My classes at AUR started this week, and I was really excited to get a routine down and get into a regular schedule. I have two classes on Monday, three on Tuesday, one on Wednesday, and three on Thursday. I’m taking three English classes (for my major), a history class (for the core), and a music class (also for core). The nice thing about AUR is that all my classes will be able to fulfill some kind of requirement, meaning I’ll be able to graduate on time! Because my study abroad program is an external program (rather than internal), I’m not paying BC tuition, which is nice, and while my classes will count for requirements and show up on my transcript, they won’t be factored in my GPA.
My first class is Adapting Literature to the Screen, which turns out to be a screenwriting course more than anything else, so that’ll be pretty different from anything I’ve taken at BC. I’m also taking a class called The Grand Tour: The Literature of Tourism, which is all about travel writing during ancient times. My final English class is called Rome: The City in Text, which will definitely be the hardest class I take at AUR. It’s an upper-level classics course, so we’ll be reading a lot of ancient Greek and Roman writing and analyzing how Rome has developed throughout history. My music class is an Italian opera class, and we’ll actually get to go to the Roman Opera House twice throughout the semester to see performances, which will be really unique to my experience in Europe. I’m taking History of Modern Italy, and I’m excited to learn more about the country I’ll be calling home for the next four months.
I’m still exploring the city and getting to know the area around me. On Sunday, we took a trip to the Vatican, which was amazing and absolutely breathtaking. I actually was lucky enough to be able to hear the Pope speak that day, which was purely coincidental, but amazing. I didn’t really understand much of what he said (it was all in Italian), but it was easy to feel the love in his voice. I’m also planning on going to the Vatican for Easter, so hopefully by then I’ll have learned some more Italian so I can understand him!
It’ll take a bit to get used to the time difference in terms of communicating with people back home. Six hours doesn’t seem like a lot, but think of it this way: some days, I wake up before my friends back home go to sleep, and I’m done with class in the afternoon before most of them are awake. But I’ve been able to work it out and find times to talk that are convenient, and apps like Viber and Snapchat make staying in touch super easy!
Hopefully this weekend I’ll start planning some trips around Europe, because I want to see and do as much as possible while I’m here! Check back next week for another article!