Well, week one of classes has gone by, and I'm still here. Monday was a light day, just having Italian 2-3 with the fabulous Chrisitano Gentili- an eccentric Italian man with long silver hair. With only one class Monday, I decided that it should double as laundry day. Our washers and dryers here at The Residence aren't the top of the line, but they still operate.
Tuesday is super marathon day, starting at 8AM with Katherine Krizek for Rome Sketchbook, and ending at 9PM with Frank Dabell for Early Renaissance Art History. In between is Italian at 2, and Survey of Printmaking with Mario Teleri Biason. Rome Sketchbook is a bit more dictated and structured than I had imagined, but she had reassured us that this is only the case for the first few classes. Survey of Printmaking isn't too bad; we'll be going through serveral different printmaking techniques, one of which involves using the 100+ year-old printing press. And the Art History is entertaining, or rather, Professor Dabell is entertaining as he explains the subject matter with his English accent and habit of making sure what he says has no way of being misinterpreted. (i.e. he wanted to assure us that when he uses the term "pagan" that he's not commenting that the art is worth any less than that with religious themes.) It's better Wednesday mornings when we're out and looking at various landmarks and not in the classroom looking at slides on his archaic slide projection devices. (circa 1970s).
Wednesday starts off with Art History at 9 AM, as I mentioned, but outside, basically doing a fancier guided tour that we'll be tested on later. And with an English tour guide, it makes it all the better. For the first go-around, we started at the Pantheon and then made our way to one of the museums that overlook the Roman Forum, looking at the classic architecture, to give the context of the interest the Renaissance had in it. Then is Italian at 2- the last class of the day.
Thursday starts bright and early with Digital Imaging, where I learned all about my SLR camera's manual mode and how to properly set the Aperture, shutter speed, and exposure. I got a few neat shots, that I will put up on the web at some point. Then I have Italian at 2 and Survey of Printmaking at 7:30 again.
Friday is typically a free day, but this week it was filled with a Rome Sketchbook specific trip to Tuscania, a small town in the Lazio province, and NOT Tuscany. It had some nice Medieval architecture to draw, until it became extremely windy and cold. But aside from all that it was very beautiful.
Saturday I used as a day to go to the Italian Market, and get some of my artwork done- specifically Printmaking, since I have to use the special Lino cutting tools that are only at school. I also went to Mas in english at Santa Susanna, using the walk back to take care of some Digital Imaging homework which involved taking a picture every 11 steps until I reach 20 pics. I then had a panini, canoli and gelato for dinner as I walked down the Spanish Steps to get back to school to finish up a little bit more of my linoleum print. Tomorrow I will be walking along the outer walls of Rome with other students.
So let's recap: two of my classes involve walking around Rome taking pictures or drawing, I'm learning Italian from a real, live, Roman, I'll be using a printing press that's over a century old and we had Art History class in the Pantheon. And that's leaving out the home life of going to an Italian Market to get fresh prosciutto and salami for my lunch, and the occasional "Non lo so" ("I don't know") uttered in response the the Roman native asking me where something is. Yeah, I think I can handle this for another 3 months...
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