Mona Lisa Smile [notes] part 1

*Starts off on her way to teach at "the most conservative college in the nation" welsley
*"Catherine Watson"
*All girls catholic school
*Seems to be stuck in this place where she doesn't belong. Too proper, strict and boring
*Begins teaching art history 100
*The students seem cocky and rude and try to feel superior to Catherine
*Catherine is overwhelmed because she thought she was there to teach them, not the opposite
*She finds out that the only reason she got the job was because the instructor they really wanted took a job at Brown so she was the only other option
*It seems like she feels insignificant at the school and the other administrators don't help that feeling at all
they were surprised to hear that she had never been to Europe
*One of her roommates warns her about the school and how they "have claws under their white gloves"
*After her first hard day she brings a surprise into the next class.  She forces the girls to give their real input by creating a new syllabus.
*she is attempting to get the girls to open their minds
*The focus is on a groupof 4 girls that share a dorm.  One of which is very rude and impersonal and starts creating rumors about Catherine
*The females that work and attend at the college seem to gossip a lot and judge each other very harshly
*The school nurse ends up getting fired for providing contraception to students and one of them writes an article for the school paper saying that she promotes promiscuity
*The girls have to attend lectures on how to be a good wife
*Most of the students there just live like they have always been taught and conform to their surroundings, Catherine is trying to show them that they can do anything they want to do or be anything they want to be
*As the girls are continuing in Catherines class, they are begining to lighten up and find themselves rather than what society had been telling them they were meant to be
* The school does not like the way that catherine teaches because they are "traditionalists" and one woman hints to Catherine that Welseley wont want her much longer if she doesn't follow their ways. .
*Catherine's roommate surprises her with her boyfriend
*Joselle is interested in the Italian teacher and continues to try to get him back although it could hurt his career.
*Paul proposes to catherine, but she doesn't seem like she really wants him
*Paul ends up leaving and the engagement is off