Jan. 9,10,11

Jan. 9,10,11

Classes have officially started. The room is hot and stuffy, but we are learning Italian which is very helpful. Ciao! Sono America, sono Whitney. (Hello! I am American. I am Whitney). Pretty good huh?! We are also taking consumer behavior with Bringberg. We have to read one or two chapter a night, and we have quizzes every day… Since reading is not exactly my forte, I am struggling a bit with this, but hopefully it will get better.

Something that I have noticed in Lugano is that everyone has a dog, and dogs are allowed in all the stores in restaurants! I am working on transferring this culture trend to America so stay tuned.

Today (Wednesday), we went on a beautiful run to a local town called Gandria. Our run took us winding around the lake with breathtaking views and picturesque towns. It is finally kicking in how unbelievably lucky we are to be experiencing such amazing things. Not only are we traveling abroad, we are living in one of the most beautiful areas of the WORLD.

Gandria (Jill, Kelly, Nicole, me, Marlee, and Whit)

Gandria

We are provided dinner Mondays through Thursdays, and they have been so good! For breakfast and lunch we are on our own, so we obviously take the cheap route of peanut butter and toast. So dinner allows us to experience some delicious Italian food. Today on our run, however, we splurged and had a great tortellini lunch at a small restaurant. Everything in Gandria is closed except for this one little restaurant. The lifestyle here is so much more relaxed. Many places are randomly closed, people are out enjoying the day and not at work, and meals last three to four hours (more of a social gathering than a time to eat).

The beginning of our hike on Sunday...

... It was a long hike.