Lost and Academic Testing

Day 2.                       

           Just in case you were wondering, I would make a horrible invader. If I ever tried to ransack your city you would likely find m curled up in a pathetic heap in the friendliest corner I could find after a few hours. Translation: I am lost in Viterbo. Today we started the day with a tour of our scuola. This was delightful, as I was expecting our placement tests first.

We broke into small groups to see the entire school. Entire makes it out to be enormous, what a lie. We saw the administrative office, and Mr. Scanlon’s (our resident director’s) office as well Dave’s (our extra-curricular coordinator’s) office and the small kitchen. There are five classrooms; the four main ones (A, B, Z, E) are named after the winds (i.e., Aeolus, Zephyr, Boreas…), which I thought was wonderfully cool. The fifth is a spare. The most unique classroom is the Art history, which has a half barreled ceiling, giving it an echo. We also get a self-assigned cubby. I tried for a top one but was promptly kicked out of it by Sheridan, who is a good 5 inches above my respectable 5’6. I don’t mind though, it was a talking (cough cough arguing) point.

After that tour we were taken on a tour of the city.  This showed not only the streets we were on, but also the best gelato shop, cafes and pizzerias. After our hour-and-a-half tour (with a gelato stop half way through J) I am still lost. My current plan: travel in a (smarter) group!  Come to think of it, that’s probably what the real invaders did in the first place. I’ve got you figured out, Vikings.

Today was actually so easy. After our two tours we were granted another two hours to travel the city as we pleased. Even better, Mr. Scanlon, explaining that the program couldn’t provide lunch until after the ceremony of La Macchina di Santa Rosa, the third of Settembre, gave us each ten euro to budget accordingly for today’s lunch and tomorrow’s as well. Overjoyed, we set out immediately.

In my mind there was one and only one thought: We’re in Italy, let’s go get pizza. This was quickly supplemented by other such cumbersome thoughts such as: how can we get to a pizzeria, who am I going with, and I don’t yet want to wander the streets of Italy alone. Bah, who needs thoughts anyway? In the end I went to go buy pizza and afterwards, gelato. Could we be any more stereotypical? That made for my third gelato in two days by the way. Interesting fact about that group today, we’re two redheads, two brunettes, and two blondes.

Finally, after our outing we returned to take the 100-question Italian placement test. By question 48 I was suffocating in the stuffy room, guessing on every question and praying to get out. I already knew I’d be in Italian I though, I’ve never taken it. I rushed through the remaining 52 and then took as short oral test, which went much more smoothly. In the ever-mature words of a student here (cough, cough, BEAU) “Yeah, I’m pretty good at oral.”

Tomorrow we take the Math, and for some, Latin placement tests. After our Italian test, around 3, most people left, although school didn’t end officially until 4:07. Living far away, I waited until five, when my host mum came to pick me up. Due to our visits, (to the store (negozio), seeing her friend and fellow host family, and meeting her granddaughter, daughters, sister and mother) we didn’t make it home until seven o’clock. I was already quite tired and gratefully ate the pizza and vegetables she served me an hour later. I’ve been writing for most of today, hopefully I can get in some reading, (The Odyssey and the Ovid are my current reads) tomorrow. Now it is 10:24, and I should put down my computer and sleep. Buonnanote, Thalia.