Drawing, Rome-ing.

I'm really starting to like this city. It's dirty. It's crazy. It's loud. The people certainly aren't that friendly. But dammit, I like it. I'm finally starting to learn my way around, which is awesome. Although every time I say that, Roman streets decide to move around and I get lost again. I swear they're like the Hogwarts staircases. You think you're headed straight back to the Gryffindor common room and before you know it, you're on the freakin' third floor corridor. The last two weeks, though, we've made it to our on-site art class on time or even early. 

Last week we met at the Church of San Ignazio, which is near the Pantheon. Given that it took us over an hour to find Piazza del Popolo the previous week, we gave ourselves an obscene amount of time to get there. We arrived forty minutes early, so we cruised back down the street (which was quite peaceful in the early morning) to have a cappuccino at a café we'd seen. This was a momentous occasion for Alex and me. Not only did we order in Italian, but we stood at the bar like real Romans AND had exact change. Romans love you when you have exact change. They yell at you when you don't. True story.

Anyway, this is exactly why I love my drawing class. It forces me to go out into Rome - usually to places I wouldn't know to visit otherwise - and try do as the Romans do. At first sitting in a public place and drawing for five hours was intimidating. I truly believed that at any minute a passerby was going to see my drawing and laugh at me. Now, though, I'm very much over that fear and really starting to enjoy drawing. I'm not very good, obviously, but I'm getting better every week. And the people who walk by are actually really nice. They always look at what you're doing - funny how predictable us humans can be sometimes - and a lot of times they'll show their approval in some way. The other neat thing is how universal an appreciation for art is. I've had every kind of person imaginable stop to look at what I'm doing. From a shy Italian girl a few weeks ago to the chubby middle-aged Englishman and the young Chinese couple at Piazza Navona yesterday. I am so glad Alex talked me into taking this drawing class. It's given me the opportunity to experience Rome on a much more personal level. Oh, and last night I had a burrito and a margarita. Overpriced and on the other side of the city, but worth it.