This is my and my roommates yesterday, on our first day of class. Renata is on the left, she is from the Czech Republic. In addition to Czech she also speaks German and very good English. Vanesa is in the middle--she is from Argentina and speaks Spanish and English. I am barely getting by on my English. They really won't speak English to you unless you are really dumb (which I am). So you just stumble along. They gave us a test to see where we would place and I thought I failed it handily. When I returned they gave me a book and told me to go off to a certain classroom. I walked into a classroom where all the students were gone but their books were spread out on the table (they were on a break). I poked around looking at what they were working on and it didn't look like anything I knew about. So I turned over the book that I was holding and realized that I had been placed in Level 2. I was like (cover your ears mother) F*&^! I can't be in this class. So the class came back and I understood some of what was going on but I was pretty sure I should drop into a lower level class. Today, we had grammar class for the first time and they were studying the past tense. I had barely learned the PRESENT tense in my class at Santa Monica College and now this Italian women was calling on my to cojugate verbs in the past tense. Strangely I was able to get by with using my knowledge of French conjugation but after class I took her aside and told her I had never learned it before. She was surprised that I had been placed in the class and told me to talk to the director. So I effectively got myself demoted and felt much more comfortable in my late morning conversation class.
This is the Ponte Vecchio at night. I was walking over there to meet my friend Emanuel. More about him later. You can see the motorini whizzing past. They will run you down with no qualms. I was standing on this spot earlier in the day and a polizia on a motorini almost ran me down under the Uffizi. The Arno river runs right under the Ponte Vecchio adjacent to this road.
These are my new slippers. They cost one euro and I think it is the best one euro I have spent here. The floor of my apartment is covered with this yucky tile and all it does is gather dust. So I found these little slippers at a local mestecheria (I don't know what that means either!)
Here is a pasta vending machine. I am not obsessed with vending machines--just ones that I have never seen or conceived of before. This one dispenses hot pasta in 4 minutes.
This is me just about 45 minutes ago enjoying my foccacia in front of the Palazzo Pitti. Still freezing, still gray here. I am going to be looking at another apartment this evening. I like my roommates but Vanesa smokes...and with my angioedema situation I can't really be around that full time. (Smoking has been a trigger for my angioedema attacks in the past and I don't really want to take that risk for 3 months). So I am checking out another apt tonight. The school doesn't know this and my roommates don't know this so we are keeping it on the DL until I can suss out whether this other one will be workable. Ah, it wouldn't be me if I didn't try to change and control everything. Even when I studied abroad in London I didn't like the internship my program set me up with so I went out and found my own. Nothing has changed. I have so many more stories to share so bear with me as I get really fast at this. I have to tell you about my friend who cooked me dinner last night...he is doctor at one of the hospitals here in Firenze and in Torino (of Olympic fame). Ciao for now!
This is my and my roommates yesterday, on our first day of class. Renata is on the left, she is from the Czech Republic. In addition to Czech she also speaks German and very good English. Vanesa is in the middle--she is from Argentina and speaks Spanish and English. I am barely getting by on my English. They really won't speak English to you unless you are really dumb (which I am). So you just stumble along. They gave us a test to see where we would place and I thought I failed it handily. When I returned they gave me a book and told me to go off to a certain classroom. I walked into a classroom where all the students were gone but their books were spread out on the table (they were on a break). I poked around looking at what they were working on and it didn't look like anything I knew about. So I turned over the book that I was holding and realized that I had been placed in Level 2. I was like (cover your ears mother) F*&^! I can't be in this class. So the class came back and I understood some of what was going on but I was pretty sure I should drop into a lower level class. Today, we had grammar class for the first time and they were studying the past tense. I had barely learned the PRESENT tense in my class at Santa Monica College and now this Italian women was calling on my to cojugate verbs in the past tense. Strangely I was able to get by with using my knowledge of French conjugation but after class I took her aside and told her I had never learned it before. She was surprised that I had been placed in the class and told me to talk to the director. So I effectively got myself demoted and felt much more comfortable in my late morning conversation class.
This is the Ponte Vecchio at night. I was walking over there to meet my friend Emanuel. More about him later. You can see the motorini whizzing past. They will run you down with no qualms. I was standing on this spot earlier in the day and a polizia on a motorini almost ran me down under the Uffizi. The Arno river runs right under the Ponte Vecchio adjacent to this road.
These are my new slippers. They cost one euro and I think it is the best one euro I have spent here. The floor of my apartment is covered with this yucky tile and all it does is gather dust. So I found these little slippers at a local mestecheria (I don't know what that means either!)
Here is a pasta vending machine. I am not obsessed with vending machines--just ones that I have never seen or conceived of before. This one dispenses hot pasta in 4 minutes.
This is me just about 45 minutes ago enjoying my foccacia in front of the Palazzo Pitti. Still freezing, still gray here. I am going to be looking at another apartment this evening. I like my roommates but Vanesa smokes...and with my angioedema situation I can't really be around that full time. (Smoking has been a trigger for my angioedema attacks in the past and I don't really want to take that risk for 3 months). So I am checking out another apt tonight. The school doesn't know this and my roommates don't know this so we are keeping it on the DL until I can suss out whether this other one will be workable. Ah, it wouldn't be me if I didn't try to change and control everything. Even when I studied abroad in London I didn't like the internship my program set me up with so I went out and found my own. Nothing has changed. I have so many more stories to share so bear with me as I get really fast at this. I have to tell you about my friend who cooked me dinner last night...he is doctor at one of the hospitals here in Firenze and in Torino (of Olympic fame). Ciao for now!
2 comments:
i check your blog before i check pink now! loveS it! ha ha ha.
You must try that pasta machine! Do it for me, at least.
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