老大上了三周的CTY Renaissance的课，昨天回来了，不是一般的兴奋，说学到好多东西，基本不停的讲了两个多小时，name dropping听的偶一愣一愣的（连亨利八世的六个王后的顺序都说对了），发现这些年的书都白看了，原来I knew nothing. 要知道他们没有课后作业，没有考试，这些东西都印在他脑子里，凭的完全是兴趣。让对文科冷淡的老大能对文艺复兴这么有热情，老师的功底太深的。从老大的复述，很多用词语气估计都是老师的翻版，那老师简直就是一个全职演员，讲到那个历史人物就化身其中，风趣幽默，娃们听了还想听
camp的其他活动也不错，一次去三藩的field trip，平时有运动和游戏，不过听着还是上课最受欢迎。stanford住宿很一般，宿舍外面大兴土木，沥青味道很浓。饮食说就是chicken, chicken and chicken. 每天洗澡（比在家强多了），一周洗一次衣服，没有任何不适应的。班上十多个同学，除了一个香港娃都是美国娃，但是弯曲只有老大一人，剩下的基本是南加，纽约和DC的同学。
他们开学第一天写了top 10 things you know about the Renaissance. 最后一天又写了一次，下面是俺娃的before & after，看看老师有多牛
before:
1. The Rennaisons (I know, I spelled it wrong) happened in the 1400s
2.Its about artwork
3.Innovation
4.Rennaisons starts with "R"
5.literature
6.William Shakespear
7.Michelangello
8.thing
9.thing
10.thing
After:
1.Corruption of the Church
2.The Calamitous 14th centrury
3.Michelangelo's King David and Last Judgement
4.Leonardo's Mona Lisa and Last Supper
5.Shakespear's Midsummer Night's Dream and other plays
6.Ghiberti's Doors of Paradise
7.Brunelleschi's Cathedral Dome
8.The Reformation led by Martin Luther
9.The Age of Expansion
10.The Counter Reformation
娃们还自己弄了份报纸， The Renaissance Times，写的太好玩了，他们实在是领会了那个时代的真谛，娃们不是一般的厉害，camp不是一般的欢乐。抄几段：
Personals
I am looking for a wife for my son Giovanni. He is a condittiero with an excellent reputation. He is also a humanist. I am the Duke of Ferrara and possess lots of land. My son's future wife will be the next Duchess. Giovanni and I are looking for an educated and competent woman who can handle the duchy while we fight wars. She will be of moderate height, beautiful, and noble. She will bring a dowry of lands or at lest 800 florins. This woman needs to be a lover of fine art and music, a devout Catholic, fluent in Latin, and an excellent writer. If you fit these qualifications, please write back to arrange a meeting.
Obituaries
Notacriminal Thiefcoward
It is our extreme delight to announce that a most villainous scoundrel of the many that infest our glorious city blessed by God, London, has been beheaded for numerous Terrible and Scandalous crimes, some of which are: theft, harassment, begging, and most villainous of all, defiling His Majesty's name. His head has thus been placed on London Bridge so it may prove an example to the honest citizens not to follow his example. It was the 16th day of December in the year of Our Lord 1399 that the criminal meet his well-deservd end. His age was not exactly certain because of lack of birth records. Being of the name Notacriminal Thiefcoward and of Yorkshire birth, this villain departed his village in 1394 in search of Fame and Riches. His family was economically unstable because their land was confiscated by noblemen who obviously need to make more money after the Black Death.
Thiefcoward left his home village in search of the aforesaid Fame and Fortune. But this rotting head has attained a higher status than he should have considered his pitiful life.
Advice: Dear Niccolo
Dear Niccolo,
I've Just been elected pope, and I'm not sure what I should do. A lot of the cardinals do not like me and they think they want a different guy to be pope. I'm torn between my religious duties as a priest and my desire to stay alive. What should I do?
Dear Insecurely Pope,
You should bribe the Caridnals. If they do not support you then excommunicate them or defrock them. However, you need to make sure they are not powerful enough to take revenge for your actions. Let them know that you can take away their access to money and power so they must give in to whatever you want. - Niccolo
