Settimana Numero Cinque!
Wow, is it Thursday already? I realized that it's been a week, so I should go ahead and post. Ummm...lesseee...
Last week I was really grumpy and homesick all week but finally got to feeling better by the weekend. I'm not sure what brought it on, other than that things here don't work the same way as they do at home, and so every time something happens that I'd know how to handle in the US but don't here, I have a teensy breakdowns, which I suppose could be considered culture shock. I don't know--my roommates and I decided it's distance shock rather than culture shock, just because we're so far from things that work the way we're used to, so they're completely inaccessible to us, and it's just frustrating. A perfect example was me walking over half an hour with my bike the other night to find that I couldn't air up my tires at the gas station because the system here is different and the guy who works the station has to BE there to put the little attachment on for your bike. I mean, who thinks that something so simple would cause such problems? Grr.
Anyway, I swam with Deanna twice last week and felt SO SLOW, but Monday was much better--I even was able to do a set that went 300, 200, 100, and 4x50 and feel pretty good about it. Today felt even better--I really feel like I got a good workout, even though we were only able to swim for 50 minutes because we had to catch the bus. Regardless of how good I feel, I'm still slow. Whatever, speed will come. I can feel myself getting back into shape, which is LOVELY. We've decided not to sign up for Thursdays until after Fall Break because you have to pay for all of the sessions for that day for the rest of the quarter, and since we're missing next Thursday, there's no reason to pay for it and not get to go. I'm not sure if I explained that properly, but I'm sure you get the gist.
Friday night (after Emilia telling us Thursday that we never go out and should do so because we're only 20 once) Sarah and I went to the Jazz Club with Alex Gramps and got to listen to a live Blues band while drinking Sangrias . ^_^ It was pleasant.
Saturday Sarah and I did NOTHING--we made a big breakfast when we woke up around noon, and then watched TV in our pjs (I did some sewing too)--I saw an old Arnold Schwarzenegger movie dubbed into Italian, and it's weird because I had been thinking about that movie recently. That night I went to a dance "lesson" with our TA/professoressa Costanza and her boyfriend and our Director. The latter two didn't dance, but we did lots of different types, including 2 contras! I think my favorites were the tango and the quadrille though. They were pretty intense. We also did some polkas, including a "patty-cake polka" which I enjoyed and would like to do more of. It ended up being about 3 doors down from my house, which never happens to us way out here, but that was exciting. I think I'm going to try to go to the lesson the teacher does regularly tomorrow, although I don't know what type of dance he'll be doing then.
Sunday, again, nothing. I got some more sewing done, did some homework, and Sarah and I went up to Settignano and got some AMAZING hot chocolate--I'm talking some of mine made it to a cooled off stage and was as thick as Smith's chocolate sauce. *shudders with delight* We also went into the center and I bought a sweater and a scarf, the former needing some alterations before I can wear it in public...I think it's a guy's sweater and the shoulders flop halfway down my upper arms.
This week classes started to pick up the pace a little...I've actually had homework that took me a while to do, so I'm enjoying that (for the first time since Middle School, yet again). I'm really starting to feel pretty competent in Italian, which is refreshing...every once in a while I have real problems with vocabulary, but it's almost becoming easier to communicate in Italian than in English, perhaps because I'm listening to Italian all the time. I've had a couple of moments in which I didn't even realize someone wasn't speaking English at first. ^-^ We started our Studio Art course today, and we FRIGGING MADE OUR OWN QUILLS AND SILVER POINT PENCILS. I mean, how GONZO(=cool) is that?! I'm going to love that class. Today I spent a frustrating 2 hours wandering from bookstore to bookstore in the rain looking for a textbook that I never found, but the professor says one of them told her they'd have it in soon. *sigh* Serena happened to ask how my day was at the wrong moment, and I think she and Monica are now worried about me. Oh well.
This week I've actually been able to play my mandolin quite a bit, and I'm definitely making progress. I can now pluck the entirety of Laird of Drumblair, albeit not as fast as I'd like to. I'm definitely getting faster though. I'm also memorizing chords on the piano because I found this totally awesome book of all the chords ever written. Perhaps I'll be able to actually read music when I get back instead of sort of pretending to!
