Last week I started school at the Liceo Quadri science
school in Vicenza! Even though we go to school on Saturdays here in Italy, I
really enjoy school so far J
The kids in my class are all very friendly, and my teachers have been patient
with me as I learn. School lasts from 8:10 am until 1:00 or 1:40 depending on
the day. There are five years of high school here, so I am in the fifth year,
in class 5ALG. At the beginning of high school each student is placed in a
class with a group of kids they stay with all day every day during high school.
They are placed according to interest (my class, 5ALG, is a “linguistic” class).
Each school in Italy specializes in a certain area, and my school is a science
school. However, there are also other subjects besides science offered at the
school, and after talking with my school counselor, she decided to place me in
a “linguistic class” (one that takes foreign languages) because of my interest
in German. Quindi (therefore), I stay in the same classroom with the same kids
for the whole day, and the teachers move from room to room to teach us the
different subjects! My schedule includes English, Math, Physics, Art History,
Religion, History, Italian Literature, German, Physical Education, and Latin. I
don’t really understand the schedule yet, but my classes rotate each week. The
lectures are often very difficult to understand- not only because the Italian
is spoken VERY fast but also because the material is advanced! I try to listen
and understand as much as I can, but for now I end up either jotting down
random words that I recognize or ones that I look up in a dictionary later. In
art history my teacher kept saying the word “flamboyant” (it sounded kind of
French when he said it) but we were studying a painting depicting Dante’s
Inferno, which doesn’t really match my interpretation of the Inferno… so that’s
about how much I understand at this point! I know I’ll improve in the weeks and
months to come, so I’m patient with myself. (Also in Latin I’m completely
lost). Ah well. I like my classmates a lot, many of them are interested in
music, theatre, and languages just like me! On Sunday I went to church with my
host mom, and after the service I talked with the choir director there and
signed up to be in the church choir! Tomorrow is my first rehearsal.
Sidenote about Italy: the bus system is very different from
the US. There are too many students for the buses, and there is no “maximum
capacity” for any of the buses, so people just pile in until the doors can no
longer close! It’s crazy! Also, this week I ate the best food I’ve ever tasted in my whole life. I know
I tend to exaggerate but this is no exaggeration. In Italy there are
restaurants called “agriturismo” which is a farm/restaurant that produces its
own food and then serves it at the restaurant. We went to one of these
restaurants and I had pasta with carmelized onions and ham, tomatoes, potatoes,
and chocolate cake!
Here are some pictures from this week:
A typical bus in Italy- I don't know if you can see from this picture but the people are crammed in there pretty tight
My little host brother with the ukulele I brought :)
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