Travels (on the Bus and Beyond!)

I am so excited to travel more!! I had dinner with my roommate Kate tonight (the fellow Theta by the way…) and we talked about upcoming trips. I am going to join her for a few of the weekends! So far, the list includes: Venice and Verona (with the USAC program in early Feb), an extended “Italy tour” (Pisa, Florence, Siena, Assissi, Amalfi Coast, Pompei, Naples), a tentative jaunt to Paris in late February, the Cinque Terre (cities along the coast - Beautiful and great for hiking) in early March, and Austria/Croatia over Easter weekend. I’m excited to see places that I hadn’t even thought of before; Kate said fellow students who visited Croatia last semester said it was absolutely beautiful. And a lot of these areas are very outdoors-y and less touristy which will be great for really seeing the local environment and not just tour sites. With other girls, I have planned trips (these are for sure, plane tickets already purchased this week!) to Rome (late Feb) and Barcelona (late April). AND I am looking forward to having my two closest friends from home (Jena and Amanda) visit for spring break and the days surrounding it. We plan to visit Greece and another location (to be determined). Phew... It’s going to be a very busy 3.5 months, but what an experience! I still can’t believe I had the opportunity to do all this. Not to mention I fully plan on visiting all the sites around Torino on days when I don’t have class (Castles, Museums, Cathedral, Piazzas, etc). O and this other little time commitment called “school”… but who cares about that boring stuff anyway right? ;)
I had my first “Italian Culture” class today. It will definitely be fun to learn about and I think the Professor is very interesting / personable. Studio will be the most compelling and challenging (and a good change of pace from studio at U of I), but Art History is of course very fascinating to me also. Italian language class is useful, but I can tell it’s not my biggest passion… That’s all I’m taking this semester: 4 classes, 15 credits. Most of the classes also have “field trips” in and around Torino, so it’s definitely a fun/interactive learning environment.
As I’m sure you can tell, I’m still loving Italy! I must be in the “euphoric” phase of culture shock that we learned about in class today ;) We also learned it’s natural to get sick your first few weeks while your body adjusts, so no worries on that front; I just developed a little cold and am getting better already. I also took a new bus home from school today that was much faster (and stops right outside the school in a high traffic area so when I leave at 10pm after talking to you all on the internet I don’t have to dread a slightly creepy walk to a quiet street.) So another blessing to thank God for, Mom  … It’s funny how accomplishing the little things can feel like such a success when you are dropped into a completely new environment.