Italian School

I started school last Wednesday (September 19). I go to a private Catholic school, and my class has a language focus. Here are a few of the differences between my Italian school (San Giuseppe) and Meridian High School:

• At Meridian: Classes go from 8 in the morning until 2:30 in the afternoon. We eat lunch at school around noon.  At San Giuseppe: School goes from 8:30 until 12:30. Then we go home for lunch.
• At Meridian: During homeroom, we must stay in our classrooms reading or studying (Unless we have a pass), and no food or drink is allowed  At San Giuseppe: During homeroom, we must leave our classroom, and we can basically do whatever we want. If you want to eat or drink something you brought from home, you can.
• At Meridian: No air conditioning, so every teacher has three fans going to try to keep people cool.  At San Giuseppe: No air conditioning. No fans. Top floor of the building. Everyday it is 80 degrees. Add that to the dress code (Read Next Bullet) and it is a miracle I haven't died yet!
• At Meridian: The dress code is pretty relaxed. Basically if you don't look like a whore or wear something with an inappropriate slogan on it, you can wear anything. At San Giuseppe: You can't wear shorts. You can't have open-toed shoes. You must wear a cardigan if you wear a tank top (In other words, no shoulders showing). The dress code is enforced because the two principals are nuns (always in full nun clothing)
• At Meridian: You have seven class periods a day. Every day you have the same class schedule and subject (for the whole semester) You switch classrooms for each different subject.  At San Giuseppe: You sit in the same room all day, and the teachers change rooms for each period (It made my first few days easy since trying to switch classes without knowing Italian would have sucked). You have four classes a day. Each day, the class subjects are different. I would list my subjects, but half the time I don't know what's going on, so I am not really sure what I am taking. 
• At Meridian: Languages are taught through a textbook, and at the beginning of each year, we review what we have learned in the previous years.  At San Giuseppe: It's all verbal learning. On the first day, the Spanish teacher walked in speaking Spanish the whole time. I understand nothing.
• At Meridian: New classes start each year. Therefore, once finals are over, no homework is assigned. At San Giuseppe:  Because they are in the same class with the same kids as last year, they had summer homework. I was exempt from that.
• At Meridian: I was driven to and from school everyday.  At San Giuseppe: I get dropped off in the morning, but then after school I have to walk home. That walk includes crossing one of the busiest streets in town and a FOUR LANE HIGHWAY on foot (Sidenote: The rumors of the crazy Italian drivers are true. Crossing that highway on foot is like asking for death on a daily basis).
• At Meridian: Before school, everyone hangs around their first hour classroom or in the Small Gym. At San Giuseppe: Before school, everyone is outside smoking (I don't participate). I'm pretty sure I am slowly developing lung cancer from all the second hand smoke I am inhaling, and my clothes always smell disgusting.
• At Meridian: We have lockers where we keep our bags during school. At San Giuseppe: No lockers. We have our bags with us while in class. 
• At Meridian: You get screamed at for talking during class or using your cell phone. Plus you must ask to go to leave class or go to the bathroom. At San Giuseppe: Everyone texts during class. Everyone talks over each other the entire time. People just get up and leave whenever they feel like it.

All of my classmates speak really good English are very friendly. Unless they are an English teacher, the teachers can't really speak English, but they are nice to me and try to talk to me when they can. My Italian is slowly improving. That's all I have to say for now. Ciao!