Okay, quick post! Sorry for my absence lately! So busy! Crazy!

Tomorrow is my last day in Bologna and I physically can't imagine leaving. I don't think my body or mind will allow such a thing. I will be back, positively.

My parents are here though, it's very exciting. 

After tomorrow we are going to Switzerland, Paris and Rome!

I can't wait for my European birthday. 

Life is beautiful! I have no more internet until I return. My computer is dying now! AHH!  I will see you all in 2 weeks. CIAO!

xoxoxoxo

Buddies in front of the Adriatic Sea.

Buddies cuddling on the train. 

In Fellini's hometown.

Alex's very reflective sunglasses.

I just love these boys and will miss them so much.

I have to regretfully inform you all of some news:

I will never be leaving Italy. 

...c'mon! Somehow this has to happen. I don't wanna go (whining) I caaaaaaan't.

So, that's that.

Ciao!

Me & some of the crew!

Made friends with some of the fellas at the restaurant around the corner and 

they agreed to be my bodyguards! 

This is Mandy and I ^^.

We love our good friend, Gorgeo.

Spaghett at dinner!

Dark and ominous...

Me with the dark and ominous. I'm not quite dark or ominous. 

Blurry Ervin getting ready to take me around Bologna

About to get on Ervin's vespa!

Walking down one of the busiest streets in Bologna.

When I describe watching films in the piazza, this is the screen!

If you have ever talked to me online, I sit in front of this church!

The turn to get to my apartment!

My spirits are high today!

One dominant reason for this brilliant mood is my dinner last night. Its' taste is resonating my mouth and in my mind a full day later...just delicious. Truffles? MY FAVORITE EVER. It was a ricotta stuffed ravioli sprinkled with truffles, truffle oil, and porcini mushrooms. My brain exploded.

My spirits are also high because I finally got my storyboard figured out and reshot today. I am very pleased with the photos and can't wait to run home and work on editing them some more.

Tonight should be interesting...more on that later.

Tomorrow night we are dressing up as cowboys and going to the Italian screening of Giù la Testa in the piazza. Cowboy party anyone?

I miss everyone! Kisses & such.

July 5^th: Bologna:

 

What a strange sensation! The film festival is over… Our schedules were so free today that is was a bit reverse of the expected emotion, and instead became stressful.  A free day in between the festival and classes? There is too much to try and accomplish!  Laundry? Groceries? Working on film projects?

By the way, you can take an underground tour of Bologna to look at the medieval structure that lies beneath, the canals and river systems, etc. You enter in through the sewers in hard hats for the tour. Must!

Somehow, we made friends with the fellas over at Bar Romano near Piazza Maggiore. Adrian is from somewhere near Russia and Ervin is from Albania. More than kind to us, they have restored our faith in the possibility that us Americans can be appreciated too! Ervin, whom I had the opportunity to spend some time with today, is obtaining his law degree at the University of Bologna and works at Bar Romano part-time. I believe we may be grabbing drinks sometime this week, which will be nice…except for the fact that he speaks only about 3 words of English: “good”, “ beautiful”, and “yes”.  I can say about the equivalent in Italian…let’s hope the music that is playing is good? In any case, I think it sounds fun to have friends here in Bologna to stay in touch with once I return to the ole US of A. You know…just in case I am ever dramatically forced to escape the United States and flee to Albania? I know I’ll have a couch to crash on.

Speaking of my homeland, I am a touch sad that I missed the 4^th of July, but I am sure I represented my country just fine…I resisted singing any particular tune from Team America: World Police.  That says enough.

Tonight I really miss New York. I miss my apartment. I miss my fire escape. I miss taking the trains, or walking the length of the island on my day off. I miss going to the park and running by the river.  I miss everyone there. Nostalgia is absolutely destroying my brain tonight! I don’t handle nostalgia well and do my best to document things that occur and then leave them behind. I overanalyze.

Okay, focus…

Tomorrow I am attending class to show a draft of my storyboard and grab some feedback. After that, a few of us are grabbing a camera and heading over to the piazza to pull pranks on tourists and tape it. That’s right, that’s how I am choosing to spend my time after class. Harnessing all that creative energy and feedback to throw it into a gag clip. This is the life of Jessica Ramsey. However, after this wonderful activity takes place, I want to catch sunset with some of my photos that I am using for my photo essay. It’s buckle down time and I need to stop being such a neurotic perfectionist!

A quick thank you to everyone who has emailed me or facebook messaged me in regards to following my blog. I really appreciate such kind encouragement and thoughtful words. And of course, hugs to my brilliant family and my lovely friend Chris for finding time to somehow indulge all this nonsense I write and even comment on it! I am so truly grateful for the people I have in my life.

