It's been a week since Rome, and I think that my poor body is still recuperating from running around the city full-blast for three days straight. Peter Porcal (my art history instructor who is easily turning 60) has more stamina than the majority of people in my class. We saw everything that would make it on to an art buff's top-ten list: the pantheon, the vatican, the sistine chapel, Caravaggio's paintings, Michaelangelo's stairs, the Trevi fountain, the colosseum... I'm sure that there's more, but when you take in as much as we did in four days, you're bound to forget. I had a great time, though, and am as baffled about Rome as a city now as I was before I left.

Rome a city built in sedimentary layers. You can witness it in various areas of the city where you'll come across buildings that have entry points a meter or two below street level. The ancient part of the city, which is incredibly surreal to walk through has been dug out of this pit. It's here where you can visit Julius Ceasar's funeral pyre, run past where flames were once protected by virgins, and then visit Trajan's column. You can make your way back up to street level, make your way through swarms of people (take how busy you assume a megacity will be and quadruple it, and that's Rome on a good day) and you can find some of the newest in architectural development. It's mindblowing and beautiful until you decide that you want your personal space. I can't possibly imagine how busy it would feel during high tourist season and am thankful that I won't be finding out anytime soon. Florence is going to explode with tourists within the next few weeks and I'm not really looking forward to that.

Playing host this week, I decided to stay in Rome one extra night and check out what was happening in contemporary art and hope to visit the cat sanctuary. Most galleries were closed (Monday is generally a day of rest for people who work in culture), but Mark and I wandered around and explored a few neighbourhoods, popped into cafes for caffeine doses, and window shopping. We came across the neighbourhood with used record stores, comic book shops, and second-hand clothing at the time that we had to turn back to make it to the train station on time.

The rest of the week has been spent in the studio, hanging out, and going for walks. Friday night, a small group of us celebrated Mark's last night in town and The Postage Stamps cd release party (I got my copy on Friday morning, and felt really rewarded to see one of my photographs in printed in a nice neat package) with wood-stove pizza and drinks at Angie's Pub (conveniently down the street from my flat). Aside from a mandatory trip to Parma and Mantova next weekend, I'm going to be spending the next few weeks working overtime in the studio to finish up the work that I want to build for the rest of the semester. My next visitors (immediate and extended family this time) will be arriving in a month, so I want to feel justified in taking a few days off to show them around and catch up. It's time to put those painting pants on and make a mess.