Day 157!

Ciao! I am FINALLY done with my first semester! I had my oral exam for my class at the University of Bologna (contemporary Italian literature) on Monday. It feels soooo good to have that out of the way. I was really nervous beforehand, and I think that may have affected my Italian. It seems like I always forget how to talk when I'm under pressure. I got a 24 out of 30, which is equivalent to a C+. Not a great grade, but I honestly don't even care! I just needed to get the exam out of the way and finish this semester. Now I have a little bit of free time. One of my classes for next semester starts February 3, a week from today. It's really cold and snowy here. It snowed all day yesterday, and all of it stuck. Makes me just want to stay curled up inside all day!
xoxo

Day 150!

150 days!!!! Wow. Sorry I haven't been around (again...). I've been super busy with the new kids being here, writing a paper for my cinema class, and attempting to study for my literature exam. There are I think 24 new kids here for this semester. It's so overwhelming to be around them, because we only had 16 in our batch. We had a welcome dinner last week and a pizza party with the program. It's fun to meet them and to think about how much more I know about Bologna than they do right now! haha.
I've been really stressed out other than that. This paper is almost done, I just need one of my Italian roommates to proofread it because my Italian grammar is definitely not perfect. And I am so nervous for my oral exam for literature! I have been trying to study, but there is just so much material! I have pretty much accepted the fact that I am not going to do well, I just want this semester to be OVER so I can get a fresh start on the next one.
Next semester I will be taking art history, history of the italian language, and philosophy of religion. The classes sound interesting, but hard. One class starts Feb 3rd, one Feb 9th, and the last on Mar 1st. I was looking forward to having a week or so between my exam and my first class to be able to just chill, but unfortunately it seems that I will be house hunting then. My roommates and I found out yesterday that we have to move out within the next two months. It's a long, uninteresting story, but basically there is an issue with the way we wanted to do the contract, so our landlady is kicking us out. I'm pretty upset about it because I love where I live and who I live with. Mariella found an apartment that is SO close to me now because we wanted to live close, but I am afriad I won't be able to find anything so close this next time. The one good thing is that I'm not really on my own because all four of us are getting kicked out, so we are trying to find an entire apartment for all of us to just stick together. We are looking at a place at 5 today, so I hope it works out. Pray for me!
xoxo

Day 139!

MARIELLA IS HERE!!!!!
Ok for those of you who don't know, Mariella is one of my very best friends from IU. She is doing the same program I am, but just for the Spring semester. The program starts up on Monday, but she got here yesterday so she is crashing at my place for the weekend. I am soooo excited she's here and can't even believe she is going to be here for the whole semester with me! I mean, life was pretty great here before, but now it's PERFECT. Off to run some errands, ciao!
xoxo

PIX!

finally some pix from this trip!
Milan & Novara
Switzerland--Interlaken & Zurich
Berlin

enjoy!
xoxo

Day 133!

Sooo, Erin and I have decided that we've had enough of travelling for now. We are skipping Munich and heading back to Bologna. I'm so tired of living out of a suitcase! And we've been running around now for two whole weeks! Ugh. We have an entire day of trains ahead of us. Our first train leaves at 11, and we should get back to Bologna at about 1:30 in the morning! Boo.
xoxo

Day 132!

BRRRRRR! It's soooo cold in Germany!!! Berlin is a pretty happenin' city, but it's so cold out we don't really feel like doing much! New Year's Eve was crazy! Erin and I finally made it to our hotel after a 9-hour train ride!!! After a much needed nap, we went out to find the party. First we found an Italian restaurant and had delcious pizza! Our waiter was Italian, and he was so happy that we spoke Italian with him! It was fun:) Then we took to the streets, just following the CROWDS of people to find where the party was. Basically it was everywhere. Berlin is a huge city and kind of hard to navigate, so we didn't really know where we were going, but we eventually spotted the center of all the action, the Brandenburg Gate. It took us so long to get there, we arrived just in time to ring in the new year! We finally made it to the front of the party as the last couple acts came on, one of them being Captain Jack, the only person on the bill that we had ever heard of. After the music ended we made our way back to the hotel, very cold and very tired.
Yesterday we woke up and took about half the day just dragging our suitcases around the metro system of Berlin, making our way from our hotel to our hostel. Ugh! We met up with Alex (girl!) again, and we all went to the zoo! We saw elephants, tigers, lions, lots of monkeys, a giraffe, a panda. I love seeing the animals, but zoos are always a little sad, too. The conditions in which these animals live is pitiful.
Today we spent 3 1/2 hours walking around Berlin in the FREEZING cold on a free walking tour. Our guide Stephanie was from New Zealand, but has been living in Berlin since last March. She was really funny and REALLY knowledgeable about Berlin and its history. I really learned so much from her. We started at the Brandenburg Gate and saw places like the Reichstag, the Berlin Wall, Checkpoint Charlie, the site of Nazi book burnings, lots of memorials. It was a great tour, even worth the almost frostbitten feet and hands! Needless to say, we are all wiped out!
On to Munich tomorrow.
xoxo