School

School in Italy runs from Monday to Saturday. Class begins at 8:30 and the last bell rings at 12:30 on Mondays and 1:30 Tuesday through Saturday. At first I thought I would like this schedule more than the regular Monday-Friday 8-3 schedule but only having a one-day weekend makes it feel like you don't even get a break. I'm not sure which I like better yet. Another difference with school is how the classes are set up. During the day, the students go to one classroom and spend the entire day there, very much like elementary school. However, the students get different teachers for each subject. It makes it really hard to be tardy for class. This also means that you are with the same 20 or so classmates for the entire year. This has been great for me because I don't have to introduce myself to new students every day. I have classes that I would normally take in America, such as Geometry, Chemistry, Physics, and P.E., and I have some courses that I've never taken before, like Italian Lit., Philosophy, Religion and Latin. My favorite class so far is definitely English. It's basically taking a foreign language course that you are already fluent in, but I'm still learning a lot as we read Shakespeare or Christopher Marlowe.