I just finished my first week of classes, ending with an art history excursion Thursday night to the Colosseum and Palazzo Venezia. My professor is a hoot. He often makes inappropriate poitical comments and calls me "girl with the camera". We also went to the "wedding cake" or "the typewriter" - this giant white building that Mussolini had built that all the Romans hate. But it does look pretty cool.

I am also really psyched about sculpture. We are going to learn about plastics and latex soon, as well as ride bikes to the Catacombs. And we get our own studios! I'm going to paint mine white tomorrow as soon as I can find a smock/giant plaid shirt here, which might be difficult.

Today we went to the University of Rome to tour the campus, which has 250,000 students. A QUARTER MILLION. And only 30% graduate because of the difficulties of negotiating the exams and class schedules. We also went to San Lorenzo, the student neighborhood, where the graffiti was definitely better than what I've seen so far. We also met a woman named Julieta (in the red coat) who told us about when she went to Sacramento in the 1970s. The old Italians here are especially friendly. I might even say that they are my favorite that I've encountered in this world.

Allora,
Grace

Over 1 week in Rome!

At first, Rome was utterly shocking to me. A much more modern, busier city than I expected with crazy scooters, perpindicularly parked smartcars, and grafitti everywhere. But what is truly endearing about Rome is all the windy, cobblestoned streets that lead to giant elaborate landmarks like the Trevi Fountain, especially impressive at night. My favorite so far is the Vatican, which is really close to where I live. Hopefully the Pope and I will be on a first name basis soon.

On Sunday the whole program went to a beautiful hill town called Todi. This was the first time that I was brave enough to take the camera out. I was pretty stoked to see the Piazza Garibaldi, as well as several cats. There's this weird thing with cats and Italy, I don't get it, but everywhere you go you can buy postcards with cats sitting on or next to famous landmarks. After Todi, we went to an estate where we ate a traditional Italian wedding feast.

I started classes on Monday, and I'm still working out my schedule. However, my Italian and Adv. Photo professors are so great. There are only four students in my photo class and we're going to work with medium and large format cameras. I also got a job teaching English to a 6 year old named Mateo. I haven't met him yet, but hopefully he'll teach me some Italian.

I live with two girls in a "residence" that is a mix between a cheap motel and an apartment. One goes to Penn State and the other goes to Bowdoin. It's pretty weird that people are shocked (as in "That's so far away!") when I tell them I'm from Portland, and more than one person has thought that I meant Maine.

Keeping a blog feels a tad pretentious to me, but I'm going to try it. More pictures soon!
Hope everyone is doing well and looking forward to the next four years.
Ciao,
Grace