This is Definitely Not a Sheep Farm

January 8 (continued)

The thing about dinner being so late: when jet lag hits, there’s the possibility of falling asleep in the middle of one of the many, many courses. We had our first group dinner with our professors on Sunday night and Jodie had to warn us not to eat too much because there were still two more courses. On that note, Italian pizza is so good. As in, I may not be able to eat American pizza ever again (just kidding). At home, I’m known for being kind of a fussy eater, but I’ve gotten a lot better and I want to try everything (I even gave that glob of green leafy stuff a chance).

January 9

Today we started Italian class. There are eighteen students currently in the program, so we’ve been divided up into two classes of nine. My professor’s name is Umberto—he talks fast and writes even faster, if that’s even possible. On the plus side, taking Spanish is helping me grasp this more. However, I keep trying to speak Italian in a Spanish accent, which means I’m butchering pronunciations (as usual). It’s Spatalian! On the first day, we were introduced to greetings, the alphabet, numbers, some basic questions (including “Puoi parlare lentamente?” which means “Can you talk slower?”), masculine and feminine endings as well as their plurals, days of the week, months of the year, and seasons.

After a light lunch in Linguaviva’s courtyard, a group of us walked around the marketplace, which just happens to be right along the Medici Palace. Beautiful. I promise to post pictures on my Facebook soon, I just want to learn more about the city before I start to post. Otherwise, I’ll have an entire album dedicated to shots of the Duomo at different angles and times of the day.

Like this one! From one of the classrooms at Linguaviva

After break, we had an Orientation, which involved hearing more about each of the classes and filling out even more paperwork. On the bright side, we’ll be getting a cultural pass that will allow us to go into the museums for free and without having to wait in line for obscene amounts of time. This list includes:

—Galleria degli Uffizi

—Galleria dell’Accademia

—Cappelle Medicee

—Palazzo Pitti: Galleria del Costume – Galleria Palatina – Museo degli Argenti – Giardino di Boboli – Galleria d’Arte Moderna – Museo delle Porcellane

—Museo di San Marco

—Museo Nazionale del Bargello

—Palazzo Davanzati

And I plan to visit ALL OF THEM.

January 10

Today everybody checked out of the hotel before going to class. I’ll miss living so close to everyone, but I’ll be glad to have my own space (and unpack!) and meet my Italian family. In class we learned the colors, masculine and feminine articles and their plural forms, how to say where someone is from, and how to place an order for food. A small group of us attempted to use these new skills when ordering lunch from a nearby deli, but only succeeded in confusing ourselves and the owner (who switched to English and gave us free samples of some kind of cheesy spread).

After lunch, we slowly congregated in one of Linguaviva’s classrooms and attempted to work on homework until we got our roommate assignments. One precarious taxi ride later (seatbelts? Pfft, who needs ‘em? As long as your taxi driver doesn’t hit anybody on a scooter/motorcycle, you’re fine), Katie (a psychology major from St. Olaf) and I were dropped off at the home of Daniella and Andrea, in a residential area about twenty minutes from Linguaviva. Daniella greeted us and gave us a brief tour before leaving us to unpack and nap before dinner.

My room for the next ten weeks

I will try to keep from describing every meal in detail, but ever since I arrived in Florence, I’ve been hungry all the time. Tonight, dinner consisted of some kind of pasta mixed with broccoli (yes, I ate my vegetables), chicken and French fries, and fruitcake (break, fruit, and walnuts all available throughout). Daniella and Andrea have two grandchildren, ages five and one. She is a painter who used to work as a social worker for abused women and he used to work at a pharmacy (I think?). I’m grateful that we were placed into homes in pairs, that way we can work together when communicating. The language barrier can be frustrating, but it’s helping everyone learn.