Classes Started

Well this semester of classes is going to be WAY different than a semester in Champaign. It is my first semester in all of college where I am taking no science classes. That is so weird! I am a science nerd, and hate history, so we will see how this goes. Today we had our first class of Layers of Rome. This is a history class where we go to actual sites in Rome and have a class discussion. We are meeting at the Tiber Rive on Thursday. I am in Group B, so I only have this class on Thursdays while Group A meets on Tuesdays. This means that I do not have class till 1 on my 21st birthday! YAY! We have to write a research paper, a poster, a journal and read for this class. I kinda thought this semester was going to be like a vacation, but according to this class we have a lot to do. I hope its not hard! We are talking about ancient Rome to modern times, so each week we go to a new place in Rome and learn the history about the place. He is making us create a travel journal about places we see in Rome and all over Europe which will be interesting to look at, but it will be very time consuming. I hope I can keep up with the journal, this blog, and all my homework. After Layers of Rome we had our first Italian class. I really enjoy the language. As some of you know, I took an online course of Italian this winter break. I am glad I wasted my time learning some Italian this break because I knew all of the words we went over today. We also learned the alphabet and how to pronounce different words. One group got homework, but my class didn't. We have this class Mon-Thursday, but I think I am going to enjoy it and really learn the language! My teacher is from Milan, her name is Jessica, but shes younger so she understands that we don't know any Italian. After Italian, we met with our coordinators to talk about how to live in Rome and what to avoid/do as an American. It is so interesting on how different our life styles are. Here is the video we watched yesterday that clearly defines our differences.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbjxaYgcTKs&feature=player_embedded

After class, a few of us decided to go on adventure to find a good pillow. We got pillows in our apartments, but they are soft and not comfortable. We ended up going in circles to find this store called Coin. It is a huge department store that has American items as well. We found cheap pillows and managed to find our way home. It took about 2.5 hours, but we survived. Lets just say its hard to find your way/get around Rome without wasting a few hours. We got a lot of walking in today which was good. We probably walk around 3-4 miles a day if not more. I came home and ate whatever was in my fridge, but now I have to go get ready to go out. We have to wake up at 8am tomorrow, but we want to go experience Rome tonight and see the night life!

Ciao. Ci sentiamo! (means talk to you later)
-Marisa