My classes and the Lago Di Bolsena

So, even though it sounds like it's all play no work, it's not... well kinda... just wait until you hear about my classes!!! Most of my classes are only one day a week giving us almost no homework because we have so much time in between to do it, which is amazing by the way. anyway on Monday mornings I am in a class called Mediterranean Landscape, the point of this class is to study the changes in the Mediterranean landscape over the past 3,000 years not by reading about it, but by experiencing it. So what do we do?? We pile in our teachers old VW van and drive around Italy stopping every 20 minutes to get out, look at the trees and the shape of the valleys and learn about what was brought to Italy, what is native and what has caused the changes over the many years!! Not only is this class cool but our teacher is even cooler!!! His name is Scott Mensing and he is a biogeographer and a paleoecologist. Scott has been awarded several teaching awards making him one of the most (or the most) decorated teachers at the University of Nevada Reno, where he teaches(I googled him). He is by far the coolest teacher I have ever met, and it's so fun to be in his classes, that I don't even realize how much I'm learning!! Tomorrow we are hiking up Monti Cimini!!
On Tuesday morning i have my first art class ever!!! I'm so excited to learn about drawing and painting!! Our first assignment was to go to a cemetery and draw anything that we saw and liked. this wasn't the best for me considering my shaded angels face looked like a turtle but what can you do?? I'm not an artist yet, hopefully Italy will force it out of me!!
On Wednesday morning i have another class with the famous Scott Mensing called Geography of Europe. Just another amazing class full of information and fun conversations, Scott is really well traveled and so he has amazing stories and information on Europe and he loves to hear our stories and talk about where we have gone! I only wish we could go to some dramatic places like Egypt with him so we could pick his brain!!!! After that class I'm in a traveling class called Italian cities: History through urban form, where we go on field trips and travel to the cities around Viterbo and learn the history and culture of the people around us!! Hard life huh!!
Italian is my most taxing class, we have it three days a week and it's frustrating but still really cool. My teacher is awesome and the class is fun but not understanding the language has taken it's tole so everyone is really impatient and just wants to know it now!! I wish i spoke Italian, it would make life a lot easier!!!

sooo.... Bolsenia!!!
Yesterday (saturday) was my roommates 20th Birthday so we all woke up early and got on a bus to the lake of Bolsena!! The lake and the town were beautiful!! We had no clue where we were when we got off the bus so we just pointed down and started walking!! We ended up on a beautiful beach with a bunch of local Italians and a wedding going on in the background! It was pretty amazing!! the lake was huge and the water was beautiful!! After soaking for hours, talking and laughing we decided to go find the castle and walk around! It was unbelievable, the town was gorgeous and the streets were tiny and amazing!! Walking around in places like that, it's impossible to not think about the history and the people who have walked down that street before me. It was one of the most beautiful places I have ever been. After we walked around and took a million pictures we headed back, not knowing when or how we were going to catch a bus back to Viterbo. low and behold a bus passes straight past us saying Viterbo and we have to run after it... great image right?? a bus driving down a tiny street with Americans trailing behind it yelling, so of course it wasn't even the right but and we ended up having to wait for an hour to catch the right, and last mind you, bus to Viterbo. adventurous end to a beautiful day!!
Life's pretty amazing here with the church bells constantly in the background and the never ending places to go and adventures to go on.