School is, well, a little more exciting...

So, I realize that after four weeks of writing (and slacking in that writing…yes, I realize it) I have yet to mention anything about my classes (kinda the whole reason I’m out here, or so I’m told). Well, classes are significantly different from Marquette U that much is sure. I started out the semester with six classes with the intention of dropping one so I didn’t have to worry about working too hard and not have a chance to enjoy life. We had until the end of the first week of classes to make up our minds on which classes we wanted to stay in. I was really happy that they gave us such a generous amount of time to make such an important decision, let me tell you. This disappointment was mainly due to the fact that one of my roommates would come home each day from class, sit down, and switch his schedule around, drop or add classes, or ask us what we thought he should do. Needless to say, by week’s end that form of entertainment was gone. I made fairly easy decisions when I dropped two of my classes: Italian (because let’s get serious, when am I ever going to need this?) and Christian and Byzantine Art (an on-site class that would have killed the idea of fun and sleep alike, however interesting and enjoyable it was). The four classes I’m taking this semester will all count for something back at MU and will finish all but the last few classes in my major up. So, in my four day week (no Friday classes), I wake up around 10 or 11 (sometimes noon), get some reading done and go to class sometime in the afternoon…I’m working on changing this habit and use the time to explore…

                As intriguing as classes are…I’m going to keep talking about them! (I swear, I’ll make this as quick as I can, I just want to give you an idea of what classes are like) My Lit and Criticism class is a class that I could have passed back in junior high, but I’ll admit, it’s a confidence booster compared to my theology class. Pathways of Faith is a theology class that is taught mainly for Notre Dame students (as a matter of fact, it was stressed that it was going to be that level of teaching and if you wanted to bail, right away would have been the time to do it). I LOVE THIS CLASS! I may not be able to hold as “intellectual” of a conversation with the teacher as the Notre Dame kids who all seem to be some kind of religious studies or whatnot majors, but what we’re learning is so fascinating. I’m learning things about the Catholic Church that I never knew and probably never would have had I never taken this class. From history and origins to beliefs, etc., I’m enthralled each class. The best part of it all is that my professor is a priest who holds a high position at the Vatican—he kinda knows the pope, just saying. As we’ve learned, having a teacher who works for the Vatican has its advantages, such as having no class when something goes down at the Vatican or getting into parts of churches/into places that people aren’t allowed usually, if ever. We had our first on-site visit this week to Santa Maria Maggiore (St. Mary Major), one of the four basilicas in Rome; this basilica claims such relics as parts of the manger…pretty sweet.      My Ancient Rome and Its Monuments class is also on-site (on a weekly basis), which means when we have class we go to the Roman Forum or other ancient roman sites. My teacher already likes me because I’m one of two guys in her Classical Mythology class on Mondays and Wednesdays too. Whenever she brings up an ancient myth, she either turns to me to explain (did I ever mention how little self-confidence I have when put on the spot?) or tells people if they have questions about the myth to talk to me—I would love to see how red my face probably gets. Long story short, we’re going to be friends by semester end, I just know it. Just today we were talking about jobs students could get out here (not seriously, of course, because students would never be hired during the school year). We decided that the rip-off centurions who try to rip-off tourists by taking their pictures would be a great job for me. Then we realized my scrawniness. I am now going to be a slave or someone that the gladiators killed. Eh, it’s a living…Photo anyone?