Ciao! Io sono Abby!
Hello, hello.
Week one of classes has come to an end so I thought I'd fill you in on wuz goin' on here in Italia. I'm a bit hyper right now for some reason (and I haven't even had a gelatto!) so please forgive me.
I have had two teachers thus far for my lessons one for language learning and one for more extensive practice and excercises. Both segments have been going all right, but I have quite a bit of catching up to do. It's hard to follow along sometimes because I simply don't have the vocabulary base many of the other students arrived with. The first day of the "esercitazioni di ingua italiana" class, the teacher was asking people to name clothes they had on or objects on the desks. And somehow they knew! I was perplexed (did I miss a class or something?) but it turns out many of them have already taken Italian in their home countries or did some independent studying before they came. So it's been a struggle to catch up, but I'm trying. I have learned only a little thus far; I don't think I could string many meaningful sentences together yet, but it's been good for me to experience a full-immersion class after taking classes in America. Bit more sympathy for the ESL kids, neh? I guess a lot of them speak the same native language, though... Our class is pretty varied. There are only two Americans, three Australians, and one English student, and all of them are at least 30 years older than me... There are also a few Chinese girls, a German, a Dutchman, a couple from Norway, a Polish man (who's a missionary in central Africa!), an Egyptian, a Brazilian, and a Frenchman. Quite varied indeed. They are an interesting group, but they are all quite a bit older than me (except the Chinese girls) so I feel kind of weird hanging out with them between classes. They're retired and I haven't even entered the workforce yet. Still, it's cool to hear about the things they've done and are doing here in Italy. +.
My roommates and I are getting along quite well. I can't really understand exactly what they are talking about, but many of the words are similar to English when you think about the root and they do quite a bit of gesturing so I can usually follow along and pick up some things. They are very patient with me, too, so I am beginning to feel rather more comfortable. Krista had a friend from Ohio/Kentucky visit this weekend so I will be joining them on a tour of Assisi, Gubbia, and hopefully the lake. Also on Sunday is the monthly open-air market and one of Europe's biggest footraces (I don't think it's a marathon, but maybe more like the Riverbank Run?) so there will be much to do in the days to come.
Till next time!
Arrivederci!
Week one of classes has come to an end so I thought I'd fill you in on wuz goin' on here in Italia. I'm a bit hyper right now for some reason (and I haven't even had a gelatto!) so please forgive me.
I have had two teachers thus far for my lessons one for language learning and one for more extensive practice and excercises. Both segments have been going all right, but I have quite a bit of catching up to do. It's hard to follow along sometimes because I simply don't have the vocabulary base many of the other students arrived with. The first day of the "esercitazioni di ingua italiana" class, the teacher was asking people to name clothes they had on or objects on the desks. And somehow they knew! I was perplexed (did I miss a class or something?) but it turns out many of them have already taken Italian in their home countries or did some independent studying before they came. So it's been a struggle to catch up, but I'm trying. I have learned only a little thus far; I don't think I could string many meaningful sentences together yet, but it's been good for me to experience a full-immersion class after taking classes in America. Bit more sympathy for the ESL kids, neh? I guess a lot of them speak the same native language, though... Our class is pretty varied. There are only two Americans, three Australians, and one English student, and all of them are at least 30 years older than me... There are also a few Chinese girls, a German, a Dutchman, a couple from Norway, a Polish man (who's a missionary in central Africa!), an Egyptian, a Brazilian, and a Frenchman. Quite varied indeed. They are an interesting group, but they are all quite a bit older than me (except the Chinese girls) so I feel kind of weird hanging out with them between classes. They're retired and I haven't even entered the workforce yet. Still, it's cool to hear about the things they've done and are doing here in Italy. +.
My roommates and I are getting along quite well. I can't really understand exactly what they are talking about, but many of the words are similar to English when you think about the root and they do quite a bit of gesturing so I can usually follow along and pick up some things. They are very patient with me, too, so I am beginning to feel rather more comfortable. Krista had a friend from Ohio/Kentucky visit this weekend so I will be joining them on a tour of Assisi, Gubbia, and hopefully the lake. Also on Sunday is the monthly open-air market and one of Europe's biggest footraces (I don't think it's a marathon, but maybe more like the Riverbank Run?) so there will be much to do in the days to come.
Till next time!
Arrivederci!