Any attempt at writing a cohesive narrative at this point would be fruitless, therefore I'll save myself the trouble and resort to a bullet-point list of updates. The following takes place between January 16th and March 2nd, 2010.

> Began class six (quick) weeks ago with Kent's Florence Program. I thought I was only taking one class on the Renaissance, Italian Art from Giotto to Bernini...but I was mistaken. All of my classes seem to stress the Renaissance to such a degree that differentiating between them can at times be difficult. One class, Forces that Shape Cities taught by the program director, became Forces that Shaped Cities when we got to Florence. Needless to say, that 'd' makes a world of difference.

> Studio has been somewhat of a disappointment. Our project is a new mediatheque (defined as a modern library, or a new media library) within the Fortezza da Basso, a Renaissance star fort built for the protection of the Medici family in 1534, now a prominent exhibition venue. So far, I've made a diagram exploring the analogies of the wall as a barrier and assembled these precedents. That's it. I'm really missing the process based intensive exploration of last semester's studio now.

> Traveled to Venice, Pisa, Rome (with the school), and Urbino (also with the school most recently).

> Broke my camera after the Rome trip.

> Visited Berlin on a long weekend and saw a few films at the Berlinale film festival, checked out some of the architecturally significant buildings there, went to starbucks not enough times, the bauhaus museum (recommended), and fell in love with the city.

> Resolved to attend more film festivals.

> Taking a freehand sketching class. Other than learning how to sketch loggias and church facades, it's been nice to be required to work on freehand drawing skills and really hard to not be tempted to use my straight-edge.

> The first lecture, a part of the florence program's spring design lecture series, was tonight with more to follow. Anyone in the area is welcome and encouraged to attend. Catch the official poster here.