First Week of Classes

It’s been a busy week, and my plans to blog throughout were foiled by time constraints, need for sleep, and devastatingly unreliable Internet. Regardless, it’s been a good couple of days, taken up mostly by the start of classes. I’m enrolled in four classes, running from Monday to Thursday every week. First up was Media and Society: TV & Democracy in Italy, which counts as a non-departmental journalism elective for me, looking at the way that public television is influenced by the various political figures in Italy. The first session left me uncertain, but the second proved to be thoroughly interesting and I believe it’s a class I’ll enjoy very much. I actually have a presentation for this Monday, since we were all assigned two readings throughout the semester to present on, and I of course volunteered to go as early as possible (my second chapter is at the end of February). The one very unfortunate thing about this class is that it begins at 9am every Monday morning. This week, we had the class on Friday as well to make for an Italian national holiday in April. That’s a lot of getting up at 7:30am. Regardless, it’s a good class and I think I’ll like it.

My second class, which is held four times a week at noon, is Intensive Intermediate Italian. I’ve already taken both elementary Italian courses, and thus I qualify for the six-credit intermediate option in Florence, where a language class is required. I’m very pleased with the course, and have already become friendly with several of my classmates. The professor, Caterina Sani, is very energetic and fun. Yesterday, she had us leave the classroom and come back in as if we were dining in groups at a restaurant. I ate with Kate, Katia, and Andrea (actually Drew, but he goes by Andrea for easier comprehension by the Italian natives). I ordered the risotto ai funghi (rice with mushrooms) since it seemed a safe vegetarian option unlike the penne alla carbonara and the pappardelle al cinghiale. Caterina brought us a beer instead of the vino bianco, and then at the end of the meal handed us a check for an outrageous 183 euro. I swiftly cried out “molti errori!” and she said that the amount of quarantatre e cinquanta euro (43,50) would be fine. These kinds of exercises will be quite enjoyable, I’m sure.

My third class is History of Immigration in Europe and the US from WWII to the Present. A mouthful, I know. It was pitched by the professor during orientation last week and it sounded interesting to me. It’s officially my first class taken as a completely irrelevant, not-for-any-sort-of-requirement elective. I think I have some interest in the subject, and it will certainly be a learning opportunity. The cool part of it is that there’s an immigration conference being planned in conjunction with Syracuse University and a whole bunch of seriously knowledgeable authorities in March, and that’s something I’ll take part in as part of the course. My fourth class is of course Italian Cinema, which looks to be great. We started off watching “L’Ultimo Baccio,” which was remade in the United States as the dismal Zach Braff film “The Last Kiss.” The professor, Tina Fallani, was a sound editor on “Dead Poets Society” and “The Godfather: Part III” and the first thing she said to us was that she didn’t believe in semiotics. That’s a very good thing, since our class will focus more on film history and culture. There are plenty of well-known directors on our film list, including Fellini and Bertolucci. I’m sure it will be an altogether pleasant and educational experience for me. The one weird thing is that our Monday night screening time appears to be something we do completely on our own, as in head to the front desk and check out the movie and pop it in the DVD player. It doesn’t sound too hard; it’s just a bit unlike previous classes I’ve had. Things are of course different here though.

I’ve started eating on a regular basis here, which is good. Mondays through Thursdays, I’ll be dining on campus for lunch and probably for dinner as well. Lunch is priced by the amount and type of food you get, usually from 2,50 to 5,00 euro. Dinner is all-you-can-eat, set at 6,50 upon entry into the dining hall. They do have some good food, but my selection is often limited due to the high ham content in all of the choices. On the plus side, I’m unintentionally eating more vegetables since that’s always a safe thing! I’m walking to and from class everyday, which is a 2-3 mile walk each way, uphill on the way there, so I’m getting lots of exercise. The weather is pretty good, but it’s sort of cold now and thus freezing in my room at night. The noise is unbelievably loud and I’m pretty sure that even when I’m deep in sleep and dreaming I can still hear the cars outside.

In addition to classes, I’ve done a few things this week. On Monday, I went to go get my books at the Paperback Exchange store, and encountered two students from my Italian class nearby. We finally located the elusive Grom (pronounced ‘groam’ according to my roommate Dan) and both Kate and Katia got some gelato. I’ll be returning there at some point when I’m really craving it. Tuesday was inauguration day, as I’m sure you all know, and we gathered together in a packed room at Villa La Pietra’s Villa Sassetti building to watch Obama getting sworn in. It was fun and reminded me just how many college students are liberals. Wednesday roommate David and I went to another NYU apartment for dinner, and some lovely girls cooked us a ridiculous amount of pasta. With help from my new friend Ellie, I consumed approximately three lavish portions of spaghetti. Thursday evening, we had a roommate dinner where Dan took us to what he claims is the best pizza in all of Tuscany. I think I believe him. The unexcitedly-named Caffe Italiano did have a scrumptious pizza margherita with soft crust (!), and of course the company was good. After dinner, we went for gelato, and despite my desire to hold off on getting gelato for a while, I purchased a small cup for only 1,50 of dark chocolate and chocolate mousse. The flavors aren’t my favorite, but the consistency was delectable and I’ll be sure to return to Gelateria dei Neri. Dan sure knows his stuff. We parted ways when Dan and David stayed out afterwards, and I got hopelessly lost on the way home. Fortunately, I happened to spot the Duomo and made my way home without the usage of a map since I’m now officially an expert on how to get home from the Duomo. Not terribly useful for navigating the rest of Florence, but at least I can do that.

The week concluded with some excitement this Friday evening when we had a dinner with most of the guys in Borgo Pinti, my apartment building. Zach cooked a huge, delicious-smelling meal for all fourteen of us, and it was nice to get to know all the people who live on our floor. I hastily began doing dishes after dinner to avoid the usual disgustingness that amasses in a kitchen used exclusively by fourteen males. We’re planning on doing more of these in the future, and that should be lots of fun. Check out the photo from tonight below! I’ll try to post more regularly in the coming weeks. Coming up: a fancy dinner Saturday night and a day trip to Lucca on Sunday! Please leave any activity recommendations in the comments section. I’m here for a few months, but I always appreciate suggestions!