The class is welcomed by the principal as well as the art teacher. The surprise is that there will be a cooking course twice a week, as well as a group cooking contest. Who's on board? As we know, Joy is enthusiastic about it, but what about the others?

It's the first day of school for our friends. In fact, it's their first year of middle school. The desks are set up for pairs of pupils, so choices have to be made as to where to sit and whom to share a desk with.

Alice introduces us to her group of friends. They've called themselves "JAMS" and we find out why in this episode. She begins telling us the story of how they got to know one another. Alice talks about la prima media. This is equivalent to the first year of middle school or the 6th grade of elementary school. The kids are about 11 or 12 years old.

Arianna tells us about her months of study in Potsdam and how beneficial the Erasmus experience was for her.

Marika and Arianna discuss the Erasmus Program, a student exchange program that was founded in the late 1980s. It allows European university students to study at other EU country universities. The program is named after the Dutch humanist, Erasmus of Rotterdam (1466-1536).

Maurizio is a young student from the province of Pescara, going to school (university) in Rome. He tells us a little bit about himself, and his life in Rome. This is an excellent opportunity to compare how Italian treats tenses with respect to English, especially the English present perfect, and present continuous.

Studying is not the only thing students do at the university. They like to have fun, too. Being from out of town, but too far away for a commute, Serena and Elena rent an apartment with other students. Find out what they like to do in the evenings!

Get the inside story on going to university in Italy! Serena and Elena talk about how the school year is broken up, where you register, taking exams and how the grading works, what grade point average you need to pass, and much more.

Serena is a university student from Maratea. She's just come back from an internship in Russia. She tells us about Russia, and also about her plans for New Year's Eve.

Rosario chooses to avoid the encounter with his mother, so he makes up an excuse and returns to class. Meanwhile, in the lesson, Marioni puts Sara to the test, but she is determined not to give up.

Matteo and his classmates, during the break, get together to cheer for Sara in the hope that she manages to convince Marioni to let her play with them. Rosario, on the other hand, is agitated and this doesn't escape either the boys or his teacher.

In class, Barbara proves to be much further ahead than her classmates in the curriculum; for this reason the teacher decides to assign double the homework to all students. Meanwhile, Sara continues her battle, trying to convince Marioni to give her the chance to play.

Irene becomes furious with Luca when she discovers that he is obsessively following and controlling Marco, while she takes refuge in a fictitious identity to distract herself from her own thoughts. Meanwhile, Barbara arrives at the new school and Sara makes a request with a determined tone.

Barbara and her mother appear decidedly more serene, and the girl seems ready to start over. Meanwhile, at Rosario's house, his parents try to reassure him in anticipation of the meeting with his mother.

Finally Max manages to get Alice into the Bistrot where the surprise party had been organized. After the party, Max meets Michelino who explains who the lawyer is and what happened to the cake.