Day 11 in Firenze

Not much to report today from Florence. We resumed classes after what felt like a really long weekend. Class sucks. Actually, I take that back. My International Sale of Goods class can be interesting at times, if only because I can actually envision a time in the future when knowledge of the subject will be valuable. My Comparative Law class on the other hand bores me to no end; I just don't know when it will help me as a lawyer to know the intricacies of the Italian (and other European) justice system and what academics propose American law schools do to improve our knowledge of transnational law. Oh well, I guess there's nothing I can do about it now except go to class and try to take enough in to pass the exam.

Pedro was asking about the demographics of the program, so let me see what I can do to shed a light on that subject. I believe about half of the students are from Penn State Dickinson School of Law. It turns out that Dickinson actually has two locations for their law school, one in Carlisle and the other in University Park (Happy Valley) where the main campus of Penn State University is located. The other half of the students in the program come from all over the place. Some schools include: University of Florida, Northeastern, Widener, Denver University, and Nova Southeastern. I think that there are over 20 law schools represented. My roommate and I are the only representatives from Indiana University School of Law - Indianapolis. As to gender, the program is pretty much 50/50. I hope that answers your question. Oh yeah, my next program is even more diverse, but I'll get to that when the time comes.

I really don't have much else to report today. I woke up, ate breakfast, went to class, went to dinner, and now here I am. I will say something about breakfast. Our room at the hotel has a small kitchenette with an array of dishes. However, there are no bowls. I've also been to several stores looking for plastic disposable bowls, striking out each time. Why do the Italians hate bowls? Any guesses? I sure as hell can't figure it out.

Lastly, for dinner we went to this spot close to our hotel (3-4 blocks) where I got spaghetti bolognese, roasted potatoes, and a beer. I chose beer largely because another guy we went with did, but it also sounded good. Not to mention that beer and wine are usually cheaper than getting Coke. I think this 20 oz. beer only cost me 1.50 euro. I know for a fact that a 12 oz. can of Coke is at least 2.50 euro. I don't really know how much the beer cost, but my entire meal was 10.50 and I know from experience that the pasta is 4.50. Sorry for rambling...I'm just trying to reason through it with you.

Anyway, the beer I had was really delicious. It's called Birra Moretti and it's brewed in Milan, Italy. That's why it's so cheap, because it's made here. You can get similar sized bottles of Peroni (also brewed in Italy) for 1 euro at the Euro Store. Yep, just like American dollar stores, there exist euro stores. It's actually a great place to get beverages because it's monumentally cheaper than at other places. Anyway, if you ever spot Birra Moretti stateside, I highly recommend you try it.

Okay, I'm gonna go read for class tomorrow because we are going out tonight. We're headed to the 5 shots for 5 euros place again. A guy in our group negotiated with the owner/bartender to give us the deal of 5 tequila shots for 5 euros. Um, sounds like a terrible idea. Well, at least to me it does because I hate tequila. Nevertheless, it should be fun. I'll try to take more and better pictures and post some of them tomorrow. Ciao!