Classes and Other Stuff

Before anything else, and I can't believe I haven't mentioned this yet, but I have a cell phone. Most of the kids here headed to the local phone store (including myself) and purchased cheap phones and temporary plans. Total, the phone and plan cost me 55 euro - pretty reasonable I think. This is important for my family and friends stateside, because you can now call me if you wish - my number is +39 (country code) 320 305 3387. It's free for me to receive international calls, so if you go to a Walgreens and buy an international phone card, you can call me for like 10 cents a minute on your end. Skype is convenient, but hard to use when you need to get in touch with someone right away. 

Other than that, I haven't done much since Cinque Terra. I suppose the most exciting development is the beginning of my class schedule. So far I've been to each of my 4 classes at least once and have a pretty good feel for my semester. It seems like the courses won't be too tough, and I really like 3/4 of my professors. My International Project Finance and International Marketing teachers are both men, and they seem both smart and funny, which is great because it keeps my attention. I compare them to Roberto Benigni, the guy who produced Life is Beautiful. Although all of my teachers have accents, none are too thick that I can't catch every word. 

My Fashion and Luxury class (previously Management of the Fashion and Design Industry) is headed by a woman with 10 years of brand management experience. She also seems really bright, but for some reason I can't take an 1 1/2 lecture seriously when the course content is fashion and luxury. This past class, we watched a clip from "The Devil Wears Prada" for instance. The good thing about that class is that it's around 80% females - everyone gets way dressed up for it though, which is bizarre, and I don't really think I'm going to buy into.

My public management class is brutally boring. Today I wrote a list of places I want to go while the teacher spoke. Pretty productive. 

As for Venice, we're set to leave on Saturday with a group of 4 guys and 4 girls. I know all of the guys I'm going with, but haven't met any of the girls yet, so we'll see how that goes. I think we are staying at a hostel / budget hotel on an island that is a 15 minute ferry ride from downtown Venice and supposedly is right by a quiet beach. I'm looking forward to the city of watery streets.

I've been writing a lot of music here as well, and when I figure it out, I'll try to let you listen to the songs. I'm usually pretty shy about letting people hear my music, but I figure I'm 6,000 miles away so can bear any potential criticism. So far the songs I've written are...

1. The Departure

2. Miss Maraschio

3. In Most Regards, The Same

Lots of sunny G's and simple acoustic chords. I was at a Ben Folds concert last spring and he said that all you need is "4 chords and the truth." That's probably as advanced as my music writing philosophy goes as well. Perhaps you'll be able to hear what I mean.

I'll get some more pictures of soon as well, just look for those.

Other than that, lots of love to my family, friends and others.

Il Uomo di Italia - Josh.