Finished

Today was the last day of working. My sculpture is all polished, wrapped up, and placed on the moving truck. Tomorrow morning we will be leaving for Pietrasanta, where we will be staying in a monastery for two nights while the gallery display for our pieces is set up. In case someone wants to purchase one of the pieces, we have to start thinking about how we should price them.

Finished!


Wrapped up for safety


Transporting


Even more wrapping for safety


Waiting for pick-up with other sculptures


Loaded onto truck

Florence

We got to take a day trip to Florence, which has some of the best art in Italy. We mostly looked at outdoor sculptures, since the lines to get into the museums were very long and we didn't have a lot of time there. There were also a lot of outdoor markets that were fun to walk through.

Florence streets


Cathedral


Door


Interior


Contemporary art installation


Bridge


Italy themed artwork painted on wall of Disney store
(sadly, they had no special Italy themed merchandise)

Picture Day!

We still have a little under a week to go, but today was picture day for the brochure that will be put out to advertise the show at the end of our time here. Mine isn't quite done yet, but it looks very nice.

Transporting piece to take photograph



pictures I took while the professional photographer was taking pics

Stone Update

Halfway through our time here. I've made a lot of progress on my sculpture, but stone carving is very slow going compared to the computer programming that I am used to. From here, I just have to keep sanding everything down to get it all scratch-free and shiny.

The Past Few Days

The past few days we have been doing a lot of stone carving (obviously). We also went out for special dinners the last two nights. The first night was a large sit-down meal followed by chestnut-nutella pancakes and karaoke / interpretive dance. This most recent night has been a small meal of assorted snacks and games of pool.

Tomorrow there is supposed to be a town music festival near where we are stone carving, so that should be interesting.

More notes:
We keep hearing this one super catchy song everywhere we go. It’s in Italian, but I’m pretty sure the chorus is “Queen Sophia” repeated several times.

Italians really like thinly sliced salted meats. Like… a LOT.

Everyone is getting along very well. There has been no major arguments or interpersonal drama.

There was a storm so bad last night that several of the tents that are set up over the stone-carving area blew over. In addition, the umbrella on our balcony snapped, so the hotel manager had to come and replace it.

broken umbrella on balcony


After we did laundry (this was the day before yesterday), we had to hang our stuff outside to dry. One of my shirts fell onto the balcony below us (yellow blob is my shirt). Fortunately, the cleaning lady was able to retrieve it for us the next day.


pretty sky


first dinner out



town where we had second dinner out

Rain and Thunder

It rains a lot here. At least for a few hours every day. The rain isn't super heavy, but it isn't light either and it is very cold. The past few days there has been a lot of lightening and thunder. Sometimes, when the lightening hits, the lights flicker in the hotel.

In general, it's been getting cooler the past few days. I've been sleeping with an extra blanket.

Pictures from Lucca

Here are some pictures from the day trip to Lucca.

Wall surrounding Lucca (that has a lovely paved path for biking / walking on top)


One of the Cathedrals in Lucca


Lots of tucked-away buildings


Roman colosseum that was turned into medieval houses and is now a open area for restaurants with apartments above


Carved cat candle that reminded me of Candle (my cat)


new robin egg earrings

Walled City, Migraines and Dreams

Today is Saturday, so after a long week of stone carving we took a break to take a day trip to Lucca. Lucca is a walled city about the same size as Pisa. We got to see a nice mix of Roman, Medieval, and Napoleonic art and architecture. Afterwards, we had some free time so two other girls and myself went around a lot of the shops. They each bought like 15 things and I got a nice pair of earrings that look like robin eggs.

Unfortunately, part of the way through our time in Lucca I started to get a headache, and by the time we got back to the hotel I was very sick with a migraine and swollen stomach. We think it was caused by one or a mix of: dehydration (I was drinking water, but probably not as much as I should have due to the fact that a bottle of water costs 2 euro, and going to the bathroom means either buying something in a restaurant or paying 60 cents to use the ONE public restroom in Lucca), seasickness (from the bumpy car ride back to the hotel), pressure changes caused by altitude, or lunch containing something that made me sick. Although I am certainly going to skip dinner, I am at least starting to feel better after a few hours back at the hotel.

Also, sorry for no pics of Lucca. I did take several, but it takes some time to upload, select, and resize the images, and I just don’t feel up to that right now.

In addition, internet is still in a tenuous state at the hotel, so don’t be surprised if I don’t update as often.

