Packing last night meant that I got to sleep in today. Hurrah! After our last breakfast in the hotel, we headed upstairs once more for class. Italian class day 2 went relatively well. I discovered that my knowledge of Latin will make Italian grammar and reading comprehension much easier but I also discovered that I struggle with remembering vocabulary and conversation.
After class a few of us went out to explore the covered market (which is like a daily farmers market) and hunt down our lunch. I amazed everyone by consuming a full bag of dried apricots all on my own in a ridiculously short period of time - in my defense, apricots (albiocche, I learned today) are delicious and I was hungry.
Back at Linguaviva, we had another round of paperwork (this time some of our residency paperwork) and then we were handed our housing assignments and then shipped out in taxis to meet our host families. My roommate, Sarah, and I are with an older woman named (wait for it) Anna and, it turns out, her mother, Maria. Maria, who we are told to call Nonne, speaks no English while Anna speaks very little. The three of us (Anna, Sarah, and me) very slowly get the details on the apartment, asking about buses, electricity, room in the fridge, and more, relying heavily on hand gestures to get meanings across to each other.
Dinner was... interesting. I wasn't quite sure what to think tonight. We had a very leisurely Italian dinner of homemade squash risotto, roast chicken (at least we think it was chicken), and salad. Delicious, but almost painful in the small-talk department. However Sarah and I were able to cobble together enough Italian to talk a little about ourselves and our families back at home in the States. Sarah has more full sentences than I do, but I have more grammar and can recognize more random words during conversation, so between the two of us we're almost one person with barely passable Italian. Hopefully that gets better.
There's no A/C (which is a little rough in 90+ degree weather), but that's normal for Florentine homes. Anna and Nonne hardly ever open the windows or shutters though, so its a little cooler and my asthma stays under control. Plus there are slightly fewer mosquitos, so that's good. They're pesky little buggers though... they sneak in Lord knows how and bite you only when you're sleeping and can't fight back.
Nonne has a dog (which has made a number of other ACM-ers jealous) named Teo, whom she spoils terribly. Teo's pretty sweet and docile though - and there's no language barrier there. Its kinda nice to have a pet around so far. Sarah and I enjoyed having Anna explain how the dog gets to eat everything that we do because Nonne sneaks him food from the table. Hand motions were again helpful.
So far, it seems Luigi's words of warning about the host families were right: students are placed with families that speak very little English - "it's the Linguaviva trap." But on the bright side, this should do wonders for our Italian language skills!
After class a few of us went out to explore the covered market (which is like a daily farmers market) and hunt down our lunch. I amazed everyone by consuming a full bag of dried apricots all on my own in a ridiculously short period of time - in my defense, apricots (albiocche, I learned today) are delicious and I was hungry.
Back at Linguaviva, we had another round of paperwork (this time some of our residency paperwork) and then we were handed our housing assignments and then shipped out in taxis to meet our host families. My roommate, Sarah, and I are with an older woman named (wait for it) Anna and, it turns out, her mother, Maria. Maria, who we are told to call Nonne, speaks no English while Anna speaks very little. The three of us (Anna, Sarah, and me) very slowly get the details on the apartment, asking about buses, electricity, room in the fridge, and more, relying heavily on hand gestures to get meanings across to each other.
Dinner was... interesting. I wasn't quite sure what to think tonight. We had a very leisurely Italian dinner of homemade squash risotto, roast chicken (at least we think it was chicken), and salad. Delicious, but almost painful in the small-talk department. However Sarah and I were able to cobble together enough Italian to talk a little about ourselves and our families back at home in the States. Sarah has more full sentences than I do, but I have more grammar and can recognize more random words during conversation, so between the two of us we're almost one person with barely passable Italian. Hopefully that gets better.
There's no A/C (which is a little rough in 90+ degree weather), but that's normal for Florentine homes. Anna and Nonne hardly ever open the windows or shutters though, so its a little cooler and my asthma stays under control. Plus there are slightly fewer mosquitos, so that's good. They're pesky little buggers though... they sneak in Lord knows how and bite you only when you're sleeping and can't fight back.
Nonne has a dog (which has made a number of other ACM-ers jealous) named Teo, whom she spoils terribly. Teo's pretty sweet and docile though - and there's no language barrier there. Its kinda nice to have a pet around so far. Sarah and I enjoyed having Anna explain how the dog gets to eat everything that we do because Nonne sneaks him food from the table. Hand motions were again helpful.
So far, it seems Luigi's words of warning about the host families were right: students are placed with families that speak very little English - "it's the Linguaviva trap." But on the bright side, this should do wonders for our Italian language skills!
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