I have been in Italy now for almost a week. Much of the week has been spent in administrative offices, trying to finish filling out the various forms. Unfortunately, certain offices are rather unorganized, leading to multiple trips. I finally finished gathering all of the forms needed for my permit of stay, which I got yesterday, so I am officially allowed to study here.
Luckily, most of my classmates needed to track down forms and search for post offices, etc., so I've gotten to spend a lot of time with them. There are about 13 of us in Italy from the program-- the rest are currently in the Netherlands. All but one of us are living in the newly built residence hall located in the outskirts of northern Milan. The university is situated in an area that was previously a factory district, so the feel is very modern with a lot of concrete. But, it still is pretty, and from the kitchens, if the sky is clear, you can see the Alps in the distance.
Today our Italian course finally began. The professor, Diego, had a lot of energy and spoke in Italian the entire 3 hours. Right now we're in the intensive learning period, which means we will take Italian 3 hours every day for the next 2 weeks. Although the material that we learned today was basic, it was so difficult to pay attention to the rapid Italian for so long. Since most of us only know basic phrases, I think this 2 week period will be rather difficult, but hopefully worth it in the end.
Tonight I'm going into the city for the second time. Last time I went with my classmates to look at some of the famous buildings (which I don't have pictures of yet, because I forgot the cord that connects my camera to my computer--whoops!). Tonight I'll be going to a bar to watch a soccer game-- Barcelona v. Lyon. I don't really know anything about these club teams, or the league in which they play, but I was told that this is a very important game.
I guess that's all for now!
Ciao :)
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1 comment:
that sounds awesome!!!!! intensive language...oh i love it.
um, but exhausting. after a total of 12 hours of portuguese in my life, i went to conversation hour...and actually spoke for an hour! in a conversation with 2 others. i couldn't believe that i could actually do it. and i actually attempted difficult topics-i talked about my freshman year and why i moved out of True, how it's difficult to live with people, about my experience in Ecuador being a gringa...etc. imagine! and we haven't learned past yet...that was fun.
oh it's lovely learning a language again-but what an effort it takes! i forgot...
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