Wait, I have to study...?

I guess my lovely, lazy days of wandering Rome and getting familiarized with my surroundings are over. Or finito, as the Italians might say. Yesterday my classes began, and I am so excited. Its nice to have a set schedule and a purpose for each day. I have an amazing set of classes, and am so excited start the readings (I am a nerd, I know). Okay, so here goes the class life of Kate:

Class One: Human Trafficking and Contemporary Slavery (Mondays and Wednesdays 12-1:15). This class may sound super morbid to some, but to me it is awesome. I am so excited to learn about this growing problem. Also, a huge bonus, it is taught by one of the world's leading experts on the subject Silvia Scarpa (very Italian with a super heavy accent, my name was Kate-ah Beesohnna, no joke). She told us that she spoke at the world conference on it and she has several books out on the subject. Intimidating, yes. A challenge I fully embrace...have you met me? For the class I have to write a 2000 word research paper and do a 10-15 minute presentation. Each has to be on a separate topic. Right now I am pondering doing one on India and one on the Phillipines. One for sure will be on India. I saw some missionaries speak at my church a few years ago from the red light district of India and the work that they have done with these women and children. I found it fascinating and look forward to researching it more. The other topic is more up in the air.

Class Two: Television and Democracy in Italy. This is also taught by a super Italian man. He is rather hard to understand. This class also sounds really interesting to me. It combines media and politics and the impact that it has had on Italian society. One of the people that we are focusing on in this class is Silvio Berlusconi, the president of Italy. The thing that most interests me about him is how many pots is hands are in. He owns several television channels, a newspaper, is the owner of the Milan soccer team, and the leader of the country. Its seems so strange to me, because in the states we allow our politicians to only be politicians. If they have holdings in any companies (like financial businesses, media, or sports) they must sell them, and our President has to have his finances in a blind trust. Berlusconi has control over nearly everything, for example, when people protest him his television channels don't show it. Needless to say, this should be an interesting class.

Class Three: Italian 101. The syllabus is in Italian. Seriously?! Hopefully by the end of the semester I can actually read it. The way this woman teaches is like no other language class that I have ever had. She speaks almost all Italian and does not really translate what she is saying. She puts phrases up on the board and has us guess what the subjects and pronouns and things are. It is an interesting approach, and I am curious to see how it plays out.

Class Four: Public International Law. So perfect for me. A semester of talking about political theory, international crises and how it effects us, bring it on! On our midterm and final exam she has a law school question. So it will be like a case study of a country, or the description of an international situation, and we have to discuss both sides of the crisis and what ethical dilemmas it brings up and how to deal with them. Super logical, and super awesome. Also we get to debate in the class. Again I say, BRING IT ON! As a forensicator (speech and debate) I have spent the last two years honing this skill. I relish in debates. My mom's exact words when I told her we would debate in class: "poor saps." The class is all upperclassman, may who want to be lawyers, so I feel like some good arguments will come up, and I look forward to hearing them and rebutting them.

Things I also managed to do in the last two days: find my mailbox on campus (I welcome letters), locate the library, print about 100 pages of reading, copy a chapter of a book for more reading, purchase my last and very elusive textbook, and find campus IT. Probably the most exciting thing I did was sign up for my first excursion. Next weekend I will be going to Tuscany do go horseback riding and general touristy things. "Excited" is not a strong enough word.

Also, tonight I cooked myself a most delicious dinner. Rigatoni with fresh basil, mozzerella, sauteed mushrooms, and carrots in a red sauce. Odd combo (I opened the fridge and was like, "what in here slightly resembles dinner...."), but strangely good. Things to do, find a fruit and veggie vendor (things they really don't sell in grocery stores) and get some meat, protein is probably a good thing.

Off to do some homework. Most people would probably type a "bleh" or a *groan* here, I on the other hand can't wait to read about international law (see previous comment about nerdy-ness)!!!