Week 3 update??
I posted week 1 late so... sorry.
Ahhh sorry for the late update! I've been a lot busier here than I thought I would be. SACI is kind of intense? Studio art classes are time consuming and we have a LOT of field trips - like one every weekend if you're up for it, plus class period field trips to museums and cultural events in the evenings. (Above is a picture of a walk on a field trip to Fiesole, to the right is a bad picture of a SACI gelato stroll with the assistant registrar, Taylor.)
I'm kind of overwhelmed, but I kind of also appreciate that SACI makes it clear that they expect a lot out of us and that we're here for school (even if it is art school), while at the same time giving us ample opportunity to learn about the place we're in, guided by the faculty, who are so kind and enthusiastic and knowledgeable. I'll write more about the field trips soon in their own post because wow they're really... something.
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the classes that I ended up with! I say "ended up with" because I am not at all taking what I was planning on taking because I had a lot of registration issues. But - they're all good classes! My two studio classes are ceramics and book arts (both things I've wanted to learn for so long!). My two art history classes are Women in the Arts in Italy and Museology. Below is a picture of the SACI main building courtyard.
Last but not least, I'm taking beginning Italian. My professor actually suggested that I transfer into the intermediate level class because I already knew some basic stuff going in from the class I took this summer, but again, I had conflicts, so I'm staying in level 1 and auditing one day of the second level. I'm really enjoying learning the language! I can kind of understand people when I eavesdrop now, but I'm still really bad at speaking. We're working on it!
I've also been really busy trying to plan my weekend excursions and stuff. I really should have done this in advanceeeee but I didn't understand the field trip schedule so it was kind of difficult to lock anything down. It's so stressful planning stuff with strangers while trying to keep up with homework and sleep and also remembering to look up from my laptop every once in a while to remember that I'm ALREADY IN ITALY - WHY AM I TRYING TO LEAVE IT???
Exhibit A: This is from one of the villas we visited on the last field trip.
Honestly I think I'm gonna try to take advantage of the week-long break and visiting family while they're in town, but other than that I'm probably not going to go very far from Italy. If I leave, I'll be missing out on all this great stuff that's in my very own backyard.
