Intensive Italian Day One

When I first started to think about what about today was significant and worth sharing on this blog, I almost forgot that we started the day with our first 2 hour Italian class. Pretty sure my knowledge of Italian tripled this morning (although that's really not saying much give that I started at 0 with a few random words that have no use out of context).

The class was great though. There are 6 of us that aren't starting with no Italian background. The teacher was super nice and chill about the whole thing, and totally understanding that we couldn't understand the language. We learned a few basic questions and answers, like, "what's your name?" "what brings you to Italy?" "where are you from?" etc. We also talked about a few key phrases that we will be using once the class is taught fully in Italian. These phrases include: I don't understand, repeat that please, how do you say____?, etc.

After this we had a break for lunch. We decided to brave the University of Siena cafeteria. Since we are IES students, we are technically enrolled at the University of Siena this semester, which means that we get a discount at the dining halls. We were all thoroughly confused about what we were doing but it was a good experience. The plan is to learn a bit more Italian and then see if we can figure out how to talk to some of the Italian students. At this point, it seems like we'd just be bothering them if we invited ourselves to sit with them.

We also had gelato. Yes, this was the first time I got gelato in Italy. Yes, it was amazing. Yes, I will be eating regularly...and trying all of the flavors. Yes, I did take pictures of it like a shameless tourist.

After this, we spent a stunning 3 hours at the Italian post office. We had to apply for a "permit to stay" even though we all have visas. I don't quite understand this but I can go with it. Unfortunately, we waited around the post office for a very very very long time. The RA, Camilla (who is absolutely hilarious), wasn't kidding when she said that Italian bureaucracy is super ridiculous. She was actually the one that got to deal with them the whole time. We don't know enough Italian to talk to them about official things (let alone little things), and so we just stood and sat and waited.

The ceiling of the post office was pretty though:

It's a little after 6 here now, but I'm absolutely exhausted. We eat dinner late (8 and a half as my host mom says) and I'm still deciding if I want to go out again tonight. I'm not really feeling it right now. We all need a few hours of R&R before getting back out there and it was raining when I was walking home. Who knows though. Maybe I'll decide in the next few hours that it's just the thing to do. I'll keep you posted...