continued..

I just realized i never got around to the "scrambled brains" part of the previous post. It's quite simply referring to my midterms. I have 13 credits on only 3 classes. 7 of those 13 are tied up in my intensive italian. There's still more i need to study for italian, even though i took the midterm yesterday. I think it went just fine though. I was expecting much worse.

Tuesday morning at 9am was my Modern Middle East midterm. That class feels like my only real class here. Not that italian isn't a real class, but I'm in Italy, so it feels like ..an assisted living program, of sorts, more than anything. Anyway, I would have been much more relaxed going into my Middle East midterm had i started studying on Sunday like i told myself i was going to. (Instead i lounged around all day Sunday after walking the entire day in Pompei on Saturday.) So i didn't get around to studying for the Middle East until 8pm Monday night. But between 8p and 1.30a, i got 4 hours of studying in, along with a dinner break and a 30 minute distraction break. ...Still wasn't done though, got up at 7, started studying again at 730 until i left at 830. I was relatively worried going in, because the Prof. was quite vague about the format and about the content as well. ..but I think i knocked that exam out of the park. I literally felt like a huge weight was off my shoulders when i walked out of the exam. I was, most definitely, physically carrying the tension, but i didn't notice until it was gone. Next time I'll start at least a day earlier. ..or more, depending on my final exam schedule.

Even though I didn't have class til 330p Monday, I didn't start studying until 8pm because i spent Monday finishing up a roll to finalize my photography midterm. We had to take our 15 best and somehow connect them in a sequence. i think i mentioned that before. ..So i didn't completely waste Sunday. I spent Sunday shooting homeless people, but I couldn't find the one in particular i was looking for. So i finished the roll Monday morning. The guy I wanted - I'd seen him every single Monday morning on my way to getting my film developed. And I found him again this week. He was perfect. The final addition to my sequence (along with 3 other pictures I shot on Sunday). I was really amazed how much one guy on Sunday opened up to me.

Though I didn't necessarily understand everything he said, between his broken English and my very broken Italian, I got to know him pretty well. He turned to the street after living with a girlfriend 13yrs? or he's been on the street for 13yrs after he got into a huge argument with his girlfriend and her mother. ..not entirely sure which, but by the condition of his teeth, I'd guess the latter. The guy now lives on the street with his dog. Sure he had an open beer next to his bag. And i know he felt guilty about it because he attempted to justify it, saying at least at least he wasn't drinking whiskey or vodka. Maybe he was just a good salesman, maybe he was honest, but he said he puts his dog before himself. It was obvious, without him even saying a word, that he loves his dog - just how he interacted with her and how he looked at her. I'm sure the guy had some food of his own in his bag. Probably more beer as well. But that aside, i was still very impressed when he pulled out 4 cans of dog food - 3 of them being massive. If they'd held liquid, I'd guess they'd have been at least a liter. Maybe even a liter and a half. Sure, he's probably never gonna make anything of himself. I can easily see him being one the street the rest of his life. But I did buy into his feeling about his dog.

I sat there for about half an hour. Took 12-13 shots of him, and him with his dog. And gave him a pretty good payday for his work in helping out my midterm. €3. It'll probably buy him 2 more cans of dog food.

...and a beer.