First Week of School

So, this past week was my first week at school. It was definitely hard to sit until 2:00 PM every day, listening to people talk in Italian. It made it even more difficult that they spoke so fast. Because they spoke so fast, I could not understand a lot of what was said. My comprehension of Italian is really quite marvelous for being here only two weeks. When people talk fast though, that is another story.
I have been placed in the 4E class. That means that I am in the 4th level (somewhat equivalent to 11th grade) and in class E. They have classes arranged by letters. Each letter focuses on a slightly different thing. My class in particular is more of a linguistic focus. I am going to a science oriented school. As a result, I could not escape the dreaded science. In my class, we are studying both Chemistry and Physics. I already studied Chemistry and it was such a pain. Physics in a different language though is...horrible. I also have Math. I think that we are doing some hardcore trigonometry/geometry stuff. I have already done geometry, but I definitely didn't like that class or do well in it. The subject here is completely foreign to me...no pun intended. They teach things so differently than teachers do in the United States. First of all, they use the Greek letters Alpha and Beta in their equations. That has me completely confused. We are also studying Philosophy, History, French, English, Italian Literature, Latin, Physical Education, and Design (drawing). I like every subject above, minus design. The French teacher is letting me use a beginning book since I have no knowledge of the language, the Italian/Latin teacher is giving me special homework to help me learn Italian. It is her wish that I take the big exams in the spring. They are in Italian. Philosophy and History are fun to listen to because I can actually grasp most of what he is saying. Physical education is not hard; it is just in Italian. I am not too keen on desgin because I can't draw. This class is focused upon drawing precise pictures with measurements and geometrical designs. I have never done this in my life. The school also has a choir which I plan on becoming a part of. :)
On the otherhand, my classmates are great. The entire class consists of 21 people, myself included. They are all so nice and helpful. For the past two weekends, we have all been meaning to get together to go around the city, but they have been cancelled both times. The first time was because not enough of the class could make it and this time because I am going out of town with my family. I really like all of them. Two girls in particular, Claudia and Lucy, have been incredibly helpful in helping me to become situated in the classroom. I think that they are all very happy to have me there. I have also made another friend. She happens to be the girl who I met in the airport in Rome. She is incredibly nice and outgoing. On the subject of friends, last weekend, I went out with my sister and her friends. I had a crepe with them and then we went to a bar to hang out. It was really fun and I am glad that I was included. :)
The food here is still amazing! I have some new favorites. I love melon, cantaloupe to be precise, wrapped up in prociutto. It is so amazingly delicious. I also love every single one of their past dishes. Every single one! My family makes these tomato salads with olive oil that are to die for. You can either eat them plain or you can put them in bread like a sandwich. They are so, so good. The tomatoes here have so much more flavor! So does the olive oil for that matter. Yesterday, I ate lunch with a few of my classmates. We went for authentic Arabic kabob. They had the meat standing upright and they really did just shave it off. It was so great! I also saw the largest Nutella container of my life. It must have been at least as big as my head, if not bigger. Also yesterday, my family and I went out for pizza. :) It was my first pizza dining out while here in Italy. I had a Bufalo pizza. It has pomodori fresci (fresh tomatoes), bufalo (mozzarella), rugula (arugula), basilica (basil), and maybe something else. It was amazing! Here in Italy, they really do serve you an entire pizza to eat by yourself. I managed to down half of the pizza before I had to stop. It was so good that I didn't want to, but I had no choice. As for the desserts, I am still totally in love with gelato. My brother introduced me to a new form of gelato. First, you have a brioche, then it is cut in half. The whole thing is then stuffed with gelato and panna (cream) is put on top. It is huge, amazing, and totally worth eating the whole thing. :)
This weekend, my family and I are going to Taormina and to another place. I don't remember the name because it had more than one word in it. We are going to Taormina because Federico has a tennis match to play in. I don't know if Agnese is coming with us. She has made it very clear that she absolutely does not want to go. Whether she comes or not is her decision, but either way it will be a lot of fun.
One last thing. Italians really can not go out with wet hair. My mother freaks out if I have wet hair. I must absolutely dry my hair if it gets wet. A few nights ago, she saw that I hadn't dried my hair after showering. She then proceeded to tell me that I was going to get a headache and a fever during the night. I wanted to laugh because I found it funny, but at the same time I thought that it was sweet.
Oh, wait. Last night, I was actually able to help my sister with her English homework. She had to translate pages of English into Italian and I was able to help her do it. :) I was so proud of myself because my knowledge of the language is increasing so much!
I will keep updating, but for now this is all I can think of to write. I haven't been able to put pictures up because of internet connection speed. I have loaded some onto Facebook though. I'm sorry to all of you who can't see them. I really meant for you to be able to. I'll write soon!

Ciao a tutti,

Rebecca