Classes finally started yesterday. I have officially had all four (although art history doesn't actually start until March 6th, we had a tour today with our professor anyway).
Monday I only have my Food, Wine, Culture, and Identity class. The first class was basically an overview of the semester and a discussion on what culture and identity mean as well as what taste is. We are going to have to keep "food journals" all semester that follow our observations of Italians and their eating habits and our own eating habits and how those habits are shaped while we are here. I feel like that journal and I will have a love hate relationship :) But I am interested to see how I change diets over here. I know I already have changed a lot eating wise.
I also got my ESN card yesterday! Which means I am now part of the Student group that does amazing things all over Europe and helps students meet other students. I am so excited because there are tons of discounts and events right here in Bologna. Including last night. There was a welcome back party and not only did I meet up with people I have met over the past two weeks but I also met a lot more people! I also received a Tandem partner. Basically I was paired with an Italian speaker and we can get together voluntarily to work on speaking the opposite language (so I would practice Italian and he will practice English). I also signed up for a Spanish partner. We will see how this goes!
Oh, and today I received my Bologna family :) I can't wait to start Monday night dinners with them!
Okay, so my other classes were today, Italian 101 (a continuation of the intensive course), cultural heritage and law, and art history (only for the tour). In Italian I got back my test from the end of the intensive and got a 98 :) That is super encouraging! I am starting to really enjoy the class because I am learning a lot grammatically, historically, culturally, and practically! Plus, it is a different atmosphere as in every class we learn something AND our professor learns more English from us! Today we taught her the verb shoveling, and the noun shovel. It's cool to have that exchange in class.
Then after getting my stipend from the bank and buying food for the apartment, I had Cultural Heritage and Law. I am going to love this class! The first meeting consisted of us watching The Rape of Europa (movie about the Nazi plundering of precious artworks). I had seen a lot of the movie in Museum Studies freshman year of college but it was really an experience to watch the whole thing. It was emotional and devastating and exciting and enlightening all in one movie! I think I understand what I want to do now. Maybe. Be a docent/educator or something along those lines. I do think I want to go to grad school in Europe though. I have fallen in love with this place. I don't think my parents are going to be too thrilled... oops :P
Now, for art history we met and went to the History of Bologna Museum that opened like a week ago. This museum is really different because A. It was free and will be until March. B. It is not a public museum because it is owned by the bank. C. The style of the museum is very modern america... which is very contradictory to the rest of the museums in Bologna. It is also a museum on the history of the city from etuscan to current. We got a thorough tour of the museum and I have uploaded pictures to facebook. I think my favorite rooms are the first tomb room, the coronation room, the water room, the portico room, and the music room. (I know that is a lot, but this place had sooo many rooms)
Anyway, all is well, I love it here, and classes are starting up so my posts may be less frequent...
ciao :)
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