Wednesday ended up being a snow day for everyone, because our only class that day, art history, was canceled. What a shame! I was semi-productive in the beginning of the day by reading all my art history. Later on, I went on a wonderful walk. I would have gone running, but it was too wet and snowy, so instead I walked, exploring around town. I stopped at the vegetable market and bought some very distinguished looking peppers that were contorted and twisted in a figural way (to paint, and of course eventually eat). Dinner was wonderful that night because we had a fantastic dessert: a puff pastry cake filled with layers of vanilla cream and covered in powdered sugar on top. After dinner, we had another set of faculty presentations. This time, my art ed teacher, Erin, and my painting teacher, Zuzka, presented their work, starting with artwork from when they were undergrads in college. I particularly loved Erin’s paintings, because she draws inspiration from children’s artwork. Her paintings are very eclectic, colorful, and carry motifs inspired from the carefree, open-minds of young children. I feel like we both paint from similar mind-sets. Zuzka’s paintings were much more sensual and erotic in their nature. Overall, I loved seeing the growth of the body of their work from the course of their undergrad years to their current artwork.
Thursday morning, the snow was melting, flowing like a waterfall down our hill. I decided the weather conditions were suitable enough to run in. Little did I know, that midway through my run, on the other side of the mountain, I realized that for some reason the snow here did NOT melt. Perhaps it is because the sunlight does not hit this part of the mountain? Either way, my run ended up being an exciting obstacle course, trying to dodge the huge snow drifts along the road; overall, it was like running in a snow globe. Painting that afternoon was a confidence booster because my teacher raved to me about how much she loved my first pepper painting, which everyone in my class agreed was finished, although I am not positive at this moment. I am looking forward to painting more exciting pepper paintings though. Before dinner, my roommate Jeanette and I decided to relax and people watch at one of Cortona’s wonderful cafes. I still have yet to visit each of Cortona’s cafes; it seems that there is another café every few feet along the streets and after every corner. Dinner that night proved to be amazing because, believe it or not, the dessert this night was even better than the dessert that we had the night before. They served us a warm crepe filled with chilled light vanilla cream, warm fresh berries, and a drizzling of warm chocolate on top. This dessert was perfection. I am still thinking about it (and it is now 3 days later).
Friday was another non-stop day. My run was a different sort of adventure from yesterday. Although all the snow was finally melted, there was a thick white fog that took its place, again only appearing on the other side of the mountain. It was definitely spooky running into vast whiteness. In art ed, we are preparing for our second teaching day, where we are planning an art project to make yourself into a superhero that has a super power of doing some sort of good deed within the community. I am particularly fond of the teacher example I made. I made myself into a fruit superhero, and my good deed “super power” is that I share fruit with everyone I meet. In bookmaking, I finally finished my first books! It is an amazing feeling of accomplishment because the entire process was so technical and tedious, and the final product is so satisfying. The previous day, we were told that there was some kind of music performance taking place in Cortona’s beautiful theater later that night. No one really knew exactly what we were about to see, but everyone was excited all through dinner about what might be happening. Before the show, a group of girls and I stopped at a café for some pre-show dessert. (I discovered that this particular café had chocolate chip cookies! I was so excited because I truly thought that chocolate chip cookies did not exist in Italy whatsoever. I was happy to learn that this café proved me wrong). The show at the theater ended being fantastic: it was a huge selection of Broadway songs that were performed by a local orchestra in Cortona. Some songs were played by the orchestra alone, and others were accompanied by this adorable woman who ending up singing such a wide variety of musicals. There were songs from Les Miserables, The King and I, Chicago, West Side Story, Oklahoma, The Wizard of Oz, and South Pacific, just to name a few. My favorite was Beauty and the Beast. The entire show was quite a spectacle. I was amused because the audience was made up of all these stern looking Italians who never really smiled and looked so serious the entire time, despite the light-hearted nature of the entire performance (with the exception of the enthusiastic old man who sat behind me and insisted to sing along to the majority of the songs). I was pleased to spend my Shabbat immersed in show tunes.
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