“Learning another language is not only learning different words for the same things but learning another way to think about things.” – Flora Lewis
Buongiorno! Come stai?
Today was my last day in Italian language class. I was sad and honestly a little relieved to see it come to an end. My brain was getting an intense workout and I was ready for a break.
I loved my teachers and fellow classmates but it is challenging to learn a new language. Many ups and downs along the way. In the beginning, it was all very fresh and exciting. I was learning the basics very easily…and then as we would add one building block on top of another it was becoming more and more difficult. I feel like I have a good basic understanding of the language and my brain is able to process the written word, but to hear it spoken or to try to speak it is a whole other challenge.
Annarita was our grammar teacher every morning for two hours for the entire three weeks. She was amazing. She is very organized and methodical in her teaching structure. I loved the way she taught and wrote everything on the whiteboard for us to copy into our notes so we could visualize the spelling and pronunciation of the words. The language is very different from English in that it has masculine and feminine as well as singular and plural characteristics. This changes the entire sentence structure – the root of the word remains the same but the ending is different. If I read it, I can understand it, but again, to speak it or listen to it, I must go very slowly for my brain to comprehend. I’m sure with time and daily practice, I will get better.
As for the conversation classes, for one reason or another, we had several teachers over the course of the three weeks. I enjoyed all the teachers, but this made learning to speak a little difficult. Each teacher had their own style of teaching (and accent – the teachers are from different regions of Italy meaning the dialects are different) so we constantly needed to adapt and I think we might have had some gaps in the lesson plans. Silvia was our conversation teacher the first day and this last week. I enjoyed her style of teaching. She pushed us to the point of being uncomfortable but that’s how you learn. Yesterday she taught us hand gestures which are just as important as words in Italian culture. She showed us a video where two people communicate only using their hands. It’s quite funny to me how expressive Italians are because Americans don’t really use our bodies as much. I feel like we are more reserved. At times I felt a little uncomfortable role-playing different scenarios with the hand gestures but I tried to embrace the experience as much as I could. 🤌
Overall, it was a good experience and I’m really glad I signed up for the lessons. Sometimes I feel like I was born with the golden ticket because I speak English and it’s now the universal language but other times, I wish I was multilingual. If someone speaks more than one language, I’m in awe of them. It’s like they have superpowers. I remember meeting Luca and although he has an accent so sometimes his “r’s” sound different or he struggles with the “th” sound, his English vocabulary is huge…probably bigger than mine. In class, I was the only one (and only one of a few in the entire school) who spoke only one language. It was so interesting to hear about everyone’s background, how many languages they spoke and why they were learning Italian. But at times I felt a little, I won’t say stupid, but limited, that I haven’t had more worldly experiences…and I say that with having traveled to roughly 30 countries. Language is such an important part of an experience and I wish I knew more.
Italian is a difficult language to speak – it is very musical and you have to find the rhythm – but at least now, I can read the advertisements around the city, and the menus at the restaurants to order my meals. Plus, I can eavesdrop on a little bit of what is happening around me and get the basics of the discussion—one step at a time.
Have you ever lived anywhere and not visited the main tourist attraction? When I lived in New York, I met tons of New Yorkers who had never been to the top of the Empire State Building or ridden the Staten Island Ferry. Well, Luca is that guy. He has lived in Florence for over 10 years now and has never been inside the cupola (dome) of the Duomo (the big church) built by Filippo Brunelleschi. He had also never seen the Statue of David until I made him go with me last year. This is my fourth time in Florence and I’ve never even been inside the Duomo. So I told Luca before I leave this time, we are going inside the Duomo and going to climb all 463 steps to the top, and experience this incredible feat of architecture. The whole reason Luca moved to Florence was because of Da Vinci (who helped design the gold sphere at the top of the Duomo) and the beautiful architecture so it really was a must-see on the list.
We had a fantastic experience.
To visit the cupola, you must reserve a time when you buy your ticket. Randomly, while we were waiting in line to enter during our scheduled time, I noticed Luca waving at someone. I looked up and there were some of my classmates from school (Prescila from Brazil and Anastasiia from Russia/Germany along with one of her friends who was visiting). Unbeknownst to all of us, we had reserved the same time slot. So we let them cut in line with us so we could all climb the stairs and experience the cupola together.
The climb was exhausting but the views of the fresco inside the Cupola and outside of the city were stunning. Not to mention, the weather was beautiful. We finally had a day of sunshine after so much rain and cloudy days. I’m so glad we made the climb to the top.
Just to follow up on one of my other posts, Luca and I went to the M.C. Escher Exhibit. It was fantastic and interactive. Here are a few of my favorite drawings. I have to admit, I didn’t know too much about Mr. Escher prior to this exhibit but his work is incredible (not only the art but the math involved in each piece) and very influential in our current culture from company logos and branding, advertisements, movies, album covers, video games, etc. Here are a few films his work has inspired. Someone even designed a print of Bernie Sanders and the famous photo of him wearing his handmade gloves. Ha!
I’m excited to spend Christmas this year in Florence. New experiences always make me feel alive and inspired. Wishing you and your loved ones a very happy holiday season. For those who celebrate Christmas like I do, Buon Natale!🎄
Goodnight and much love from Florence. 🇮🇹