connection and familiarity and love for. All of which I want to keep up with and revisit and embrace with every part of my being. And each other those 4 different places has their own set of places that I love. Ex: YL: my house I grew up in, my grandparents house, the Bonds, Henry’s, Allison’s house, the Sung’s house. SB: Butterfly beach, Westmont, the Habit, Natural cafe, hiking in the hills. MN: Green lake, Norway lake, Frieda’s, United Way, Deep freeze. Italy: Cortona, our dorm, the enoteca, La Saletta, the 3rd Terrace, the fortress. And to go with all those places are the people that make it so special. Each one is filled with people that I know and love and want to continue to build relationships with.

And the problem is that I can’t.

If I spend all of my time keeping up with everything from my past, there will be no time for my present, no time for my future.

Being here in Italy, I have tried to walk the tight rope of building new friendships while keeping up with those at home. Some days I have succeeded, some days I have failed. Miserably. (I apologize for any of those I have missed/forgotten a skype date….) The hardest thing about being here was just being here. I so value the people in my life at home that I awful being away from them, even for just a few months.

I have felt like I am being pulled in so many different directions, my heart is in so many places. And I am hoping that I can handle dealing with that for the rest of my life. My friend did a print here of a man whose head was splitting in two, a beautiful piece with great lines and movement, but it really spoke to me for that. That is how I feel sometimes, like I am being torn. There are so many places I want to be, all at the same time. The trick is learning how to be in the right place at the right time. Which is something you won’t really ever know until after that right time has already passed. Thus, trusting in God to help you chose the places to be is what is important.

This trip has taught me so much about keeping with relationships yet still building new ones. I know that I learned a lot, but have so much more to learn in the future. In no way am I good at this whole multiple homes business, but I have a lifetime of homes ahead of me to add to the list. Homes that I will grasp on to, and homes I will have to let go. Life is a long list of give and take, and I learning all about what I will have to give in order for me to take. It is a balance that will be struggled with for the rest of my life, and honestly, I hope that I am up for the challenge.

These last 3 months have been some of the hardest I have ever had, but I guess that is to be expected. I am ready to come back to my first home, in the county of oranges, for some time of rest and rejuvenation and home cooking and Allison goodness. I am ready to take a little trip up to my second home in the land of the Westmontians, to drive with the windows down to the beach, to get a giant Jackson hug, eat DC food, and talk with all of my friends. Then maybe, a visit to my third home filled with ice, lefse, haackey, and funny accents. So much to look forward to. So many homes to come home to.

One week.

Sun, 14 Nov 2010 12:13:10 +0100

As of yesterday, I have one week left in my study abroad experience. And really only 3 days left in Cortona. Two and a half if you want to be precise. Then 3 days in Naples. Then it is over. 7 days. That’s it.

I feel like there is so much left I want to do. But then I have done so much. I am not ready to leave, but I am completely ready to be home. I miss my family. I miss Jackson. But I know that I am going to miss Italy.

These last couple of days I have been trying to take every opportunity to experience everything that I can. And it has been amazing. Friday, after classes and cleaning studios, I was wondering around our campus and came across Gino in an olive tree. (For those of you who haven’t hear about Gino, he is an older man, a grandfather of 7, who lives on our campus and just kind of does things like pick the olives & grapes, tend the gardens, turn off lights and close doors at night, and flirt with all the young American girls telling us to go to the beach in our bikini). So he was up in the tree picking olives with Joy (another girl on the program) and I asked him if he needed help. “Si, si! Go put on your bikini and come pick!” (said with the very forceful italian enunciation and accent. Ex: bih-kii-nnii) Of course, I did not put on bikini because a. I don’t want to pick olives in a bikini b. I don’t want to be around Gino in a bikini and c. I don’t own a bikini. So next thing I know I am up in the olive tree, on this rustic old ladder, combing hundreds of olives off this gnarled old tree down into the net sprawled out around us in the grass listening to Gino talk in his very Italian way about olives and history and his family. All of this while looking out over the Tuscan valley. It was surreal to say the least.

