Noto and Paper Writing

So not much has been going on here in Catania short of gearing up for finals and doing lots of paper writing and studying. Two papers down- one BIG one to go.... Today for Baroque Art History class we are heading to Noto, a city in Sicily known for its Baroque art influence. I am excited to go check it out in detail since we only stayed for a short period of time during orientation or whenever that was (a long time ago). Once again, I would post pictures, but I don't have the capability at the moment. Check in when I get home (in 17 days!-- I'm not counting or anything :) ) and I will be sure to post everything that I have.

I am also thinking that I will continue to blog when I get home though it may take on a bit of a different feel.... It's a good way to keep tabs on my life and store some creative ideas, good poems, stories, etc. I'm also taking a photography class next semester so this will be a good way to share some of my favorite shots. Hope all is well!!

Marginalia

So I found this poem today and loved it.... funny and so true. (Also check out the couple of pics I added to the last couple of posts including with me and the puppies!)

Marginalia

Sometimes the notes are ferocious,
skirmishes against the author
raging along the borders of every page
in tiny black script.
If I could just get my hands on you,
Kierkegaard, or Conor Cruise O'Brien,
they seem to say,
I would bolt the door and beat some logic into your head.

Other comments are more offhand, dismissive-"Nonsense." "Please!" "HA!!" -
that kind of thing.
I remember once looking up from my reading,
my thumb as a bookmark,
trying to imagine what the person must look like
why wrote "Don't be a ninny"
alongside a paragraph in The Life of Emily Dickinson.

Students are more modest
needing to leave only their splayed footprints
along the shore of the page.
One scrawls "Metaphor" next to a stanza of Eliot's.
Another notes the presence of "Irony"
fifty times outside the paragraphs of A Modest Proposal.

Or they are fans who cheer from the empty bleachers,
Hands cupped around their mouths.
"Absolutely," they shout
to Duns Scotus and James Baldwin.
"Yes." "Bull's-eye." "My man!"
Check marks, asterisks, and exclamation points
rain down along the sidelines.

And if you have managed to graduate from college
without ever having written "Man vs. Nature"
in a margin, perhaps now
is the time to take one step forward.

We have all seized the white perimeter as our own
and reached for a pen if only to show
we did not just laze in an armchair turning pages;
we pressed a thought into the wayside,
planted an impression along the verge.

Even Irish monks in their cold scriptoria
jotted along the borders of the Gospels
brief asides about the pains of copying,
a bird signing near their window,
or the sunlight that illuminated their page-
anonymous men catching a ride into the future
on a vessel more lasting than themselves.

And you have not read Joshua Reynolds,
they say, until you have read him
enwreathed with Blake's furious scribbling.

Yet the one I think of most often,
the one that dangles from me like a locket,
was written in the copy of Catcher in the Rye
I borrowed from the local library
one slow, hot summer.
I was just beginning high school then,
reading books on a davenport in my parents' living room,
and I cannot tell you
how vastly my loneliness was deepened,
how poignant and amplified the world before me seemed,
when I found on one page

A few greasy looking smears
and next to them, written in soft pencil-
by a beautiful girl, I could tell,
whom I would never meet-
"Pardon the egg salad stains, but I'm in love."

- Billy Collins

Cool bracelets

Also, I wanted to blog about this so I don't forget. I have really been into looking into some arts and crafts blogs- pretty much my new addiction. I saw some really cute bracelets today at a store here in Catania that were super cute and I know I could recreate. They were made out of multi-colored buttons and elastic thread. Hopefully that will remind me enough so that I can make them later on. If I had a picture, I would share-- in the mean time, dream up a bracelet out of those materials and tell me how they work out!

Here's a picture I ripped off the internet as an idea starter.


PS- If you are looking for blogs to get your creative juices flowing. This is one of my favorites! Design*Sponge

Today could be...

the sunniest, brightest day since we got here. Not so good for the paper writing, but very good for the soul. :) Hoping your day is just as beautiful, alli

Morgantina and cute puppies :)

Today we went to Morgantina, a city not too far from Catania. It took us a while to get there because we had to take back roads. The views, however, were breathtaking with rolling hills dotted with orchards and a glistening lake laying low in a valley. The sites we visited were also very cool. We visited a Greek city with many houses, public buildings, theater, etc. I would upload pictures, but unfortunately, my computer has run out of space and I don't have my external hard drive with me so when I return in three weeks (crazy!), I will upload. As for now, trust me- gorgeous panoramics. And while the view was incredible, what was equally (if not more) fun- we found a litter of puppies hiding in a fountain house, seeking out the shade. They were so cute and still so young! I almost stuffed one or two in my bag to bring home after I spent a good chunk of time playing with them. It's always good to get some puppy love. :) I found a picture someone had posted on facebook with me and my favorite puppy so you will have proof that they were really cute (and that I was elated to see them!).


