Esami Italiani

I’m heading into full swing into Italian Finals. In reality the Italian school system doesn’t have final exams the way we know them. At university you don’t do homework or write papers, you go to class, get notes, do reading, and learn, then at the end you schedule an exam with your professor who asks you questions and grades you on how well you learned. Makes sense huh?

Since the only course I took at the University this semester I only audited I am not actually taking the oral exam, and since the rest of my classes are through the Smith program I have lots of papers and lots of written exams, my only escape will be my studio art class, where we’ll just have a group critique. I don’t mind writing papers here and there, but they definitely take more brain power in Italian, and I’m eagerly awaiting the end of next week, when all papers will be turned in and exams finished and I can start a new semester. Three classes I’m looking forward to a lot at the Smith Center: Racconti (Italian short stories), Contemporary Italian history (think Fascism, and the Mafia), and Italian Cinema, as well as one class for credit at the University of Florence.

As the Italian school system also likes to wait until the last minute to make any kind of plans, I still have no idea what will be offered this semester and therefore what I will be taking there, but it is sure to be a new experience.

Finishing the semester is tough especially after a long vacation, but it also means I’ve gotten to do some really fun things with my classes. Last week my literature class went on a literary tour of Florence on this city bus that is painted up with the picture of every famous writer who has ever lived in Florence. It included a stop at the British/Protestant cemetery in Florence where all of the famous British and American writers who lived in Florence are buried. A little nun (is there such thing as a protestant nun?) took us around showing us the tombstones that were fought hard for in the overwhelmingly Catholic place.

Right after getting off the bus I headed to Palazzo Vecchio with my History of Florence c lass. Palazzo Vecchio is in the same Piazza as my school and was originally a residence of the Medici family when they were still running the city and continues to serve as the seat of Florence’s government today. My teacher knows everyone in Florence it seems, and happened to be able to get us a special tour of the building including entering rooms usually not open to the public. In what looks like a giant Renaissance government office building the Medicis built themselves a labyrinthine system of secret rooms and passageways to get away from their work when they felt like it. It is exactly the castle you imagined as a kid, full of narrow staircases, paintings that open into doors and winding passageways.

Finally on Wednesday night I got to see my first Italian Opera (In Italy that is). We attended Madama Butterfly by Puccini at the Teatro Comunale in Florence. It is a beautiful building and the opera was incredible. The sets were beautiful, the music was gorgeous and the production overall extremely moving. I’ve only ever seen one or two operas in English and always found it strange to be able to understand what the singers were saying, it was very interesting when I realized I was experiencing this same sensation with this Italian opera.

After weeks of rain we are finally back to the beautiful Florentine sun I’ve come to expect, and I hope it makes the next week a little more bearable before heading into the second half of my Italian adventure.


The bus we took for the Literary Tour of Florence.


A view of the Duomo out the window of one of the beautiful rooms of Palazzo Vecchio.



The night at Madama Butterfly, Teatro Comunale.