Photo credit: Jamie Neff

Then Saturday, we spent the day in Sienna, a city I want to spend a lot more time in. I loved it. A big city, but still quiet and peaceful. It has this main Piazza where they hold horse races (the most corrupt horse races in the world) every year. But now, it is basically just on giant cobble stone beach. Everyone was just laying in the sun, soaking in its warm. It was beautiful. Then last night when we got back, Gino, again, came in and asked if any of us wanted to go to an olive oil festival with him. We thought he meant tomorrow, but he said, “No, we go right now, we leave now, be back by 10”. So we went, 12 km to the lake (the lake made by the tears of a water nymph who is separated forever from her love) to this little town (I still don’t know what it is called) to a festival full of people that all know Gino. We had the most *new* olive oil (as in just pressed, as in the best olive oil you will ever have) I have ever eaten. There was traditional Italian music and family and open fires and so much I will never forget.

The last two days have been a whirl wind, I am definetely feeling it today, but completely worth it. I am overwhelming myself with Italian culture so that this beautiful place will never be forgotten. I want to carry it with me for the rest of my life and remember the beauty I have seen in such unexpected places.

Some pictures from our show!

Sun, 14 Nov 2010 10:15:58 +0100

Some pictures from our show!

Photo

Sun, 14 Nov 2010 00:01:00 +0100

Some happy news!

Mon, 01 Nov 2010 21:21:02 +0100

This is just a short little update to share some fun news with you all. We have our exhibit coming up this weekend (the opener is this saturday) and I have been kind of stressing about what to put in. Well, I finally decided to put in this triple hidden book that I just finished and was able to show it to my prof before I did and she decided she liked it and is using it as her “professor’s choice” piece for my class! Which means that now, not only does that mean that I am doing good work, but that I get to put in two pieces into the show!! So exciting!

(I will try to take some good pictures of the pieces and post them since this means I will not be getting them back until February…)

Rainbows.

Wed, 27 Oct 2010 00:43:06 +0200

(And no, I don’t mean the shoes.)

Today we drove to the other side of Italy, to Fabriano, the oldest working paper mill in the West. The first place to make western paper. And although that as cool and awesome and memorable, it was actually the things I saw on the way to and from that most stick in my mind.

As some of you may know, the last week or so has been really really hard for me. Between school, planning travels, stuff happening at home, and just being away from home, I have felt extremely stressed. And frustrated with God because I felt like I was talking to an unresponsive wall. I have been angry and frustrated to him for not stepping in when everything seems to be spiraling out of control.

But on the bus today I looked out the window and there in the valley in front of us is a full, ground to ground arch of a rainbow. And like the Sunday school kid that I am, I think, the symbol of God’s promise. This rainbow is God’s promise to be faithful to me. No matter what. Especially in the times that I feel are hopeless.

So today, even though I was supposed to learn about paper, I came away with a lesson of trust in the Lord. Trust that he is there and will somehow show it to me, be it a small reminder or something as dramatic as a rainbow in the valley of Tuscany.

Stress.

Fri, 22 Oct 2010 01:14:32 +0200

It doesn’t seem like it should be allowed. I feel like I am breaking some sort of rule saying that I am stressed and overwhelmed in a country that is known for taking 6 hours to eat a meal. I told my teacher today that I was “just having a bad day” and she says, “But you are still in Tuscany!” How the heck can I be stressed in this beautiful magical place? That is just it though. I am. Things still go wrong. Even here. There are still deadlines and assignments and bills and illnesses. How do I deal with those and yet still have time to marvel in where I am living?

We sat down tonight and went through the schedule for the last few weeks we have here (yes, we are down to the last few…) and what I basically walked away with is that there is no way I will get done all I want to in the time I have left. I have to pick. I have to pick which projects are the most important to me. Otherwise I will not do a good job on any, or get any sleep. But how do I pick?

The show is coming up in a week and a half…. Guess who still doesn’t know what she wants to put in? haha, yes, that’s me.

So basically I would love some prayer just of discernment and productivity and that the stupid mistakes that I have been making the last two days that are ruining projects will stop. That I can remain calm and relaxed and happy for the next few weeks as I slowly but surely begin to tackle these mountainous tasks. Only with His Strength.

