Italy, Sickness, and PhotoShoots

So apparently I have less than 2 weeks left here! I can't believe how quickly this summer has gone! Fortunately I have some awesome travel plans for after my internship, so the fun doesn't end just yet.

The last few days were kind of a bummer for me. I've had a really bad cold. Yesterday was the worst. I hadn't slept the night before due to congestion, and I was certifiably insane and delirious. No fun. It sucked for Katie too because she had to listen to my nose blowing and sneezing and sniffing. And I had to ask her to take my tour yesterday morning. Her ingenuity totally saved me last night though. In the afternoon she said "Ally, maybe you should have a glass of wine before bed", to which I responded "that is the best idea I've ever heard". So at 10pm we settled into bed to watch Arthur (good movie by the way) and I had 3 glasses of red wine. Passed out within 30 minutes. Slept for 7 hours straight. Magic.

Speaking of movies, we also watched Source Code which was surprisingly good. And we watched the entire Human Planet series. If you haven't seen it, you should.

Anyways, I felt a million times better today and went in at 9:30am to do my tour. Now, I don't know if I've explained the Italian mentality about sickness yet, but let me do it now. Italians are ridiculous about sickness! I've been sick twice this summer, the first time with a stomach bug, this time with a cold. Both times I felt pretty crappy for a day or two, but neither has been a huge deal. All I need is some extra sleep and water. But Signor Gori and everyone else here essentially had me written off as dead as soon as they heard I was sick. Today when I showed up, he was like "Why are you here?? I'll call in a doctor!! Don't do your tour!" and I had to explain that "no really, I feel great.. It was just a cold....". It was the same thing the other time I got sick. When I showed up at the office to check my email, they looked like they were seeing a ghost. "How are you here?? Go home!! We're going to call you a doctor!".

Hilarious.

Anyways, not much else is new here. I'm dreading thinking about packing. It's not like I've really bought much, it's just that I had a lot of things to start with. Tonight we're going for our last grocery trip of the summer. I'm really excited. I've been out of yogurt for the last few days and I want to eat as much amazing european yogurt as possible before I go home. If you want to make a lot of money, produce coconut yogurt with crunchy chocolate balls in it, and then sell it in north america. I'll buy all of it.

On Sunday Katie and I went outside at sunset to do a mini photoshoot in front of our apartment and in the vineyard. Below are some of the pictures we got. Enjoy.

Libraries, Grocery Stores, and Hello Kitty

Mmm bus-stop yogurt

Today has been yet another exhausting day. No tours today, but this morning I was in the library (aka archive?) of the villa putting away some books. I'm not complaining about this though... I could spend 24/7 in there! What an amazing collection of materials on an immense number of artists and contemporary art, as well as an array of neat ephemera (invitations to art shows (one was even made of bronze), artistic little cards and letters to the Gori family, cds, etc.). All the materials are currently stored in giant shelf/cupboard things in alphabetical order. However, loose pieces of paper and delicate things like the invitations I mentioned are also just slotted in between the books, and as a result, many of them are getting bent, crushed, and probably lost. I spoke to Miranda about it and I'm really hoping she'll let me file all of these non-book items into folders to be stored separately... I (and my OCD) would find that really rewarding.

While I was putting away books, I flipped through them and discovered some artists whose work I really like. I've found some images of their work and inserted them below for your enjoyment. I really really like the work of Alberto Savinio, and as I came up the stairs from the library, I noticed that S. Gori actually has one of his paintings in the hall! So cool.

This afternoon Miranda drove Katie and I to the nearby grocery store. Our cupboards are literally bare, so we really had to stock up. Unfortunately, this also meant having to get the bus back. The walk from the grocery store to the bus stop is about 10 minutes. On the way, bus 25 (the bus we need to take) went past us twice. Then by the time we got to the bus stop, we had to wait in the sun 30 minutes for the next one. It got pretty hot in the sun, so I had one of the yogurts I bought (awesome european yogurt with 2 compartments - one for yogurt and one that holds delicious toppings like chocolate-y cereal and caramelized nuts), and ate it with a Hello Kitty spoon that came with a bowl I bought (see above picture). The worst part though, was after getting off the bus... walking uphill up a 1.5km driveway feeling like a packmule with sacks of groceries is not fun. At least I got some serious exercise. And we have food! Woohoo.

Ciao tutti!

Hans Silvester is a German photographer who documents the body painting of the Surma and Mursi peoples of the Omo Valley in Southern Ethiopia

Hans Silvester is a German photographer who documents the body painting of the Surma and Mursi peoples of the Omo Valley in Southern Ethiopia

Alberto Savinio is an Italian Surrealist

Alberto Savinio is an Italian Surrealist

Eva Marisaldi is an artist from Bologna. This is an installation she did in Florence, titled 'Non Linear Grey'

Eva Marisaldi is an artist from Bologna. This is an installation she did in Florence, titled 'Non Linear Grey'

Massimo Lunardon likes to work with glass, and did a series of Alien figures like this