A Long Time!!

Hey!



I know it's been what feels like forever (at least for me) since I updated last, but I am without a computer and have been pretty busy this last week or so. I am using my roommate Amanda's computer right now. She's awesome.



So, update! We have been in classes all week and it's been crazy! We've done one chapter every 2 days, which means that now we're in the middle of chapter three. It's A LOT of Italian to learn in a short amount of time, but the nice thing is that a lot of it is VERY similar to Latin and Greek, so it's easy for me to pick up. I know it's been harder on some of the other people because they haven't had as much experience with languages. Thank God for the classics!!!



We have class in the morning from 9 - 1 (4 hours!!) and then have the afternoon "free" to do wahtever we want. I put that in quotes because usually our afternoons are consumed by doing work, as we have a lot of homework each night. However, we have managed to spend at least one afternoon at the beach! Yay. We also do a lot of walking to the grocery store and back. I think I am going to invest in a rolling bag so that we dont all have to carry everything everywhere. It's a long walk from our apartment to the grocery.

Speaking of our apartment, we are RIGHT next to a restaurant. Literally, our window overlooks it. You would think that was great, except when they're up LATE on the weeknights (late for me = 12 now) and making lots and ltos of loud noise. Plus the big drink delivery on wednesday mornings. That's a lot of fun. Oh well. We're getting to be pretty good friends with the waiters there, though. They say Ciao to us all the time. It's pretty awesome.

I made dinner last night - chicken and musrooms. I rocked it! It was pretty good. I messed up a little bit, but everybody liked it. It's also very hard to cook for 10 people, which is what I was doing, so.... But i am proud of myself!

Hm - here's the NOT so good part about living in Castello, where I live. We're RIGHT NEXT to San Marco, which is the BIGGEST tourist destination in Venice. So, in order to get to and from school, we have to walk through San Marco. In the morning, it's not a big deal because there's no one up yet. In the afternoon, however, the square is PACKED with tourists and pigeons. We have to barrel our way through. And that's just through the Piazza itself. Forget about the side streets!! To get to our apartment, we have to cross the canal that the bridge of Sighs crosses, so EVERYONE stops and takes pictures. They STOP in the MIDDLE OF THE BRIDGE!! It's awful. What takes 15 - 20 minutes in the morning takes 30 - 35 just because of all the people. Out of control! I can't wait until August is over and they're all gone! Then we can have Venice to ourselves! Tee hee.

I think I am oging to plan a trip to England to see Emma and Kate, two CODAS that I met in Barcelona. They sent me an email and said they're already excited for me to come and I hadn't even planned it yet!! Tee hee.. I can't wait

Oh! The other thing aobut our apartment is that we are on top of a gelateria - a place that makes the gelato for the place that sells it. So when you walk into our apartment, it always smells like mint gelato. Mom - you'd love it!!

All in all, things are going well. We are all getting along really well and enjoying ourselves - despite the tourists. My Italian is improving - I can say simple sentences now! Woo!

That's all for now I guess! A long post! I am going to try to post more often, I promise!!!

Love love love you all!

Xoxo,

Ally