Time here moves slowly.
But in a leisurely, we-have-all-the-time-in-the-world, kind of way. Yesterday was the first day we had the opportunity to eat on our own, without the guidance of the program. For lunch, all eight of us hit up a pizzeria for lunch, which was cheap, easy, and delicious. Then for dinner, we had the rude realization that resturants don't even open around here until 7 or 7:30 PM. We didn't sit down for dinner until about 9:45, then didn't leave until 1 AM. Over here, dinner is a social event.We also were the subject of severe scrutiny from the rest of the patrons. Filiberto assures us that once we've been to places a couple of times people will just wave and say "ciao!" because they'll start to recognize us. We did have one man who said "ciao" as he was leaving the resturant past our table, after staring at us for his entire meal. Because I have dark hair and eyes, people don't necessarily spot me as American right away. But for the girls with blonde or light hair, or blue eyes, people stare more pointedly, and when I'm with them, they stare at all of us. I've had a couple of people speak Italian to me, and I've had to reply with "Mi dispiace, non parlo italiano" (I'm sorry, I don't speak Italian). But then they hear me talk and everyone knows what I can't hide - the fact that I'm American.
Earlier in the day, the obvious American-ness of us all actually helped us meet some of the foreign exchange students who are studying throught the Università dell' Macerata. All eight of us were walking throught the piazza and and some girls said "Americans!" There were a couple of people from Australia, Ireland, and Canada. They're all studying here for the whole year, so they knew the AHA Fall Semester Macerata 2011 students, and were looking out for us. We chatted for a while and they told us they were going out that night, and told us what bar they would be at.
So after dinner, even though it was already one o'clock, my roommates and I headed over to see if we could find them. We stopped at Maracuja first, but the most people were sitting outside and we clearly stood out, so we headed over to Quattro Porte and ran into them right away. They showed us the ropes and introduced us to a bunch of people they've already met and gave us some advice on living in the city - who to talk to, what bars were popular and all that, even though they aren't Italians, it was nice to meet some other people.
This morning we took our Italian placement tests. I took Italian 172 and 173 last year at DePauw, but last semester they didn't offer the 200 level class I needed so I didn't take it. In addition to my absolute failure to study, this meant that the placement test was a little bit... rough. I know I learned most of it.... but remembering was challenging. We had some listening and reading comprehension parts and also some conversation. I'm cringing at the thought of what the results of my test will be. Today we got our class schedules (I'll be taking Italian, Italian Cinema, Art History, Modern Italy, and Cross-cultural Communications). We have no classes on Fridays, but we have excursions scheduled, and we should get that schedule within the next two days.
Filiberto keeps telling us to sit with random Italians at the Mensa (student cafeteria) just to talk and practice our Italian, as well as to meet people. Today, three of us sat with Laura, a student at the university who spoke English. I'm not very good at just walking up and sitting with people, especially when my Italian (as proved by my test this morning) is so poor. Also, I'm not entirely sure it's a normal thing for Italians to do (just sit down with strangers), since they seem to stare so obviously at us when we're in resturants and out, so I'm a little sure we're creating awkward situations for the Italians and for us.
Tonight I think I'm going to try and cook for myself rather than spending three hours at a resturant or trying to make broken conversations with Italian students... it should be an adventure, that's for sure, since I don't know how to cook, at all. May end up going out after all.
But in a leisurely, we-have-all-the-time-in-the-world, kind of way. Yesterday was the first day we had the opportunity to eat on our own, without the guidance of the program. For lunch, all eight of us hit up a pizzeria for lunch, which was cheap, easy, and delicious. Then for dinner, we had the rude realization that resturants don't even open around here until 7 or 7:30 PM. We didn't sit down for dinner until about 9:45, then didn't leave until 1 AM. Over here, dinner is a social event.We also were the subject of severe scrutiny from the rest of the patrons. Filiberto assures us that once we've been to places a couple of times people will just wave and say "ciao!" because they'll start to recognize us. We did have one man who said "ciao" as he was leaving the resturant past our table, after staring at us for his entire meal. Because I have dark hair and eyes, people don't necessarily spot me as American right away. But for the girls with blonde or light hair, or blue eyes, people stare more pointedly, and when I'm with them, they stare at all of us. I've had a couple of people speak Italian to me, and I've had to reply with "Mi dispiace, non parlo italiano" (I'm sorry, I don't speak Italian). But then they hear me talk and everyone knows what I can't hide - the fact that I'm American.
Earlier in the day, the obvious American-ness of us all actually helped us meet some of the foreign exchange students who are studying throught the Università dell' Macerata. All eight of us were walking throught the piazza and and some girls said "Americans!" There were a couple of people from Australia, Ireland, and Canada. They're all studying here for the whole year, so they knew the AHA Fall Semester Macerata 2011 students, and were looking out for us. We chatted for a while and they told us they were going out that night, and told us what bar they would be at.
So after dinner, even though it was already one o'clock, my roommates and I headed over to see if we could find them. We stopped at Maracuja first, but the most people were sitting outside and we clearly stood out, so we headed over to Quattro Porte and ran into them right away. They showed us the ropes and introduced us to a bunch of people they've already met and gave us some advice on living in the city - who to talk to, what bars were popular and all that, even though they aren't Italians, it was nice to meet some other people.
This morning we took our Italian placement tests. I took Italian 172 and 173 last year at DePauw, but last semester they didn't offer the 200 level class I needed so I didn't take it. In addition to my absolute failure to study, this meant that the placement test was a little bit... rough. I know I learned most of it.... but remembering was challenging. We had some listening and reading comprehension parts and also some conversation. I'm cringing at the thought of what the results of my test will be. Today we got our class schedules (I'll be taking Italian, Italian Cinema, Art History, Modern Italy, and Cross-cultural Communications). We have no classes on Fridays, but we have excursions scheduled, and we should get that schedule within the next two days.
Filiberto keeps telling us to sit with random Italians at the Mensa (student cafeteria) just to talk and practice our Italian, as well as to meet people. Today, three of us sat with Laura, a student at the university who spoke English. I'm not very good at just walking up and sitting with people, especially when my Italian (as proved by my test this morning) is so poor. Also, I'm not entirely sure it's a normal thing for Italians to do (just sit down with strangers), since they seem to stare so obviously at us when we're in resturants and out, so I'm a little sure we're creating awkward situations for the Italians and for us.
Tonight I think I'm going to try and cook for myself rather than spending three hours at a resturant or trying to make broken conversations with Italian students... it should be an adventure, that's for sure, since I don't know how to cook, at all. May end up going out after all.
Well, it seems you are getting along quite well. We may not speak again until you get home, but at least I have this visceral blog.
ReplyDeleteKeep writing, I look forward to it.
Love
Dad