Shortest week of my life.

This week has felt like it has flown by! Its been really busy. I had a test in Sociology and Italian this week. SO it was a lot of studying and reading. But it has been nice. Humanities was really interesting. We are learning about the Reformation and Counter-Reformation. Which the nerd inside of me LOVES. I had the best Florence morning on Wednesday. I went to the Academia! I love seeing the David. I forget how massive that thing is. And it was carved out of ONE solid piece of marble. CRAZY! And then I went and got gelato and walked around the Duomo. It was fantastic. And this weekend I am going t Sicily and helping on farms that have been reclaimed from the Mafia. And then I'm spending all next week in Sicily with our group traveling. I am so excited!

Week of Hell to a Weekend of Heaven.

The week after Como was the worst week ever. It was good because it was short. Only 4 days. But we had our first Humanities reading test. Which I was dreading more that the SAT. Not really. I just hate to study really long periods of time for a test. And i studied A LOT for this one. It was 10 questions on the 4 chapters we had read so far. That doesn't sound that bad right. WRONGO! If you knew Leonardo, our Hum212 teacher, you would have so much pity on me right now. He is the kind of teacher who really wants to trick you. Its just awful. I mean you have 57 students all freaking out on Wednesday night trying to read and make 11 page study guides and drink more soda and espresso than should be legally allowed. It was harder than I thought it was going to be. But we all made it through! And I passed! But it was a rough week. I'm glad it is over. And then it is the weekend! And the weekend was great! On Friday we relaxed all day. I woke at 10:07am to the fire alarm going off. Which was not very nice, especially since it was a false alarm. At least I didn't have to go outside. So I got up and took a shower. Then Anna, Madi and myself all went to the grocery store and bought food. Mostly junk food. They have the BEST chocolate muffins at the supermercato! So I ate muffins and coke that morning. Oh and peaches. I love it. And all day we watched movies. We watched Roman Holiday, Sabrina and then finished it off with The Holiday! It was the best movie day ever! Then for dinner we had Spera. Which is a super yummy pizza place! I ate a whole pizza. All by myself. After I had snacked all day. I feel like such a fatty when I eat in Florence. But for my gym class I'm in I have to go to the gym 22 times this semester. And we are walking everywhere. So I'm getting my exercise. The next day we went to Assisi! Which is absolutely beautiful! The word beautiful doesn't even really do it justice. Its breathtaking. The church that is there, Saint Francis of Assisi, is ginormous and just wonderful. I just adore Roman architecture and the frescos are amazing! The colors that are used are so vivid. It was a perfect day trip. Sunday was another crazy day in the life of Kate Ham. I got up and went to the gym. On my way to the gym I thought I would have a pastry at Cafe Lib. So I ate breakfast and went to the gym. Halfway through my workout I had an allergic reaction. The gym is a 20 minute walk from the Villa and I didn't have any benedryl. So I got back to the house. I'm crying on the phone with Pam trying to figure out what to do. My throat was tight and I my tongue was tingly and wasn't sure what to do. So i get back to the villa take 2 bendryl and pass out for FOUR hours. Then I did some homework and fell asleep for another 8 hours. I woke up and it was Monday.

My first real week in Firenze!

My first real week in Florence was a full five days of classes and a crazy weekend in Lake Como! My first week of classes were crazy and stressful! My Italian teacher is AMAZING! I love him so much. He is hilarious. My sociology teacher is great. But his class is just not my forte. Humanities 212 will be the death of me. My teacher is kind of a snob. He has a very elitist attitude. But that is life. And my Humanities 295 class, enriching Italian culture, is going to be so much fun! Elizabeth, the program director is just the sweetest person in the whole world. And the class is quite interesting. So the week was one of the three long week we have each semester. SO we had class on Friday and only had Saturday and Sunday to travel that weekend. So Anna, Bud and I picked somewhere close. Lake Como! This place is so beautiful! It like the French Rivera, Hong Kong and Germany all rolled into one! You have palm trees and the Italian Alps in the same place. It is just so quaint and precious. We only spent about 27 hours there, but it was so nice. In this weekend we went on 4 trains, 2 buses and 3 ferries. Just splendid. I would recommend it to anyone who likes to relax. There isn't a whole lot to do. But there is great food and wine. The perfect place to relax after a hard week. Unfortunately on the way back we got onto the wrong train from Milan to Florence. And we were charged 100 euro because they thought we were trying to stowaway. This train went from Milan to Florence but was a bullet train. So faster=more expensive. I will never make that mistake again. But we got home safe and sound and all in all it was a fantastic weekend.

Grapes Galore!

After that fantastic fashion show, Pepperdine took us out for pizza! And I ate about 8 slices. It was so amazing. I had about 5 different kinds. So yummy. After all of that pizza, some friends and I went to the local pub. And we had some fun. Here in Italy they put an average of three shots in any cocktail. Mine had four shots. And I had two. Then I came back and skyped my parents. It was interesting. I think i played it pretty cool. The next morning all who wanted to got to go grape picking! It was SO much fun! We actually got to eat some of the grapes we picked and we each get a bottle of wine using the grapes we picked! I am so excited. It was a lot of hard work but quite delightful! After a full morning of grape picking we had lunch at the vineyard and then came back to the villa for a rest. That night I went to my first SOCCER MATCH! Firenze played Lazio. We lost which was sad. But I had a BLAST! The fans are so amusing. I enjoyed every minute. The match lasted until about 8:30 or 9. So when we got back to the villa we were starving! We literally walked around for 45 minutes looking for a place to eat. We ended up at Cafe Deluxee because it was the only place open and without a wait. Its so yummy! They out the cheeseburgers on bagels! I love it. And the guys that work there are so sweet. After that fun filled day I went back to the villa and crashed. Until 11am the next morning. There was a BBQ at Elizabeth's house. Some BBQ. It was a FIVE course meal. The best food I have ever had! It was just amazing. Her house is precious. We had bruchetta and perciutto for the appetizer. Then we had pasta (pesto and meatsauce)! Then a pizza course, a meat course and then finally dessert. Which was strawberry cheesecake! I about died! We spent almost all day at her house. It was so nice and relaxing. It was just a great Italian weekend!