First week at John Cabot University

Yes this is the from door to my wonderful school here in Rome, Italy. My first thought was that I was going to be attending a medium sized school, but I came to realize that it is very small. The school consists primarily of two buildings which are both only 2 stories tall, this includes the 3 computer labs, classrooms, offices, and library. It was really nice getting here a week before school because at arrival there were many familiar faces. The first week of classes have been pretty boring but don't seem to be too difficult. Well I have to go to my Literature class now, so I will finish up later. Ciao!

ok so I'm back and have an update for you!
Monday was the start of our second week here in Rome. It started at 8am which was when I had to wake up to attend my first class. The day consisted of getting all organized with my classes, the school, and anything else that was needed. The rest of the week was pretty much dealing with school and arranging my classes to better fit my schedule. The school wasn’t the best organized in terms of getting into classes because they don’t have a waiting list so if the class is full you just have to keep trying to get in the class every day until it works. So… come Thursday, which is the closing day, I signed up for 2 Italian classes because I didn’t want the early 8am class on Tuesday-Thursday and when the add/drop was closed I was signed up for 20 units and didn’t realize that would be a problem until Friday morning when I went in to ask a question and they told me I would have to pay extra for a class I don’t even need. Long story short, I got them to drop the charge “because they were being nice” but force me to stay in the 8 am class. They weren’t being very nice. Anyways… my classes don’t seem like they are going to be all that hard, however a few seem like they are going to be extremely painful in the boredom department.
Tuesday night after class, we went to the bookstore near the Spanish steps and bought our books. Pretty expensive but all books are. After that we hopped back on the bus and went out toward the twins apartment, went to the supermacato, and then to their apartment for dinner and a movie. We watched She’s the Man.
Wednesday was just the same, going to my classes and fighting to get into my preferred Italian class with Emily. That night we bought pizza bread and made pizza and salad for dinner. It was very good and we are very proud of our cooking so far. Once we finished we called Josh, Sean, and their roommate Patrick to see if they wanted to go on an evening walk with us through the city. We walked to the Circus Maxima, the building with a peep hole to see Saint Peter’s Basilica all lit up, and the Emanuel Monument to look at the coliseum and forums below.
Thursday night we had a JCU BBQ (5 Euros). We had hamburgers, hotdogs, chips, veggie burgers, and nutella and crackers. It wasn’t spectacular but it was a nice event. Our friends Diana and Ally were supposed to be at the BBQ as well but earlier that day on the way to school Diana was knocked over by a motocicleta (motorcycle). She wasn’t ran over but to get out of the way she feel over on her hip, got a big bruise, and twisted her angle so they couldn’t make it. Therefore, after eating we decided to go over and give them a visit and watch Crank.
Friday was a nice day because I got to sleep in and then spend the afternoon at the beach. Ahh it was a prefect day for the beach and much easier to get there after doing once before. My roommate had some things to do so I went with the guys (when I say the guys it will probably be referring to Colby, Joe, Dave, Kyle, Jose, Paul, and Chris). We met up with some other girls and guys there and just enjoyed the water and the sun. The Mediterranean is different to me in the sense that it was all really choppy waves verses flat waters until the breaking of waves at the shore.
Saturday was our Canoeing at Lake Martignano day. We woke up at 7 and met at Piazza Trilussa by 8 am. We took a bus for ~1 hr to the Northern part of Rome. We spent the remainder of the morning and afternoon canoeing and swimming along the lake at four different swim spots. It was a lot of fun, met a lot of new people and were red as tomatoes by the end of the day. We all traded around canoes so that some people weren’t stuck with the crappy canoes that sent you going in circles when you were trying to just go straight. We finished our canoeing and swimming and loaded the bus around 3:30 to head back home. We didn’t have much time because we needed to get home, take a shower, and nap before the big night that was before us. Tonight September 8 was the traditional Notte Bianco (which translates to the White night). This event happens every year and starts from the time the sun goes down till the next morning when the sun comes up. The night is dedicated to art, music, history, and a variety of different events. We took a nap and finally made it out by 11:30. We walked to the Circus Maximus where they had hundreds of lights all strung out on the field and changed different colors. It was very beautiful and a spectacular sight to see. We continued up the road and ventured over to the Piazza Venezia where there was a museum for Spider man. In the museum we also viewed Albert Sughi’s painting which was for the most part very dark and ire. At this point it was 2 am and Emily and I wanted to make it to the Circus before it ended at 3 am so we hurried up the road to Piazza Popolo to see the end. It ended up being a whole lot of fun. We saw a man juggle 6 balls, we saw 3 ribbon acrobats and then it finished off with tumbling and crazy stunts on trampolines. The best part however, was a silly clown act that started off with a man swilling a paper airplane through a fire hoop which turned into a two man dance to “Walk this way” by Arrow Smith and Run DMC. It ended at 3 am so we started making our way back to Trastevere to cram into a tram that was completely full of people to where when you would go and stop you didn’t move because of the wall of people that we became part of. If you are wondering what the atmosphere of the night was, think about attending a huge football game with two rival teams and there you have it. You are walking down the street and you see groups of people chanting different things back and forth to each other while stumbling because they are all so drunk. The streets are full of trash because the trash cans are over flowing with beer cans and plastic cups. However, all in all it was a great experience and was happy to be a part of a traditional event in Central Rome.