immersione

giovedi, 15 settembre

This is what take out coffee looks like in Viterbo. Neil ordered these in the bar next to our apartment and we enjoyed them in our kitchen. Not exactly an immersion experience, but a necessary escape. In all of this, it is becoming clear that too much immersion can be overwhelming.

This is where I jump in and discuss my issues with learning Italian. Undoubtedly, Neil's knowledge of Italian has been a crutch for all of us; now Eleni, Alex and I have to face our fears and learn it for ourselves. I'm not sure how honest I should be about this linguistic shortcoming of mine, but it's one of the main reasons I'm behind on posting, so it's worth a mention at least.

Strategies:

1. I have two language partners. Both want more confidence in speaking English and I want to feel more comfortable speaking Italian. Mostly these conversations disintegrate into English because I'm more interested in hearing other people's stories and my own story wouldn't go very far with my limited Italian vocabulary. This works for one of my partners, but the other one is on to my game and refuses to speak to me unless I try in Italian. Fair enough. That is the point, after all.

2. babbel.com

3. I'm taking an Italian class. Because I already took a beginner's course before I left and I've got six years of Latin somewhere in the recesses of my cerebellum, taking Italian II made sense. I started taking classes at Neil's school with his students and overall, things were going well. Even when our teacher stopped speaking English, I was ok. I understand much of what people say.

It was the test.

I did all the homework. I took the practice test. I studied. But, it has been over twenty years since I've taken a language test, and the algebra of remembering what agrees with what mixed with conjugating irregular verbs without my cheat sheet really threw me.

For the next 23 hours I dreaded going back to the class and learning what my grade was. After all, of course she would have graded the tests by now, right? It was ridiculous how anxious I was about this even though, as my classmate told me, "you don't need this grade for college, why do you care?"

She didn't pass the tests back!

I suppose I should have been grateful for the opportunity to remember how it feels to be a student. But, I was fuming! What does she do with her spare time? (How many students have I blown up at for asking for the tests back the next day?!). Getting the test back after the weekend was actually better because I had forgotten about it and had more of a sense of humor about the whole thing. Which is good because...

I failed the test!

This immersion story is not a glamorous one at all. But, it might help explain my absence on this blog. Much of my free time has gone into muttering over flashcards and pouring over an Italian-English dictionary. I figure, if I don't give it my best now, when will I ever? It's a worthy challenge. And, the stakes just got higher.

Neil just joined the class, too.