Doin My Part to Keep Austin Weird.

Anyway, things have been HAPPENING in Austin. If I was looking for a huge life change, I've got one! First of all, the city is really cool. Downtown has all of these crazy highrises (I CAN'T BELIEVE I LIVE IN A PLACE WITH SKYSCRAPERS!) and there is the Texas capital building. The capital is BIGGER than the U.S. capital and it is all lit up at night. It is very beautiful. Austin is a very hipster-like city. Everything is impossibly hip and hole-in-the-wall and all the walls of everything are painted. But, unlike NY, Austin is non-prententious....so no Brooklyn hispters and the hip culture is just something everyone takes part in and tight jeans are not a requirement.

There are a bajillion good restaurants and they are all dirt cheap. The Tex Mex is Amazing. The margaritas are SO strong and good. There are SO many good bars. And they all have great cheap beer. There are movie theaters that offer dinner (like dinner and a movie) and there are theaters that offer mockings of films...imagine the Rocky Horror Picture Show for LOTR! Live music in every bar every night. The first ever/flagship Whole Foods is here. The only Co-op grocery store in TX is here too. The university is HUGE, but the central section is really pretty---very southwestern with the red rooftiles. The architecture library is covered with these ceramic roundels of the zodiac--very Italianate. The whole campus is COVERED with these ridiculous statues...some of MLK, one of George Washington, some of them are like horse drawn chariots racing out of a fountain (very baroque).

The people in my program seem pretty cool. The good thing about Texas is that the professors are the best in the country, and yet they are non-pretentious...which is pretty rare in art history. It is a field that BREEDS pretension like the American Kennel Club. The students follow suite and are collegial instead of catty and competitive. It is a good feeling. I met with Glenn Peers, who studies Medieval Italy and Byzantium. He bought me coffee and we chatted about everything for about an hour. He mentioned Harry Potter no fewer that 3 times. Then, my adviser, Jeff Chipps Smith brought me out to lunch in order to chat with me about the program and research and get to know me...this being 1 day before he left to go to Europe for a conference. So yeah, I feel really welcomed and taken care of here. Moreover, I have 2 jobs now. I am working for the woman who does Italian Renaissance art, Eva Struhal. I am going to be her grader for her course on the Italian Baroque. I am also work for Jeff Smith as an editorial assistant for his academic journal, the Journal of Historians of Netherlandish Art.

My classes are super dorky: I am taking Antwerp in the 16th Century, Methods of Art History (required), Dutch, and a reading tutorial on Faith and Art in the Medieval Mediterranean. What a reading tutorial comprises of is going to an undergraduate college writing seminar every week, doing the work for the seminar, and having a few extra reading assignments a week on a topic of my choice. My topic is the conversation between Muslim and Christians in Medieval Sicily. I will meet one-on-one with Dr. Peers on a weekly basis to discuss this independent work.

My Methods class is supposedly like the Devil Wears Prada...emotional and art historical hazing with primadonna John Clarke. John Clarke is a GIANT in art history. He used to be the president of CAA, which is the art history academic society. He is super intense and is not very nice. He is like "GET ME A STEAK! GO" "YOU FAIL! YOU AREN'T GETTING A PhD...or going to Paris!" Lucky me. AND....my first class lasted 5 hours. Ouch.

While my whole Methodsclass was walking across campus, Clarke overheard me tell someone I spoke Italian. He looks at me (mind you, he has been walking alone at the front for this whole excursion), and says "Parli italiano? Vieni qui. Parliamo.[You speak Italian?] Come here! We will speak]" I hear he likes to rip first-year grad students apart for not knowing languages when they claim they do, so understandably, I am nervous. We start speaking. He is telling me all about his scava [excavations] in Naples...some piscina or something. Then we talk about where I studied Italian and where my family comes from, and then, we speak of this exhibit at the Palazzo Pitti in Florence (because it encompasses my art historical interests). He tells me that my Italian is good and that I speak in a subtle Florentine accent. This man does not flatter, nor does he dole out compliments...ever. I am told this is like the utmost compliment from such a man. I am grateful as hell for my Italian abilities given to me by Middlebury College. They started me out on a good foot in Methods....which is what I need.

I am sure you know this, but I am learning DUTCH!?!?! It is honestly my favorite class. The language is SO hard to pronounce, but it is such a goofy language. I call is the goofy stepchild of English and German. Nederlands is fun....1) because it is very relaxing and entertaining in the face of all of the theory I am forced to read and 2) my 30-year old grad student professor is really quite attractive. Today I learned to say what I am studying: Ik studeer kunstgeschiedenis. My major is pronounced kunstHHHHHHescHHiedenis. Like, a super guttural first HHHHH (the G sound...so romantic) and the second HHH a little less guttural. Kunstgeschiedenis is hands down the most difficult word I have tried to pronounce in any of the 5 languages I have studied.

This is the first part of my update....more to come.

The branching paths of fate

Life, you know. It goes on. The most frightening thing about this is how soon I will be cast out into the world, jobless, homeless, with limitless ambitions and very limited means.
Unless, of course, the Addy Indy hires me. I hear they are considering the possibility of hiring one of the interns...but I'm not allowing myself to speculate.
My current backup plan is to go out to Wisconsin and help my uncle rebuild the house he just got. Afterwards, go west and find a trail maintenance/national parks job for a while. And write, of course. And apply for MFA programs in nonfiction.
I can see September 11th, the day my internship finishes, looming closer and closer on the horizon. There is a cliff where everything after that day drops off. Nothing firm beyond it. (not to mention the fact that I am homeless after August 31st, so the cliff actually begins to drop off around there)
But you know what? That cliff...it's kind of freeing. The idea that I can go anywhere I want to go, do whatever I want to do. At least as long as my savings hold out. But I've got a car now, and I can fit my whole life into it, and then some. My guitar could even tag along.
I don't know. There are lots of possibilities for life post-internship, if I don't end up with a job.
And for now, I'm just going to go home and cook Thai food and enjoy my summer while it lasts.

