giovedi

I realized I haven’t talked much about my classes here, and frankly there isn’t a lot to say for them. First, I am taking a pretty mediocre Italian 21 class. The teacher is a great person but the teaching component, not so much. Her teaching methods are just ridiculous and not worth going into. I am also taking a modern Italian history class for my major, also very much a disappointment. The professor knows what hes talking about, but that’s all he really does-talk continuously for 1.5 hours without stopping or using any other medium to keep us awake. He has been lecturing in English but has been threatening to change to Italian soon, at which point I will completely tune out.

My other two classes are slightly more exciting. One is an art history class on Modernism (i.e. Picasso, Braque, Mondrian, etc.), which has been really interesting, but punctuated by this one girl who thinks class is a show all about her. My last class is studio art, probably my favorite class here. I haven’t been in an art class since high school, but I quickly realized how much I missed it—we get to do a combination of sketching, painting, photography, and looking at contemporary Florentine art. Woohoo! It’s way fun, except the first class we went to this museum of natural something or other, and sketched models of opened up human bodies and fake fetuses. Mmmmm! Fine art.

+++++

Anyway, we went to the Opera last night, thanks to the Bings. I also found out that Stephen Bing, aka father of Elizabeth Hurley’s illegitimate child, is the son of the superrich Bings who pay for us to go places. Regardless, the opera was Il Barbiere di Siviglia (The Barber of Seville)…it was super long and all in Italian. The best part was dressing up, to be honest. It was my first opera though, as far as I can remember…maybe I slept through any others I’ve seen.

Trying to figure out hostel situation for Paris, Rome, and Venice while simultaneously planning travel after my program. As we know I am horrible at planning, this is going slowly. On another note, I think I am getting sick, but desperately trying to ward it off.

I miss friends!! Can’t wait til Christine and Ashley come visit me, and Thanksgiving in Paris : )

i cant get my pics to upload on here right now :( sadness.

Tonight: some nightclub where international students get in free—ideally many pictures will be taken, esp. by Carolyn, who goes crazy with the camera
Friday: perhaps Fiesole (small town in hills of Florence, with Roman ruins) with Cori
Saturday: Bologna—museum visit for art history, supposedly excellent shopping