sickness and arting it up

Ciao!

How do you guys like the new set up?? I spent a lot of time yesterday customizing the colors, fonts, and picture in the background (now it's a real picture I took in Rome one of my first days here instead of the random one I had before). I think it looks pretty pretty, I hope you guys agree:)

pretty pretty roma

SO the past few days have been molto interessante. Sunday after I dropped Zach off I came back home and was completely exhausted. I was a little bit sick the second half of the week, and Sunday it all caught up to me. I felt miserable ! I was glad I lasted so long in Rome without getting this sick though. That's a record for me! So I spent the day in bed. I updated the blog, then slept allllll dayyyyy lonnggggg. Around 8 I took some medicine that we'd gotten at the farmacia a few nights ago. I was hoping it was the right thing...the lady didn't speak English so I coughed and touched my nose to try to get across that I had a sore throat and stuffy nose. I think she understood. The brand is Vick's so that seemed pretty legit. After I took my meds I was completely zonked out until 9 am the next morning. Perfecto!

I was feeling a little better on Monday. My nose wasn't as stuffy, but I still had a cough and a terrible headache - it was like I was walking around in a fog. Since yoga was cancelled last week I didn't want to cancel it again, so I planned a nice easy stretching class and headed over. It was a small class (just 4 girls), and they were all about a more restorative class. My voice was nice and raspy, so I'm sure it wasn't as calming as usual, but we managed.

After yoga I headed over to photography! I was pretty excited because I was almost finished with the roll I had from Paris/Florence/Villa Borghese with the visitors. We had taken some awesome pictures at Villa Borghese ... close ups of the pretty flowers, hand-shots (ilovehands), India from above holding the flowers.. I couldn't WAIT to see how they came out! I also had the pictures of the Eiffel Tower on there - remember how that photo teacher had helped me get the "perfect" shot? So excited to see how they would turn out.

beautiful buds on the trees!!!

For the first few minutes of class, Jess and I walked around outside and finished up our rolls with telefoto lenses that Serafino let us try. These lenses are awesome for portraits and for "particulars" - close ups on rando things - because it focuses on a small area and everything else is blurry. I finished up my roll and we headed back to develop. It took the whole rest of the class to go through the developing process, and everything went smoothly (as opposed to the distaster of last time). We pulled out our rolls at the end and.....

DUN DUN DUN
Complete failure.
I was mortified.
My entire roll was blank.
Unexposed.

Apparently I hadn't put the roll into the rocket correctly in the camera, so none of my pictures worked. Boooooooo. I was so upset. BUT now I know! At least I learned something from this. Serafino told me that he would meet me Wednesday to teach me the exact way to insert the film so that it won't happen again. Ever ever. It was a sad day, but oh well. I know I'll get some cool pictures from my other travels! And when I get home, India and I will have to go to the park and redo our flower pictures:)

st. peter's basillica through the
windows at Castel Sant'Angelo

Monday night I made a fresh salad from all the market purchases Dad got for me - lettuce, strawberries, pears, fresh parmesan, oil and vinegar..YUM! On the side was the fresh bread we got from the famous bread store in Storico Centro (brown bread with walnuts baked in mmmm). It was quite the successful dinner. I took my meds again for the night and was out for the count.

It was so hard to get out of bed Tuesday because of that medicine haha. Luckily, my on-site class was meeting at the castle that I pass every day on the walk to school - just a quick 10 minute walk. I finally stopped pushing the snooze button and rolled out of bed to make it to class on time. It was SUCH a pretty day!!! It was only 9:15 in the morning and already 60 degrees. The trees have all started budding pink little baby flowers that are so precious..ahh I love it. I jammed to Taylor Swift on the quick walk to class to prepare for her concert I'm heading to in Madrid this Saturday (!!!!!!!!).

Class was so cool today because I pass by Castel Sant'Angelo EVERY SINGLE DAY multiple times, but I'd never been inside of it. It was actually really neat. At different times in it's existance it has been a tomb, prison, church, and castle. Crazy! This is the building that has a secret passageway to the Vatican for the Pope to escape to in the olden days. Grandmother and Granddaddy - this is the building that was on the postcard I sent you!

the flatter dome on the leftish center is the Pantheon, the big white building is the "wedding cake" or Piazza Venezia!

We wandered through the different layers learning all about the building, and ended up on the highest level. It was such a gorgeous view of Rome! You could see the Pantheon, Venezia, Piazza Cavour (obviously..it's right next door), St. Peter's Basillica, and even my apartment!! Well...almost. You could see the big dome that's a block away from my apartment haha. Sooo, close enough. It was a little hazy so the pictures aren't as clear as they could be, but still it was awesome. AND since it was such a gorgeous day it made it even better! I didn't even wear a jacket today - just a skirt and a sweater. Hooray for spring in Roma!

the dome on the right side
is 1 block from my apartment! kewl

After class, I hurried back to my apartment. I wanted to get lunch here since I have so much fresh food, but it was so nice out that I wanted to eat quickly so that I could get back outside. I was in such a great mood because of the lovely weather! I got home, made another amazing fresh salad (lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, fresh mozzarella - best part, oil/vinegar), meditated a little bit. After my quick stop at home, I decided to head over to St. Peter's square to sketch a little before painting class. I also wanted to get a little Old Bridge gelato. Once you try it once, you can't stop. INCREDIBLE.

beginnings of my figure painting

I walked over to the square, grabbed a gelato to go (blood red orange - obvi-, creme, and dark chocolate), then sat in the square and worked in my research workbook listening to TSwift. Perfection. Life is GOOD.

Funny story: As I was sitting there, a tour group gathered near me. I was in my own little world, so I didn't notice they were so close until I was nudged by a couple high school aged girls. I looked up to nervous faces. They looked around, trying to convince the others to ask me something. I said, "Si?" and was asked "Picture? With you? Can we have one?" Apparently they didn't speak English very well (I have no idea where they were from - some European country), but they wanted a picture with me. I figured it couldn't hurt - it was a bunch of high school girls, so I said sure.

figure painting in the works

Three girls gathering around me turned quickly into their entire group running over. I guess I was an interesting sight to see! They really liked my research workbook, so after the group of 25 or so gathered around me smiling for about 6 cameras, the girl closest to me grabbed my book, opened it to a random page, and put it back in my hands with the page facing the cameras. Haha interestinggggg. Quite a moment. They got their pictures, thanked me, and went on their way. So now I'm on a random Asian man's camera (from the Roman Forum a few weeks ago) AND a bunch of high school tourists'. Curious...

eh.. a little paint never hurt anyone

After the picture extravaganza, I finished up my writing/sketching and headed to painting. We were working on our figure paintings again and it was my first day actually painting, yay! I got alot done, but also got super messy. I think that ceramics is the best medium for me, because I can get messy and it doesn't completely ruin my clothes haha. I just get dirty too easily! At the end of class I looked down and realized I had paint EVERYWHERE! Somehow I avoided my shirt, but my skirt was covered in paint, as were much of my legs. And I think that my hands are permanently green now. At least it was an old skirt. And having paint-y clothes doesn't stop me from wearing them..it adds to my style:) I got a few interesting looks on the walk home, but overall it was a success.

Tuesday night I made a little tortallini for dinner (with pesto, basil, garlic, and parmesan, with fresh kiwi and strawberries as a side). Highlight of my night: Kaylie and Debbie's friend is visiting from the states and she brough Reeses as a snack for the plane. She had extras. She shared. BEST. THING. EVER. Yes, even with all my tasty fresh fruits and veggies and breads and cheeses and everythings I still miss American chocolate. SINS.