Settling In

It is now Tuesday afternoon and I've had my first day of class. Yesterday morning I moved into my apartment which, happily, had an elevator so I didn't have to lug my suitcase up 4 flights of stairs again! It is a molto piccolo studio apartment, but is just fine for me. It has a great view looking out on the city! I then hustled to school where I had a written test as well a spoken test. I've been placed in the intermediate 1 group, which is pretty much what I expected. After everyone was tested it was time for lunch and we all went together for a 'get to know you' meal. Afterward one of the teachers showed us around town and we bought our textbooks. There are some beautiful views of the countryside from the outer edges of town! I saw a market on my tour, so I returned there to buy a little food to stock up my pantry. It was a rainy day and not very conducive for another trip outside, so I stayed in and read, then fell asleep early. I think I was still tired from the traveling.

Class started this morning. There are 7 people in my class. The first 2 hours are conversation and the next 2 hours are grammar, with a 20 min. break in between. I sure wish I'd been studying my vocabulary more! Although I can follow about 60% of what people say, it takes a lot of concentration! I was better with the grammar, mostly because we started with a review of the imperfetto tense and I've practiced that a fair amount over the years. Now for a note to my Italian class: Stop laughing at Roberto's insect vocabulary! Yesterday I saw a TV show about ants, and today we mentioned bees and mosquitoes!

There is a woman here from Brookline and we had a nice lunch together today. I have some homework to do later this afternoon and then will stop out for dinner. Weather permitting I'll take some pictures of town tomorrow afternoon. I have to pick up a book about the town so I'll know what I'm seeing! All I know so far is that at least a pope or two lived here in the 1100s.

I'm glad to be settling in at last and will look for more interesting things to tell you about!

I hope everyone is well!

Nancy