Thank goodness for my friend, Signor CheeseClasses have really begun to pick up this week. Since our semester is somewhat shortened, we have to move through the curriculum at a pretty quick pace in order to still cover all the material. It is more demanding but I am definitely learning things more thoroughly because
a) I am fully engaged in my classes simply because I'm in Florence and they're so interesting and
b) I'm forced to spend more hours every day investing in each subject (so basically I'm actually studying). Maybe I'll develop some better student skillz while I'm here.
I couldn't be happier with my decision to switch into the Dante class. I can't say it's my favorite class because I'm truly enjoying them all like I never have before, but it is such a stimulating work of literature; a remarkable peak into his mind, the incredibly detailed Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven of his imagination. It is most definitely worth taking time to study, and if you haven't read it... you should. Here we are lucky enough to have Alessandro Gentili as our professor, an expert on Dante and medieval Florence. Every so often he will read the original Italian text to us which gives the stanzas new life, it's really beautiful.
Do I use the word beautiful too much?
I just don't think I can help it
Please tell me you bought one of those wheels of cheese. I'm sure it would be good to munch on while reading Divine Comedy.
ReplyDeleteI have not yet but conveniently he sets his stand up once a week at a piazza that's less than a minutes walk from my apartment. SO not worry I will get to it soon. I checked out that site you attached in your last comment. It was definitely interesting and thought-provoking. You were right I'm not sure how much of it is solid fact but the ideas are certainly grounded in some truth which is enough to make you wonder. A lot of people were exploited as heretics for defying the church and/or the political powers of their time (Galileo for example was tortured and excommunicated for proving that earth was NOT in fact the center of the universe but part of a solar system when the orthodox belief said otherwise. It took until just about a decade ago for Pope John Paul II to apologize on behalf of the church for its actions against misnamed "heretics" like Galileo and thousands of others). Isn't that cray?
DeleteThat is pretty cray... Your blogging has inspired me to actually do stuff on this blog site I created about a year ago. Maybe I can find some time to do it.
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