First Days of Class

Yesterday was the first day of class! I had Organized Crime: History and Sociology of the Italian Mafia and History and Sociology of Modern Consumerism. My professor for the Italian Mafia class is excellent! He's really interesting and knows so much! I think it's going to be a great class! My professor for Consumerism is pretty good too. That class will probably be very informative and interesting. I'm sure I'm going to learn a lot!

After class I went to a copy shop to pick up the booklet for Consumerism. Then  I went to the international bookstore near the Duomo to pick up the three books I need for Mafia. Afterwards I headed back to the apartment to make some lunch. Emilie, Olivia, and I went to the grocery store then Emilie and I tried to visit the Boboli Gardens, but it was closed. All the museums seem to be closed on Mondays so I'm really glad I have Wednesdays free to explore. Emilie and I then tried to find a good view of Florence from outside the city. We got a little lost, but had fun exploring. We ended up outside the city walls on a street with some houses and tall walls. Unfortunately we couldn't see the views very well, but I think I know where to go now.

Last night, we had a welcome dinner for our university - Lorenzo de' Medici (LdM). We got all dressed up! It was so much fun! :) Suzanne did my makeup and Emily did my hair! We had a great time and took lots of pictures. The food was buffet style and it was excellent!

This morning, Emily and I had Italian together. We were a little nervous about it at first, but it turned out really well. Our professor seems really nice, and I think we'll learn a lot! After class, we stopped by some of the LdM buildings because Emily needed to pick up some photocopies. We learned that when they told us the code to open the doors was "5 times 2" they meant "push 2 five times" not to push 5 * 2 which is what we were doing...hahaha So that was good to know! Afterwards we came back to the apartment and have been relaxing since then. My next class, Social Psychology, is at 3:00.

One of the wonderful things here is that we can here the bells of all the churches around us every hour!! It's so pretty! And on Sunday morning the bells ring like crazy for church. It's so amazing! :)

Emma, Emilie, Emily, Me, Mary, Suzanne

Inside the Palazzo Borghese (where we had our fancy dinner)