I suck at titling things so this is what you're going to get.

First day of classes! Beginner's Italian was my first and only class today and it went rather well, I think. Despite the fact its a beginner class no one is allowed to speak English except the professor, and only when neccesary. I know this will help me learn Italian quicker and more fluently but right now it just makes it hard. My Italian skills are very limited but living here has already helped me pick up a few words. Mostly those pertaining to food. My professor's name is Fabio, how stereotypical Italian can you get? He even looks very Italian.

The past few days have been very boring now that all the exploring and orienting is out of the way. After class today I wandered a little down a street I hadn't been down before, just to see where it went. I'm not too afraid of getting lost and didn't-- I just ended up making a big square and returning to the Piazza\Palazzo Strozzi then the Piazza della Repubblica from which its a straight shot home. If I know the general direction of where I need to end up, all I have to do is head that way and soon I'll find a familiar street. Its a good thing I'm good at directions since my ability to remember names is deplorable! All the streets are named here. At home everything north and south is numbers and everything east and west is numbers. In town (Delta) its trees and presidents. Here the street name changes every few intersections and every plaza is named Italian words. Whew! I just remember the important ones for now.

Because I don't have a digital camera I will be mooching of my roommate's pictures. Becuase of my obsession with it, I'm going to add one of her pictures of the Duomo. At least that's the plan anyway. I probably picked the world's slowest, dumbest computer to work on. I thought I killed it when I first logged on; the screen went all white and nothing was loading. But it turned out okay. I would be the person to single handedly bring down the entire computer network of API.

I have reached a milestone in my life. No, its not traveling here to Florence, living thousands of miles away from home or existing in a foreign city without getting lost or pickpocketed. No, but it is something just as exciting. Last night I succesfully planned, shopped for and cooked a homemade meal. Not from a box, not in a microwave or even on an electric stove. I made lentil soup from my own recipe, using my own judgement, and it was pronounced delicious. There is hope for me yet. Of course, I must give due credit to my roommates, who helped chop and stir. I put potatoes, onion, carrots, parsley, tomatoe and salt in with the lentils and just let it boil. And it was wonderful. Of course it was an easy recipe but I refuse to let that dampen my acheivement. As time goes on I will try harder and more complicated dishes: tonight I hope to attempt mashed potatoes. Not very Italian but oh well. I have potatoe left and want to use it. We'll see how that goes.

The worst part of Italy (if such a thing is possible in the golden hours of first experiencing the culture. I'm waiting for culture shock to set in but it hasn't yet. In the beginning I went through mini, daily cycles of it so I'm hoping that'll be how I manifest culture shock here. I think I had a harder time adjusting to college, but I did quit soccer on my birthday-- a severe emotional travesty. Here I might actually be able to play since it won't be serious soccer. I keep asking my knee for its opinion on how it'll hold up but it refuses to give me a straight answer. I have until Friday so we'll see. And now after that rather lengthy tangent I think I'll get back to what I actually wanted to say...) is the lack of reading material. I only brought two books with me from home and there are a few on our shelves in the apartment but I've already blown through one and a 1\4 of those. Thankfully three of those there are books for class: Illiad, Odessey and Aenead (probably misspelled) so I don't have to worry about finding them. Maybe when I get more proficient in Italian I'll do a lot of practicing by reading, but for now that is not an option. I guess I'll have to get used to not reading. It helps that my roommates and I are fond of sitting around the kitchen table discussing things for hours on end. That eats up time pretty well. And since the conversation generally turns to books I can get a small fix that way. I know, I'm hopelessly addicted and a huge nerd. Maybe this is the intervention I need...

Anywho, rereading my last blog I realized I can't spell or use puncutation very well. I hope I did better this time around but I doubt that. Oh well, hopefully you readers find that part of my charm. (maybe I should edit... nah thats no fun!)

One last thing before I go. Someone needs to visit me here. I am dying to show this place off in other ways than words and mooched pictures. Hurry up and win the lottery, guys. I have a plan and a tour already made up and I'm sure I'll just keep adding to it. And bring some Mexican food with you.