I'm in Paris on a strange keyboard. Shannon and I stayed one night in Venice, spent the next day there (we mostly just walked around and went to the Accademia museum), then took an overnight train to here. We arrived this morning and actually have had a pretty lazy day. I think we're going to meet with my friend Connie's mom, who works here, tomorrow, as well as see the Louvre and perhaps that big tower.

I've packed up everything and put it in the basement of the school, and I turned in my keys. The last was spent having a very entertaining dinner at home, featuring Mike doing nearly all his characters and a "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" sing-along with Topi on guitar, followed by a frantic cleaning session. I slept for only three hours, actually, from 1-4. I packed, wiped, swept, and mopped from 4am to about 10:30am. Alyssa left for the airport at 5:30am, Mike at 9:30. They're both going straight home. Maddy and Lesley are going to Cinqueterra today - I said goodbye to Maddy after taking my stuff to school at about noon (I missed Lesley somehow). It was strange seeing them go one by one, and it will be a while before I see them again, if ever. I've been collecting addresses for the past two weeks - I've just been surprised the whole semester about how nice everyone here is, how easy it was for everyone to become friends.

So, Shannon and I are here until tomorrow, when we leave for Venice. Topi offered for us to stay at his place tonight, since we had to move out of our apartments, so we took him up on it. We'll be in Venice for most of the day, and then we'll take an overnight train to Paris (I've heard it's a bad idea to take overnight trains, just for security purposes, but this is the best way to do things, I think). Then south, but we might be in Paris for a few days.

I messed up though - I accidentally turned off my cell phone and I don't know the pin number to turn it on again. I never memorized it and I think the paper on which it was written has been thrown away in the cleaning process. I'm going back to the place I bought it to see if they can help me, but I'm sort of afraid that they won't be able to. I might be stuck without a phone after all.

I'm in travel mode now. I can't wait to get going - everything feels different.

ps. who's the person from australia who keeps visiting this blog? i'm curious - write me if you want to.

Oh no! Frank Black's trailer with all his gear was stolen while on their American tour! They'll have to cancel the rest of their tour dates now, so I guess I wouldn't be able to see him even if I were in Columbus, after all.

Had my drawing critique Monday and my Italian final today. Both were fine. Friday is the big High Renaissance final.

I have to plan where I'm going!!! First we take Venezia, then ... Paris?

Arrgh! They Might Be Giants will be playing in Columbus May 3. Hopefully, though, I will be seeing someplace cool like Paris or Nice.

Joey Ramone died.

I'm leaving Florence in a week and I'm not sure for where.

Today's Easter. There was a parade and then fireworks this morning outside the Duomo, but I slept in and missed it. I caught part of the Mass inside. There was an American choir group there. Tourists are out in force.

Something on my mind: I've witnessed three accidents in the past few weeks. First, I was on a bus and just happened to look out the window and see a guy on a motorino skid on the wet ground and fall down, and the bike fell on his leg. People went over to help him (it looked like his leg was broken), but the crazy thing was that he had to call an ambulance for himself on his cell phone. Last week, I was walking down the street that connects to mine and heard a thump, and I turned around, walked back a little and saw that Billy, who lives in my apartment building, had been hit by a car while riding a bicycle. He wasn't hit hard (he wasn't injured), but the driver was yelling at him like it was Billy's fault. The guy was satisfied only because his fender wasn't damaged. Finally, yesterday I was out walking and I heard a scream, and when I walked around the corner to a major street, there were a bunch of people milling around the side of the street. An old woman had been injured somehow, and people were holding her, but I'm not sure how bad it was. ... I guess this was a kind of morbid thing to write about, but I'd been thinking about it.

Thursday Shannon and I went to Trattoria Mario, which is only open for lunch and which I'd heard was amazingly good, but I'd never been. I don't think they spoke any English there, but we got by ok. It was packed. We had this soup of some kind, beans and vegetables, it was incredible. So if you're ever in Florence, go there.

Later that night we went to Za-Za, a nicer restaurant, seated again next to an Italian at the same table. Last night I went there again with my housemates minus Leslie. Mike got a kilo steak (L. 59.000) and I got a filetto, which is a filet steak, I guess. I also had raviolli tartufo (I think it was called) which had this delicious sauce. Maddy and Alyssa had soup and spaghetti, respectively. Man, that was a good dinner. Except I think the steak made me a little sick since I'm not used to eating red meat. Hope I don't go mad either.

so um, forgot to mention some stuff. On Sunday Mike was dancing in front of the Uffizi with Gina, and started doing some pretty elaborate jumps, and consequently came down really hard on his ankle and sprained it. I thought he was joking at first, but it turns out he wasn't and I had to get him some ice from a nearby restaurant. The polizia saw him lying on the ground there, and they called us a cab. Gina and I got him some ibuprofin and a wrap; the next day I took him to the hospital. I still struggled with some Italian, but the nurses and the doctor understood me well enough and I them. They put his foot in a cast and said he couldn't take it off for 15 days, which is the day after we leave (the 24th).

Another thing: last weekend a girl at the Syracuse Univ. program died suspiciously, falling out of her window in the middle of the night. The newspaper called it a suicide, but I'm not sure that it was. I heard about it because I take my silkscreen class at a studio apart from SACI, where the instructor also teaches Syracuse people.

I have to sell my guitar, pack things to send away, get ready to travel. I'm sort of worried about it all.

crunch time. paper on caravaggio to be written, a million drawings to be drawn, stuff to pack. i haven't even been to fiesole yet! panic sets in.

I recovered really quickly from being sick and feel fine now.

I don't know really what to say. The semester's almost over and I feel like there are some things I never did and should have. But I also feel that I could just live anywhere and still be the same person - I could live without seeing the Duomo everyday or the trees in my front yard in Columbus. On the other hand, maybe the reason I haven't changed very much is because I'm around Americans and I still just do mostly American things. Maybe I'll feel different about everything in a month, when I get back to the States from traveling around Europe.

I'm pretty sick again. I didn't go to either of my classes today, but stayed in bed and slept away a headache for five hours or so. My neck glands are swollen... ok, that's enough description. When I woke up, about an hour and a half ago, I felt very refreshed.

So I went briefly tonight to two bars because they each had SACI students' work up. The first one, Apollo Bar, had silkscreen work from Fuji studios, where I take that class. Everybody had one piece up, and they looked good. The second bar, Stonehenge, had a bunch of paintings and photographs. Some of them were excellent but I wasn't impressed with most of it. There's a show at SACI tomorrow night of student work as well.

I'm feeling a lot of pressure as the semester is coming to an end. It feels like it's hardly begun. I still can't believe how nice everybody at school is. I've probably met over half the students and they're all great. I'll be really sorry to not see them all together again, once I leave.

Last Thursday I went to Constance and Amelia's place for a potluck. They live with Mike, Andrea, and TJ (who is also from Columbus). Some other people came as well, and it was just a nice dinner. I think I was expecting them to be different or cooler than the people I usually hang out with, but it was just as fun and we talked about the same kinds of things my other friends talk about.

Friday there was a mini-trip to this Cortosa outside of Florence where there lived monks who took a vow of silence. It was a rather interesting place, and monks still live there (I only saw one, though).

Saturday we went to Bologna and saw a bunch of churches and an art museum, as usual. I was very impressed with the city, though - I thought it was beautiful and I wouldn't mind living there. That's where my cousin John studied for a year, and I can see how he'd like it.