justbry

So my friend Mikele and I had been going to this bar right next to the Colloseum around 11 PM or so. (Apparently, the small street on the right of it with your back to the subway stop facing the monument is THE place to be at night). He orders 2 coffees in his perfect Roman accent for the two of us. The bar-tender then pours us a shot of espresso each. If you know me, I don’t really like the taste of straight espresso and I don’t like having coffee breath on myself, either, but hey it had been a long day for me and I needed the fuel, so I ask for milk and sugar in mine. Bar-tender gives slight pause and obliges. What came next, kind of threw me off.

He then asks us all these questions and then proceeds to berate and educate me on the finer points of coffee. I’m pretty sure he said something like ‘You Americans are strange in your coffee-drinking behaviors’. Wow, really, I said to myself. He’s really taking this seriously. Boy, did I get a lesson right then and there. I’m sure he meant well, and he did, but still.

So yeah no big mugs of coffee here, ditto for paper cups. (Venti iced americanos, anyone?)

One last thing though: the espresso here is Stroooong!! Yes, with a capital S. The buzz afterwards, alone, was enough fuel for me until 3 AM, which consequently is when things start winding down. On Saturdays, 5 AM. Not even in New York was I ever out that late. Needless to say, I can get used to this.

I’m currently studying more Italian and am staying in tonight. (We are at least eight hours ahead over here). I have come to the conclusion how insurmountably difficult trying to become fluent in a new language is. Just the vocabulary itself is pretty daunting, my brain is hurting. I read, though, that studying ALOT is the only way to become fluent. I just feel like I need to progress more, I really want to competently lead these rehearsals and be able to impart as much knowledge as I can to my budding students. I guess I should write this entry in Italian to practice, but why bother, you’re probably not going to understand it.

I took 2 years of Italian at UCLA and I just thought I was the sh* cuz I was taking Level 6. Wrong. Again. So much else to learn. I thought I could get by on using cognates (words that mean the same and look the same in both language. For example, telefonare and to telephone. However, as I am finding out, cognates comprise just 5% of the entire language. Darn.

So aside from studying and a great amount of memorization, I’ve been reading popular media and watching TV with dictionary on hand. So far, I’ve watched the first three Harry Potter movies on TV the last few nights. Now, obviously, I don’t really understand 100% of what is being said, but everyday I feel like my comprehension is at least improving. If I feel like a line sounds good to my ear (that’s another thing, Italian is such a musical language) or would prove useful in real life, I repeat it like a parrot. Part of the beauty I’m experiencing of being able to live in Italy (besides the food and culture) is complete total language immersion. Sometimes I’ll go to the store just to be able to talk and ask for a certain kind of cheese (which, by the way, have all been excellent). I’ve been writing my text messages in Italian as well. My professors would be so proud.

Alright back to studying.

A presto.