Italian Refugees and Dinner in Plyer

I never thought dinner in the science building would ever be that good. 
As part of our wine and olives course, our whole class, our professors, and their families eat an Italian dinner together every Wednesday night at 5:30, cooked by a group of students in the class (I am part of the group that cooks next Wednesday.) Tonight we had a delicious salad, bread with olive oil, chicken, bowtie pasta, veggies, and a desert that started with the letter s... for super yummy. One point for Dr. Hestermann for a really really good idea. 


The whole day preceding dinner is a blur. Already losing steam because of lack of sleep (stupid Lorenzo de' Medici), class was slightly complicated with a lack of a definite classroom for us. Apparently because we are only here for a couple more weeks, there hasn't been assigned a single room for us to meet. Fortunately we have very easy going professors, who smile and say, "Well, that's the Italian way!" So the refugees we will be. 


What I learned today:
Dr. Bibb says the word "squishy" often, and to describe things I wouldn't normally think as being squishy. "Many of Joseph's brothers were illegitimate...it was a squeeeeeshy situation." 
Dr. Leavell loves to talk about the fact that he doesn't have any hair on his head. 
The Brick Testament is quite a scholarly source when exploring the intricate stories of the Bible. http://www.thebricktestament.com/ 
There are some wonderful people on this trip that I can't wait to get to know better!


Alright. I wish I could recount the day in better detail, but sulfur compounds, the topic of my biology presentation, is calling my name. 

Day one..finally.

My first blog. Weird. I kind of feel like a 37-year-old single woman, typing away in an apartment in New York. With cats. Not that there is anything wrong with being 37...

Anyway, I will push past these feelings of wanna-be-artsy-weirdness and explain to whoever will be reading this that I have a real reason in writing. 

On February 11th, I will be flying out of Atlanta with 21 other awesome Furman students and 3 precious Furman professors to study in Italy, and spending the remainder of my spring semester there! (I come back home April 8th). I am starting this record-keeping now because our classes that we will be taking while in Italy have started today (they were supposed to start Monday, but after a pretty significant ice problem that caused the roads to be too dangerous, classes were canceled for four whole days), and I wanted to write down the necessary intro speech to this wonderful semester before classes started to get really messy. 

Basically, I will be taking four classes, three of which will begin here at Furman and continue in Italy, and the fourth will be a travel study course. The classes I am beginning now are Italian Medieval and Renaissance History, The Bible and the Arts, and Regional Agricultural Science (which is a biology course about how grapes and olives are grown, processed, and consumed in Italy. Yes, a biology course about nothing but wine and olives.) These next four weeks at Furman before we leave are going to be pretty demanding, as we will be learning a TON of information and taking tests before we leave, so as to have an easier schedule when traveling from city to city all over Italy :) I keep telling myself all this work now will pay off once we're all there. Other than classes, we will be spending the rest of our time traveling from city to city, touring ruins, museums, churches, farms, and vineyards. The majority of the trip will be spent in Venice, Florence, and Rome, but we will be visiting many other regions as well. Through this adventure, I hope to expand my knowledge of art history to help toward my major, but I also hope to simply...grow. Grow in my knowledge of the world around me, grow as an adaptable and flexible person, grow in my relationships with friends, in my ability to meet new ones, and grow in my independence and self-confidence. 


I will try to update a couple more times before leaving on the 11th, but I won't be too worried about recording the ho-hum life at Furman. The real reason for this blog will be to remember and share with you guys the experiences I will have in Italy, a place I never thought I would be fortunate enough to visit this early in my life. 

Well, I'm off to continue reading the biography of  Lorenzo de Medici...I'll be in the library for the next four weeks of my life.