I've Been Workin' On The Railroad...

While I would love to say that I’m settling into a routine, my days remain somewhat irregular and filled with unexpected surprises. My Italian teacher was sick last week and canceled class. Today, she had to go to Sienna to see a doctor about a problem with her eye. So, we had a substitute.

It seems so “high school” to me to have a substitute for a college class. But then again, so does having the same class every single day. However, Valentina was quite enjoyable and I may even prefer her teaching style to that of Silvia’s. But, I also realize I’m becoming more and more comfortable with the material and the language, so class is becoming less frustrating than the initial shock of full immersion.

By the way, as a project at the end of the semester, Silvia wants us to perform the American classic "I've Been Working On The Railroad" for a school of Kindergarteners in Florence as well as some traditional Italian songs. Something tells me "Someone's in the kitchen with Dinah" is better left unexplained to the 5 year olds...

Anyway, being one of the 10 musicisti in the class, I have been appointed as musical director of what I'm certainly will prove to be a groundbreaking performance. I'll keep you posted.

My Music History IV Professor is (ironically) in New York this week, so we had no class this afternoon, which allowed me to simultaneously do my laundry and work out. Today was a good work-out. I feel like this study abroad trip is rehab or something. In any case, I’ve never been this motivated to work out in my life, but I’m not complaining. I’m establishing habits here that I hope will carry me through the summer. I’m going to have to join a gym this summer, that’s for certain. I should go back to the YMCA so I can swim…

But I digress.

“Allora” is currently my favorite Italian word. It means many things, which I think is why I like it so much. I hear it ALL THE TIME when I listen to native speakers talking to each other so I finally asked what it meant. Here’s a post from and Italy forum on tripadvisor.com that explains it pretty comprehensively:

Allora is something like you could use a word like “well”.

Allora, andiamo a casa.

Well, let's go home.

Mia macchina ha una panna, allora prendo un taxi.

My car is broken, in that case I'll take a cab.

Allora tutto bene.

You see, everything is fine.

Allora...prendo un risotto milanese.

Let's see... I'll have risotto.

It’s Often used in situations where it means very little, a toss away word.

It also can mean “now” like “Now, what was I saying…?” or “okay” like “Okay…let’s get started”.

In other news:

I have a job! Yes, thanks to Federal Work Study, I am paid by the government to:

·         Work the reception desk at Villa Ulivi (the academic villa where all our classes are). Here I help people who want to check out movies, need to see a copy of their syllabus, make copies, sell copy cards, give people their course packs they ordered downtown, etc etc

And

·         Set up the Art Studio at the end of the day for the next morning’s art class. I work with one other person to re-arrange the room according to the respective professor’s preference as to how the room should be set up for his/her class.

It’s 6 hours a week, at $8.50 and hour. Not amazing, but it’s $102 every two weeks, and I’m here for 14, so I’ll be making roughly $700 when all is said and done. If anything it’s a nice cushion for expenditures over here…

Speaking of which, there’s a ski trip to the Swiss Alps that I’m seriously contemplating. It’s € 180 for the trip, and I think another € 80 for rentals at the mountain…but otherwise pretty much everything is covered.

I don’t know…a bunch of my friends here are planning to go…it would totally be a blast. I’m so torn between wanting to explore Europe, and wanting to be frugal. Just having the opportunity to study here is amazing…and lots of people who return actually say they wish they had traveled LESS because they wanted to get to know the city more intimately. That certainly won’t be my problem…but I’m still trying to find the right balance.