Some of my prints from Photography class

Mon, 11 Oct 2010 17:17:00 +0200

Some of my prints from Photography class

An amazing day

Sun, 10 Oct 2010 15:16:05 +0200

So yesterday we had our “stay and tour Cortona” day. Started off touring the churches around the city to see their artwork. Afterwards, we wandered through the outdoor market, bought some fruit (I got a free plum from an Italian man, who also later winked at me…), and just enjoyed a beautiful saturday in our city. But the highlight of the day started around 2 pm, when we piled into the sketch program van and drove to an undisclosed location under the direction of Gino (whose directions dont hold much confidence even when they make sense….) We eventually ended up in a vineyard where we picked bunch after bunch of beautiful Italian grapes. Our stockpile was then carted up the hill (we only stalled twice) where we dumped them into a huge tub thing and had a grape stomping party (and later a water fight).

It was an amazing day.

grape picking!

Sun, 10 Oct 2010 15:09:06 +0200

grape picking!

A little of what I have been listening to.

Mon, 04 Oct 2010 23:32:15 +0200

A little of what I have been listening to.

Halfway.

Mon, 04 Oct 2010 23:26:26 +0200

So this week marks the half way point of the program. 6 weeks in. 6 weeks to go. (it is not technically my half way since I am traveling two extra weeks at the end though.) But nonetheless, that has been a common topic of conversation among us students. And it has gotten my brain going (not like it really needed any help/something else to think about). I am half way done. Half way done with this experience. It feel like I just got here. It feels like I’ve been gone forever. Both. At the same time. Isn’t it amazing how you can feel two completely different, sometimes conflicting, feelings at exactly the same time, equally as strong. The last few days, my emotions have been shifting drastically between missing people at home/home itself and ready for this to be over to being in complete awe of where I am and never wanting to leave this amazing place. My roommate would be pantomiming a roller coaster as a description of my feelings. A pretty accurate description. I have done some pretty amazing things the last few days: Thursday I explored Cortona, huffing and puffing up and down its hills, discovering the back roads that look like they haven’t been modified in a 100 years, and realizing olive trees and grapevines are a must have in a backyard garden. Friday was of course class, where I learned the ancient Japanese method of binding a book (or stab binding) then painted in an ancient chapel. Saturday was our field trip to Arezzo, the biggest town a short bus ride away. We wandered in a beautiful church that I am ashamed to say I don’t remember the name of, but honestly, they are all starting to blend together…. Then walked around a massive antique market were I bought junk that old an artist can, an old broken watch face, used stamps, a brass ring. For an afternoon refresher we stopped in a modern looking coffee shop and I tried something new: Latte e Menta, basically turns into mint whipped cream. Looked cool and tasted better. We also enjoyed Chinese food for lunch, an extremely welcome change in my book. I love chinese. Sunday morning started off with skyping Jackson :) then spending 7 hours in the book making studio with 2 books started and completed. Then an amazing dinner of some of the best pizza and pasta I’ve had, with some great company. Followed by gelato, mint, of course. Then today, Monday, I set off, walking to the next town, Camuccia, about 5 miles away, basically to enjoy the country side and one of the few sunny days we’ve had and will have. Tried, rather unsuccessfully, to paint a landscape (it helps to have the right supplies), then ate my lunch and read a book in one of the many olive groves sloping down the hill of Cortona. And that’s about that. Now I am drinking my second cup of tea and enjoying internet that finally works. Life is going, sometimes slowly, sometimes quickly. The Lord is my constant companion through it all, even when I forget to talk to him and thank him for my blessings, or rely on him for strength. Life is forever a series of halfway points, even though most of the time we don’t even know it. Those that we do remind us of the time that has past and makes us either dread or look forward to the time to come. Regardless of the response, here we still are. Here I still am. Halfway. 6 weeks down. 6 weeks to go.

Highlight of the weekend: Seeing about 50 James Bond cars in one...

Thu, 23 Sep 2010 10:13:32 +0200

Highlight of the weekend: Seeing about 50 James Bond cars in one place.

Revelation.

Thu, 23 Sep 2010 10:10:07 +0200

This week has been…. interesting. I came down with a cold on Saturday. A cold that just won’t go away. Rest. Liquids. Vitamins. Medicine. All of it. Doesn’t matter what I do, it makes no difference.

