School!! 1/22

We had our first week of school and I am very disappointed.  I forgot that I came to Italy to study, not go on vacation :-(  Overall my classes seem like they will be interesting.  I walked into my italian class the first day and the professor said nothing in english!  She said that class would be taught entirely in Italian.  This is good but I have not had Italian in over a year now so I am a little rusty.  Good thing I can walk outside and practice!!  Professors here like to show up late for class or cancel class often and then tell us we have to stay longer!  They take their tardiness out on us which kinda stinks.  Also most professors have a very heavy accent to you really have to pay attention if you want to learn anything.  Class sizes are about 15 students here.  It is very small which is good for learning, but bad for wanting to miss class to travel.  On Tuesday they showed the Inaugural speech here.  I was very surprised by how much Italians are up to speed on American Politics.  Most bars had the speech airing and our school had a really big party for it.  The italians seem to really like Obama (which is said with an accent) and think that he is going to change many things.  I have managed to get lost several times this week while trying to find the bookstore, the supplies store, and all the other separate stores for school.  It was good because now I know my way around more, but I had my first migrane here in Italy.  We have been making traveling plans this week so hopefully they will come through.  We are going to Barcelona Spain for Carnevale which is like Martigras in the States.  Venice puts on a really nice show also, but it is very crazy there so we want to see it when tourists aren't around.  We found a round trip ticket for 60 euro which is about 75 dollars!  Except we didn't realize that the airport we are flying into is an hour-and-a-half from Barcelona!!  There is a bus that takes us to and from so a group of 7 girls are going on an adventure!!  My friend Amanda from Grand Valley is coming on Sunday.  She is studying in Florence for the semester but she had her plane drop her here so she could stay with me for a night.  I am going to pick her up on Sunday and do a very fast tour of Rome.  We are also planning on going to the Mediterranean on Saturday because the train takes you there for only 2 euro!  Its not warm enough to swim but it should be fun!