Primo giorno della scuola...

First day of classes was today!

Corso Tintori, 21 building

Yesterday, a few of us walked to each of our buildings, just to get an idea of how far they were from our apartments.

courtyard at school

All of my classes are in two buildings; one right by the Duomo and one right down a side street from my apartment, right passed the Piazza Santa Croce. I lucked out being so close to both buildings and having class in the same building as La Palestra..(the gym). Both the buildings have little patios and courtyards in the center of them. The classrooms are soooo small. Nothing like University of Iowa. 

classroom

mercato

We made our first home cooked meal the other night- sausage with peppers and onions...SO good. The food here is awesome, just like everyone says it is. I got a slice of pizza from a little pizzeria and gelato in one of the places near our apartment. There is pizza and gelato on every corner...this could get deadly.


 All of it is amazing. My first experience at the San Ambrogio Mercato was today. Fruits and veggies everywhere! Then, when you walk inside.. there's so much meat, fish, cheese... and it's all much cheaper and more fresh than in the stores.

I LOVED my first day of classes today! My first class at 9am on Mondays is Interpersonal Communication with Dr. Francesco Sommariva.
Once a CEO of a company owned by Fiat and Volkswagen and living in several different countries, he is back in Florence teaching at Florence University of the Arts on Monday mornings. On Monday nights, he flies out to London to teach class Tuesday/Thursday and then comes back to Florence for class on Mondays. Such a cool older man and is really just concerned that we get the best experience here as we can. He showed us two videos that were so funny, explaining Italian cultures vs. other cultures;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAJNFoHuLno
Italy VS. Europe
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFVNTa1FNSo
Italian Man goes to Malta

He also is setting up a dinner for us at a local restaurant owned by one of his good friends, getting us a big discount so we can all have dinner together as a class. He made me feel a lot better about taking classes and being here, because it has been overwhelming. He also wants to plan a trip to Vienna, by the university where he studied as an undergrad. He wants to show us that city, because he says it's the best in Europe. He's awesome, I like Dr. Sommariva.

I was nervous for my Italian class because I thought I wouldn't be able to keep up with it. I was wrong. I am the most advanced in the class. Tiziana Landra is my teacher- younger woman who lives in Florence.
We are learning the total basics of conversing in Italian. I am in the Service Learning section of the Italian classes, which means I will be meeting with a group of organizations located throughout Florence, picking one or two, and volunteering a certain number of hours this semester. Very excited to do this!
Some examples where we can volunteer is the Italian Leukemia foundation; going to their center and being with the patients/children, conversing and just spending time with them. Being paired with Italian kids my age and meeting with them once a week; conversing in Italian for 30 minutes, then helping them speak in English for 30 minutes.  There is a choice of assisting an English teacher at a grade school, helping her teach her students and also helping out at an elderly center. My teacher said that participating in any of the organizations helps pick up the language even more than normal, which is what I can't wait for!

I'm excited that classes started and I can actually get to some places without using a map. I can't stop telling myself how lucky I am to be here..... It's unbelievable. So so so so lucky.