ITALIA 101

Important words for foreigners to know:

capito (or more often than not, non capito)/capisco - I do\don't understand. Seriously like 80% of what I say right now....

buono\bello\bravo - all variations on "good" but each used in different ways and I still can't for the life of me figure out how

BASTA - "enough", because Italian mothers want you to eat more. Always.

esatto - "exactly" for all the times when you flail your arms around trying to mime out what your trying to say and your host family provides the Italian (extra points if it turns out to be an exact cognate. Per esempio, yesterday I was trying to describe North Dakota to my host father, with variations on "lots of space, not lots of people", when he raised his eyebrows and said "deserto?". Deserted. Heh. Esatto!)

My host family is amazing, and it already feels very much like home! My host dad, Gianmaria, is retired from working at a bank, but still "giovane" (young) inside, as my host mother says. My host mom's name is Daniela, and she works part-time at a factory that makes picture frames. They've both lived in Monticello Brianza their whole lives; the house was originally Daniela's grandmother's, and all of her family is buried in the local cemetery. Both are EXTREMELY patient, which is pretty much the best thing I could have asked for in a host family! Gianmaria has picked up a few words of English, but Daniela doesn't speak any, which is amazing for learning Italian, but not so great if you want to communicate quickly and efficiently. But they're always willing to speak slowly, rephrase things in simpler words, or look things up in the dictionary.

It's been wonderful to have a sorella (sister) for the first time! Maria Gloria is similarly amazing. She's been learning English and is getting ready for a huge standarized English exam, so she practices her English, I practice my Italian, and it works out perfectly for everyone. Two nights ago I helped her with her English homework, and we talked about the Industrial Revolution in a broken Italian-English pidgin. Not an experience to be missed!

I also have a brother, Luca, although I haven't had a chance to talk to him very much. He works as an analyst in an investment management company in Milan, and hasn't been home except for the first night because he volunteers as an ambulance driver and was out meeting friends. He's fluent in English though, which is incredibly helpful for the times when communication is really necessary. Both he and Maria Gloria have been very generous about acting as translators when I get confused!

I don't start school until Monday, because this is a review week (I think - something involving "recuperare." Everyone was speaking really fast when they were explaining it.). There are two other exchange students at the school though (two boys, one from North Dakota and the other from Japan, and both speak English), and since the school offers supplementary Italian lessons, I'll be able to take lessons with them! The teachers I talked to were all very excited that I can speak a little Italian already, which is encouraging because I'm still pretty lost most of the time... I can follow the gist of conversations, but if people ask me something directly or if there's a lot of background noise, I have absolutely no idea what's going on. It's an interesting change! There have been a lot of times of the past few days when I've gotten in a car with only the vaguest idea of where we're going.

The town of Monticello is beautiful! Everything is very hilly (I'm in the pre-Alpine region), and the first night I was here it snowed six or seven inches. My house is at the bottom of a hill, looking up towards the center of the village and the church. (There are many, many churches and they are all, without exception so far, very old and very pretty).

And today I went to Lake Como with my host parents! AAAhhhh sooooo pretttyyy!!!

Tomorrow there's a welcome party by AFS Intercultura for all the students in my region, so I'll be able to see the town Lecco (which is supposed to be even prettier than Como) and meet all the other students. And Italian lessons start Friday!

Ciao a tutti!!