O snap whaddup! It’s me Lydia the intern and I’m here to update you on the goings-on here at the Accademia!

The Coastal Carolina University students have been here for fifteen days, and I have to say they are squeezing everything they can out of their trip to Italy. They’ve been travelling all over the country and having an amazing time, as far as I can tell. They’ve done group trips to Florence, Sienna, Orvieto, Cortona, and Rome, and the students have taken trips in small groups on the weekends to Cinque Terre, Venice, Pisa, and Luca. It’s amazing. It took them fifteen days to go to the places it took me four months to see. I’m not really sure what they do in their classes, but I see them reading a lot, sketching a lot, and they do seem to be happy here.

Meanwhile, we are working very hard here in the many offices of the Villa Godiola. Planning for the next incoming group of students and getting everything ready for them, creating the Facebook posts everyone knows and loves, and watching the occasional cute cat video. I’m also spending time uploading all the spring performance videos to Vimeo, which you can still watch here! I’m trying to get them all up before I leave.

Speaking of which, my time here is coming to a close. I leave Italy on June first, just six days from when I am writing this. It’s surreal. Some part of me was convinced that I would never leave, and now that part is panicking, taking stock of all the experiences I’ve had in order to make sure I don’t forget a single second of time spent laying on the grass or looking out the window of a train. I think, rationally, there’s no need for me to panic. There’s no way I can forget the look of the sunset over Arezzo as seen from the Teatrino roof. I can’t forget the way any stress or discomfort from travelling disappears the second I see the tuscan hills. I won’t forget what Amsterdam looks like, or Brussels, or Bruges, or Utrecht, Interlaken, Gryon, Geneva, Villars, Perugia, Cortona, Rome, Florence, Pisa, or Venice. And I will never forget what Arezzo looks like. This has been my home for the past four months, and I am sad to leave it. Admitting that much isn’t hard. As long as I can remember, I’ve lived in places that are close by each other. My hometown of Sharon, Massachusetts is a forty minute train ride from Boston, where I live during the year. The town of Hull where I spent my young childhood is an hour drive from my mother’s house. All these places, I can visit whenever the mood strikes me and time permits. Arezzo is my first home that once I leave, it will be difficult to come back. That doesn’t mean I’m never coming back, but it will take planning skill, money, and lots of time, and as an artist I don’t know when I will have any of those things.

But life continues on, as it must. I’ll go back to school, the Coastal Carolina students will go back to school, or graduate and continue on with their lives. My friends here in Arezzo will keep working hard and being amazing. I’m proud to have called the Accademia my home, my school, and my workplace. And I am so lucky to have been surrounded by so many wonderful people.

Ciao for now.

Lydia

So many sunsets,

So little time.