So... um... my account's really dead, isn't it?

I neglected to mention this 2 months ago before I left, but I'm studying abroad in Italy right now. I live in a medieval hill town with a gorgeous view of the Tuscan countryside. I tell time by the bell tower outside my window, write papers by hand on the sun-warmed steps of the amphitheatre-turned-park, and read Italian detective novels on eroded, lichen-covered walls that were here in Etruscan times. Nuns live in the building next door, and art is everywhere you look. This is the most inspiring place in the world- there is a camera in my pocket and a sketchbook in my bag every single day.

Last week I was in Pompeii, and sketchy towns on the outskirts of Naples. The week before it was Florence; Perugia, Assisi; Arezzo and Venice before that and Rome even further back. This country is a blur of art and religion and poetic language and fallen governments.

Does DA care about landscape photography? Probably not, so I won't bother posting any. But I have to say, there's nothing like traveling to get you out of a comfort zone you've been stuck in for longer than is healthy. Try it. I'm dirt poor and I've never been happier to be exactly where I am.