Back at School!

So, I'm now back at WPI officially for the school year. It's kind of odd to think that in 2 months, I will really and truly be living in a different country.

While Eti was staying with us, and before we left for Texas, she was working with me to put together packing lists, and there were a lot of questions about the apartments and what not that she told me to find out – all of which will drastically change the packing list we've assembled…

Are the apartments heated overnight?

Do they supply linens and blankets?

Are there washing machines in the building?

Are mop/broom, etc supplied?

Cleaning supplies?

Paper goods?

Is the kitchen furnished?

Is a Visa needed?

 

Aside from that, her basic advise was "pack for 2 or so weeks, and plan on shopping/cleaning/etc everything else".

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a bit nervous… but I'm also extremely excited…

Travelling, nouns/verbs/etc

I spent the week before school started on South Padre Island, off of the coast of Texas. My parents' friend, Eti, came with us – she is Israeli, and has been living in NYC for the past 3 months with her job.

We were about an hour from the Mexican boarder, so we took a day trip to Mexico while we were there. Eti was teaching me how to bargain/haggle, saying that it's the only way I won't be taken advantage of while shopping in Italy. That was a bit surprising…

It was my Mother's second time in Mexico – she had travelled there when she was younger with my grandparents. My grandfather was originally from Spain, and so he was haggling with all of the shopkeepers in Spanish. Mom said that made all the difference.

So, my list of "important phrases" is all to do with haggling/shopping in Venice!

Verbs

To buy

To pay

 

Nouns

Money

Fish

Fruit

Vegetables

Shop

Market

Store

Meat

Pasta

Sauce

 

Phrases

How much does this cost?

This costs ____ euros.

That is too much

What will you pay?

How fresh is this (fish, vegetable, fruit)?

Summer time!

Well, it's now the summer, and I guess I need to get into full swing with my Italy preparations.

I've started keeping an eye on the value of the Euro, and checking out plane ticket prices. I reeeeeeeally hope tickets will go down... can't find much under $800 round trip :-\.

I'm also starting to look into what other countries I want to visit while I'm over there - I was told that I should try to plan that as early as possible so I can get a eurorail pass.

I should be starting Italian either this week or next - I can't wait for that, I'm really looking forward to getting to know the language! Just hoping that all the stuff I forgot about spanish doesn't come flooding back to me and start confusing me hehe.

This is going to be a busy summer... but, not nearly as busy as next A term!

more later :)

2nd tutor meeting

So today, my group had our second meeting with Kiara (Chiara) in an attempt to learn some italian from a real person before we go on break. Seems that the person who was supposed to be teaching Italian to us this term didn't receive tenor from WPI, and they weren't able to line someone up in time. My group is using the bbc website as a supplement, but at this point I'm just biding my time until I go home... I know a woman (friend of my parents) who just went back to college to get her masters in Italian education, and I think I'll trade her help with household chores in exchange for some Italian immersion.

I'm sooo excited about this trip... I've been to Italy once before, in 11th grade with my English/Architecture/Music teacher, and I've been dying to go back ever since. I can't imagine being in a place where there are no cars... just the change in the noise must be something that really takes getting used to. I should probably start looking up some prices for airline tickets, and following the exchange rate of the Euro...

First Post

This is the start of my Venice IQP blog, which will (hopefully) start out in english and slowly convert to Italian as I learn more of the language.