Mr. Merrill, Dr. Strohm & Dr. Parsons,

As the subject suggests, this would be my email from the brilliant city of Rome, Italy.  I apologize for emailing so late in the month; I have not forgotten, I am just terrible at composing update emails (I haven't really figured out what I am going to say).  I am just going to start writing, and hope that I don't say too much.  Here goes:

Life in Rome (and surrounding hill towns and beaches) has been pretty life-changing.  Everything is different here: my artwork, my social life, my daily life, my friends, money and shopping, and school.  And food.

Artwork:
So far, my plans to go into production design in film is solid.  But actually, I've started drawing intensively again and my professors say I should look into doing some graphic novel work, too.  So, I¡¦ve been doing some more conceptual sketches for Reaper, the graphic novel Becky, Dan and I began a while ago in waiting for getting home and continuing my work with it.  Additional to this encouragement, my paintings have taken on an also very graphic quality, and I've been working with layer work as a reflection of the many faces of the city I have seen.  My drawing has also gotten much better, and I¡¦m cleaning up a lot of my technique to begin looking into building a professional portfolio for entering the field of conceptual design in film.  God knows I will need to start looking into graduating and also developing my honors thesis, which I am working on this semester to begin when I return.

Social Life:
Being around Americans and living with them at the residence and at school makes it a little difficult to be a part of roman culture, but its nice to automatically have that support network.  We are mostly art majors but there are a couple who have infiltrated the group, and I meet new people everyday.  Nightlife is amazing here. Kit goes til 6 in the morning.  Bars, clubs (the openings for which we've gotten onto VIP for), karaoke, nights on the Spanish steps and at the colosseum has been amazing.  I kinda miss football weekends though, and I understand that we are doing well, eh?  It has been a great balance of work and play.  There's really no way you can NOT have fun here.  There was a beautiful beach an hour from here, awesome hilltowns, countryside immediately beyond city limits.

Daily Life:
Metro everyday.  That's the subway.  It's awesome.  So is the bus system. I take the metro to stops I've never been to before and walk around strange neighborhoods, which is nice because each neighborhood has a different history and design.  It is a beautiful city.  The gypsies are pretty bad. My teacher had her purse slashed, and one kid got assaulted from in front and behind and they took all of his things.. poor kid.  Food is tough to have to cook all the time, and we have an awesome balcony, on which I hang the clothes that I hand wash every week, it is humbling.  There are Filipinos EVERYWHERE, but they are all like angsty, moody, exhausted maids, caretakers and nannies.  I think they look at me weird and wonder why I am a student here and not out working for very little money.

Money & Shopping:
The Euro is terrible.  Yeah so everything is expensive. Tons of people are going to other countries (some on every weekend) for the next week of break, but I decided to lay low and stay in the city to check out the Vatican museums and work in the studio and walk EVERYWHERE and see things and talk to the people and be a part of Rome, the part that is confusing, and lonely, and self-realizing and difficult and exciting.  Because that is why I am here.

School:
Fun.  4 classes.  One Italian, advanced drawing, rome sketchbook and advanced painting.  All fun, and my studio classes are actually teaching me a lot about where I am going with my work.  Italian has been the most enjoyable language I have ever tried to speak.  I know more words than prego and spaghetti now.

Food:
Potato pizza.  Suppli.  Pasta.  Cornetti.  Ristorante Cinese.  Gelato. GELATO.  I found this all you can eat Mongolian Barbecue place for 14 euro. A little pricy, but awesome.  There¡¦s pizza on every corner.  Coffee is cheap and abundant.  Open air markets have the freshest meats, vegetables and tons of it is scarce and expensive in state college.  But I do miss state college.

So, I am having the time of my life, and I also miss home greatly.  I miss all of you.  Immensely.  I really took life in SC for granted, and when I get home, I really am going find it a little easier and my world just a little bigger.  I miss training with the group.  I see from the emails that we are doing well and are busy there which is always good to hear, but makes me realize just how far away from home I really am.  The closest studio here is apparently in Naples, many many kilometers south of Rome and not somewhere I see myself going on a regular or even semi-regular basis. I may visit.  I hope that some of the black belts have stepped up to take over the kids class. I imagine that it is still a bit difficult to find regular help to keep it going.  I return on December 11th, the beginning of finals week and right after the end-of-semester party.

ALSO, here is a link to my pictures site.  See the world of Rome through my eyes

Please tell the kids class that I am finishing my semester here in Italy in the coming weeks and that I miss them SO MUCH.  I hear from the last email that we had SIX KIDS start???? That¡¦s amazing and MUST have been quite a handful.  REALLY hope that the others have been able to help.  I am going to start sending things home, so Mr. Merrill, if its ok, can I send the kids class a postcard through you?  Congratulations to Joe for getting a position in Altoona!  I talked to him online directly and set him my congratulations but it was most definitely worth mentioning again. Please also send my regards to the class.  I am very excited to come home and EXTREMELY excited about training and seeing you all again and sharing my experiences with you, but am very excited to spend the rest of my time here as well, just being.  This has been the experience of a lifetime.

Regards & Tang Soo,

DON

.. click on thumbnail to view full sized picture ..