Alright, I think I may have shared everything for this week...I hope everyone's doing well!!! Good luck on midterms--I know they're coming up soon for most everyone.
Last week I was really grumpy and homesick all week but finally got to feeling better by the weekend. I'm not sure what brought it on, other than that things here don't work the same way as they do at home, and so every time something happens that I'd know how to handle in the US but don't here, I have a teensy breakdowns, which I suppose could be considered culture shock. I don't know--my roommates and I decided it's distance shock rather than culture shock, just because we're so far from things that work the way we're used to, so they're completely inaccessible to us, and it's just frustrating. A perfect example was me walking over half an hour with my bike the other night to find that I couldn't air up my tires at the gas station because the system here is different and the guy who works the station has to BE there to put the little attachment on for your bike. I mean, who thinks that something so simple would cause such problems? Grr.
Anyway, I swam with Deanna twice last week and felt SO SLOW, but Monday was much better--I even was able to do a set that went 300, 200, 100, and 4x50 and feel pretty good about it. Today felt even better--I really feel like I got a good workout, even though we were only able to swim for 50 minutes because we had to catch the bus. Regardless of how good I feel, I'm still slow. Whatever, speed will come. I can feel myself getting back into shape, which is LOVELY. We've decided not to sign up for Thursdays until after Fall Break because you have to pay for all of the sessions for that day for the rest of the quarter, and since we're missing next Thursday, there's no reason to pay for it and not get to go. I'm not sure if I explained that properly, but I'm sure you get the gist.
Friday night (after Emilia telling us Thursday that we never go out and should do so because we're only 20 once) Sarah and I went to the Jazz Club with Alex Gramps and got to listen to a live Blues band while drinking Sangrias . ^_^ It was pleasant.
Saturday Sarah and I did NOTHING--we made a big breakfast when we woke up around noon, and then watched TV in our pjs (I did some sewing too)--I saw an old Arnold Schwarzenegger movie dubbed into Italian, and it's weird because I had been thinking about that movie recently. That night I went to a dance "lesson" with our TA/professoressa Costanza and her boyfriend and our Director. The latter two didn't dance, but we did lots of different types, including 2 contras! I think my favorites were the tango and the quadrille though. They were pretty intense. We also did some polkas, including a "patty-cake polka" which I enjoyed and would like to do more of. It ended up being about 3 doors down from my house, which never happens to us way out here, but that was exciting. I think I'm going to try to go to the lesson the teacher does regularly tomorrow, although I don't know what type of dance he'll be doing then.
Sunday, again, nothing. I got some more sewing done, did some homework, and Sarah and I went up to Settignano and got some AMAZING hot chocolate--I'm talking some of mine made it to a cooled off stage and was as thick as Smith's chocolate sauce. *shudders with delight* We also went into the center and I bought a sweater and a scarf, the former needing some alterations before I can wear it in public...I think it's a guy's sweater and the shoulders flop halfway down my upper arms.
This week classes started to pick up the pace a little...I've actually had homework that took me a while to do, so I'm enjoying that (for the first time since Middle School, yet again). I'm really starting to feel pretty competent in Italian, which is refreshing...every once in a while I have real problems with vocabulary, but it's almost becoming easier to communicate in Italian than in English, perhaps because I'm listening to Italian all the time. I've had a couple of moments in which I didn't even realize someone wasn't speaking English at first. ^-^ We started our Studio Art course today, and we FRIGGING MADE OUR OWN QUILLS AND SILVER POINT PENCILS. I mean, how GONZO(=cool) is that?! I'm going to love that class. Today I spent a frustrating 2 hours wandering from bookstore to bookstore in the rain looking for a textbook that I never found, but the professor says one of them told her they'd have it in soon. *sigh* Serena happened to ask how my day was at the wrong moment, and I think she and Monica are now worried about me. Oh well.
This week I've actually been able to play my mandolin quite a bit, and I'm definitely making progress. I can now pluck the entirety of Laird of Drumblair, albeit not as fast as I'd like to. I'm definitely getting faster though. I'm also memorizing chords on the piano because I found this totally awesome book of all the chords ever written. Perhaps I'll be able to actually read music when I get back instead of sort of pretending to!
Alright, I think I may have shared everything for this week...I hope everyone's doing well!!! Good luck on midterms--I know they're coming up soon for most everyone.