It is 5am here…I swear, I’ll never sleep. I am going to squint my eyes real hard and see what happens. Wish me luck! Ciao!

*Hug to Tophers*

Me at the piazza probably getting online to check this thing and talk to folks.

Mandy photographing the downstairs corner.

You know you are in an interesting bar when there are handcuffs in the vending machine.

Me & a few of my metal fellas.

About to head upstairs.

You sit at a coffin that lies in front of a tomb. Inside the table/coffin is a skeleton.

Downstairs at Transylvania.

CROWDED piazza for The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly.

Beautiful moon seen from downtown. 

I loved this dog. The dogs here just wait loyally for their owners and

demand no attention from anyone else. 

A little creepy, but I like it.

In Transylvania's dining room investigating.

Armed cartoon cow display in a store

One of my many boyfriends, Chaplin.

Delicious dinner out.

Octopussy? Bond would be proud of this menu option.

The corner near our apartment. 

How we feel when we, Americans, are partially acknowledged

How we feel when Americans are given just terrible looks!

Sushi and cabbage salad, mmm!

Alex and our fruit sashimi--he matches the kiwi perfectly

Sushi date! 

Sushi and coke zero=two things that make me SO HAPPY

Alex smoking and Eva using his knees as a chair.

The original inspiration for my thesis on silent cinema and the concept of death.

This is a shot from the silent film "The Crowd"

Betty Boop and Coca-cola? Ahh, a touch of home.

Lil ol' me and my Cinema Ritrovato laminate festival pass!

July 1^st: Bologna

 Your flavor in my mind swings back and forth between,

sweeter than any wine, and bitter as mustard greens.

Light and dark as honeydew and pumpernickle bread,

The trap I set for you seems to have caught my leg instead.

As you plow some other field and try and forget my name,

see what harvest yields, and, supposing I'd do the same.

 

But now books are overdue and the goats are underfed

... the trap I set for you seems to have caught my leg instead…

 

You're a door without a key, a field without a fence,

You made a holy fool of me, and I've thanked you ever since.

If she comes circling back, we'll end where we'd begun,

Like two pennies on the train track--the train crushed into one.

Or if I'm a crown without a king, if I'm a broken, open seed,

If I come without a thing, then I come with all I need.

No boat out in the blue, no place to rest your head,

The trap I set for you seems to have caught my leg instead.

 

I am listening to those lyrics right now. Ah, mewithoutyou. Somewhere in my heart I believe they intentionally meet up and discuss what words to pluck out of the air that will make me the most engaged and fulfilled listener—specifically me, though. Of course.

 Anyways, today was wonderful cinematically speaking. If my day involved 1909 silent films, Jean Harlow in Platinum Blonde, Godard’s premiere restoration of Pierrot Le Fou, and a 2009 film that encompassed the 9.5mm personal work of Ingmar Bergman? I’m one happy gal. Not to mention, I fondled my knife and played with my mouth harp. These two things might officially make me an old (and possibly Southern) man.

I just need to find some means to rest properly. That needs to become a priority upon my return to the United States. Sleeping. How does one Miss Jessica Ramsey do such a thing successfully? We shall see…Uh oh, it’s 9pm at home in Atlanta…that means it must be 3am here!

After a very full and tightly scheduled day in the Italian heat, it was soothing and redeeming to take a nice shower before crawling into bed. I might have washed off a full pound of dirt as well as a cocktail of other sweat-drenched particles. Speaking of pounds, I seem to only consume mass amounts of cheese, bread, pasta, and wine here. It’s inevitable that I would choose these menu items…they are SO DELICIOUS. An exploration into the world of Italian fruits and light meals needs to be on the agenda. The addition of some evening runs or walks might help too. I need to detox, stat!

Another funny experience today was ordering SUSHI in ITALY. I arrived weak with hunger to the adorably themed sushi place right off of Piazza Maggiore. Mandy, Eva, Alex and I plopped into our pink seats and frantically and hungrily scanned the menu. In a strange and inexcusable moment, I blurted out my order of a pickled asparagus roll. Now, not only was this an incredibly expensive choice, I HATE PICKLED ASPARAGUS. What did I do that for?! In some heat exhausted portion of my mind, it made sense to order this. Then when my tiny order of sushi arrived…it was just that—PICKLED ASPARAGUS! I HATE PICKLED ASPARGUS! I tried to eat it like a grown woman (ha!), but couldn’t manage to chew the flavor for more than a brief moment. So I handed it off to everyone and picked at some white rice. Twenty euros (about $35) down the hatch for a side of white rice! Sometimes I make no sense. For some reason, rather than agitated, broke, and confused with myself, I was insanely tickled and we all got a good laugh out of it. Alex’s tea even came out of his nose. This happened to occur right before I would hit the middle of my back on a window and fall up the stairs. I was a mess!

