#16: How to Learn Italian For Free
Ciao Nonni!
I hope all is well back home and that you're enjoying full-fledged springtime in Melbourne. Most importantly I hope that the hayfever isn't too bad. It is definitely one thing I am not missing!
We spent the weekend in Genova as a last-minute escape from the pandemonium that is Lucca Comics and Games Festival. You've never seen anything like it. About 100,000 people descend on the town for five days, all dressed up to the absolute nines as their favourite characters from movies, games, comics and books. We stayed for the first day (Wednesday), just to get a taste of the thing, and then made good our escape on Thursday morning.
We caught the train up to Genova, via Viareggio. Of course we missed our connection thanks to delays getting out of Lucca, but it wasn't so bad. The Italian (and especially Tuscan) train network is still far better than anything in Australia.
The only downside was having to deal with an obnoxious pair of tourists who refused to put their enormous bags in the luggage storage area (because it wasn't then in their line of sight), but also would not put it in empty seats across from them (in case someone boarded the train who wanted to sit there). The end result being that they blocked the aisle for the entire journey and were too slow to move it whenever anyone needed to get by.
David ended up having to do it each time. I didn't even try to hide my eye rolls by the end of it all. The husband also spent the entire journey narrating his own life and thoughts out loud, despite no encouragement or response from anyone around him. Including his wife.
Genova is an incredibly interesting town. It has that fascinating mix of cultures and past wealth, alongside the grittiness that comes from being a former maritime power. Obviously nothing on Venice, but still very much worth the trip. It likely suffers from being overlooked in favour of flashy neighbours (e.g. Portofino) and other major cities firmly on the tourist trail like Florence. Exploring the old town was delightful. Everywhere we went was uncrowded.
Of course we ate plenty of pesto and seafood too!
Back in Lucca I am getting into the swing of my Italian classes. These run four days a week, for 2 hours each day. They are taught at the Provincial Centre for Adult Education (CPIA Lucca), which is run by the local comune. Classes are free for all students. I pay about 20 euro a year for insurance and that is it.
When I heard about it (from Tony the Fixer - of course!) I couldn't believe my luck. Especially when compared to the private language schools in the area which charge more like 20 euro an hour! Of course it is impossible to find any information about these classes online. They seem to have no incentive to make it easy for people to find or enrol.
The end result being that it is easier to get a place in Harvard Law School than in the Italiano per Stranieri course at CPIA.
So arduous (i.e. Italian) was the enrolment process, that I still didn't even know the night before the term was supposed to start if I had a place, or what time the lessons started. This was despite the fact that I first applied in July and the course started in mid-October.
It took all of my newly honed skills to get in, including at one point just turning up to the school and refusing to leave until they confirmed I was on the list. At home I would have given up weeks earlier, but it has been yet another lesson that in Italy, shameless persistence is the only way. I have really had to squash down my fear of being annoying in these situations, because that's not how you're viewed here. It's just a part of the process to get anything done.
The classes are exhausting but great because they are conducted entirely in Italian. I can't fall back to English when my brain panics and goes blank, like I could in classes at home. This is because many of the other people in the class don't speak English, so the teacher (rightly) refuses to speak it. My fellow students come from all over the world, including Ukraine, Sri Lanka, Morocco, the US, Brazil, Colombia and Argentina.
Our teacher Sara is great. A very animated pocket rocket of an Italian lady. She is also the antithesis of political correctness. She makes the most incredible comments and blatantly asks all sorts of questions of students in the class about their culture, but somehow does it in a way that never causes offence. I am learning a lot about all sorts of things, not just Italian!
Hopefully the head-first immersion will mean I get over my fear of speaking soon. Certainly my reading, writing and listening comprehension have all improved significantly since we've been here.
All my love and hugs!
