Friday, March 15

 
congratulate me on being the italianest speaking girl ever. well, it's not exactly like that, but i DID pass my italian class, after a grueling three-hour written exam and a twenty-minute oral one, with flying colors - green, red and white, like the italian flag. i am so excited. i did better than i ever hoped to when i entered the class. this is one of the biggest accomplishments of my life. awesome.

so hopefully we will celebrate today by getting pedicures - it would be my first. i hope it doesn't hurt.

tonight we will go out to celebrate our conquest of the centro and the country of italy. tomorrow, we return to verona, my first italian home, for some shakespearean balcony visits and some midnight sandwiches at my favorite secret spot.

time to paint feet...


posted by from shannon at 9:06 AM

Thursday, March 14

 
i am so very bad at this blogging thing. one of my good friends who is currently studying in d.c. commented to me that she thought it was cool that i am doing this, but that it must be hard to keep up with. well, it IS. so sorry if any of you take this page very seriously and are checking it every day or nearly so only to be bitterly disappointed by my lack of updating. maybe i just don't have enough love for the craft.

so, i am in a fabulous mood today. i had my written final for my italian class at the centro today and i rocked it, i'm pretty sure. you've never seen more verb tenses used in your whole life. i took the subjunctive, the imperfect and all their little buddies and i kicked the crap out of them. how do you like that? THEN i added to the sweetness of the day by getting lunch with some nice swedish kids, and then some gelato with my roommate, AND both my mom and dad called. superb.

here is a quick update of the rest of my week:

wednesday: last day of real lecture at the centro, so that was fun. got my part for the play (have i mentioned that i am going to be in a play? it's part of this adventurous new shannon in italy thing i am doing, trying new things, etc.) and was happy to see my friends again from the drama group. i hope to become some freaky sort of drama kid. maybe i need a beret or something. hmm. also, my mom nailed down reservations for the big 21st birthday celebration to be held in las vegas this june - my parents, my brothers (one of them underage but still card-carrying), my sister-in-law, and my two best friends all in vegas with me for one poolside, gambling, clubbing, drinking weekend of debauchery? i'm about to shed a tear just thinking about it.

tuesday: saw amelie for the second time (in french but this time with english and italian subtitles. i know, madness. my new goal: spend a summer in france in a program similar to that which i am now a part of. must learn french.

monday: we found a turtle in the garden at the centro. yeah, who knew. my adorable pixie-ish swedish friend petra from class was in rare form - she is usually pretty quiet but instead was being quite hysterical, and we spent most of class having a good time at the expense of my nemica (nemesis), american southern diva clinton.

saturday/sunday: all of my friends who had been away on spring break trickled back into town and we spent all weekend just walking around florence, lounging around in sunny piazzas, etc. i have started spending more time with a new group and they are hysterical and fun - they seem to understand my sense of humor more than most.

so all in all, even though there have been some not-so-high points, it has been a week of being happy to be doing my thing in italy. hooray!
posted by from shannon at 6:57 AM

Monday, March 11

 
swedes spotted: 3

still pathetic, but at least it's something.

random italian lesson of the day: to pick up (as in, to pick up a girl at a bar) = abbordare. the word comes from the word "to board", in the sense of when a pirate boards a ship to steal the booty.

ex: "sto per abbordare quella bella ragazza."
meaning: "i am going to pick up that beautiful girl."
more literal translation: "i am about to board that girl like a booty-laden pirate ship. arrr."

you get what i mean.

tomorrow i will have a real post about my cool weekend.
posted by from shannon at 9:41 AM