Week Two

It's been about 2 weeks or so, and I've just finished my first full week of
classes. My brain is fried from the intensive drilling- yesterday I had 8
hours of class, and then of course last night I had to go to "the steps" to
practice......
So there's some small stories I thought you'd be interested in that I didn't
have a chance to write about last time. My english is starting to suck, I
keep getting sentence structures mixed up because all of the words are
arranged differently in italian.
Let me discribe my school. Most of the class is from Germany, and then we
have some students from all over, like Norway, Finland, England, Tokyo,
China, Sweden, and other's I can't think of. So, the teacher doesn't have a
chance in hell to talk any other language but italian. It's mind blowing to
think that one can learn Italian in Italian. But the strange thing is, I
compleatly understand my professors. They make fun of me when I slip into
Spanish, but I swear, I'm totally determined to learn Italian. I get really
excited when I meet people who speak spanish.
A couple of nights ago I met a boy from mexico city with a short red mohawk,
and we talked for ever about protests in Mexico, Communism, and I tried to
explain Aristotalism, because he was studying The Cave (by Plato?).
It's very easy to meet people in the street, but I don't think that Italian
women are as open to talking to strangers as American women. One night my
friends and I met a student from Moraco and his cousin in the street near
their house, and we ended up sitting at a table on the side of the road the
rest of the night, sharing 2 bottles of wine. It's just all about sharing
ideas, practicing the language, and observing their different mannerisms.
It's funny how american girls will travel all the way to italy to flirt with
German boys. I went to a dinner party at a friend's house a couple of nights
ago, and we all ended up drinking on the terres with her German neighbors.
In my opinion, I couldn't stand these German boys for more than 20 min. They
seemed very arrogant and drank too much. I guess the girls were just excited
to have boys to speak english too. BORING.
My appartment is very authenticly Italian. In other words, I got shafted and
every other appartment I've seen in my program has been newly remodeled, and
one doesn't have to scrape their knees on the wall when they sit on the
toilet. The shower is a ceramic bucket with a hose.
I go home after my classes and make lunch every day. Actually, sometimes I
go out with friends, but I 've really come to enjoy my time in the kitchen,
and going to various markets near my house. It's kinda like a game, because
they're all hidden, open at different times, and specialize in different
things. I've seen the wierdest foods, my favorit are cookies named "lungue
di gatto" (cat toungs) ---they looked kinda like mint milanos from Safeway.
I've started to get to know the shop owners and where things are cheap.
Oh, and about a week ago, I bartered for the first time here, for a book in
Italian about BLONDIE. I was very proud, especially since I could hardly
speak a lick of Italian. It's all about the TUDE. I'm actually really proud
of how I'm picking up the language. Last night I told a full story, very
slowly, of the first time I got drunk with my sister in Spain. However, I
can't tell if the Italian boys are laughing at my jokes, the fact I talk
like una bambina, just to be nice, or to flirt. The other day I was actually
able to carry out a full conversation with an Italian over the phone, with a
mix of italian, spanish, and english. I've found that it's better to try and
understand italian's speaking italian, instead of english, just because
their accents are so strong. Va bene, it's good.
Italian TV (ti vu) is the funniest. MTV Ero is way stylish and there's crazy
videos that make no sence.
It seems that men are able to express themselves emotionally much more here,
without homophobia, and they all dress very sharp. I like it.
This weekend I'm going on a trip to Cinque Terre (Cinque is pronounced
chinque and means 5) which is a region with five towns by the ocean. I've
heard it's really beautiful, but I still need to get a bathing suit.
It's been really hard to make it to my 8am classes every morning, because
every night the piaza fills with hundreds of kids drinking beer, and sitting
on the "steps" infront of the main church facing the large fountain. It's
like having a date with the whole town, every night. It costs nothing, and
it's way fun to get to bump into people, or meet new friends. Italians don't
really get drunk like we do in the states, or at least it seems that way
because they prefer to not act stupid.
It's hard to get fat in this town, every day is a mountain climb, which was
hard at first with the cute italian shoes I've been wearing. It just takes
practice.
ok, I know this one was long, but it's a complicated picture to paint. Your
letters totally make my day------it's very important to know what's going on
at home. Sound's like there's lots of parties and new houses to have
shows......I can't wait to get back  and see it all. I haven't gotten
homesick yet, but that doesn't mean I'm not thinking about you. I'm just
happy to be where I am. If only we could all party in
Italy....................
love,
megan
ps don't stop writing me back, jerks