Second day of classes

YAY! I now have internet in my pensione. Its been long enough! Its been so annoying to have to schlep all my stuff to campus every time I have wanted to check my email or skype. The only bummer is there is no internet in our room at the moment but at least we can get it in the lobby! I will look forward to having it my room so that I can skype without everyone hearing my conversations. That has been kind of awkward.

Today was the second day of classes. It was so intense! Mondays are my hard days so I had like seven hours of classes. I had four classes in a row this morning; ethics, principles of marketing, Italian 102, and introduction to Florence. I was originally in the second section of the intro to Florence class, but after talking to all my friends it sounded like they were in the first section, so I asked the teacher if I could switch into the other section and she had no problem with it so that was nice. After my 4 classes I walked back in a hurry for lunch at my pensione. We had penne pasta with tomato sauce. It was so yummy! And then after the antipasti we had these kabobs that were described as "three meats" and mexican vegetables. I liked the vegetables, but the meat was kinda sketch. I guess it was turkey, sausage, and chicken. Lets just say my chicken had a gristly texture, and the sausage tasted like cinnamon (reminds me of my brother-- Chris I hope your reading this!) and the turkey was just dry. Me and my other friends weren't fans of this dish. We have noticed that our pensione has been known for the crappy food. We all love the pasta but the main course tends to be pretty gross. So we are now learning to stuff our faces with pasta before the meal comes and then just pick at the main course because its pretty nast haha. Like last week for example we had this breaded "turkey" meal that was extremely dark meat. I was thinking in my head, "My mom would never eat this!" Anywho, come to find out it was VEAL and not turkey. Why did the owner say it was turkey? Haha probably because she knew no one would eat it. It definitely did NOT taste like turkey though. Other than the food at my pensione, Italian food on the streets and at the restaurants is amazing! I love the authentic Italian food. Its my favorite food. I don't think I will get sick of it, even though I am here for almost nine months. Its just so good, and there are so many varieties!

After lunch, I came back to my room and just relaxed for awhile. Around three ish me and my roomie walked to a local Tabacchi and got some more stamps and postcards to send to our friends and family back home. Now all I have to do is relocate the post office! If you want a postcard, feel free to email me your address at lmaher@gonzaga.edu. I would love cards and things back from the US too so let me know if you want my address too! After the little stop, I walked to campus and sat down for my three hour econ class. It was so long! At least the teacher has a lot of energy; but my attention span is short as it is. The class seems like it will be pretty interesting though; it is global economy. I have already taken macro and micro economics. This section seems like it is completely different than those so that is pretty cool I guess. I will really miss my econ teacher back at the GU campus! His name is Kevin Henrickson and he is my favorite teacher at school! I had him for both sections of econ and he is the coolest guy. Me and my friend Kate liked him so much that we often dropped by cupcakes and cookies during his office hour. Wow, I got on quite a tangent!

Once class was over, I went upstairs to check my email and such because I had no idea that internet was up and running in my pensione! I found out at dinner and me and everyone else were ecstatic. Dinner was really good tonight-- we had a vinaigrette salad again and amazing pesto spiral pasta! It was so good. Pesto pasta is my favorite pasta, so that just made my day. Its interesting that we have our big meal of the day during lunch. For dinner we usually just have salad and an antipasti. I don't mind; usually I'm starving by one and not so hungry at seven when we have our dinners. Pretty much from dinner on I have been checking email, skyping my bf and family, and writing this entry! I need to get to my homework pretty soon though. I have some ethics reading, a couple journal entries to write, and maybe I'll brush up on my Italian.

Well not much else to talk about-- my mom asked me to explain the pictures that I'm posting. Thats probably a good idea. The one I just posted is in the main piazza right by our pensione. There are lots of yummy little cafes around the circle. You gotta watch out for those vespas (Italian mopeds) though! They come flying out of no where! The last one is of me and some friends at a local bar from this past weekend. Its great being able to socialize at bars and not even being carded!