Oh boy! This mess needs to try and get some sleep. Don’t order pickled asparagus. Yuck. Ciao.

Addition from this current night:

Alex summed up Mandy and I in one word each. Me? FUN! Mandy? Dangerous! We thought it was appropriate. We gave Alex his—revolutionary!

We had a really fun night watching Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton in the piazza with a live orchestra. I asked Alex to grab me some chocolate gelato when he went on a gelato run and WHAT DID HE RETURN WITH!?

PISTACCHIO AND WATERMELON GELATO ON A CONE.

We laughed a good, good bit. It was hilarious. And nasty.

More stories later! Ciao!

ALSO!

I bought a beautiful knife today. It's a beautiful ivory color with the portrait of a sitting cheetah and then engraved steel cornering. It's pretty, I like it. I mean...I have a knife from Italy now. I feel like a badass.

Yep. That's it.

June 29^th/30^th: Middle of the Night Sleepless in Bologna:

 

Okay. Other than my birthday, my most anticipated day is soon to arrive: Wednesday. Wednesday may be one of my favorite cinematic experiences of all time. I am counting down towards it as if it were Christmas day. Let me break this down:

*My day will start at 10:30am. The first films to be screened are part of the series collection of “1909”. All of the films are brilliant shorts from…well, 1909. This particular set of the series contains a short including Argentinean revolution, African tribal dance, and tamed animals as workers for humans. I am fascinated, to say the least.

*From there, I will go to my favorite screening theatre in Bologna, Cinema Arlecchino where they will be screening Frank Capra’s “Platinum Blonde”. We’re talking Jean Harlow, we’re talking 1931 pre-war film, we’re talking PLATINUM BLONDE. I will be smiling.

*Then (alora), I will be SCREENING MY BOYFRIEND’S (Jean-Luc Godard) Pierrot Le Fou. 1965. French New Wave. I adore myself some Godard and have never even seen this film of his before. My first viewing of it will be on his continent. I am honored.

*I will finish my night at the outdoor screening at 10:00pm in the Piazza Maggiore under a starlit sky. And what will I be screening? A 2009 Bjorkman and Ingmar Bergman film. AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then AFTER that film, we will be viewing a restored version of Les Vacances De Hulot by Jacques Tati…1953 comedy, and in English! If this day is half as exciting as I believe it to be, I may never return. Sorry United States!

But in non-film-nerd-related news, tonight I understood what it feels like to be ostracized based on ethnicity or origin. As Americans (the typically hated country throughout the world), we were forced to eat in the corner of an empty room at a restaurant and served with upmost hostility. I have even had the experience of asking if someone at a restaurant spoke English with a simple “Parla Inglese?” and was brutally shot down with a “You are in ITALY. NOT America. You are in MY country. Speak MY language”. I thought of all the Latinos that are judged that way, and I do my best, but good god, I just wanted to order a sandwich and was asking a question. I am so sorry world that I happen to be American, next time I may just say I hail from Canada.  We have an embarrassingly loud reputation of George Bush, obesity, reality TV, and alcoholism and it seems to slather us in a stink wherever we travel. It is frustrating when you are doing everything in your ability to strike that reputation and replace it with a new generation interested in art, culture, politics and movement.

Interesting. I am going to do crosswords. My two sleeping pills from hours and hours ago seem to think this is some sort of joke.  As usual, it’s nearly 5am and everyone is asleep peacefully, as I type up a concoction of words that are attempting to describe this experience. The isolation, the tragedy, the uncomfortable routine of things, passion, tension, art, the interactions, cinema, the sexuality, and the history are all a bit much to squeeze into some pedestrian words strung along into a blog. A blog that fully depends on my macbook’s battery life and the energy left in my fingers and brain to type. I have little words to offer that could suffice, but I hope the picture I paint is decent.

Crosswords are calling my name and scorning me for only having a pen available. Let’s hope my mind is sharp and on point and in no need of an eraser. Ciao.

About to watch a film in Piazza Maggiore...
The old towers near Via Zamboni and Piazza Maggiore.
The festival poster! It's plastered all over town.
Sunset and moi.
Me in my kitchen picking up my laptop!
My sweet Luigi dancing in the square for me!

The sign at our favorite record store.
Chattanooga Garden in Italy...really?!

I'm at the piazza for the screening of The Red Shoes (lovely film)!