I have decided that at the end of this week if there has been no decision made by the consulate in Chicago regarding my visa status, I will voluntarily relinquish my scholarship. I have made this decision for a number of reasons. The first is that I will simply have run out of time. I am already missing the language training in Florence, Italy that was supposed to preced my participation in the masters program in Italy. I feel like I need that training in order to be able to fully participate in the learning of the material (as opposed to spending the majority of the time just trying to understand what's being said). The language training started on the 1st of this month. But let's say that I am able to deal with the language issues on my own. The next problem I face is the visa processing time. It can take two weeks to get a visa from the time you actually get to the consulate's office. Even if I get to Chicago next Monday (so on the 13th), I may not physically have the visa until the 21st). The program starts on the 27th. Let's say I receive the visa on the 21st and will be leaving on the 23rd. I will arrive on the 24th, and only have 2 days to settle in in a foreign country before I am expected to start classes. Not to mention the fact that I will have to begin attending rotary functions and fulfilling my obligations to them. It will be very difficult time-wise, language-wise, emotionally, and logistically. It would definitely test my personal limits on a number of different fronts, but I am willing to try as long as I have a decision by this Friday. After that, I refuse on the grounds that it is difficult enough to move to a foreign country in such an impromtu way with no language preparation, let alone try to play "catch-up" at school. So we'll see what this Friday brings.
Did you guys get a chance to listen to the congressional hearings on the Busch administration's domestic surveillance program? I thought it was very, very interesting and would like to know what everyone else thought about it.
Yesterday saw the completion of the first reversible evening handbag of Studio 310 (my mom and I have started our own little custom handbag line for those of you who aren't aware). This new bag is in addition to the clutch (non-reversible) that was created over the weekend. I will post photos of both, but please remember that these are only the prototypes. As it stands, I am the pre-construction designer and the supply shopper, and my mom is the construction designer and seamstress. What does that mean? It means that I come up with a bag design (after researching what's "in" and taking into account our abilities) and then I go out and choose coordinating fabrics and materials. I help create a pattern, and then I cut the fabric and hand it over to my mom. She then (having approved and or/modified the pattern) takes then takes the fabric to the machine and, after ironing out various difficulties, sews the bag. Afterward, we both play inspector and decide what needs changed, added, etc. Then we have a prototype from which to make additional bags (much easier to make the next bag since we the have a functional pattern). We are naming our bags after cities/places whose character and ambiance they reflect (names of these two are pending). The result is:
The Savannah is our evening wristlet. The exterior body is a sophisticated sage green and linen stripe with a slight sheen to it. The contrasting stripe is done in an elegant sage green and linen diamond pattern with a matching wrist strap. The interior is lined with a pretty taupe silk. It has a zipper closure. 
The East Hampton is our reversible handbag. It is large enough to accomodate keys, money and credit cards, a few makeup items, and a cell phone. The fabric shown is a classic light brick red diamond pattern withdark cream center dots. The handles are black basket weave pattern with taupe and rust colored dots. The closure is a black grosgain ribbon. The reversible interior is a black background with a cream and red floral. It is shown below:
We are awaiting our tags, but once we have them all our bags will carry this small logo:
So that's what I've been up to lately. More to follow later...
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