Week One Italy Update

(ed. note - this was originally written 3 weeks ago, and several things have changed, such as the creation of this blog. Original date - January 13, 2008)

Ciao!

First off, apologies for the small amount of contact this first week. As you may be able to imagine, its been pretty hectic, what with trying to get settled in, get my bearings in a new (very cool) strange town, having some sort of orientation almost every day since we got here - allthough i think those are finally over, starting our italian classes, dicking with my schedule, and having to register our presence with the local authorities to recieve our permit of stay. whew!

let's begin with the town of Viterbo itself. its about 60 miles or so north of Rome, close to the region of Tuscany. population is roughly 60,000, which was lower than i initially thought, nearly all of them have no or very little english experience/knowledge. the initiall excitement of being in a foreign, medieval city has slightly worn off, and the other day i had my first real frustration with feeling isoltated and alone, due to the communication barrier. everyday i'm learning a few more italian words/phrases, so its getting better. The main part of the town is enclosed in a large wall that dates back to the medieval times when the town was closed off from outsides attackers. "In the walls" is the center of town, the downtown area, and where i'm living with 3 other guys. as of right now we have no internet in the house, which also accounts for my lack of communication. we're hoping to have some installed in the next week, or ASAP. there are 4 women in the apartment next door to ours who are also students, and we've all agreed to split the cost of installation and monthly net bill, so the hope is as soon as possible we will have access. untill then, i will try to make it to a net cafè, where i am right now, and check my email and other necessary updates.

my roommates, as i said, are 3 other guys - 2 of which are pretty cool - Massimo & Assaf, and the other who annoys me allready - Omar. Massimo's family is actually from italy, so he speaks fluently, and believe me that has been helpful this past week in needing translations and other help. Assaf is actually an Israeli who had been studying in Colorado, and got in the USAC program that way. Omar is just plain boring, and doesnt seem to have much experience interacting with others and doesn't understand the idea of sharing groceries, etc... but i digress.

For the most part i've been avoiding the large groups of Americans that rove around in packs, sticking out like a monkey in a jewlery store (bull in a china shop/ elephant in the room just seemed too clichè). I have met some really cool people though, including one woman who is almost 50 and is from Tennessee. Her name is Barbara and she has M.S., so she walks with a guide dog named Teddy who is a huge, but loveable black Newfoundland dog. i look forward to hearing more of her stories and soaking up knowledge, as she seems to have alot of life experience.
another big thing that takes some getting used to is the pace of life over here, and the hours that the town keeps. all the stores generally close from 1-4:30 or so for "pausa pranzo" or lunch break, giving their employees time to go home to their families or go to lunch at a restaurant, which are the only things open at that time. Then at about 4:30, the streets become packed with people just walking around, seeing others and shopping, or getting a "caffè" or esspresso as we know it. this is the time when the restaurants close down for their breaks, before opening back up at 8 for dinner, which lasts until mid-night or so. certainly different that we're used to in the states, but still cool. oh, and EVERYTHING is closed on sunday. the only exception being the few places (like this cafe) that aren't owned by italians who observe the sabbath.My schedule has changed significantly since i got here. initially i had signed up for:

Elem. Italian I
WWII: Mediterranian and Beyond
Fall & Rise: From the Roman to British Empires
Italy in the Rennesaince (sp?)
Italian Conversation

I choose 5 classes under the assumption that they were semsester long 3-credit courses like we have in the US. I was wrong. Elementary Italian I is only half the semsester and its worth 4 credits. Elem. It II is the second half and it's also 4 credits. So, get rid of Italian conversation and add Elm. II. The WWII and Fall & Rise classes are being taught by a visiting prof who has never done this before and so he brought his upper level 400-level classes here expecting the same requirements as he normally does - 5 books for each class, 5 papers each. NO THANK YOU!!! as much as those topics interest me, i didn't come halfway around the world to sit in my room doing homework the whole semseter. so say good bye to those classes (people are dropping thoses classes left and right). Which leaves Italy in the Rennesaince (sp?). Don't worry, i'm keeping that one. I also added Travel Writing, in order to assure i have the needed 14 credits to graduate. So my schedule now looks like this:

Elem. Italian I & II - 4 credits each for 8 credits total
Travel Writng - 3 crd.
Italy in the Rennesaince (sp?) - 3 crd.
----------------------Total = 14 credits - enough to graduate!!!

so that's basically whats up over here. so far this past week the only classes were the Italian classes, but the rest all start this week. I think it'll be a good semester. Next weekend there is a group day trip to Rome on Friday, but we have the option of staying through the weekend and coming back on our own; we will.

much love and peace out!

~Ron