My First Week (of class!)

 Hello Blog People!

I have now finished my first week of classes. There is a lot that has happened, so I will give you bullet points on the most important and interesting things I have encountered thus far. 

(Also, I hope you are enjoying this. I enjoy updating you all and would appreciate hearing that you like hearing about it too. Just let me know, and let your/our friends know about it too!)

OK, the first week:

- SICKNESS: I got sick this week. That was not fun. I started to come down with a cold that has been going around campus on Saturday night (it did not stop me from getting gelato) and by Sunday I was down. I slept in which was nice, but had low energy and a sore throat. I felt a lot better on Tuesday and by Sunday it was gone. I am not surprised that I got sick because honestly, everyone has been getting sick. With the combination of stress, an overwhelming new culture a bunch of new bacteria, and people coming from all over, it's honestly to be expected. I'm glad that I got it over with and that I took care of myself enough to enjoy part of my first week. And I didn't miss any class, which was a blessing. 

- REP: Some of the admin asked for representatives for our ACA class and I decided to run for Spiritual Rep. And I got it! I'm super excited about it and my brain is flooded with ideas and hopes for the year. I just hope that everyone else is as excited as I am. I'm still growing in my faith and strengthening my relationship with God, but I think this will help that. And I want to help others see how good He is. So I'm super excited about that, and I'm glad to be involved in the school. I met with the chaplain, and this year is looking pretty good. He's music-minded, so I think we will work well together. I also got to play piano for vespers, which I have never done before. I've never played piano up front, so that was new but also exciting. I'm starting to share my musical talent with people, and it's kinda fun. 

- MENSA: I realized that the cafeteria here is different from the one at Union. Not just in the type of food, but in the way they serve it. It's more like a home style because they only make one meal. There aren't options. If you don't like what's being served, you can skip and go find something else, buy your own food, or go hungry. There isn't like an ethnic bar, a pizza bar, and freezer dinners all ready for the taking. And the food has been good, and the portions are smaller. If it's not enough, they always ring a bell and you can get seconds. Naturally, there is lots of pasta. And there is always fruit for dessert (which I love!). This all makes sense with the eco-friendly approach of the college, as it minimizes food waste. Also, have I mentioned the coffee vending machine in the morning? We get free coffee and have a variety of options and the machine makes it in a minute, maybe less then. You just press what type you want (macchiato, espresso, cappuccino, and so many more), it puts the cup in, fills it with whatever you ordered, and even throws in a little stick to stir it with. It's so cool. Unfortunately, my stomach hates me and I don't get it as often as I like. But it's super cool, and I succumb to the temptation sometimes. 

- CLASSES: Our class schedule was a little confusing at first. All the students were split into groups. I got put into Michelangelo (yes they were all named after artists) and there are 15 students in that group (including myself). There were 2 schedules posted in our classrooms: one for the morning and one for the afternoon. The morning schedule changes depending on your group and lets you know what days you have grammar class, conversation class, and phonetics class. Those are required. But it also has the times of the morning electives. You have to check a separate list to see if you signed up for any of those. Then in the afternoon, there are lists of the classes and the times of the classes, and you have to find your name under which class you signed up for. All of this instead of handing out individual schedules. It makes sense now, but on the first day, it was really confusing. Some communication on what is required to go to how the schedule works could have been a bit better because I know there were a lot of questions. But we are smart and will eventually figure it out. 

As far as my personal schedule, I have classes in the morning from 9 until lunch (8 a.m. on Wednesdays), and then two electives on Monday afternoon. On the other 3 days, my afternoons are open, which is REALLY nice. I love having that time to do my work or go into town if I need to. 

I really like my teacher in Phonetics class. She is very expressive and funny. I think she will make a potentially embarrassing class fun. Grammar is going to be a lot. We have homework every day, and we are moving at a pretty quick pace. Plus she speaks in Italian most of the time. I practiced some Italian over the summer, and having that previous knowledge and familiarity with the material has helped A LOT! I understood what was happening for the first 3 days because I had seen the topics before. We are learning the same thing in just about every class. This week has been greetings, some beginner and vital verbs, and introducing ourselves.

- Friday: Friday we don't have classes, which is really nice when I start traveling. So instead, I slept in a little bit and went to brunch with my friends. After brunch, I made an appointment at the Apple Store to get my phone fixed (it's been a bit weird since I put in my Italian SIM card), and then walked around downtown Florence. There are tons of really nice, high-end shops and seeing all of them was really cool. Storefronts like Gucci, and Louis Vuitton, Prada,  etc. It was cool to see all of the luxury brands in person and just look at what they had for sale. It was also freeing to just walk around by myself with only a few errands to run. I was careful, don't worry. 

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- Solo Trip: I also went back to Le Cinque Terre on a trip with my friend group on Saturday. We left at 5:00 in the morning and took the train from Florence to La Spezia. Then we walked around La Spezia, got some really good breakfast, and went down to one of the ports. There are A LOT of boats, and I saw a few that I wouldn't mind owning one day. Then we took a train to Monterosso, the top tourist town of the Cinque Terre. We broke up the group and went to get lunch, and afterward swam in the ocean. It wasn't super cold, but it was salty. I felt the salt still on me as I dried off. We got some gelato and supper and then took the train back to La Spezia, then back to Florence. We didn't get back into town until 10/10:30 p.m. It was a very long day, but I'm glad I got to go back and explore a little bit more. 

Monterosso <3

Observations

- Just watching couples in public, it has been made clear that generally, Italians are pretty physical people. Obviously not all, but a lot of couples have high tendencies for physical contact.  Just interesting to see. 

- I am IN LOVE with our campus. The sunrises and sunsets are beautiful. There is a big hill between the dorm and the cafeteria and classrooms, and the view of the Florentine countryside from the top of the hill is just so beautiful. I don't think I will ever stop romanticizing it. And one way down the hill is through the olive grove. I have watched the olives ripen as I walk through every day, and it makes the walk even better. I just love the simple beauty of the campus. 

- I haven't seen many squirrels in the city, but I have seen a lot of pigeons and I love them. There are some pigeons that look especially pigeon-y and I like to point them out. Then there are other pigeons that are just kind of ugly. They are just stereotypical pigeons but look more pigeon-y than the ones I've seen in America. Italy also has a lot of little lizards. I don't know if I've mentioned the lizards, but I think they are kinda cute. They do get into houses. I've only seen one in the villa. But they are about as long as my pointer finger and just run around. 

- Smoking is a big part of Italian culture. There are cigarette buts all over the sidewalks and parks, and people everywhere are smoking, whether it's cigarettes, cigars, or vapes. It's interesting to see how common it is, but it also makes me sad (not to mention cough when I walk through a cloud of smoke.) This was just something interesting I've noticed. 

- It is also very common to wear jewelry. The fashion in Italy is a bit higher end than in America. I have to start looking, but I haven't really seen anyone wearing sweatpants out in the street. And jewelry is a part of that. Most women that you find in public are wearing earrings, a necklace, a ring or two, and some bracelets. Obviously not everyone, but I have noticed it is pretty common. 

- Silk scarves are not as common as I would have expected. They are more worn when people are dressing up, like for church. But I have already bought two. I love them, I just need to learn how to tie them. I like how they make me feel European. :)

Thanks for reading and caring about my first week. Let me know if you have any questions! 

Ciao,

            Ellie