September 26, 2011

September 26, 2011

This morning I got to sleep in a little bit and then caught the bus to Linguaviva for work-study. I worked with Erin from 10:00-12:00 in the library, cataloging books. It was tedious but interesting to see the different books we have in the library. After work, I had lunch with a few other people in our class and worked on uploading my photos from the weekend. As I said in my blog earlier today, you can see my photos from the weekend on my Shutterfly site. It takes too long to upload them to my blog so it will be easier if you just look at them there :)

At 1:30 we had Italian and only for an hour and fifteen minutes, three days a week now. I have the same class and Umberto is still my teacher, which is wonderful. One of the other classes had to switch teachers and I feel like that would be very difficult at this point. We worked on reflexive verbs and worked on conversational speaking. I much prefer only having Italian for half the time we had been having it because it’s easier to stay engaged and focused. From 3:00-4:30, I had my first Dante class. The class has 16 people in it (one more than the maximum class size) so it’s really full and kind of crazy, but I think it will be a good class nonetheless. We didn’t get to discuss much of what we read today because we were talking more about Dante’s background as well as how to go about reading the Divine Comedy, but that is definitely useful information.

After class was over, I used the school’s Internet for another half an hour and then headed out. Before I caught the bus home, I stopped at the grocery store by school to get my groceries for the week. After that, I headed home. I got home about six, which was so weird to me. I am used to being so free during the day yet, today, I was out of the house from 9:00-6:00. I like being busy but it’s definitely something I haven’t experienced yet in Italy so it will take some getting used to. But I am sure I will get into the swing of things soon enough. Once home, I managed to get a lot of my homework done in the two hours before dinner. First, I read a chapter for my Medici class that started off looking like it would be really long and boring (which it kind of was) but I actually found it pretty interesting; it was about how the Medici came to be the main Papal bankers. After I had finished that and taken notes on it, I moved on to my Italian homework for tomorrow. That didn’t taken me nearly as long as I thought it would so I was able to read through the next couple cantos of Inferno for Wednesday (but I am meeting to discuss them tomorrow afternoon so I have to have read them by then). I will probably read those two cantos over one more time tonight to make sure I really have a grasp on them and then read an introduction to Inferno article for class on Wednesday.

Franzi got home late tonight because it was her first day of drawing class, which meets in the evening, so we had dinner around 8:15 instead of at 8:00. Daniella was worried I would die of hunger if I had to wait so she brought me cheese and crackers in my room; she’s always looking out for me :) For dinner, we had penne pasta with Gorgonzola cheese—basically really delicious macaroni and cheese! For our main dish, we had green beans, bread and cheese and I had my soy burger while Daniella and Franzi had chicken. For dessert, we had fresh peaches, which were so sweet and delicious. I am very content and very full!

Now I’m going to read through those two cantos in Inferno once again, post this blog, maybe do some reading for pleasure and then head to sleep a little earlier. I have Weaving the Tale tomorrow from 9:00-10:30 so I will have to wake up a little earlier. Then I have a break from 10:30-1:30 before Italian at 1:30 and Medici at 3:00. I should be off from class around 5:00 tomorrow so it will be another full day of classes! I am excited to see how my other classes go and get going with those as well. I already feel like I’m adapting to this new schedule even in this first day. Yes, I have homework for four classes now and have class much of the day but, hey, I’m hear to go to school, aren’t I? :P I think it’s going to be a good schedule and I am going to learn a LOT, that’s for sure.

Well, I’d best go before I ramble on about nothing. I hope all is well and you have a wonderful Monday!

Buona Notte,

Kari