Dopo Una Settimana...

So it has been one full week in Italy. It is hard to tell whether the time is passing extremely fast or slow, because I feel like I have been here a lot longer than a week, but also like there is still so much to see and do. There are a few things about the Italian lifestyle that I have had to get used to. For instance, not eating breakfast really, then eating a late light lunch and a really late really huge dinner. My Signora is proving to be an amazing cook who has realized that I eat a lot and therefore serves me bigger portions than the other girls and told me after our first dinner "I can tell you have brothers".

She also had us watch "Chi Vuol Essere un Milione?" (Who Wants to Be a Millionaire) with her the other night and read every question aloud to us, she is very patient and helpful with our language skills and I think we understand each other fairly well.
We started classes this week and I feel a little swamped. None of the professors here speak any English (or it is very limited) which is both good and difficult because some things are extremely hard to describe without any translation.

The nine hour time difference has been hard for me to get used to and I find myself getting extremely tired in the late afternoon but then waking up wide awake after dinner (around 9 or 10 p.m.). This also makes it difficult to talk to people from home since our sleep-awake schedules are pretty much opposite. The lack of wireless internet further exacerbates this problem. Hardly anyone has it in their homes because it is so expensive and internet cafes are fairly expensive as well and harder to come by in residential areas like where I live. It is interesting to think that a country like Italy, which is just as modern of a society as the United States finds a way to live without things we have decided are necessities. Although that is definitely telling of their extremely laid-back culture. And the importance that Italians seem to place on actual human interaction; Italians say hello to each other on the streets, they go out at night, they eat late and always with other people. It is definitely a different way of life.

I have been getting lost every day from my house on the way to school because I think I am heading in the right direction but none of the streets here are straight so I always end up somewhere completely different. After a while I'm sure I will figure it out, but for now it is a bit frustrating. The city is getting a little stifling and I am already planning on seeing more of the countryside soon.

This morning we had our art history lesson at a church in Piazzale Michelangelo which overlooks the whole of Florence, of course it was a day I decided not to bring my camera, but I am sure I will be back soon to take photos. We hiked up about a thousand stairs to get there and were all sweating by the time we reached the top. It reminded me of the temples in Thailand that are all built up a million stairs, interesting how most religions end up with the same ideas. Although, I'm glad I at least know something about Catholocism because that is definitely helping while learning about the architecture of the churches and the history of the entire city, some of the girls are not so lucky and hearing vocabulary in a foreign language that you never learned in your own is a bit confusing.

Sorry this got a little long and probably seems disconnected I'm still trying to wrap my head around my life here.
A Presto Tutti!