For my final prompt, I was writing my notes from my grandma’s house in rural Romania. It was so beautiful, and we were picking cherries. I smelled warm dirt and grass, saw green leaves, and felt hot, humid air. I heard birds and my great-aunt’s dog. I wrote this sitting on the porch, and I […]
Category: Sylvia
#7: The Nation and Climate Change
When I wrote my notes for this prompt, I was in Switzerland, and it was a bit bizarre, because there was still snow on the mountains! I had moved from my sit spot from Bologna, and it was interesting switching from a climate that was warming up (and my sit spot was still green when […]
# 6: Art and Media
In my notes for this week, I wrote about how I felt a bit sick still, but significantly better getting a breath of fresh air and sitting in the park. It was a bit odd that it was May and I was leaving Bologna soon. There were so many flowers in bloom that it was […]
#5: Sorrento
When I wrote the notes for this prompt, I was in Sorrento and unfortunately a bit sick again. I heard a variety of languages around me – Italian, German, what I thought was French, from the tourists. I heard very little sounds of nature. I was so high up that I couldn’t hear the ocean, […]
#4: Climate Change
My sit spot this week was a bit different. For the weekend of April 13th and 14th, my program went to Sorrento, a city in the south of Italy about an hour from Naples. Sitting by the ocean, in the crisp, sunny weather was incredibly relaxing and very different from my sit spot in Bologna. […]
#3: Water and Energy
I am posting this blog about a month after I wrote it (and so these observations are from March), as well as the photos! I am excited to show the changes as we are finally getting through April, and into May. As I’m sitting, my “roots” encounter dry earth, pigeons, cigarette butts, and fresh daises […]
#2: Market Day
The sights, smells, and sounds were very different in the park today than when I last went. Fridays and Saturdays there tends to be a big market in the piazza adjourning, which also stretches up along the park. Closing my eyes, I hear viral Tik Tok songs, smell fried food, car exhaust, and rain, and […]
#1: In Bologna!
The sit spot I decided on is on my way to class, Parco della Montagnola. Italian cities are pretty paved over – there is very little greenery – and so this is the most natural space I was able to find. From my dormitory, the walk is shaped like an L, with the park at […]
8: Final Reflections
It really is too warm at home, much warmer than it was in the UK! Way warmer than it has been in the past. The earth is a lot more dry now, and I can hear airplanes, birds, wind, squirrels, and cars from the road. The trees are pretty bare, so no rustling leaves, except […]
7: Back Home
My sit spot this week is a little bit different – I am not longer in the UK, but back home, in the Midwest. Although I can’t describe the change in my sit spot, I can describe the change between my sit spot at Worcester and the sit spot I am using back home. It […]