2009 – feb 28th
Last week of February in review
Bolzano, Bozen – a long day starting at 5am and ending at 7pm as we rolled back into Centrale Station. A week of hard work with extensive reward. Visiting the Last Supper – beautiful, the unbelievable power and money of religion… always evocative, it never fails to startle. The finalization of two more trips, Galileo’s works, and a U.N. Conference. Making new friends and exploring Milano…Eating, Dancing…Speaking.
Bolzano/Bozen is a beautiful Austrian/German/Italian town with a mixed population of German, Ladin, and Italians. Cool, refreshing, bella citta sequestered in a mountain valley, surrounded on all sides by the giant alpine foothills. Gorgeous architecture a mixture of Italian paints and colors with German engineering and style. Three major cathedrals, The “Ice Man” who was found in the alps, and great food. The city itself is interesting as it is separate from the Italian central government; it has its own provincial status and is a model of Federalism. It also has governmental provisions requiring the education of the population in their native language and the bi-linguistic publication of all public documents. The bi-lingual atmosphere is represented in every aspect – menus, street names, banners, parking garages… every person I encountered for my six hours in Bolzano/Bozen spoke Italian and German and probably more. Wonderful.
A lot of hard work this week, but some great rewards – Today I was able to visit the Last Supper, Leonardo Da Vinci’s masterful artwork which is housed here in Milano. A quick 5 minute walk from Cadorna, the Trienneli stop of the Red metro line. Enter the humidity controlled room and turn to your right. Magnificent… covering the center band of the far wall. I was struck by the size and details included by Da Vinci. His use of light, geometric shapes and the circular positioning of the characters was staggering. Combined with the lifelike representation of each body and the chorus of movement and reaction to Jesus’s proclamation resonated from the work. It is an essential piece to visit while in Milan. The work holds you in awe, each moment you notice a new facet, a different connotation from the work. Additionally, seeing the painting in person…being able to examine it at full size…is a completely different experience than looking at a picture.
I returned to the exciting news that I will get to attend a U.N. Conference as well as an exhibition celebrating the life and works/legacy of Galileo. I couldn’t be happier.
I’m looking forward to those events but on a more personal note I am excited for having worked with my fellows interns to orchestrate a tournament against the Marine’s here at Post. We will be having our social event tonight at my apartment around 7… I can’t wait. It should be a ton of fun and I’ve invited Italian friends and colleagues to join. The house should be positively stacked this evening.
I’ve begun work on writing some scripts for educational YouTube posts about Italian culture…understanding the intricacies…as well as survival tips when you first land in Italy. These are part of an independent program I’m doing to benefit the Barrett Honor’s students from ASU who are visiting Rome in June.
350+ photo’s added to facebook – Take that slow facebook uploader!
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