Umbria Jazz and the Third Week

Its been a little while since I've written something so this might be a little long.

So Umbria Jazz is now over and its really sad. This whole week has definitely been a lot quieter and easier to get through the streets, but its a sad reminder of how much fun the jazz festival was.

Oh well! we just ended the third week of class and its going pretty well. The mornings are still way too early and a little boring, but the afternoon classes make up for it. We didn't have class today, which was very nice, although it does mean we'll have to make up the hours. Bleh! Also, next week we have midterm written and oral exams as well as a term project all due within two or three days. It might be a little difficult but hey, it'll also be the easiest 12 language credits ever.

Winter, our friends Katrina and Phil, and I took a trip for class last weekend that was going to be to this little town that was hosting a huge festival, but the trains weren't running when we wanted to go so we ended up going to this other town close to the lake. It was a total disaster though because no one was there and the lake was definitely not in walking distance, so it just ended up being a nice, hot hike around a city with no one around. But we did eat McDonalds!!! What a real Italian cultural experience that was.

Good news though! We're going on vacation!!!! Napoli, Pompei, and Capri this weekend. Apparently Napoli has had a long garbage strike for the last month or even more, so that oughta be exciting. Capri and Pompei are going to be incredible though, I'm pretty excited. The one bummer about the trip is that we have to wake up and get to the University at 6 AM. But, there's a nice five hour bus ride to get to Napoli, and I think I know how to sleep on a bus.

I'm kind of astounded at how much better Italian is going and how much I'm actually able to comprehend and speak, with practically no hesitation. Its pretty amazing how in almost a month I can speak to new people and carry on a real conversation rather than just "My name is..." "I'm from..." "I like...". Also, one of the coolest things about learning Italian so far was when we signed up for our trip this weekend, the travel agent spoke entirely in Italian and all three of us left the office saying, "Was it me or did you understand every word that guy said?"

Alright, now that that dissertation is over, I'm gonna go make some brunch. Pictures and video will be up soon from Umbria Jazz as well as Magione and our trip this weekend.

Jordan