Benvenuti

e benvenuto, benvenuto! - a mio umile blog.

That I am still using Google Translate for this sort of thing is a bad sign considering the topic of this blog. The long and short of it? My name is Amy Stewart, and for two months this year I will be working as an intern at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice, Italy. Here's the long:

I started at the University of Auckland in 2006 intending to study English and Spanish as my sister (Sarah, a.k.a. Sars) had done before me. Fearing inevitable academic humiliation in comparison to this leviathan of wit and insight, I realised I had better pick a different second major. Art of the Twentieth Century in the US and Britain winked at me from the course catalogue and, being a first year and bound to mess a few things up considerably, I gave it a go. And the rest is history!

... Art History, that is. And it's not really, which is why I have to type it all out. Dr. Ed Hanfling took this class, and I can't say whether it was his stunning choice of Fiona Apple's 'Paper Bag' as an opener to the Found Object lecture or the finely orchestrated Dada spectacle involving Dr. Hanfling's own cello prowess and a giant foam kiwi head, but this course managed to separate itself from Cultural Anthropology and the rest of the first-year doldrums (said sister had forbade me from thinking about taking Linguistics). And when Mark Rothko was introduced, well - that changed everything.

It just all made sense. It still does. It never stopped making sense. So I painfully decided I just couldn't give up English and dropped Spanish for Art History. Three years later, Art History juuuuust beat out English for the honour, nay, the privilege, of my BA(Hons) dissertation. That completed, it was time for the OE.

For those of you unfamiliar with the Overseas Experience, permit me to refer you to the Oracle (Wikipedia):

A New Zealand and Australia term for an extended overseas working holiday. Sometimes referred to as "The big OE" in reference to the extended duration of the travel - typically at least one year, and often extending far longer. It is believed to have been coined by New Zealand cartoonist and columnist Tom Scott. [...] This period of overseas travel plays an important part in the lives of many by broadening their experience in life - especially important for relatively isolated countries such as New Zealand and Australia.

This is precisely what I have been up to during 2010, and brings us pretty well up to date. For more witty and insightful detail on this spiritual post-degree journey, I refer you to the sister blog of this one which is written primarily by my... sister. I managed alright this year despite the difficulties of handling money and suitcases, not to mention driving, with my fingers crossed wishin' and a-hopin' and a-thinkin' about the elusive Guggenheim internship.

I was eventually put out of my misery (in the best possible way) and am now in Edinburgh, where I am living for the time being, preparing.


I must say, it's a pretty rad place to prepare for anything, really.