Today was a beautiful day in Padova! The sun was shining and not a cloud in the sky! I realized on my last post I left out some important details like where I go to school and what classes I'm taking! On Mondays and Wednesdays we have and anthropology class and the theme of it is "Gift and Sacrifice." It's actually really interesting and centers around the idea of how people give and receive gifts in society and the history of the gift giving process. The gift does not have to be a physical object but can also be an emotional or sensory experience. The discussions seem to go around in circles, but it is nice to take a break from all the very concrete business classes I normally take. Our professor, Mona, says that if by the end of the quarter when she asks us what a gift is and we answer that we don't know then she has done her job right. I'm finding the class really interesting so far! We meet at 10AM near the historic center of Padova and our class buiding is in a little piazza that was once home to the ruling family of the city. We spend about an hour discussing the reading then take a nice long coffee break with Mona, then by 1 we are finished! It is seriously the life! Easiest class load I will ever have in my life.
As for Tuesdays and Thursdays, they are equally as exciting with Doug Merell who we call "Professore" or "Profe" for short. He is the coolest guy, and relates really well to all of us. He says it like it is and it's not uncommon to hear him drop an F bomb or ask us about our experience with the nightlife in Padova. At the same time he is incredibly knowledgable because he lives in Italy 3/4 of the year and he expects a lot out of us. For his class we are learning about the development of Italy and the City-States with in it...primarily about Padova where we are living! It is so amazing to sit in class and read for homework, and then go actually visit the monuments we are learning about! For his class we spend about 45 min. discussing and then we head out on site visits with Profe. Today we visited the Plazza della Regione, which is a huge building in the city center. It dates back to the 1100's and was used as the center of law. After a long stay there we were all getting pretty antsy to get back home, but Profe said we had one more site visit and we got even more grumpy. Well, we arrived at the next site and turns out it was a Gelateria and he bought us each 3 scoops of Gelato! This is not the first time that has happened. He requires we try 3 flavors each time and anything less means you are a "party pooper" in his words.
Tonight was great, we had a bunch of people for dinner in our apartment and attempted to make mexican food. It turned out ok, but the "salsa" we bought tasted like ketchup, so gross! Amanda and I had a fun day...we went running! First exercise in a while. No one in Italy exercises! We got lots of strange looks as we ran down the street, but it was worth it. We also managed to lock ourselves out of our apartment (it was bound to happen knowing us) so we had to pay a visit to our landlord Frederico. Frederico is a nice guy and speaks really good english! After this we went crazy at Billa (supermarket). We bought tons of groceries and are way too excited about them. Something I am really noticing is how much I take little things for granted at home. Everything here, like purchasing some chicken to cook dinner for ourselves, seems exciting. Guess there is just something about Italy!!!
Tomorrow we start Italian lessons! Profe arranged it with some instructor from Venice. The good news is that now our program will now equal 15 credits! The better news is maybe I will be able to stop pointing and using my own version of sign language and actually talk to the people here when I want to order food or buy something!
Here are some of my favorite pictures from Padova so far...first the Plazza della Regione, which we visited today! Then some sites around the city (beautiful!!!). Then all of the girls with Mona and Profe after Profe's birthday dinner (and our second visit to Zairo, the best food ever!). Then some apartment pics, cooking dinner!
Ciao! :)
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