But that’s just it. That is the problem. It is all ME doing it. All at MY power. So last night, laying in bed feeling sorry for myself feeling miserable all alone in a foreign country, I realized it. It is not my power that can heal me. God alone is the one that has any sort of power over that. Over everything in my life.

It seems like it should be common sense for me, someone raised in the church, fed the bible stories all my life, etc. etc. But I think that we children of the church are the ones that it is hardest for to grasp that concept. There is no dramatic moment of conversion, no before to compare to the after. It has always just been there. A constant “is”.

And so, as pathetic as it sounds, my moment of enlightenment comes to me as I lay in bed with the sniffles. God sure does have a sense of humor.

So the phrase I must now remind myself every moment of every day, when I feel weak and especially when I feel strong: “His power not mine. His glory not mine.”

Our walk down the hill into town. This photo does not do justice...

Thu, 16 Sep 2010 23:06:54 +0200

Our walk down the hill into town. This photo does not do justice to how long and steep it is on the way back up….

What has been your favorite meal so far?

Thu, 16 Sep 2010 13:59:00 +0200

My mom asks: “So with all of the pasta you probably eat, what has been your favorite? Are you getting tired of pasta?”

When I think about pasta I feel no sense of desire to eat ANY MORE. But then when I sit down to a plate of it, it’s delicious! Our dinner here consists of 1 course of pasta, followed by a course of meat and potatoes/vegetables, followed by dinner. Such a huge meal and yet, I finish it easily every night. Pasta is the CHEAPEST thing here, other than wine maybe, I got a big bag for 50 cents the other day. So I really do eat alot. And I am getting tired of it. But we still haven’t had spaghetti at all….

One happy discovery, I found out there is a restaurant here in Cortona, called Route 66, that serves burgers and fries!!!! So this weekend, I plan to proudly satisfy my craving for American food.

The view out my bedroom window. I wake up every morning in...

Thu, 09 Sep 2010 17:18:31 +0200

The view out my bedroom window. I wake up every morning in amazement.

home sweet home... sorta

Thu, 09 Sep 2010 17:14:24 +0200

I have officially been in Cortona for 3 days now. I’m starting to feel a bit more settled, the home feeling still isn’t quite there yet. When we got here, they told us that they put us through such a crazy, tiring week on purpose, which makes sense, we were all so ready to get to Cortona. But now, we have so much down time I’m not exactly sure what to do with myself. But about Cortona! Our school is up at almost the top of the hill (it is the Westmont hill x5, so hopefully I will be in really good shape by the time I leave!) and our dorms overlook the entire valley. It really is truly amazing that I get to wake up every morning and look out at the sun rising over the Tuscan valley. And then walk to dinner each night and watch it set. So far each one has been breathtaking and unique in its own way. Plus we have had 2 thunderstorms since we got here to keep it interesting. I am rooming with one other girl, Rachelle Fields, also from Westmont, and we have two bunk beds. Each. So who knows, we might just have to change it up and alternate top and bottom every night! I’ve got a bunch of pictures up and have started posting all the maps of the cities we visit up on the wall. The “angels”, aka the wonderful Italian women that keep up the dorm, come around every day and make our beds for us, which is just lovely. I have explored the town some, went grocery shopping, to the pharmacy, the art store, grabbed a meringue (they are so perfect here! And cheap!), etc. The people in the town truly are so welcoming and happy to have us. The man at the gelato place, called Cocoa which has the best dark chocolate gelato I have ever had, was so happy we were there and was teaching us Italian phrases and telling us about how he brings in groups of students every semester to have chocolate making classes! Tonight, after dinner, Sara and Rachelle and I walked into a local gallery of amazing sculpture and paintings and met the artist, who was so excited that we were painters too. And when we all first pulled in on the bus, the Cortonians were sitting in the square waiting for us. So unbelievable. I am completely ready to start classes this Friday, emotionally and mental if not in the area of art supplies. It has been really hard to find things here, I keep kicking myself when I realize I have the exact thing sitting in a box at home. But here I am! In my new home. It is starting to be familiar. And familiarity is what I love.

Photo

Fri, 03 Sep 2010 00:24:44 +0200