Rest is good. After my long Sunday, today was a very peaceful and relaxing day. I slept in until about 9:30, although I had been hoping for ten. For some reason, someone decided to start pounding on the walls at 9:00 and by 9:30 I couldn’t stand it anymore. It was still a very good night of sleep though. We were all very sore this morning from our various activities, so we opted for the bus. It was a little slow today and we got to class only about a minute early. But it turned out okay because our teacher was late. It was the first day for our new teacher, Professor Arnold. She was quite jet-lagged, which is I think why she was a little late, but she still did an awesome job. I think of all the ways her first class could have gone, this was the best. She is very nice and fun, and to begin class we discussed our favorite adventures in Rome. This was her way of getting to know us and learn our names. This lasted close to an hour, and then we actually got down to business. We discussed our Illumin articles, our technical paper and even some of our group projects. It was definitely a logistics day. Still, we managed to get out about 30 minutes early, yet another nice treat for the first day.

The extra-long break gave us a chance to have a leisurely lunch. We found a new place that I would best describe as the Starbucks of pizzerias. The service was fast, music was playing in the background, and the walls were painted in a café style reminiscent of Starbucks. I guess that’s as close as it gets to Starbucks in Italy, Janie! The pizza was good, but expensive, so I don’t think we will go back for awhile. Anyways, it took about 40 minutes to eat and then we headed to ISE.

In class we went over the previous quiz, which I made a few mistakes on. However, so did the professor in his grading. I talked to him during the break and I should get a couple points back because I had the right answer in a different form. Anyways, I learned a lot about the ones I messed up. Then we went over last night’s homework that was again challenging. Through this I learned even more. However, the rest of the class wasn’t so interesting and I kind of zoned out.

We decided to stretch our legs by walking back from class, rather than being lazy and taking the bus. On the way we stopped at an ATM and recharged our wallets. Then we hit the grocery store to get some laundry detergent because the clothes are beginning to smell. So as soon as I got back I packed up my clothes and left for the lavanderia. It wasn’t that crowded this time and I was beyond caring about the cost. I did two loads and forty minutes of drying and it came out to 12.50 euro. Quite a rip, but such is life. When I came back, Eric and Mike were preparing a delicious dinner of – you guessed it – pasta. Tonight our pasta was in the shape of wheels, which is one of my personal favorites. We again had meat sauce and I ate about two to three servings.

After dinner we turned on some soccer, tonight’s big game was Germany vs. Austria. Germany took the game with a goal in the second half and will move on to the next round. During the game we discussed our free weekend that is approaching. We made plans to go up to Milan and Lake Maggiore which is on the Italy-Switzerland border. It should be nice and relaxing, with lots of outdoor activities to do. At the moment it looks like ten of us will be making this trip. It’s good to finally have it planned. And now its homework time! Hopefully I can get ahead on my ISE homework and then get to bed a little early!