On a funnier note, because of the rich meals we have been eating before going to bed, many in the group have been having very memorable and strange dreams. Here’s mine from last night:
I was in my high school, except my high school was in space, and we had to evacuate to one of the rooms because there was some sort of outbreak or attack or something. Anyway, the important thing is I had my cat, Candle, with me. But then he split into 3 smaller Candles. And he kept splitting and splitting until he was a bunch of spaghetti-strand shaped Candles (who were all riggling and meowing and very much alive), that I had to carry in my arms to go wherever I needed to go to get away from whatever the problem was. I remember thinking I hoped he would merge back into one cat soon, because it was very difficult to carry him as a bunch of spaghetti strands (although he might not have been sure how to merge back).

What I take from this dream is that I miss my cat and I have been seeing a lot of spaghetti recently. What is your interpretation?

Stone Carving and Things Previously Not Mentioned

Nothing much to report. I've been busy stone carving the past few days. It took some time getting used to, but I think I am becoming fairly skilled with the power tools.

In other news that I forgot to mention previously:

The hotel is very nice. Our room even has a balcony in the bathroom. One of my roommates hangs her clothes out there to dry, but they always get soaked everyday when a rainstorm rolls in sometime in the early afternoon.

Everyday we have a four course meal for dinner. First there is a salad buffet, then a pasta dish, then a meat dish, and lastly a dessert. Fortunately all courses are small, and after standing all day I've definitely work up an appetite by 8pm.

There is also table wine with every meal (except breakfast, of course), though I usually stick to normal water (normal water and fizzy water are also put out with every meal). Italians seem to love wine and fizzy water.

Visiting Quarry

Today we got to visit a nearby marble quarry. I was able to find several nice rocks that will make good souvenirs. Hopefully I will get a chance to polish them up while I'm here.

Afterwards, we ate lunch in a tiny town with a great view. By mid afternoon, we were back in Gramolazzo and stone carving.

Marble quarry


Nearly got stuck in clay mud


Everybody wearing their safety gear


big hike to get to top of quarry


view from the quarry


adorable little village where we ate lunch

First Day Carving

This morning we went to a get-together with the mayor and many locals (it seems like the entire town showed up to see what we were up to).

Then, in the mid-afternoon, we got a demonstration on the basic stone-carving tools, and then set to work. I spent about 3 hours working on my sculpture, and my hands are very sore from holding the tools (however, it's only been 15 minutes since I stopped working, so I'll probably start to feel better soon.)

The weather has cleared up, though many of the mountains around here are so tall that they are still partially hidden by clouds.

Meeting the Marble

Before dinner, we got to go down to the Digital Stone Project's buildings and see many pieces of finished and unfinished marble.

touring marble sculptures kept at site


view of outdoor workspace


My piece (yay!)




looking at slabs of marble stored out back


piece of scrap marble that was going to be thrown out (my first souvenir!)

Arrived in Gramolazzo

Finally arrived at the hotel in Gramolazzo. Updates may be more infrequent now, since we can only use wifi when you go down to the hotel lobby / restaurant.

I successfully met the group at the airport, and then we embarked on the 2 hour drive to Gramolazzo. On the way, we stopped to see a really cool bridge, but we left soon after a woman was hit by a motorcycle on the nearby street. The roads here are very narrow and both vehicles and pedestrians seem to move with often reckless abandon.

The mountains around here remind me a lot of the Appalachian mountains, with the exception of their being slightly more rugged. Currently, we are up in the middle of nowhere (not the traditional version of nowhere), the version of nowhere you get to after traveling for miles through winding (often single lane) roads through mountains and tunnels interspersed with 20 person towns filled with buildings older than the United States.

Everyone seems nice. So far I have learned some things about my roommates.

Roommate A:
is vegan
favorite band is Good Charlotte
Has a lot of opinions on:
The romantic lives of her friends
Her current boyfriend’s ex-girlfriend
Her ex-boyfriend’s current girlfriend
has a skateboard with a picture of an anime, body-pillow nun on the bottom
Recently:
suffered traumatic head injury
got a new tattoo
In her free time:
runs a fairly popular instagram

Roommate B:
Likes reading

Meeting at airport (there are marble sculptures everywhere in Italy)


cool old italian bridge


view from bridge

Pisa in Evening

Since I was here for the whole day, I went out again in the evening. Important note: gelato shops within a block of the leaning tower charge 11 + euros for an ice cream, whereas gelato shops 10 blocks away charge 2-3 euros. A little walk can dramatically extend the life of one's gelato budget.

Sunset on Cathedral next to Leaning Tower


Selfie with Leaning Tower


Lights Near River