"As my mustache shows, I like very much beer"

Monday, September 21, 2009

Last night, my apartment-mates and I were treated to yet another dinner provided by Daniela's family, this time prepared by her adorable cousins Alessandra and Angela. Having a roommate with relatives in Siena has profoundly enhanced my immersion into Italian culture. While it's often frustrating that I sit at the table in silence, understanding the conversation but too slow in my Italian to participate, it's also the best opportunity I have to learn the language. (Not to mention the fact that I think all of us American girls are slightly obsessed with Angela and Alessandra...)

After overreating (as always), we ended the night with a game of Italian "Taboo." My Italian vocabulary is pretty limited; bar me from using the top five words associated with the one I'm trying to describe and you can only begin to imagine the difficulty of the game. Still, I think we all did better than we expected and we've now borrowed it to practice in our apartment and hopefully strengthen our vocab. On Tuesday, it's our turn to host the Italian ladies for an American girl's night of hamburgers, french fries, ice cream sandwiches, and popcorn with m&ms.

A delicious dinner was the perfect way to prepare for the first official day of classes. Mondays are fairly easy for me with Italian at 11:00 and Dante's Divine Comedy at 2. The Dante professor has a handlebar mustache my guy friends would kill for. Originally from Genoa, his teaching method is thoroughly Italian so that the class is to be entirely lecture-based, without discussion. Two hours of being talked at may be a difficult adjustment for someone who has been spoiled by 10-people seminar classes for the past two years. Still, he recommended the best place in town to buy beer ensuring us that, "as my mustache shows, I like very much beer" and is thus a connoisseur.

Most importantly, I have finally located an online site that will let me watch "The Office" here in Italy. The plumbing may not work and the hair dryer may be melting, but at least I'm guaranteed half an hour with Michael Scott every week.