Sunday, March 29, 2015

A's, Waves, and Galley Slaves: Day 67

The first two in the title of this post are relevant, but third I just found it slightly humorous that it was a choice when I googled "words that rhyme with wave." 

Galley Slave: 
noun: a slave condemned to row in a galley 
noun: a laborer who is obliged to do menial work
(http://www.rhymezone.com/r/d=galley_slave) 

Not that I find slavery humorous at all. Also, "googled," a hundred percent a verb now. And I definitely had to use a calculator to figure out 9x7 to add up what day it is. If any of this tells you about the state of mind I am in...


I got on A on my first midterm! This class (Film Genres) is for my major, so that’s always a good sign. I have my other midterm (for italiano) on Wednesday, April 1st. Wish me luck, I’ll need it. For some reason, I am struggling learning basic Italian more than I ever did Spanish and French, and I actually have a reason to learn it here. Maybe I just think I’m struggling. Or maybe I’m not putting in enough time, even though I’m only taking twelve credits I’m always busy with other homework for Screenwriting and Painting… and traveling, can’t forget that.

I started a new painting from a picture of the crazy, crashing waves at the Wormhole on Inismor.  My professor scared me with some talk of it taking me a while, so I think it’s going to be pretty challenging. My next painting is going to be either a portrait or an eye and on a canvas, I’ve been craving my style!

I’ve also been craving making a short film, so I took the initiative, got some people together, and started brainstorming and scripting. I have a feeling I’m going to be doing a lot of the work because most of these people have never made a short film before, but that’s okay! More experience for me! We’ll see how it turns out…

The strangest thing happened to me on Friday: a very elderly woman buzzed the door of our apartment, so I opened the door to see who it was. She began speaking in Italian very fast and asking questions, I tried my best to listen and understand, but all I could understand was that she was looking for someone and she thought they were here. Jen and I, who was at the table, kept saying “non parlo italiano”, “non lo so”, and “non capisco”, but she just kept talking and asking questions. It was very awkward and very uncomfortable.

And I’ve been surprisingly homesick. I honestly don’t remember ever being homesick in my teen/young adult years, so it’s a strange feeling for me. I really think it’s because the language barrier; I got comfortable in Ireland speaking English so I had to get used to not understanding anyone again, but I wasn’t expecting it this time. Mostly I miss movie nights with my best friend, and facilitating at leadership events with my favorite CVFC and LAS people, getting Chinese with my roommates, and even back to my high school days spending time with my family. And oddly enough, I miss grass. I had the urge to sit down and stretch in grass today, and yeah, can’t exactly do that in Rome. I thought about all of this for a hot sec, then reminded myself that I’m in Rome and was fine. I only have six weeks left – excuse me while I sob – so I have to make the most of it!


Observation of the Day: massaging scar tissue is not fun. And it makes my shins hurt. Don’t judge me because I have never had surgery before, so I was unaware (thank you to my Doctors) that I could have some serious scar tissue growth. That could feel like bone. Until you press it and it leaves a dent. So now I need to massage my shins every day to break up the tissue. Despite this small inconvenience, I am still completely grateful that I was able to get the surgery and am able to walk and run normal again!

Saturday, March 28, 2015

A Short Blog Post for a Short Trip: Day 66

 After staying in the apartment ALL DAY LONG on Friday (except to go to Nuovo Olimpia Theater to see Foxcatcher – mixed feelings, which I have for), I was ready for a day out. At the beginning of the year I had signed up for a day trip through AUR to Assisi, a small, and by small I mean VERY small, city about three hours north of Rome.

We left campus at about 7 AM arrived in Assisi at about 10 AM, went on a two hour walking tour (without a lot of walking), explored for another two hours or so, and returned to Rome at 7 PM.

On our walking tour, we saw the Church of St. Clair, including her mummified body, Piazza del Comune a.k.a. the city center where the Tempio di Minerva can be found, and the Basilica of St. Francis. After the tour was done, we ate at a little restaurant set into the hillside that Assisi is built into. Basically you either walk up or down; there isn’t much flat ground. Then, on our tour guides suggestion, we hiked up to the Rocca Maggioria, or castle fort of Assisi.

Church of St. Clair
View from Church of St. Clair
Beautiful Assisi

Piazza del Commune
  
Tempio di Minerva
Basilica of St. Francis
Lunch!

Rocca Maggioria
The beautiful view from the castle!






 Kasey sleeping on the way there... and the way back!





To end the day right, we got gelato on our way back down to the Basilica of St. Francis, then made our way to the buses and back to Rome!


Observation of the Day: Mountains are b-e-a-utiful and towns on mountains may be even more breathtaking! But as a runner with asthma and recovering from surgery, I prefer to live where the ground is flat. Also, I JUST NOW figured out how to use captions on this gem so hopefully my captions and pictures will no longer be quite as mess up...

Sunday, March 22, 2015

ATTENTION: Important information: Day. Goodness, it's already day 60!

“Differences of habit and language are nothing at all if our aims are identical and our hearts are open.”

I thought this quote was appropriate for both this post and my travels in general, by the one and only Albus Dumbledore.

Do you recognize this picture?



No. Probably not, because I took it.

Maybe from a different angle.






A little closer.


No?
How about from this angle?





The Cliffs of Moher, people, is where Harry Potter and Dumbledore apparated to in the Half Blood Prince (the sixth movie) to destroy one of Voldemort’s horcruxes.


 


This beautiful Library, the Old Library, called the Long Room, in Trinity College was used for both the Hogwarts Library and the Jedi Library in Star Wars.

The Wicklow National Park, or Glendalough (not really sure if they work interchangeably, but that’s how I’m using them) is the film location for both Braveheart and PS I Love You.








The Guiness manor down below has housed both Tiger Woods (for $30,000 for one night I believe) and the legend Michael Jackson.

Also, the town you drive through to get to Glendalough/Wicklow is home to the man with the most Oscars for Best Actor: Daniel Day Lewis. Unfortunately, we did not get a glimpse of him that day.




Observation of the Day: I will be back to Ireland with a film crew one day. There are so many beautiful locations in Ireland, the best way for me to really see them is to film them for a movie, so that's the plan folks.