Nothing in particular

I decided it's been a really long time since anyone has posted anything, so I thought I'd check to see if anyone's still actually reading it. I'm not doing anything exciting. Unless you count playing keyboards for the The Who's Tommy, in its entirety, 5 times a week.

The mother of all restaurant jobs

So I had my first shift at Lorena's last night. It's a nice restaurant in town where I've gotten a job as a food runner. The pay should be good, and it keeps me busy on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. I'm still sort-of in training, so they won't let me handle any actual food yet, just water and bread, plus I clean off the tables and re-set them. Basically i'm a busboy (busperson?). It's a really small restaurant, so I'm trying to learn quickly and otherwise stay out of the way. This is a really nice restaurant, and Lorena (the hostess and a co-owner, her husband is the chef) is big on service, so everything has to be just right. Some things (like polishing, checking and repolishing water spots from all of the silver and glasses, or like lining the silverware up perfectly parallel on the table) are simply shows of high standards, if a bit obsessive. Some, however, seem to me to be a bit patronizing, so I'm having a bit of trouble training myself (things like walking people to the bathroom rather than pointing to it, or folding people's napkins for them when they get up from the table.)

Another side effect of this job is that I've had to learn how to tie a tie. I wear black shoes, socks and pants and a white dress shirt (there was a whole other saga trying to find a women's white dress shirt that buttoned to the collar and had long sleeves), and a tie and apron that I borrow from the restaurant. It was pretty humiliating when I had to get one of the other waiters to tie my tie for me. I made my dad show me a couple of times last week, and nailed it on my first try last night! Hurray for the small victories.

My internship is going well, but I haven't been able to start on the main part of the GIS project, since they only just published this dataset I need, and we haven't gotten it yet. In the meantime I'm working on various GIS projects and doing data collection on a city block in the East Village, which means trips to the Municipal Archives to xerox building permits. It's an interesting job, but I'm a bit irritated that it takes a lot of time, and I'd rather hand it off to someone else to finish. I've befriended one of the girls who works there, but I think she thinks I'm a jumpy headcase, because she always manages to startle me, and I end up blinking dumbly at her for a while before realizing what the hell she's talking about. In general I've been bringing my lunch, but today I went with her to an Asian convenience store on the corner for a cheap bowl of udon.

Haven't done the abs of being kind in a while, in fact I've pretty much fallen off the excercise wagon.

Anyway, disc one of The Wire just came from Netflix, so I'm going to go watch it. Love to hear what you're all up to, even if I have talked to you on the phone.

Happy B-day America, You Old Fart!

Ti amo fo' shizzle Palmer.

That's right, I am in the motherland (Palmer) and wishing I was in the grandfatherland (Italia). We are having a small part-ay for the fourth. My mom is pissed because I keep calling it "my party" because we planned it because I was home.

I went to the bar in Palmer on Thursday. It was like a high school reunion...unintentionally. Young folk from Palmer just hang out here. 10 girls from my soccer team. The captain of the football team was there and we took shots. He was SO hot and he is still cute, but I totally "win" because I am worldly and cool now.

I am taking advantage of our fast wireless at home and illegally downloading shit like crazy. The best of Foreigner. The entire discography of Blue Oyster Cult. Lady Gaga. Etc. Everything from guitar hero. I am super into Boston right (both the band and the city).

Anyway, I forgot this blog existed, but I will fo realzzz remember to update now that I am super bored at work.

N

Phish and Other Things

This was supposed to be titled something like "Phish Trip Day 1" but since my hotel in South Dakota had crappy wireless (seriously, fuck South Dakota) I am compiling my various travails from the past two days. I don't have much time, so:

1. South Dakota is still the worst state ever. Never, ever go there.
2. I saw a man in a ten-gallon hat.
3. We drove for eight hours before we got out of Montana. It was pretty the whole way.
4. I took advantage of being in Rochester, MN to see Drag Me To Hell, which will probably never come to Helena. Holy crap. Go see it. It's ridiculously scary, hilarious, and has a perfect screenplay. Plus, it's campy enough that you won't get scared walking back to your car at midnight and driving through the unlit Rochester streets to get to your Aunt and Uncle's house.

I am going to see Phish tonight. I think the acronym JIMP pretty much sums that up.

Damn you yogurt man! You were right!

Freaking Stonyfield Farms dude was totally right. I'm currently broke, in debt and unemployed.

But hey, we all have to start somewhere right?

So after a few days at home, I'm already ready to get the hell out of here. I haven't been home for any long stretch of time in so long that I've forgotten how stifling it is being here. First of all, you have to drive everywhere. This is insane because it not only leaves a huge carbon footprint, it makes seeing people really difficult. Secondly, as much as I love my parents, they are driving me insane. As much fun as it may seem, having my parents continually ask me about my future while saying things like "you have to be ready to accept the consequences of being a psych major" REALLY isn't my cup of tea.

But there is good news! Remember how language school didn't give me any aid for the summer? Now they are paying 2/3 of the cost to go. It's still $3000 that I have to shell out, but that's a pretty sweet deal. I'm going to make my final decision on Monday. (Feel free to voice your opinions)

There's also a two year research position at Harvard that I've been looking at. I don't really want to work for two years, but I'm going to apply anyways and see if I can just terminate my employment if/when I go to graduate school.

In other news, I need to find a gym and fast. 4 months of going to the gym will NOT have been in vain.