Where did the last month go? So much for keeping this blog updated on a regular basis. It’s tough though, the computer situation is an issue and when it’s nice ‘n sunny out, why sit inside?! Ever since the inventions of myspace.com, facebook.com, and gmail the computer is a necessity in life for any college student. I’m not complaining and i’ll never deny that i’m part of this interweb community generation.
I’ll cover my classes and professors in this blog. After two months, I have plenty of comments.
ITA 102-201: I start the morning with Victoria’s beginner/intermediate Italian class at 8:30am. We have this class everday, which is how a language class should be! Lately I’ve been bad and have been writing letters to friends and fam throughout the class. When I’m not being a jerk I’m participating! As every Italian says: Conversation is number one! It’s true… gotta start off with baby talk and then gradually build up a vocabulary. It’s the best way to learn. Victoria is a down to earth professor who knows this generation and teaches us some modern Italian phrases so we don’t sound like we’re speaking Medieval Tuscan dialect. Our class is completely female since our one guy is in the advanced class. This works out when Victoria keeps us up to date on the culture here, especially the Italian guys. We have a work book that she assigns us homework in nearly every night - and it’s easy. I watch the goofy Italian soap opras with Lina in the evening and scribble my answers down in my workbook.
ITA 202 (because I’m special!!!) This class is strictly for Heather and myself because we already took 101 and 102, however 202 is not offered and we’re not advanced enough to take 301-302. The Director of the program, Daniella, took it upon herself to spend an hour or two a week with us in her office so we can get credit for the 202 class. Daniella and Barbara make life easy here… no class? easy! We’ll just make one. As a part of our curriculum we attend Daniella’s 301-302 classes twice a week.
ITA 301-302: Monday is Italian conversation class and Thursday is reading. Tuesdays and Wednesdays are grammar lessons, which I haven’t needed to attend, however when I get back from break I have to start going to learn the subjunctive. Hoorah! If learning the subjunctive in Italian is as fun as learning it in Spanish, I’m golden. That’s sarcasm. I enjoy both, but prefer conversation class because I usually have a goofy story to tell and it’s always fun to trip over creating sentences. Daniella is always helpful when i’m struggling on a word or verb tense and gets a kick out of my stories. It’s encouraging.
FAR(?) Art and Architecture in Italy: This class focuses on Medieval and then Gothic art and architecture. The best part is that we get to see a lot of what we study when we travel. A good portion of it is right in Siena, so if you forget what a painting looks like by Ambrogio Lorenzetti, just walk into the Palazzo Publico and take a gander. Barbara - Barbara - BARBARA!!! - our assistant director, teaches this class. Barbara is my idol! She’s theatrical, goofy, and knows her stuff when it comes to art history. Barbara makes it fun to learn about the art work we see… it’s easy to tell that shes passionate about her work as she presents her lessons to the class. In other words, she’s quite an engaging professor. I’ve learned a lot from Barbara in class and outside of the classroom and I enjoy immitating her extraordinarily loud voice. She uses all the registers in her face… Sometimes in the morning we have play time because, well, we’re both big vocally and physically. Barbara is just fantastic.
*Barbara and Daniella make an exceptionally dynamic duo when it comes to running this program and I’m so impressed by how smoothly things go. It’s obvious that they love their jobs because they wouldn’t care as much as they do about their students and the program. When students have issues here they feel as though they can go to Barabara and Daniella for help. Daniella’s a mom… she has mom thoughts - you know how moms just know everything and how they just make your world a better place when you feel like there’s no hope? That’s Daniella. She knows… everything… and how to deal with any situation. And she smells like laundry.
DANTE! : I am taking a literature class on Dante’s Divina Comedia with the other Barbara, who we have lovingly named “Barbara Due,” since she was the second Barbara introduced to us here. I’m glad I took this class because I haven’t had the time to take any literature classes at Buffalo State. It’s short and simple: we read through the canto, discuss the writing, history, symbolism, characters, circles of hell, punishments, monsters… etc etc. We get copies of the particular cantos that we’re reading so we didnt need to buy the book. Our school has copies of the book in case someone wants to read more of the entire Divina Comedia. Barabara’s tests are very fair, as I just took her midterm and I think I did well on it. She knows this text inside and out and I never feel lost. Taking this class compliments the art and architecture class because the history of the behind the art and literature are competely intertwined.
PAINTING! Painting with Franca is a gift from God. I’m glad Franca is with our program… I don’t think I could possibly express how happy about it. Franca is passionate about her work and is one of the most passionate people that I’ve ever met. I think she’s in the same realm of passionate artists with my prof/director Drew at Buffalo State. Franca is not calm like Drew… Franca is going one million miles an hour and in a million different directions at one time. It’s the epitome of organized chaos. I kid you not. She needs a stage manager because every 5 minutes she’s lost her gloves or her water bottle. Whenever I hear the word “Ragazze!” now, i shudder. Franca has competely erased my painting 3 times and I’m thankful for it because it’s made me a better painter. I have thick skin because of theatre so when Franca rips into me and my work I can take it because I know its simply because she wants me to learn. It’s nice to be around crazy people… I understand them more and I feel like I don’t have to ever explain myself. Franca is intense… and does not go easy on you when it’s blatantly obvious your work sucks. I know. I’ve experiencd her “Oh, Jesus! What did you… Why? Why did you do this…? No, Eve…eh… this doesn’t work at all. Oh, Jesus. We need to fix this…” And then she erases everything I had worked on for the past two hours and i’m left with a smeared canvas. AWESOME! Right now, I can say that my first oil painting is in the process of being successful after many mistakes. Also, when in Franca’s class, there are random high pitched screams of “Oh my God, ragazza!” and then a moan of another student as Franca desecrates their work. Brilliant. Take Franca’s class… JUST DO IT.
The profs and directors are from another world. where did these amazing people come from? and why can’t they come back with me to Buffalo!? Good thing Barbara and Daniella are going to visit again next fall… they better, or else!
so - another blog has been finished!!!!
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