Syllabi

Classes started today(!)

A rather anticlimactic event... In a way, I suppose. The day started out with Topics In History: Mediterranean History or whatever it's long, ridiculous title actually is. We went over the syllabus, went around the class and talked about where we're from, our majors, what we're doing in the class, etc etc. Most everyone said they were in the class for the trip to Tunis, Tunisia. Ditto for me. It was a pretty short class. From 9a to 10:30a. Then a huuuuuuuuuuuuge break until...

1p At which point I had Italian II. With Gitti, which is apparently her nickname. She's incredibly nice, super informal. We had a placement exam, though, which I don't think went incredibly well. We had a written thing, read this passage, answer this question. All in Italian. Which may or may not have gone well. I don't think she ever actually looked at it. But we then had an oral exam, which, for all intents and purposes, I bombed. I said to her, (in Italian) I've had 7 years of French, I don't remember my one semester of Italian. She asked, (in French) if we should have our meeting in French, and I responded yes. But we struggled through me trying to speak Italian for a little, plaintively searching for words in Italian that were only coming up French for me. She realized, though, that I could understand her. And that was all she seemed to care about at the moment. I said "Si, capisco" and she drew a red plus on my exam that she never looked at. She said I could go one way or the other, but with my background in French, and my ability to understand her was enough to prove I knew what I was doing. So I was placed into the advanced Italian II section. I hope it goes well. I know once I get a textbook I'll be able to pick right up again. But for now, I'm a bit nervous. She said some flipping might take place, and if I need to, I can go to the easy class, but she seems to think I won't need to. Exciting.

I had a break for a bit, and then went to Classics: Greek and Roman Mythology at 3p. It seemed interesting. The professor reminded me of one of the teachers from high school, but I can't remember her name. It seems interesting enough, and I like stories, and there are plenty of stories here, so it seems like it should be good times. A couple of papers, not too bad.

Then, at 6p I had my anthropology class; Popular Culture in Modern Italy with Gregory Smith. For all intents and purposes, this class has a great syllabus. However, I felt claustrophobic the whole time in the classroom, and I think the professor was making me feel that way. He had a very thin voice and a speech tick that I couldn't handle, not for an hour and a half. So I'm considering dropping this class. I already accidentally ordered/paid for the text book, so I think I might read it on my own. I still have 14 credit hours, for anyone that thinks I don't have a full course load. Since it's my night class, I can try to use this time to go out and photograph night-ish events that happen during the week. Because, yes, I still have my 4 credit independent study for Dr. Trayes back on main campus. 2 books. And I think I'm going to make a third (not printed, just PDF'd) as a surprise, about food.

Anyway, I have a bit of a headache (read: Migraine) So I'm going to go to bed and try to sleep it off. Someone asked for my address though. If anyone wants to send mail, postcards, what have you, the address is:


Wendy Borst
Temple University Rome
Lungotevere Arnaldo da Brescia, 15
00196 Rome, Italy

The mail all goes to the school, where we have little mailboxes (literally cubby holes, and it's just by letter of last name. Everyone doesn't get their own individual one...) I discourage sending packages, because we have to pay customs on them when they get here. However, mail is always nice to get :)

Anyway, migraine asks me to go to sleep. But, as an aside, if anyone reads this and has something to say, please, e-mail me. Let me know you're out there. I love getting e-mail, I really do... Anything about anything I'm doing, it'd be nice to see who reads this, and what they think of my trip and such.

Goodnight!