First week here...

We finished our first week of school today! It was a lot more stressful and tiring then I thought it would be. I already have to do a painting by Monday, 5 complete drawings by Tuesday, and a bunch of reading and studying for Art History and Italian. The cool thing about taking classes in Florence is that you can go walk 5 minutes from home and see the art you are studying about in art history. You can learn something in Italian and then use what you learned at the store. And you can go outside and draw the Doumo in real life instead of getting a picture off the internet. All this makes going to class more fun. I like all of my teachers. The majority of them are Americans who moved to Italy in their 20s. In my photo class I am the ONLY American, and the only one who doesn’t speak Italian. Which is kind of nerve racking but my teacher speaks English and she translates for me and most of the other students understand and speak a little English too.  

On our first day in Italian we were all put in 3 different classes based on how much Italian we knew. I was in the easiest class which really wasn’t that easy. Our teacher only spoke to us in Italian and threw us into learning verbs right away, apparently the hardest thing we will learn in the class. Then at the end of class she told us that she did that to see who should and shouldn’t be in the class and how much Italian we really did know. I am starting to understand more and more every day though. It’s hard to use it in Florence though because all the people here speak some English and they almost prefer you to speak to them in English, not Italian. I will buy something and then when I say “grazie” the man says “your welcome” back instead of “prego.” They also don’t like it when you hand them money directly they want you to put it in a tray in front of the register. And they get really irritated if you don’t pay them in exact change too because Italians are always afraid they will run out of change.

The only thing that I don’t like about Italy though is the bugs. They are everywhere. I have at least 40 bug bites on my arms only. They are red little bumps and they take forever to go away! But compared to other people I know mine are nothing. Sara has huge bites on her arm that look like blisters but they are only on the left side. A lot of us have had to go to the doctor for bites.

We are going to Sienna and Pompeii this weekend with the school. And it looks like maybe Paris and Croatia some time too!