_____ Under The Lemon Tree ____

Yeah yeah, I know...It's ben a really long time since my last post. I apologize.

In that time since I posted last, I have spent two weekends in Florence, a day in a small hill town, a weekend in Rome, and a weekend in Paris, France. Because that is a lot of days, I'm gonna update through the Rome weekend...also cause I havent edited pictures from Paris yet...oops!

Let's start with some photos shall we?

Candles in a church
3.11.2011

Church in Main square at Cortona
5.11.2011

After break it was great to spend a few weeks just staying in florence, exploring the city a bit more than I have before, going out to bars, and going to museums and places that I always put off going to. One of the weekends we went to the Duomo for mass, then out for brunch at the american diner, it is nice to eat real american breakfast, Banana chocolate chip pancakes...Mmmmm! Then we wen to the Uffizi, which by the way is a HUGE museum, it is never-ending, and when you think there can't possibly be another room or floor - there is. I also had a friend that I met while in the Alps come to visit, we had a good walk around and I got to play tour guide for a bit and show him around the city. My roommate's mom and aunt and cousin came to visit one of the weekends, not sure which, they all blend together now. A great highlight was getting to see Tom and Shaela Hull. They are very good family friends, who were here visiting their daughter who is also studying abroad in Florence.

Also I don't have exactly a photo for every day, I have been slacking..oops again. but in lieu of a photo that I took that day, you get lots of extra goodies from Rome, get excited!

In digital photo class we have been doing portraiture, self and model, so one of my projects was to take portraits of what I do when I procrastinate, my first potoshoot turned out terribly, with only a few good ones, which really weren't portraits at all. You win some you loose some.

Playing with makeup as a tool of precrastination
6.11.2011

Studio portrait of a guy in my class
8.11.2011

Another thing that I have discovered is city bouldering. There are a lot of rocky walls that have some bouldering potential. I brought my rock climbing shoes with me to Italy on the off chance that I might find a place to play. As it turns out there is a decently secluded wall on the other side of the river up a hill. The wall is only about 7 ft high, and I use it as a traverse (going sideways not up.) So don't worry Mom, I'm being safe. Although it is a skinny road and there have been a couple close calls with cars. The climbing is a little ghetto but it keeps me entertained. Some days I climb until it gets kinda dark and the river looks so beautiful at dusk hour.

The Arno river at dusk-ish
10.11.2011

There is some sweet graffiti in florence, particularly in the Graffiti Tunnel, which is rumored to be owned by a homeless man who rents out the space to artists for money and food. There was some amazing art in the tunnel and it changes all the time, it's all temporary which I think makes it even more exciting.

Make a wish!
11.11.11

On Thursday afternoon a few friends and I set out for Rome a day early and went to the Fleet Foxes concert, which I didn't bring my camera to (dumb) so there are no photos from that.. but it was SO good, they are amazing live, I was in such a happy place.

The next day we met up with the API group and began our 3 day excursion to Rome. We had guided tours the whole time, and so we got to see the monuments with a lot of history behind them, it was so good to be able to see all the big monuments. We also had a lot of free time to roam around on our own and explore without looking like the ultra tourist. Rome is a beautiful city scattered with ruins and full to the brim with history and important buildings.

I'm just gonna go for it with the photos, comment if you wanna know more about any of them.