Thoughts of the Day

1). Someone should've told me, "Dude, you don't really wanna take a Duke semester abroad." Being the overachiever that I am (tests have proven it), I wouldn't have listened to you. So I guess maybe someone else should've registered for me. I've heard about tons of kids who are literally doing nothing and have no work to do. Here's everything that needs to get done by next Thursday (with various due dates from tuesday to thursday), with absolutely no exaggerations:

-Four articles for fam and gender of varying lengths between 30-60 pages

-First two chapters of a novel, Giovanni and Lusanna

-One document out of the Brucker text

-Two chapters out of Gender and Society

-Start planning second paper for fam and gender due in two weeks. I just turned in my first one an hour ago.

-The book, Bread and Wine. Yes, the whole book. 280 pages.

-One chapter out of A History of Fascism

-Three Chapters out of Mussolini a Biography.

-2.5 pages in Money and Banking textbook and flashcards

-Problem set 1 for Money and Banking worth 100 points.

-Italian hw every day, but that's the least of my worries

-Italian quiz on Thursday.

This is not a slacker semester for Becca. Add in a play (1/2 my lines are memorized!), Being gone all weekend (Field trip tomorrow with European Fascism and then Rome the rest of the weekend), and sightseeing, etc. around Florence.... I think you just created a semester legitimately crazier than a Duke semester. Ya Jel'? Yeah,... I didn't think so.

Here me goes!

2) I've decided I'm not going to stress like I normally do. This is going to be an incredible semester, why would I spend the entire time stressing? So, I'll work my butt off. But I won't worry. This will be difficult for me. Most people know that I thrive on stressing. Anyway, that's my goal. I want to live. I want to breathe Italian air. And I want to work killer hard.

3). Everyone is going to Oktoberfest this weekend to get wasted, and I'm going to Rome to go to museums, see the colosseum, the Vatican, etc, and I'm so proud of it. And excited for it.

4). I have been here for a month. Well almost. But I've completed three weeks of school and one week of orientation. Can you all believe it?? Hasn't it gone so quickly?? This is both good and bad. Good for you all, because you'll get me back before you know it. ;-) Bad because..... I love it here. I strongly dislike the people. but I love it here (See Thought #5). I love Europe. I love learning things in class and then seeing them in the city. I love trying new things, seeing new places, experiencing life. I love it all. I eat it for breakfast.

5). Said statement "I love it here. I strongly dislike the people. but I love it here." reminds me of what I generally say about Duke. I love the University. Finding people I can be myself around helped a lot as well. I think it's bizarre that I'm outgoing, and generally friendly, yet for some strange reason, I'm not too much of a people person. It's a problem. But it's a problem I'm not too deeply concerned about. If I decide to care about you, I will care about you forever.

6). Thought #5 was getting really snooty so Imma change the subject. Last week and earlier this week the thought of the week was the fact that "I feel so at home at Florence." It was blowing my mind how I've only been here three weeks (at the time) and yet feel totally comfortable doing anything I want to do or going anywhere I want to go. Just feels like home. The new thought as of late though, which occurred to me on my way home from school is that I feel really comfortable going to school at La Pietra. It hit me because I've gotten accustomed to my work, my professors, my schedule. It's all my educational routine now, and it's, strange to say, but hard to remember anything else. I literally spent the entire bus ride home trying to remember all four of my classes last semester (finally got it: marketing, set design [shoot me in the face], history gateway, genetics, and ballet). But, in this really weird sort of way, I feel like I go to La Pietra in Florence. Like that's where I attend school. I spend my classes in Villa Ulivi. I go there every day. I spend time in the tiny, but adorable library. I use their computer lab because my internet sucks. I drink a coffee in the cafe almost every day and the barista knows me (such a sweetie). Duke seems so unreal right now, because this is what's real. Does that make sense?? Of course I can't wait to get back to Duke (nor am i wishing this away though), but .... I think.... in addition to feeling at home in Florence... now I feel like a student of La Pietra. Not just a visitor from duke. I have a routine, a life here, and it feels like it's all I know now. Probably none of that made sense. Maybe I'll be able to do better later.

7) All that being said, can't you all just move here and be with me so I can stay??? Am I being selfish?? You'd love it, I promise. :)

Other random things that aren't really thoughts, but just things to share:

-Today I figured out how to make it warmer in my room. Just realized my thermometer was on 16 degrees celsius. Can you do that math to Fahrenheit real quick? Yeah, it was dang freezing in here. Last night I wore sweatpants, a hoodie, socks and a hat to bed and didnt sleep at all. Got up this morning and decided it was time to make a change.

-My oral went well. He actually cut us off at 1.5 min, and I was probably about 1/2-2/3 through everything I'd memorized the twenty minutes before class. Va bene.

-I felt like crap this morning, but that may have been because i was freezing. But tonight I'm feeling a little bit better. I've been blowing my nose a lot, but my sore throat is dying down, so hopefully it's getting out of my system.

-Paper ended up being titled "Eternal as the Sexes Themselves": Honor and Gender in Renaissance Italy. I worked on it a ton, and I think I got it to a pretty good state. Or good enough for at least the first paper (I never try my very very very hardest on first papers because you never really know what the teacher wants or is looking for. always good to get feedback and then nail the rest of the papers throughout the semester. At least that's my theory). Anyway, thought it was pretty good. I emailed my prof the first paragraph and asked her if she thought i was on the right track. It was my crappy first version with tons of type-o's and was completely awful and she said it was "great!". I was like...HA. you're funny.

-I'm a nerd and I miss dancing a ton (it's generally how I get everything out of my system at duke) so I choreographed a bit of Sam Sparro's Black and Gold in my room tonight. Secret: this is actually the real reason becca loves singles. hehe. just kidding. not really.

-I've been dating Kyle six months. Weird? Yeah, I think so, too. haha.

Now, it's italian hw and bedtime. No blogging for the rest of the weekend because I'm not bringing my computer. Though apparently you can rent a computer at the hostel we're going to. But I'm probably not going to. This one is going to be a bit different. I think we're in a room with like ten other people.... Oh boy. Pray for us. haha.

Con Amore,

bec