Io studio

Buena sera,

Today was the second day of classes! Yay! I'm going to be super dorky for a few minutes now. I LOVE SCHOOL! I'm so happy with everything I'm learning, it's going to be such a great semester!

Today we started with Art of Rome. Emmy and I are both in it = success. The class starts at 9 a.m., the teacher rushed into the room at 9:03 and by 9:05 we were already on our way to the Pantheon. Picture a class of 20 American college kids on the bus during Roman rush hour. HA!

Let me pause now and paint a picture of my prof. Super duper skinny, super tall, balding and short where there's still gray hairs, dressed very Italian (pressed button down, pressed slacks, leather belt, and WOVEN leather shoes). P.S. He's got a pencil straight mustache- looks very much like he's balancing a grey hairy pencil on his top lip.

We got such a great thorough tour of the Pantheon, it was so great. As with all else in this city, I was totally beside myself with wonder. It was also really neat to be learning so much about it- not just a shallow, quick and dirty tour. This business was thorough.

PLUS we had a 15 minute cappucino break. Any teacher that does that has won me over.

PLUS the cappucino was only 1 Euro. Any coffee shop that has those prices has won me over.

Emmy had to meet Molly at school right after class and I sketched off to a bookstore to find a journal. It's so great. It's got a sketch of the Colosseum and the SPQR shield on it. How very Roman.

I grabbed a cheap panini and strolled back to the Pantheon to eat lunch under the portico of the Pantheon. Then I called Birthday Boy Garret even though it was 5:30 in the morning. It was so wonderful to talk to him finally and hear all about what sounds like a great hiking trip with his dad. AND I was sitting at the Pantheon. You can't beat that. Just try.

Headed back to school and up to my next class, The Developing World. Also sounds great, even though I felt half asleep the whole hour and a half. It's going to focus mainly on Africa, and I'll be learning a lot abour foreign aid, NGOs, the UN, all that AMAZING great stuff. We had to all go around the room and talk about why we were interested in the class, where we were from, and what we wanted to do after college, etc. I talked about wanting to do international nonprofits/philanthropy and international relations (think Red Cross, Rotary International, the UN, etc.) and especially with a focus on disaster management (especially being from New Orleans). I'm thrilled about this class- lots of reading assignment that sound like stuff I'd probably read anyway. YES.

Next was my 2 and a half hour Italian class. We all sat around a room and basically talked to each other in Italian. My teachers great, he's from New Jersey originally but he's been in Italy for a long long time. It's so great and I'm really looking forward to leaning Italian so fast. (Even though I'll be in that class 7 hours a week...)

Tonight we were going to go to the Opera, but it looks like there are shows every other day, so we're going to hang out at the apartment and start on homework, book some trips, etc.

So far, I think we have Cinque Terre booked for weekend after next. Now we're working on Budapest (Hungary) for this weekend. Oh and also Fall Break in England/Ireland/Scotland. I know, life's tough.

Buona notte all,
E