First Days in Italy

Monday, September 22nd

Today has been a very long, but good day, and it seems more like today is actually an accumulation of all days since Saturday morning to now because I have had maybe 4 hours of sleep. This morning I arrived at the airport in Rome (finally, after and hour and a half delay) where I found the rest of my group. I wasn't looking for them at the moment, but it was a good thing I found them so soon because I was worried that I would never find them.  After many hours of waiting to leave on the bus (and a couple of cat naps) we finally boarded it and started out on our way.  At this point I was so tired that I couldn't keep my eyes open, and while I realized that we spent about an hour driving through Rome, I didn't see much of what was going on because I kept falling asleep. It still amazes me that buildings that old can survive so long if taken care of and maintained.After we arrived at the villa, I had gotten enough rest to make it through dinner and to bedtime without falling asleep on my feet again. The dinner was delicious, and I got to try wine for the very first time.

Tuesday, September 23rd

Today was the first day of class. We learned about about Magna Greca, and Rome before it was founded. We also learned about the different types of temples, the different column styles, and all sorts of interesting stuff. After art history, we had Italian class (even though I want to keep saying Spanish since they are so similar), and before class started we got to go to Corciano, order the delicious gelato, and tour around through the old part of the town which was founded during the middle ages, and learn about some history of it, the church, and some of the other buildings. It was quite a walk, but it was well worth it! Maybe if I walk up there everyday I'll be able to climb that hill easily without feeling like dying on my way up. After the tour we ate dinner (which was delicious), and I went up to my room to study a little before bed.

Wednesday, September 24th

Today was the second day of class, and we spent most of it learning Italian. I don't want to say that the class is super hard, but after several hours my brain was fried. I keep trying to remember most of it, but it's the verb endings that confuse me the most (because they are much different in Spanish so remembering the difference between first person "I", and the formal/informal "you" is so confusing. After class but before dinner me, Megan, Elyssa, and Ana walked up to Corciano and got some wine for everyone before watching a couple of movies on the projector.

Thursday, September 25th

Today was another long (but good) day in class. We started out by learning some more Italian, and then after lunch we worked on art history until about 6:00. After that, almost everyone made another trip to Corciano, and the group I was with took their time. We gathered flowers and took pictures of practically everything, but my favorite was probably the one of the snail's shell. There was also a really cool old building hiding in an olive grove off the side of the road that we stopped at to take pictures of. Once we got to Corciano, we didn't have much time, but we walked around a little bit, and got some awesome pictures of the sunset. It was like we could see forever, and the sun was setting behind a hill (mountain?). It was such a brilliant bright red that we couldn't help stopping to take pictures. If we had gotten there only a few minutes later we would have missed it! By the time we were done, the sun had already set below the horizon and we started our walk back to dinner. Dinner was good, and afterwards I decided to go back and study and do homework.