Thursday 17 May 2012

I planted my intellect in Rome, Italy 2005


Back on the journey of self-discovery; the travel bug refused to die...I chose to spend a Summer in Italy with the maybe blindly optimistic idea that I would return home fluent in Italian, and able to pursue a successful career in medical interpreting, with five languages under my belt (the others being Spanish, English, Portuguese, and French).

As my bad luck would have it, I remember telling my Mum before I left, that I hoped I wouldn't be sharing the flat with a Japanese, and what a surprise to arrive and find out my flatmate was a 44 year old Japanese woman who spoke no Italian or English - needless to say, communication was a real problem, and I felt pretty much on my own most of the time.  In addition, the flat was particularly sparse - no phone, no TV, no washing machine, not much light...so the first thing I did was complain to the language school I was enrolled at.  My immediate options were pretty unappealing, but I did eventually move, after two weeks.  I ended up living with an Italian single mother and her nerdy, somewhat freaky looking twenty something year old son.  Not quite what I was expecting, but better than the other place, and the lady I was sharing with was really warm, without being too overbearing.

It's amazing how, when I am thrown into a country where I hardly speak the language, know a single soul, or the city itself, my shyness disappears and I become assertiveness personified.  The first day I arrived I didn't know that not getting your metro ticket stamped would incur, per person, a EUR 50 fine.  I kicked up such a fuss in my broken Italian (interspersed with Spanish and Portuguese) that we got away with paying 50 between the two of us (I was with the Japanese woman).  The Italians were so helpful when I asked for directions - one woman didn't know the directions to where I needed to go, so she went into a shop to ask for me, then another man saw I was having difficulty getting the pay phone to work, and came over to help me.  I even had other people walk with me to my destination, even though they were going the other way.  And the most flattering thing that happened to me there: I went to a museum and was asked if I was under 18, and another time an elderly man asked me if I was Italian!  Now that I think about it, it is the ONLY flattering things that happened to me in Italy, hahaha.

My classes were in the afternoon, with classes limited to about 6 people, which was nice; the teachers were really enthusiastic and laid-back – it was a far cry from university classes and school.  The one thing I was not too keen about was that you changed teachers every 2 weeks.  I made some progress with the language, which was great, but was still thinking in Spanish and Portuguese throughout, which contrary to popular belief, knowledge of other Latin languages did not help, but rather served as a hindrance.  That said, I did have to sit an exam during the course, and moved up a level – so not all doom and gloom!

The school ran a cultural program, and I signed up for most things, wanting to make the most of the city.  During my time in Rome I visited the Colosseum, the Pantheon, Piazza Spagna, Villa Borghese, Tivoli (outside Rome - a park with 2000 fountains), Palazzo Corsini, the Museo d'Arte Moderno, the chaotic Porta Portese market, the Lago di Bracciano, Appia Antica...and more - some with the school, others on my own. I really felt like I made the most of my stay in Italy.  I fell into a routine with relative ease, and once a week, sometimes more, usually on weekends, when my days were less structured, I would lose myself in the cinema (movies in Italian of course, though not necessarily Italian movies).  I truly loved the vibe in the city, its beauty, the people, the language, the culture; I felt so comfortable there despite missing my friends and family back home.  Some countries are like that, they feel like home, I can’t really explain it, but if you’ve ever felt it, you’ll know exactly what I mean.

© Copyright Vanessa Sicre


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