A beginning of sorts

Due to a fair few recent developments, I have more free time than I know what to do with, yet creative inspiration of any sort seems awfully hard to come by. Two things are particularly concerning: I head to Italy in a little over a month, and am struggling to feel any excitement or anticipation whatsoever. What's more, in six months or so I will have a BA with an Art History major to my name, yet writing about art outside of an assessment context is something I have yet to master. Considering that my ability to pin down this rather slippery subject will effectively be the basis of my future career, I really need to hurry up and get a handle on it. In summary, I need to get inspired, and get writing, quicksmart.

The blog is a challenge of sorts, from my sometime creativity-fairy, Corinne. My reasoning is that if I catalogue the little things in life which inspire me, inspiration on a bigger scale will be easier to come by. I also figure that a blog is probably the easiest way for me to record everything I see in Italy.

As for the title, I guess you could say it's the first spark of inspiration. At the risk of sounding totally lame, I am particularly excited about the possibility of spending time in Umbria once my course in Rome wraps up - I've discovered that I have an Italian namesake. Not just a person, but an entire town in fact: http://www.bellaumbria.net/Amelia/home_eng.htm. I intend to get there, if only to check if Amelia, Umbria is doing Amelia Marra justice. I know that it makes me sound even lamer still, but I figure that if 'Amelia-goes-to-Amelia' is my way of reminding myself what inspires me, the title works on a more metaphorical level too.

I make no promises as to the regularity of posts, only that I'm sure there will be plenty to report once January rolls around. And to Corinne - YOUR TURN.