Nuova classe

Ciao!

This week starts week 5 and that means the real classes begin. The rain has returned so that has put a slight damper on our excitedness about big girl classes, it's also provided us with way more bonding time with our umbrellas and wet jeans than desired. So Monday morning I had to drag myself out of bed for my 12:40 Italian Literature class, let me tell you, it was rough. Kidding. I actually was up at 8:15 because for once I got plenty of sleep! Loving the new schedule, no more language class at 9am every morning (I know that doesn't sound early but Jill and I were up at 6:45 everyday or else we didn't get showers, not to mention the 30 minute (walking) commute door to door). So where was I... up early, had time to get in a nice workout, shower and catch up on some things around the apartment all before class.

Get to class, perhaps I should reiterate that it was Italian Literature. "Tradition, Crisis and Transition in 14th Century Italian Literature." Quite frankly I'm scared out of my mind as I've never taken anything not ending in -ology. It's going to be okay though because Nick is the professor, right?? The first class was more of a history lesson leading up to the 14th century pertaining to the authors we'll be reading (headliners: Dante, Petrarca, Boccaccio). It was interesting, most of the people in the class have a background in some sort of English or Literature, so I think I was a little less informed than most to begin with, but that just means I'll have some extra reading to do. He assigned La Vita Nuova and the first five canti of Dante's Inferno to read (totaling about 130 pages). I totally understood and loved La Vita Nuova (also Dante) and then I attempted to dive into Inferno. That was interesting. The left side of the page is Italian and the right is the English translation. So I read the English, it has an old-english sound to it but is WAY more easy to read than Shakespeare. At the end of each canto in the back is an explanation of everything that happened, I had to read each verse's, go back to the original verse to reread it and then I'd be like "OHHHH!" I almost find it fun, it's so interesting, the only problem is that it's incredibly time consuming.

Tuesday's class was European Politics. I love the professoressa, she's a native Italian but speaks very good English. The class is definitely heavy, it too will be a lot of reading and memorizing. Again, I'm one of two non-poli sci majors. It's not my favorite topic, but she makes it interesting and keeps me engaged. I need this one to graduate so I'm going to have to do well :)

After Politics I had Language class again, now we have it Tuesday and Wednesday afternoons. I got another feisty professoressa and we're basically best friends. I sit in the front corner (there are 3 long tables arranged in a U) and she always comes over to me and we chat. I wish I could convey to you how crazy she is, but I definitely love her more than Manola. I'm liking that language class isn't every morning, but I'm sure my Italian will suffer a little. Elizabeta only speaks in Italian and I've been following everything, so we'll see...

Today I had Literature again and I seemed to keep up! Good sign. After was Language class and that's just fun, oh, and we get to practice our Italian.

Today (Thursday) I had Politics again which was good, and then Italian Cinema (which I do need to graduate, so don't think I'm not doing work here!). Francesca is the Cinema professoressa and that alone is fabulous. We're starting with Neo-realism which is the period right after WWI capturing "true life" aka no sappy, romantic, italian love stories. We watched "Open City" today and it was REALLY sad. The class is very interesting though, we cover all sorts of topics including Spaghetti Westerns.

Tomorrow is our trip to San Giminiininnao and Sienna, so stay tuned for pictures of that. It's supposed to rain all day so do a little anti-rain dance for me, per favore.