Day 7: Tuesday, May 13. The first "official" class day. In our 5 previous days in Italy there has been a lot of teaching and learning, but none of it has gone on in a classroom. Kim and I set out walking in the morning with the objective of buying her a cell phone that will work here (the program provides one for me). European and US cell phones use different transmission systems. Most newer smart phones are able to work on either and just require the purchase of a SIM card for Italy, but since we don't have a smart phone that does us no good. We went to the shop Filiberto recommended and had settled on what to buy when the clerk told us we would need Kim's passport. You can buy a phone without one, but Italy wants to know who has what number, so you can only purchase a SIM card with identification. Kim and I parted without a phone as I headed off to work.

I started class at 1 p.m. (this week - next week times will change). One student arrived a little late, through no fault of her own. She had been taken by Angelica to see a dermatologist for what looked to me like mosquito bites. She had tons of them. The dermatologist prescribed a couple of creams and they went to the pharmacy, but they only had one of them. A second student never made it to class. It seems as she was stepping off the bus she rolled her ankle. She ended up at the hospital where they x-rayed and determined that it was sprained. She has to wear a brace for three weeks. They also prescribed anti-inflammatory pills and a mild pain reliever. This was a major issue today. Because her condition was not life threatening, she had to wait for hours at the hospital. Angelica and Serena (the program office manager) tag-teamed waiting with her, making it impossible for them to do a lot of the things either of them had scheduled to do today.

Class went 1-3 p.m. The students were to have a mini "survival Italian" lesson after, so I went back to the office where I met the Oregon professor. Galen has been here almost six weeks with a group of 18 U of O students studying food and sustainability (their program runs 10 weeks, so they will finish a few days before us). We had a nice chat in between working.

At 5 p.m. the students of both groups were scheduled to meet. All of them seemed very excited to be together. There was lots of chatter. Interestingly, my group is 10 males and 7 females, while the Oregon group is 15 females and 3 males. Angelica had made ciambellone in between her trip to the hospital and her Italian lesson for the students so they were able to socialize and share a snack (Kim helped set up and serve).

Unfortunately a thunderstorm moved in this afternoon. We all made it to class dry but none of us left that way. We were fortunate in that Filiberto and Angelica drove us but the students weren't so lucky. We drove to the hotel to check on our newly disabled student, who seemed in good spirits in spite of it all. Kim never had a chance to make it to the store today so we had to go out to get something to eat, rain or no rain. Kim and I opted for the nearest restaurant/pizzeria. We got two different plate-sized pizzas. The rain kept other customers away so we spent most of the time talking with the pizza maker/cook and the waitress. The food was good - a little pricey but not ridiculous.