Well, today it was back to the routine of classes. I woke up around 8:30 and spent some time working on my paper and preparing for my two minute presentation in my writing class. I had plans to go to the market down the street, but it was raining so I decided to save it for a sunny day. Also because of the rain, I headed over to Accent earlier than usual, leaving at about 10:15 so we had plenty of time. We took the bus instead of walking, which surprisingly was not too crowded.

Writing class was good, and I learned a lot today. Most of it was through a bad experience however. The first half of the class was learning about how to give presentations – how to tailor a talk to the audience and the purpose. In the second half, we had to give short presentations of our own. I had prepared one the night before, talking about O.J. Mayo and how we all are responsible for his recent scandal because we treated him like a professional athlete. Because I tend to get nervous during presentations, I had memorized my talk, which turned out to be a bad idea. Unfortunately, I provided the token example of what not to do. About fifteen seconds in, I forgot the words. I couldn't pick it back up again for a fairly long time, and eventually the professor asked me to start over. I did much better the next time, but it was still pretty embarrassing. Fortunately, I feel like I learned a lot from the situation. In the future I won't memorize my presentation, but instead be so familiar with it that I can talk about it comfortably on an impromptu basis. Plus, it would be pretty hard to make any more of a fool of myself, so I shouldn't worry about embarrassing myself in the future! Needless to say, I was happy when that class was over and I could get some fresh air.

We headed to our staple for lunch – 2.50 euro paninis. It was delicious as usual, but hopefully we will begin to mix it up. Then it was back to Accent for Engineering Economics, which was pretty interesting today. We talked about the depreciation of money over time, and worked out some problems of investments and interest rates. After this class, there was again another Survival Italian class (I didn't know there were going to be more!), but I again chose to skip it. Not because I don't want to learn Italian, but because the pace is just too fast for me and I'm already lost. During this time, Mike and I decided to visit two churches on our way back home. We first went to San Luigi dei Francesi, which is a French church. It was a beautiful church and had several quite famous paintings. The most notable were three Caravaggio's in one chapel. We spent about twenty minutes inside, which unfortunately didn't have much information in English for us to read. Next we went to Sant'Agostino. This church was in the traditional Latin cross design and also contained several famous works of art. One Caravaggio and one Raphael work were the highlights. Both churches were just stunning in the intricacy and complexity in every detail. Mike and I were at a loss for words after leaving them, just trying to contemplate how these structures came to be. I hope the pictures can demonstrate just a fraction of how amazing they were.

On the way back to the apartments, we stopped at a grocery store and did a little shopping. We stocked up on some more pasta and also got some meats and cheeses. Its amazing how much cheaper it is to eat in! We are definitely doing our best to cut down the frequency of our dining out nights. When we got back I worked on some homework for awhile and then cooked some tortellini for dinner. It turned out well, although the sauce could have been better. At nine, we had our first Bible study of the trip, which I organized along with a girl named Daniella who I know from Campus Crusade for Christ. We decided to study the book of Romans (duh!) and went through the first book tonight. Unfortunately, it was a busy night for people and it was only me, Mike and Daniella. Several others promised to come in the future though. The rest of the night will be spent on homework again! It will sure feel good when this paper is over and done with. Ciao!