Tonight, I hung out with friends and watched the newest Office. (yay Michael and Pam!) Good times... tomorrow will bring lots of paper writing and Greek translating and maybe some fun?! Let's hope for it! I have really been wanting to go take some pics of Catania, but unfortunately it has been raining a lot over the past week. Hopefully I will get the chance soon though!

On a side note, Andrew has some bad allergieness going on and has exams coming up starting this Tuesday so prayers are appreciated for both! Thank you thank you thank you. Love you all! Good night!

thanks e.e. for a great poem... hope it makes yall's days too.

Religious Leanings
e.e. cummings

i thank You God for this most amazing
day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun’s birthday; this is the birth
day of life and of love and wings:and the gay
great happening illimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any – lifted from the no
of all nothing – human merely being
doubly unimaginable You?

(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

I just had....

the best calamari in the whole world for lunch at the famed Chicken Lady's place. So delicious! And the best part- a huge to go box was only about $4. Nice! Just thought I would share- that's how good it was :)

Mount Etna- Can't get much cooler than this!

So we just got back from our excursion to Mount Etna, which was pretty spectacular! We saw some older lava flows dating from the 1800s-2001ish. They had already turned dark and the older ones were breaking down into fertile soil. When the lava erupts, it is very acidic, but over time it breaks down and becomes very fertile which is great for growing sweet fruits and veggies. It becomes "lava sand," which is a mixture of ash and lavaness. You slide down it when you try to walk so instead of hiking up and down craters, we kind of skied. We saw some craters and some "bombs," which are basically big chunks of lava rock that blow out of the craters and land far away. Sometimes they sink into the ground and sometimes they stay on top where you can still see them today. We also saw a cool plant which is native only to Mount Etna called the "Etna Broom." It started snowing on us on our decent- weird puffs of snow not just your normal snowflakes. Anyways, as you can tell, I thoroughly enjoyed myself so check out the pictures here :)

Walking Lecture

Today's field trip was just a walk around Catania to see the sites here. I forgot to take my camera and thus don't have pictures, but it was lots of fun and very relaxing since it avoided 4 hours of bus riding. This afternoon, I did a bit of pleasure reading :) and some napping and even went for a run... my kind of day! The weather is still absolutely beautiful and I'm guessing it will stay this way for the rest of the semester (which is less than a month- oh man!).

I don't know that I updated the rest of the time I spent with Jackie, but due to rain, we weren't able to make it to Mount Etna and so we spent a day relaxing and reading and catching up- a bit disappointing, but still a great time was had. However, tomorrow we are going on a small day excursion to Mount Etna, which will be led by a geologist. I am SO EXCITED. Minus the early wake up call to catch the bus, it should be a great adventure. Check for pictures and stories soon!

Tunisia and Western Sicily Trip

Our group just got back from a 7 day trip to Tunisia (in Africa) (pictures here) and western Sicily (pictures here). It was absolutely awesome! Not only did we see some fascinating sites, it was interesting to be in a primarily Muslim country and see a different part of the world and its culture, even if only briefly. We visited about 10 sites so I won't begin to recount them all one by one... But I will say that we say some cool temples, and some really awesome mosaics, which we haven't seen much of before and a lot of awesome Roman houses which we also haven't seen since we have been studying the Greeks for the most part. The weather in Africa was a bit cold and rainy, but cleared up a couple of days and the weather in Sicily is now GORGEOUS! Makes studying that much harder.... :)

Oh also (sorry this is a bit scattered brained), I was able to go with some students to an Easter service in Tunisia. It was so wonderful to see a group of Christians of all different races and languages coming together to celebrate Jesus. Hope you all had a wonderful, blessed Easter as well! Peace and prayers.

PS- I finally am gradually uploading pics for spring break so see the last post for links!