Un Giorno all'Università Italiana

Ciao,

Yesterday was really interesting and fun, let me tell you about it.

I skipped classes on Wednesday... kind of, that is. Instead I woke up early and took the 7:35 vaporetto into Venice. My plan: meet my friend Elena and attend lessons at Ca' Foscari University during the first part of the day. Ca' Foscari is a really old university, the traditional arts and letters school in Venice. A lot of students commute from the mainland, for example, cities like Treviso, Mestre, or Montebelluna. I walked to the university, no trouble at all, and I got there at 8:30 and met Elena, who was coming from the train station. We got a coffee before her Canadian literature course.

Let me first describe the classroom. Yellow plaster walls, long, with maybe three desks in each row. The room was lined with columns that supported wooden beams for the ceiling. In the front of the room was a window that looked out on the grand canal -- you could see boats going by.

Elena introduced me to her classmates, and of course to her professor, who said I was most welcome. Her English was very good, and I could tell that she learned in Britain rather than the United States. Usually the class takes place in English, since the literature is English, but this time there was a guest speaker, a woman who explained the poetry of Ann Michaels, a Canadian poet and novelist. While the texts were in English, the lecture was in Italian, and I had no trouble understanding anything since she spoke very clearly and slowly enough so I could hear each word. When she asked one of the students to read a passage, Elena nudged me, saying I should read because my American accent would impress everyone. I didn't want to -- just because I felt I was standing out enough already. But I wasn't nervous at all, I felt quite comfortable actually just being around literature students, I think. It was kind of interesting when one of the students read this passage. It was a guy who Elena told me had studied at Georgia State University for a year. So when he read, I could tell that he had a southern accent in his English! Weird, huh? It was really a great class, and though it lasted an hour and 45 minutes, it went by quickly. After class we went to the library with one of Elena's friends to get a book off the shelves. The shelves were really high, and you have to climb up huge ladders to get books. Wooden shelves and tables, just a really old feel, ancient, even... and all with a magnificent view across the Canal Grande. Strangely Elena told me that the wireless internet causes people to have headaches.

Elena took me on a tour of the university buildings. First, Ca' Foscari doesn't have a campus, and I knew this already, but it's so cool to just walk through the streets when going to class and seeing students in the caffes and bars. We went down to Zattere, which has two university facilities. One of them had a few classrooms... it's always surprising to me how large these buildings are, even if the facades are so small. I saw a few of the offices and another library, larger this time. And there were students, working, studying, you know.

For lunch we met up with another of Elena's friends in front of the Palazzo Foscari (the central seat of the university) and we walked to one of the Mensas, like the caffetteria. It was pretty standard, there was a lunch line, different dishes offered, so I could see a lot of similarities with... McElroy, for example. But this was a lot smaller. We got there a little early, so there weren't many students, but it filled up. Anyway, we chatted about cultural differences, and it was a lot of fun.

Elena warned me it was really boring, but I decided to go to her Italian literature class anyway. And I have to say it was kind of boring... and since it was older Italian language I didn't really understand much of it, just pieces really. This time I was the only guy in the class, so that was... interesting, to say the least. Also the professor, this woman, just talked and talked, and I forgot to mention that there's no class discussion for literature classes in Italy. But the desks were long and had several seats behind them - banchi, they're called - and Elena told me before that I should bring a book to hide behind the banco to read during class. But anyway, notwithstanding how long the class seemed, I had a stomachache and so when 2:00 rolled around for the break, I slipped out and walked back through the rain to the fermata del vaporetto. The rain held off at the end, but it was seriously some really bad weather so I was glad I brought my umbrella after all.

I worked on my Shakespeare final paper in the afternoon. But at night we had the visit to the Basilica di San Marco. It was just the students of VIU, so there were about forty of us inside the basilica. It actually felt smaller inside without masses of people there. I caught up with my BC friends and the other international students too. The art was beautiful inside the church, so we actually got a special look at the crypt, for example, where there are weddings, oddly. But I can't stress how dramatic the inside of the basilica was... we entered into the dark church, and when we sat down, the staff turned on the lights and we could see the beautiful golden interior. There is so much gold all over the chapel, it's really incredible. It happened at a weird time though, 7:15 was when it started, so we were all kind of hungry at the end. But it was basically a really great trip.

I don't have any plans this weekend... that is, I'm not traveling anywhere. As I said before, I just like staying here in Venice. And tomorrow is the primo maggio, Italy's labor day, so most places will be closed, but I don't know. We'll see.

Andrew