staying places.

here is a picture of rain coming through the occulus in the pantheon! 

this is the view from my bedroom window
this is where i bought my neon bicycle

I think all major cities can feel the same. Similar routines can be established anywhere. The Vatican has replaced Rittenhouse square as the meeting place for friends. Young people line up outside the only 24 hour bakery in Rome rather than the Pretzel factory at 4am. Public transit still leaves residents stranded after midnight.

I only notice how spectacular my surroundings are when I look at pictures. I keep having to remind myself where I am.

My friend Matt, who I met on couchsurfing in May, is here visiting this week. We have lots of adventures planned, including attending a Roman hardcore show tomorrow!

The other night I saw a bunch of contemporary art exhibits. Some were really boring and some were fun and one was really great. I got to meet Franko B. who is this crazy performance artist who uses his own body and his own blood to make art. This specific show was toned down and was a blood-free installation. Above is a picture of Franko B. in his performing days but now he has an underbite and a grill on his lower teeth. He is great. 

I saw a Baselitz show at Gagosian that was a little disappointing.

I also saw this show by Pierre Louis (I think thats his name) that was really great also but not worth explaining. It was kind of like first friday but it was the 3rd thursday of the month.

all my clothes smell bad because our washer doesn't work. I'm going to go buy some pants now!

We have discovered this lady at the market that has about ten huge vats of wine that she sells for 1.50 euro or less per liter and it tastes really good! We go there most mornings.

Going places.

I'll try to update this weekly? maybe???? Please don't stop sending me e-mails and stuff because I like that better than this stupid blog.

I went to London and it was the first time I've travelled completely alone. I felt a little lonely at times but it forced me to meet people and explore on my own and rely on myself a lot. It was really nice to not have to compromise or worry about how my decisions affected everyone around me. I couchsurfed with this house full of brazilians and they were so so so nice and hospitable. I hope to stay in touch with them.

I spent most of my time in London riding the tube and getting lost then finding my way home.

I went to the Tate Modern of course and fell in love and i wish I could go there everyday.
Here is a picure of the wall facing the river at the Tate.

London had really great street art and most of the pictures I took there were of the street art. Here is one in the East End... near Brick lane... my favorite neighborhood in London.
Here is a Banksy piece on a wall in camdentown, very close to the house i stayed at.
A blurry picture of this huge park on top of a hill nearby. You can see all of London from the top of the hill.

After a week in London I had to spend the night in the Heathrow airport in order to catch a really early flight to Rome. I ended up meeting this Syrian guy named Akhmed who was about my age and I spent most of my time talking to him about how different our cultures are and about gender roles in our respective societies. After he found out that I painted he asked to see my sketchbook. I showed him and he quickly replied "I don't like this at all!" which made me laugh. He also told me painting was a hobby and not a career. He plans on being married within the year and having tons of children but we exchanged e-mails and perhaps if I ever go to Syria we will be in touch again.


I've been in Rome for 3 weeks now and I feel like I've settled into a routine. Classes are going well I have a studio which is fabulous! Here is a picture of it with some unfinished paintings ( that you should probably ignore) hanging up.


Rome is beautiful but it is my least favorite European city that I've been to. Perhaps I don't love it because it is not very progressive. Not much is happening in the contemporary art scene here. The "kids" here are really into dressing like Hot Topic shoppers and people love europop and house music. All fine things, but not my style. Most Italians don't really speak English so it is difficult to make friends with them so I spend a lot of time with people I go to school with.

My apartment is really nice and I live right next door to the biggest open air market in Rome. The produce is so fresh and cheap! There is a coffee roaster downstairs so I can have really good coffee all the time. Although there are no vietnamese hoagies or indian food place, the food tastes so much better here than in the US.

The other day I saw it rain through the oculus in the Pantheon and it was really amazing and made me really happy.

I'm sure there are plenty of cool things that I'm leaving out but this is a really really long post and your attention span has probably run out by now.

ciao!