Imparare l'italiano è difficile!

Well in case you don't know, can't guess, or don't want to look it up, the title means "Learning Italian is hard!" It is much more difficult than I would have anticipated. Yesterday I had my first day of Italian language classes. The first 3 weeks of classes are just purely Italian language and then our "core courses" start. My professor's name is Mario and he is VERY Italian. He is nice and seems very understanding and willing to teach, which is a nice change from California's language teachers who never seem to care. But his willingness to teach does not really help my ability to learn, unfortunately. It is only the second day, so I'm probably being too hard on myself, but still. It's hard! Anyway, enough complaining.

Yesterday I didn't really do much because we had class in the morning and then we had our orientation dinner last night. I wasn't really sure how the schedule worked so I just sort of took it easy. I did sign up to be a babysitter or a tutor for local parents. We'll see how that goes. I also took a really pretty picture of the sunset from my window. All natural colors!

This is the picture I took of the sunset out my window! There is a little piazza to the right. For those of you who don't know, a piazza in Italy is like a roundabout in England or on the east coast (we don't really have them in California). Except in Italy, they don't have any lanes or any semblance of organization. I can't even fathom driving in one of these. Crossing them as a pedestrian is hard enough!

As for today, I was feeling a little more adventuresome. Rose and I decided to walk to school this morning. We clocked it at about a 40 minute walk and when I looked it up, it's about 1.75 miles. It was surprisingly nice out especially for the forecasted high of 48. I have quickly learned not to trust the Italian weather man or the sky. Just be prepared always. I had planned to go from school down to the Colosseum but I didn't have my camera and I thought that would have been a shame. So I decided to go back to the house and on the way back, the clouds started changing. It went from blue sky to dark and cloudy in a matter of minutes! The weather here is so temperamental. Since the Colosseum is all the way on the other side of town, I decided on a closer target, the Vatican, well St. Peters Basilica anyway. I walked from the house to St. Peters Basilica and walked around, bought a few postcards and stamps.
            This is a note to anyone reading this that I said I would send a postcard. That may not happen. As I
            found out today, it costs 2 euro to send a postcard or letter to the states. That's approximately $2.75
            per postcard! I love you all and you will have to except this as your every other day postcard! And if
            you know of people that aren't reading this blog, you should tell them about it!
Anyway, so I walked to the Basilica and as I was finishing up, the sky opened and decided to dump itself on me. I then proceeded to walk the 1.5 miles back to the house in the pouring rain. It's a good thing I have a good sense of direction, otherwise I would have gotten SUPER lost!!! But I didn't, so that's good. Anyway, I made it home alive and really wet. I think the bottom 12 inches of my pants were drenched. Then followed a delicious dinner, made by Mary, and then homework, now the blog and soon bed! Here are the pictures from today!

This is a picture of St. Peters Basilica and the piazza that is in front! It was beautiful before it started pouring rain. There is some construction going on right now, probably to prepare for Easter or something. I CAN'T BELIEVE I AM GOING TO BE IN ROME FOR EASTER!!!!! Anyway, I look forward to a time when I can get an even better picture. Stay tuned!

These are the sculptures that are perched on the wall that surrounds the basilica and the piazza. The columns and figures were just so beautiful in the setting sun, I just had to take a picture. 

Okay, this one I just couldn't help. Here in Italy, everything is small! And I mean everything, but especially when it comes to transportation. All the cars are TINY. I have only seen 1 large car since I have been here and it probably wasn't even from Italy. This just cracked me up. This little golf cart is holding 2 grown men and is the police car! I'm not sure how they would catch anything! I would love to see them try! I will have to remember to take more pictures of the insanely small cars and all the scooters! 

Hope you all are doing well! I don't think the comments are coming through if anyone has posted any so if you have a Facebook, you can post on there! Have a wonderful day wherever you are!