It has been a week since I arrived in Italy and I am slowly finding my footing in Siena. I can find my way around if I am trying to get to the school or the main Piazza. Anywhere else is really a guessing game though, the good thing is that Siena is so small that if you are lost you will most likely find something you recognize in less than 10 minutes. My program made us do several activities that aimed to teach us how to find out way around and they were so helpful!
The first day, our host families showed us the way to get to school from our homes. I walk about 30 minutes to get to class but I could take the bus if I felt like being lazy. I really love the walk because I get to take 30 minutes to watch and listen to Italian people. That may make me a creeper but It's a great way to observe the Italian way of life. After getting to class, we took a tour of Siena and then came back and took our Italian placement tests. I got placed in the advanced class with 3 other students, I was so surprised! Not much happened this day really but it was exciting to start talking to the other american students and getting to know my future friends.
The next day we began our Italian lessons (which we have 5 hours a day for 3 weeks). These are exhausting and go very slowly with only 4 people. I can definitely tell that they are making my Italian so much better and every day I come home with the ability to say more things to my host mom. I can now have a real conversation about my stance on American politics with my host mom when she asks. This is fantastic because all this Syria business is very important and I was very interested to know what opinion an Italian might have on the matter. Turns out, my host mom is just as Liberal as I am and completely opposes American intervention in Syria. Who knew that Italians disagree with nearly ever political move America makes? (oh, wait, everyone knows that!). It is also interesting to note that American politics makes up a large portion of the news programs here, it was also like this in Sweden. People in the U.S. sometimes don't realize that the actions of our government really are scrutinized by everyone in the world and that it is extremely important for everyone in the U.S. to be informed about what our government is doing because it affects so many people.
This past weekend wasn't too tiring but I was still getting used to the time change so I seemed to be endlessly exhausted. Thankfully I am now fully recovered from JetLag. Sunday, I got a new addition to my host family! A new student from New York is staying my my host mom and I until December so now we have a full house. This is great because there is always someone to talk to and I don't ever have to be bored. This is also a bit difficult for me because anyone who knows me well knows that I need my alone time, which doesn't really happen. Maybe when I have a more steady schedule I will be able to sneak away a few times a week and find a nice spot in the city to read for a while.
On Monday, we started our intensive Italian course and so far I am still working hard at it even though 5 hours of Italian language in a row kinda makes me want to slink under a rock somewhere. I will Talk more about this week when I post another blog post this weekend.
Ciao! (P.S. I gave up looking for spelling errors so do me a favor and ignore any that you may find!)
I am so glad you are doing another blog - The way you describe Sienna is exactly how I expect it to look. I am so excited to explore Florence/Rome and, hopefully, a day in Sienna. I am still pretty positive we will be able to see you when we are there, and I'll take any amount of time for that!
ReplyDeleteHey yo! Its me! I am following you! :P I know you need your time alone. Sounds like your doing great. We will be in touch again soon ... Facebook! :)
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