For Humanities and Italian Cinema, we have Dr. Doyle. Dr. Doyle is sweet. We started with the obligatory 10 pt. Humanities quiz as will be the case every Monday, and he lectured on Ancient Greek Art and their concept of Beauty. The hour and twenty minute lecture seemed like nothing. He's down to Earth, explains things well, and he and his wife love students. He also loves soccer, which is an added bonus.
We then had a book discussion meeting to talk about the concept of "Culture Making" and also to discuss announcements for our group. We were supposed to read the first chapter of Andy Crouch's book Culture Making, but there was a confusion in the syllabus schedule or something, so none of the students read it, and our Site Director kinda just gave us the highlights. A few of us chimed in because we were familiar with Crouch and the topic...
After lunch, we had Italian Cinema. I've never taken a cinema class, so this is a real treat. Watch movies, pick-up some Italian, write reviews and get credit. The movie we watched today was called Cinema Paradiso. It was made in the 1980s and won all of the big movie awards (Golden Globe, Oscar, and an awards at the Cannes Festival). It's definitely worth checking out, but heads up, it's in Italian with English subtitles. That didn't make it any harder to understand; we all understood it just fine. It's got this adorable boy who is fascinated in film and develops a relationship with a local film projector operator in a theatre that brings the whole community together. The boy eventually leaves the small town for Rome, but that's all I can divulge for now. I guess you'll have to go see it to find out how it ends...
So by 3pm we were free. Except, my cooking group (5 of us) was running the kitchen tonight so we went shopping and got to work in the kitchen. We had a blast working together and made stuffed shells and a big salad with chicken and veggies in it. To top it all off, we had gelato for dessert. Pretty sick first community dinner. We even set up the dining hall with a nice ambience and lit candles. Check it out:
Tables set like a pro from my days working banquets
The fruits of our labor
An added bonus for the night was that we didn't have to clean up because our system is set up for the "on deck" cooking group to do all of the cleaning. We helped out and did the big pots though :)
I was on duty tonight (every Monday and Thursday), but since it was pretty rainy today, no one really went out. We all just read for class tomorrow (Humanities discussion and Italian) and booked a day trip to Orvieto for Friday, which is a town similar to Tuscany in the hills of Italy. I couldn't pass up 8 Euro each way!
Next weekend a bunch of people are looking into a trip to the Amalfi Coast. Since we have a field trip to Pompeii planned, it's a short train ride to Sorrento, then bus to Agerola. I don't know where we're staying, but some people are staying in a B&B in Sorrento that looked nice, so it might be easiest to stay with the group even if it's not right near where we want to see. We'll see. I kind of want to plan it on my own and execute it. I guess that's prideful, and it is somewhat stressful to plan, but I think it's a good time to practice some independence. My plan for me and another friend might be: Pompeii to Agerola (via train and bus) for one day, then work back to Sorrento to meet the rest of the group on the second day. We'll see what happens.
Sorry this was a long post. Today was a full first day for our group in the convent, and I didn't post yesterday so I had some unused roll over words to spare... I can't guarantee a post per day, but I will try. Sundays are super quiet on the town and in the convent, so not much happened. We went to a Baptist Church near the Spanish Steps, and the pastor shared some things about sacrifice to God, specifically with Cain and Abel that were refreshing. It's always humbling to hear how much wisdom and insight some pastors have.
Psalm 1:1,3 - "Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked...That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields fruit in season and whose leaves do not wither- whatever they do prospers."
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