La Universita

This week has been orientation week, so nothing really has happened yet classwise. We went to introductory lectures by the professors, which give us sort of an overview of what we'll be experiencing. The courses are conducted in English here, which makes it more difficult for students for whom English is not their mother tongue. So I'm anticipating that the courses will maybe move a bit more slowly than in America.

I'm taking a course on Venetian residential architecture, which will feature class lectures and discussions with a weekly trip into Venice to explore examples of architectural methods and styles. My professor is a woman from Ca' Foscari University (a local Venetian university) and her opening presentation proved that she knew a lot about the history of Venice's construction. I think the class will give me a better historical perspective on the city.

I'm taking another class with a Ca' Foscari professor, David Newbold (actually English by birth). His course is "One World, One Language?" and it focuses on the dominance of the English language in our modern world. It seems really more sociological than anything else, but very interesting to me since I study the literature.

I have a class with a BC professor, David Northrup: "History of Islam in Africa." Again, globalization is a big theme in this school's course offerings, and there are a few students from Israel that will add greatly to the discussions of the class.

The class I'm anticipating the most is Shakespeare and the World of Venice, taught by a professor at Ludwig Maximilien University in Munich (that's where my roommate Tim is a student). It's a little basic compared to what I've studied with Prof. Sofer at BC, but I'm interested in what approaching the same text a new time with different people from different countries will bring. The professor is stressing Othello and Merchant of Venice as plays about outsiders, and therefore Shakespeare characterizes Venice as a place where interaction with outsiders is frequent. There's globalization again.

I'm also scheduled for an intermediate italian class - I wish I could take a more advanced course, but the encounters I have with locals in the city is good enough. My friends are asking me to translate for them from time to time, and I also frequently end up speaking or ordering first at their request.

We're still going through a lot of bureaucratic processes... soon, everyone will be done with their trips to the tabbaccaio or post office, and then school will start. I'm actually ready to get back into the classroom, believe it or not - it's been a long time - more than 2 months!

Anyway, I promised I'd say a bit about Venetian night life, such as what goes on at Campo San Luca or Campo Santa Margherita. More on that later. I'll also tell a bit about the food and the kind of things we do for our meals here in Venice. I should also add now that next thursday I'm taking a bus to Treviso, where I will spend a short night before flying to Rome to visit friends in the BC chorale. I am so nervous about that trip!!!