Italy Makes Me Lazy

I think I may have deluded myself into thinking I am on an extended vacay, rather than in an intensive program of study. But the mists of delusion are thinning as I realize all the things I have to do:

Prepare something to demonstrate that I have been making some progress towards writing some kind of thesis about something. (I threw out that I was going to write about women carving out a place for themselves in the Futurist movement, and study the literature from a feminist perspective, but I think I was just trying to be cool. Futurism is so in vogue this academic season.)

Study for midterms--that begin on Monday.

Write an 8-page paper detailing how I feel about my internship (Prof. Giannelli is going to be getting some extennnnnded descriptions--and being that the paper is in Italian there will be a lot of moltos and tantos.

You'd think with these matters on my scholastic plate, I might make an effort to chip away at some of the work, but no. I spent the evening streaming reruns of 30 Rock from sketchy internet sites (I would go through the legitimate channels of hulu or nbc, but because of weird international copyright laws, and the computer's uncanny ability to recognize that it is in Italy, I have to peruse the dark underbelly of the internet and sell my soul for 22 minutes of commercial-free entertainment).

But, for fear that you, dear reader, may think that I am slothful human being, I did visit the Museo Nazionale Alinari della Fotografia. They had a futurist photography exihibit and I learned about the history of photography and remembered how much I want to dabble more in that art form. Or become the subject of some iconic photo--like "elevator girl" or, well, actually all the other iconic photographs I can think about are really sad, like the girl crying over the body at Kent State...but I could be like "elevator girl."

I also went to class at UNIFI (the delightful shortening of Universita' di Firenze), where I spend an hour and a half (it would be two hours but the teacher always arrives 20 minutes late, as if the class were to start at 5:20) being humbled and scrambling to understand whatever bits I can. The oral exam should be interesting.

Anyway, I feel like I've done a little something by writing this. So, I guess I am not too lazy. And I shouldn't blame Italy for making me lazy...I should blame Tina Fey for making 30 Rock too dang entertaining.