happy halloween! i decided that my costume this year would be a sleep deprived-caffeine crazed college student zombie in the library...except i don't eat human brains, just books. hope you are having a lovely holiday. heading back to eating books,
i've been reluctantly pulled away from the blogosphere lately by school work. i'm currently in the process of writing a research paper for early renaissance in Italy that is due next week, studying for a french and finance exam next week and working on a project for finance that is also for next week. it seems that next week will be one of the harder weeks that i have and will face this semester. but once i get through it, things will calm down until finals. this semester has been flying by. i felt like i just started and then i began to look at the calendar and realized that i'm half way done. only november, two weeks in december and i'm on holiday.
the passage of time is so strange sometimes. i miss being a kid and seeing time as so substantial. hours felt like days and months felt like eternities. now it feels like a miracle if i can focus on one thing more than an hour. it's quite comical because during the craziness of school, all i want is a break. i want things to pause and relax. but once i do get this peace during holiday breaks, i feel so confused and bored. i make lists for fun things to do, like book lists and crafts that i'm going to do, and many times i just sit around feeling so tired of doing nothing. i don't love that i do this, and i'm certainly not proud when i get back to school and think of all the things that i could have done.
but, there is no time for regrets. literally. if we focus on what we didn't do or what we could have done, we don't see today or tomorrow clearly.
there is this wonderful quote that my friend has hanging in her room: "keep calm and carry on" i feel that this embodies exactly how i'm feeling at the moment. things get better. there is no need to freak out. there is maybe a need to drink more coffee and loose a bit of sleep. but nothing that i can't handle.
"Just don't give up trying to do what you really want to do. Where there is love and inspiration, I don't think you can go wrong." - Ella Fitzgerald
this quote combined with one of my favorite songs by Edith Piaf - "Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien" which translates to "No, I don't regret anything" makes me remember that i am doing exactly what i want to do. nothing comes easy, but it's worth it. the lyrics are lovely and very inspiring.
i hope you had a nice week, and if not, well the weekend starts today. and today is the beginning of always. au revoir,
i had my midterm in Early Renaissance in Italy yesterday. it wasn't so bad, it was nice walking out of an art history exam and still being able to feel my hand lol i'm eternally grateful to my professor for not making the exam too stressful. i felt much more capable of writing good essays. for the big essay, i chose to write about the Arena Chapel aka the Scrovegni Chapel aka Giotto's Grotto as one my past professor's liked to call it, in Padua, Italy. it's nice writing essays when you know what you're talking about. it was actually an enjoyable experience. i hope to one day be able to visit it, maybe i'll get lucky and go on a day that isn't so touristy.
ok enough about talking, here are some images:
1. looking east 2. looking west 3. Last Judgement on west wall 4. Betrayal of Judas on south wall 5. Lamentation on north wall (1305 for all)
tried to find the best quality, i think the last is not the one my professor used for sure. these are a couple of the more famous ones of all three registers that go around the chapel.
i have been doing a lot of thinking lately, and maybe it's just pure procrastination from school but i' feel like i've lost the start of term energy. it's halfway through and there's so many things to do that it feels like i don't have enough time. this feeling is strange because i know that things get done. somehow i get through them and before i know it, i've completely forgot about all the hurdles that i've jumped. in the end, it's the little things that make me smile. it's the little things that make me appreciate everything i have and everything i am working towards.
ultimately, happiness is a choice.
things could be going completely wrong, but nothing lasts forever.
Don't watch the clock, do what it does. Keep going. -Sam Levenson
sometimes that hardest question to answer is 'am i happy?' i guess the only way i can check is by asking 'am i doing what i love?' and then that seems to answer the question. and at the moment, i couldn't imagine doing anything else.
this woke me up in the library this morning:
the sun is shinning on my end and i hope it's shinning on yours, too.
i came across this website online and i'm beyond words. awesome doesn't begin to describe it. as an art history nerd, i'm very excited when i come across great quality images. especially since most of the physical art is not readily accessible to me as i'm learning it, it's wonderful when professors take the time to get great quality images. when doing research it's also exciting to be able to zoom in and try to see something 'up close', when you're not even really in front of it. after i saw this website, i truly hope that this is the future of images and that the study of art history will benefit from both the improvement of images and digital technology. both can lead to wonderful things in the world of research. anyway, enough about my nerdy musings. go check it out for yourself:
as promised, here are some of my favorites from the slides i memorized for my history of photography midterm. i was away this weekend because i went home. although, i have internet and i take my books with me, the best advice is: 'when at home, do as the cat does'.
