Ho sonno.

Ciao tutti,

Okay, so an update... real classes started last week and I'm not so pleased. My Ancient Roman Art class looks really interesting, but my teacher talks so fast that I don't have time to write it down, let alone understand what she is saying. I'm going to bring my computer today (since I type faster than I write) and see if that helps, but I know everyone in the class is struggling as much as I am and people have even told her, but I don't think anything will change. My Medieval Rome class is interesting enough but my teacher has a pretty strong Italian accent and can be hard to understand at times. We also are covering so much information that I'm not really sure what I should be taking notes on. Then I have Women in 20th century Italy. The teacher is nice, the material thus far a bit boring, but I'm hoping to bring in my psych background to at very least make the required paper interesting. I want to do mine on what means Italy uses to gender their children, specifically (if I can find enough info) how play preferences act as a means to gender children. As a very basic example-- in the US girls are often given toys such as dolls or play house sets which teach them that domesticity is a part of being female. And my Italian class is alright. It's with the same teacher we had for the intensive Italian and I really like her but I feel like I'm learning less than other classes cos she doesn't really push us. Oh well.

So, it looks like this weekend I will be going to Florence again. I didn't get to go to the Uffizi last time I was there. So, I'm really excited for that. There are so many beautiful pieces there and I studied a couple of them in an art class I took freshman year, so I'm excited to see them in person. We are also planning our next break. I know, we just got back...but the break actually is in less than a month! I don't even know why they planned it like that, but they did. So, right now I'm looking into Egypt. I've wanted to go since I can remember. And even the thought of seeing all those beautiful moments in person is very humbling. I'm researching tours of Egypt since I've been told that traveling around in Egypt right now can be a bit dangerous for Americans. So, if anyone out there has a friend or family who has been to Egypt and knows of any good tour groups, let me know. I'm trying to find a good, but inexpensive package that will take us (at very least) to Cairo, Luxor, Edfu, and sailing down the Nile. So far I think I may have found a couple of good ones, but its really hard figuring all this stuff just from online resources. All the same, I'm so excited. Gah! If this falls through and we don't end up going to Egypt, I'm going to be so depressed. = (

Well, fingers crossed.