5th Post: Classes begin

School is always school. You either look forward to it or you don't, but when it begins, you wish it were break again. I am experiencing school in a very different way now, because I am surrounded by constant stimulation calling me to do everything but schoolwork. Whereas in California I could easily hunker down, tune in, and do every assignment like my life depended on it (which it does in a way), here I am wondering how that is going to be possible. The good student's dillemma. Academia or adventure? I have decided it will have to be both, but that is going to take some serious effort--good thing it's worth it. So far I am looking forward to learning what my classes offer. On Monday evenings I go to "Peace Education" with a very humble and relaxed Italian Man named Giovanni Scotto. The Italian version of a Hippie professor. On Tuesdays I have Art History with Carlotta Fuhs, a half-Italian, half-German woman. On Tuesday and Thursday afternoons I have Intermediate Italian with Stefania, who is the epitome of the vivacious Italian woman seen in plenty of art films. She dresses cool, laughs a lot, and makes jokes about our mistakes. "No, no, no--you say fish juice! You want to say peach juice?! You say 'pes-kay' not 'pesh-ay'! FISH JUICE!" (In case you all just realized Joe Pesce's last name might mean fish in Italian, you are indeed correct). On wednesdays I have Creative Writing with an English woman named Kate Ann Bolton. There are two kids from LA in the class that are into film--lets just say I could instantly tell they were either from LA or SF. Hipsters. And on Thursday mornings I have Social Psychology with the school psychologist, Silia Passeri. She lives in Florence--I saw her riding her bike with her 5-year-old daughter on the back--but she is half-American, half-Italian. Her parents met when her mother came to Florence to study abroad. She fell in love with an Italian boy and they had two girls, Silia and her sister. The family would spend summers in America but they lived in Florence. Here's where it gets interesting. During our class break I ask, "Where is your family based in America?" She says, "California's Bay Area." I tell her I am from Sausalito and a huge smile smears across her face. "I love Sausalito!" I ask, "Have you seen the houseboats?" "Oh yes, it is my dream to have a houseboat in Sausalito!" I tell her that I grew up on a houseboat and she glows for a good 127 seconds. I have to say that I was glowing a little too. I will post again soon and I will include some of my favorite photos of the locals and the tourists. Photographing people here is almost more fun than photographing the architecture.