Negre, 1851
Southworth & Hawes, 1852
Marey, c. 1890
Man Ray, 1824
Rodchenko, 1928
Rodchenko, 1933
i'm sort of in love with Rodchenko at the moment. i love his experimentation with angles. he photographed with a Leica and shied away from the 'belly button' way of holding a camera. he was pretty bad ass like that.
it's amazing the amount of energy and amusement that a double latte can have on me. although i am colombian, and i have a pretty intense tolerance for caffeine, if i go a few weeks without any espresso, it's like bam! energy. and then certain things just seem funnier than usual. if sleep deprivation is mixed in, well what some consider as mentally insane would begin to describe it. either way, i have 5 hours straight of lecture on tuesdays and i'm usually pretty mellowed out by the end of the day. after my last class i'm looking to take a nap, but today i grabbed a vanilla latte before my last double block and history of photography was pretty incredible. normally art history courses are in a super dim classroom so that we can see the slides on the projector. the windows have black curtains, it's a warm and cozy atmosphere because it's about 30 of us or so and if the professor has a soothing voice, it is very common for people to doze off. i think the professors are used to this by now, especially for afternoon classes after lunch.
however, today i was wide awake and taking pretty extensive notes. we whizzed by early 20th century photographers Rodchenko, Moholy-Nagy, Man Ray, Atget, Steiglitz, Weston, Strand, Modotti and Ansel Adams. i can actually say that i didn't doze off once and that none of my notes have little jibberish lines. i will definitely post some images of these photographers in the coming posts, there was a lot that i love.
the following is a cover of The Smiths' "This Charming Man" by Stars. it's my current addiction. i love the original, as well, but i think that the cover is a great cover. sometimes covers don't do the song justice, but i think this one is awesome.
Be a coffee-drinking individual - espresso yourself!
this quote was too good not to share. maybe it's the coffee, but i find this incredibly hilarious. in a corny, older-person-trying-to-make-you-laugh kind of way.
ok, i'm going back to studying now. use this energy towards my exam coming up. hope you are having a good week,
i dedicate my sundays to yoga and studying. they are lovely lazy days that i try to be productive and get ready for the start of the week. i have a midterm this week in history of photography, so i'm working on memorizing slides and little bits of info of every image. i'm in love with the collaborative photographers Southworth & Hawes. their photographs are mostly studio portraits, but they dared to experiment with shadows and posing. they feel more than just a planned pose. many evoke a powerful emotion and you can't help but feel like you know the person. you feel the moment, you feel what they were capturing. the first image left the strongest impression on me because of its beauty and subject. in 19th century, it was popular to take post-mortem pictures, especially of babies and children. these are all daguerreotypes.
weekends are so delightful. i went thrift store hopping today and fell in love with too many things. i love old things and collecting antiques. every time i hold an old treasure, it's as if i'm holding history, a past, a story. there was a black rotary phone, a sewing machine and a few old suitcases that i could one day see adorning my home. my obsession is like being a curator of my own little museum.
stars is a must for my weekend playlist. i don't know what i would do without their melodies.
happy halloween! i decided that my costume this year would be a sleep deprived-caffeine crazed college student zombie in the library...except i don't eat human brains, just books. hope you are having a lovely holiday. heading back to eating books,
weekends are so delightful. i went thrift store hopping today and fell in love with too many things. i love old things and collecting antiques. every time i hold an old treasure, it's as if i'm holding history, a past, a story. there was a black rotary phone, a sewing machine and a few old suitcases that i could one day see adorning my home. my obsession is like being a curator of my own little museum.
stars is a must for my weekend playlist. i don't know what i would do without their melodies.
