Why Must It Be Called STUDY Abroad?

So today marks a full week that I have been in Rome so far. The first 5 days were a nice little vacation, until school started on Monday.
I'm taking 5 classes: Italian Language, Italian Family & Society, Film & Mafia, Religion & Culture in Italy, and Italy Grand Tour: Through the Eyes of Famous Travelers.

I should remind you that my school is very small. It's only one floor of a building. The most students in one of my classes is maybe 15 people. I'll have to take pictures of it. And there are no desks. It's these plastic ones with a little pop up desk/table thing.

I have to take the metro to school, and I rode it alone for the first time this week. It wasn't too bad. I've just been paranoid ever since I almost got pick-pocketed. But literally everyone takes the metro! Even ladies with their heels and Louis Vuittons. So it can't be that sketchy right?

So let's recall my first day shall we? Italian Language is required. I took 3 semesters of Italian, and the last time I took it was in 2011. Initially when I was registering for classes I put down Level 1 Italian, because I lost most of my Italian speaking knowledge since then. But the school decided to put me at the highest advanced level since I have already taken it. I had to take a placement test when I got here, so I kind of assumed they would put me in a low level after I took that disaster. But, no. I show up the first day to my advanced class, and the professor says it's the first and last time he will be speaking in English. We had to do speaking activities with each other, and I felt so bad for my partner, because I was terrible, and I literally had no clue what I was doing or saying. So long story short, I switched to the second elementary level, and I still need to brush up on my skills.

The rest of my classes are pretty interesting, since they relate to Italian culture in some way. Although it is a little difficult to understand some of my professors with their heavy accents. Luckily my Literature professor is American, I guess that makes sense.

But the school has a pretty crazy policy, like all the classes are ganging up on us. Every class has quizzes, one mid-term, final, and at least an 8 page paper. Mid-terms are all in one week before Spring Break. And the papers for every class are also due in the same week. This is brutal. And I have a million readings to do every week!

And for some reason I thought the school would give us books. Unfortunately not :( this is the real deal. And notebooks are really expensive here! They're like 1,50 Euro, which is almost 3 dollars. And that's not even a spiral one! So I'm still on the hunt for cheap notebooks.

I'll admit that I do miss Chapman a little bit. But this city has a million fountains and piazzas to make me feel right at home.

I guess it's all worth having 4-day weekends. All my classes are once a week for 2 and a half hours, which is pretty long. But I'm going to Venice this weekend for Carnivale! I really just want a mask. I'll have to update you when I get back!