老大上了三周的CTY Renaissance的課，昨天回來了，不是一般的興奮，說學到好多東西，基本不停的講了兩個多小時，name dropping聽的偶一愣一愣的（連亨利八世的六個王後的順序都說對了），發現這些年的書都白看了，原來I knew nothing. 要知道他們沒有課後作業，沒有考試，這些東西都印在他腦子裏，憑的完全是興趣。讓對文科冷淡的老大能對文藝複興這麽有熱情，老師的功底太深的。從老大的複述，很多用詞語氣估計都是老師的翻版，那老師簡直就是一個全職演員，講到那個曆史人物就化身其中，風趣幽默，娃們聽了還想聽
camp的其他活動也不錯，一次去三藩的field trip，平時有運動和遊戲，不過聽著還是上課最受歡迎。stanford住宿很一般，宿舍外麵大興土木，瀝青味道很濃。飲食說就是chicken, chicken and chicken. 每天洗澡（比在家強多了），一周洗一次衣服，沒有任何不適應的。班上十多個同學，除了一個香港娃都是美國娃，但是彎曲隻有老大一人，剩下的基本是南加，紐約和DC的同學。
他們開學第一天寫了top 10 things you know about the Renaissance. 最後一天又寫了一次，下麵是俺娃的before & after，看看老師有多牛
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
娃們還自己弄了份報紙， The Renaissance Times，寫的太好玩了，他們實在是領會了那個時代的真諦，娃們不是一般的厲害，camp不是一般的歡樂。抄幾段：
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
