Happy Thursday, loyal readers! It's almost the weekend and thats reason enough to blog. It's about 1:30pm here in Italy and the sun is tormenting all of us at the moment. The temperature isn't very high, but the sunlight is extremely direct and Italy lacks one important necessity for beating the heat: air conditioners. I feel like i've taken a step back in time, but we are getting by. We try ventilating as much as possible with open windows and electric fans, which helps some. However, there we have recently been seeing bugs crawling around the apartment (which weren't there before) so we try to keep the shutters closed as much as possible. I'm sure the bugs are trying just trying to keep cool like the rest of us, but we would appreciate it if they would take shelter elsewhere.
Other than the heat, life is enjoyable here. We have started deep discussions and intensive learning in classes. My work load this month is heavy but manageable. My favorite way to complete homework is at the beach where i can dig my feet in to the Mediterranean sand while getting lost in my history books. This week I had two papers due for Art History. We have been discussing Greek art and its influence on Roman sculpture. We have visited several museums and analyzed pieces done by renowned artists like Michelangelo and Cavallini. I love every second of what we are learning. Being able to see and touch the things we study in class make the experience of learning so much richer. This week we are currently looking at friezes, frescos, and mosaics in catholic churches. Today during class we visited two churches, Santa Maria in Trastevere and The Basilica di Sta. Cecila, both of which were remarkable.
This week in my transatlantic relations class, we have discussed the U.S./ European relations post WWII. Yesterday we had the chance to visit an old prison where the Fascist leaders of Italy tortured and interrogated hundreds of people during the 1940's. The class is surprisingly difficult but I am learning a lot so I guess that is all that matters. I actually have a midterm for this class due tomorrow, so ill be spending my night working on that.
Other than school and the beach things have been going pretty slow. I've suddenly discovered my hidden talent; cooking. Who would have ever guessed? Apparently some of my moms' skills in the kitchen have rubbed off on me. Each night my roommates and I eat dinner together because we enjoy the time together and we like to save money. Tuesday was my turn to cook therefore grilled hamburgers and made homemade french fries. My roommates praised me extensively for the fries, so I can assume they were good. Then yesterday for lunch i made pasta shells and Alfredo sauce from scratch, which turned out surprisingly well. With that being said one can assume i'm eating well (and i am).
This weekend I have off so I am leaving tomorrow for Switzerland. My sweet roommate, Anna, has a family friend who lives in the Swiss Alps and he has invited us into his home for a few days. I am beyond excited for this adventure. Our flight leaves tomorrow at 8am, so we will be catching the train from the Trastevere train station at 6 in the morning. We got really lucky because our airline tickets were 160 Euros round trip, AND we get to stay with Benoit for free.
We are only allowed to take one small bag that is 12 pounds on the plane, so we will see how that goes. Regardless, IM GOING TO SWITZERLAND and that is all that matters. If any of you readers know of things to do in Switzerland that I shouldn't miss, your advice would be very greatly appreciated. Anyway there's much more to the story about our swiss adventure, but i'll leave that for another post. Keep an eye out for my post about Switzerland later next week.
Auf Wiedersehen (as the Swiss would say),
-T
P.S. if you're interested in some swiss chocolate comment below and i'll see what I can do.
Other than the heat, life is enjoyable here. We have started deep discussions and intensive learning in classes. My work load this month is heavy but manageable. My favorite way to complete homework is at the beach where i can dig my feet in to the Mediterranean sand while getting lost in my history books. This week I had two papers due for Art History. We have been discussing Greek art and its influence on Roman sculpture. We have visited several museums and analyzed pieces done by renowned artists like Michelangelo and Cavallini. I love every second of what we are learning. Being able to see and touch the things we study in class make the experience of learning so much richer. This week we are currently looking at friezes, frescos, and mosaics in catholic churches. Today during class we visited two churches, Santa Maria in Trastevere and The Basilica di Sta. Cecila, both of which were remarkable.
This week in my transatlantic relations class, we have discussed the U.S./ European relations post WWII. Yesterday we had the chance to visit an old prison where the Fascist leaders of Italy tortured and interrogated hundreds of people during the 1940's. The class is surprisingly difficult but I am learning a lot so I guess that is all that matters. I actually have a midterm for this class due tomorrow, so ill be spending my night working on that.
Other than school and the beach things have been going pretty slow. I've suddenly discovered my hidden talent; cooking. Who would have ever guessed? Apparently some of my moms' skills in the kitchen have rubbed off on me. Each night my roommates and I eat dinner together because we enjoy the time together and we like to save money. Tuesday was my turn to cook therefore grilled hamburgers and made homemade french fries. My roommates praised me extensively for the fries, so I can assume they were good. Then yesterday for lunch i made pasta shells and Alfredo sauce from scratch, which turned out surprisingly well. With that being said one can assume i'm eating well (and i am).
This weekend I have off so I am leaving tomorrow for Switzerland. My sweet roommate, Anna, has a family friend who lives in the Swiss Alps and he has invited us into his home for a few days. I am beyond excited for this adventure. Our flight leaves tomorrow at 8am, so we will be catching the train from the Trastevere train station at 6 in the morning. We got really lucky because our airline tickets were 160 Euros round trip, AND we get to stay with Benoit for free.
We are only allowed to take one small bag that is 12 pounds on the plane, so we will see how that goes. Regardless, IM GOING TO SWITZERLAND and that is all that matters. If any of you readers know of things to do in Switzerland that I shouldn't miss, your advice would be very greatly appreciated. Anyway there's much more to the story about our swiss adventure, but i'll leave that for another post. Keep an eye out for my post about Switzerland later next week.
Auf Wiedersehen (as the Swiss would say),
-T
P.S. if you're interested in some swiss chocolate comment below and i'll see what I can do.