Monday: I had my first voice lesson on Monday. There is one voice teacher for the study abroad program and her name is Patrizia. She is this fabulous Italian soprano and she is HARD CORE. I had an excellent lesson though. It was so helpful. We talked (half in English, half in Italian) a lot about technique and she is VERY picky about everything, which is what I really needed. The best thing she kept saying during my lesson was "meglio," which means "better." But that was it. Haha. She assigned me this epically long aria from La Sonnambula by Bellini. At first I didn't like it very much, but as I have been listening to it and singing it more and more, I have grown to appreciate it. It sits pretty well in my voice too. So she picked well!
Tuesday: On Tuesday afternoon, we had our course presentations where all the professors came and talked about each of their classes in preparation of us signing up for classes during the following days. There were so many classes that sounded really interesting. Unfortunately we are only allowed to take 15-18 credit hours. But knowing how I work, I will probably be taking at least 18 credits. After the presentation, they had a small reception for the students and professors in which we were able to talk one on one with professors if we wanted to get any more information out of them.
Wednesday: On Wednesday, my Italian class went to the Museum of Modern art. It was really fun seeing these beautiful paintings. I think there are also concerts at this museum because there was this huge grand piano and chairs set up. So I will have to do some research to see whats going on there!
I also had my required doctor's appointment at Collegio. Each student living in Collegio has to have and appointment with the resident doctor in order to work out in the gym in the basement. This was an interesting experience because the doctor barely spoke any English. And I mean, I can hold a decent conversation with the average Italian person if they are willing to speak slowly and occasionally repeat themselves, but as far as medical terms go...I am not well versed. So there was a lot of writing and gesturing, but it all worked out in the end. And now I can work out in the gym, which I need to start doing if I am going to continue to eat pasta for every meal!
After my doctor's appointment, I went to buy tickets for Oktoberfest! They have this special deal where they will bus students to Germany for Oktoberfest and bring them back that day for only 34 euros, which is an AMAZING deal. And it should be a really interesting experience so I am super excited.
After buying my ticket, I rushed over to the study abroad center for my advising appointment. As suspected, I am attempting to take an record breaking (for the study abroad program) 24 credit hours. Oops. But the first 18 credits are completely necessary between my major and my minor. Its the last 6 that aren't completely necessary, so I have to decide between taking piano lessons and choir. So this should be an interesting decision. I mean, I could take 24 credits, but 1. I don't want to die, and 2. I want to have time to do a lot of traveling so I don't want to be overwhelmed with all the work and practice I have to do (especially with the piano lessons). So we will see how this works out.
Thursday: So every Friday, we have a test in Italian. This week we were studying propositions, which for some reason are particularly impossible for me. Although in general I am very good at grammar in foreign languages, this element of grammar proves very difficult for me, unfortunately. So on Thursday night, I spent hours studying these silly prepositions. Some very nice Italian guy from Collegio sat with me and went through every one of my examples with me and tried to explain the reasoning why I should chose one over another. By the end of my studies that evening, my brain was about to explode because it makes absolutely no sense to me. Oh well. I guess all that I can do is practice using them in conversation and hope these silly prepositions start coming naturally to me.
Friday: So I was hoping that all my preposition practice would have prepared me for the test, but alas, I was completely lost on the majority of them. But I guess we will see when I get my test back. After the test we started watching this adorable Italian movie called "My Name is Tonino," which is about this Italian boy who falls in love with an American girl who is on an exchange program in Italy. Haha. It was very cute though and I really want to see the rest of it.
On Friday night, some of the people from Collegio decided to go out to the discoteca. We went to a place called Lime Light, and it was so intense. This place was packed, but it was a lot of fun!
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| Yum! Gelato! |
That evening we were celebrating the birthday of one of the girls at Collegio. And we were planning on going to a club afterwords but it was still pouring buckets outside so I think most of us decided to stay in.
Sunday: Today I stayed in Collegio and did my work all day. I was pretty tired from last night, so it was nice to be able to relax and not have to do anything requiring a lot of energy. Tomorrow, for Italian, we are supposed to meet in Piazza della Scala. I am not really sure why, but our professor is treating us to breakfast so I am there! I am not sure quite how to get there though because I just got a text from the director of the study abroad program telling us that the yellow line was closed, which is the only way I know how to get there. So this should be interesting...
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