Orientation Days Two and Three

Tuesday marked day two of our week-long orientation. We were divided into 3 groups and the Italian professors will lead these groups during some of the orientation. We started the day with a quick lesson in Italian... Mi chiamo Hannah :) We then went out into the city to see the post office, a bookstore, and "the" gelato shop.

In the afternoon I had my 4 hour interior design studio. The professor for the class is very nice and has worked on some impressive projects. He and another architect designed the Alessi watch pictured below.

In the interior design studio we work on one project for the entire semester. We will be designing a retail store in teams of 2. I think I will enjoy this project because I love to shop ;) and also because I would like to go into commercial interior design.

After a long day of orientation and class Megan and I met up with our new friends Jackie and Sarah who go to George Washinton University and are also studying through Kent State. We went to eat at a place called Lorenzo de' Medici. Megan and I split Cannelloni with Ragu (meat) sauce.

It was similar to lasagna. The pasta 'shell' was filled with beef and cheese with ragu on top along with melted cheese. It was delicious, obviously!

On Wednesday we had another Italian language lesson and then we went out and saw San Lorenzo (a street with a ton of vendors selling scarves, purses, leather goods, jewerly, etc.), the Central Market (an indoor market to buy fresh produce, meat, cheese, etc.), and the train station.

During the break after orientation I got a SIM card for my phone.

I now have an Italian phone number! During the break I also got gelato for the first time from Grom which is "the" gelato shop from orientation the previous day.

I got Crema di Grom which was a vanila gelato with biscotti cookie and chocolate chips. It was good but I think I might prefer Graeters :)

In the afternoon was a general orientation and a medical orientation. We learned about recieving mail which seems like a complicated and expensive process since there are customs that the package must go through here in Italy. If you would like to send me a card (which would be lovely!) please e-mail me and I will send you my address (schne733@umn.edu).

I will leave you all with a picture I took today of the Duomo. It was a gorgeous day out!

Ciao ciao,

Hannah