Lots of things have been happening recently! Here are some highlights:
Italian lessons started up again, in a slightly different format. We had a week off while Silvana, the teacher, got more students, and then she sorted us into three different groups based on our ability. We started at a much easier level, and although I still don't understand everything, I feel more comfortable asking for clarification than I did with the other students. I'll always be at a disadvantage since I'm not out using Italian all the time like the ERASMUS students are, but I'm getting better. I've gone through a couple different online language programs, like Quizlet, FreeRice, and Memrise, but I finally came across Duolingo, which is pretty fantastic! Now, I just have to get myself to start USING what I'm learning. I'm getting better at understanding, and faster at reading, but I'm still afraid to speak.
I started going to the practices of Elena's swimming club. The first night was so difficult! I was SUPER sore the next morning. The outdoor pool was nice for that first week- there were only three or so people in the same lane as me, and we were all really slow. The first couple laps, I was stopping every 50 meters (one length) to catch my breath! My lane only swam about 1 km that night, against the 2.5 km the rest of the group was doing, if I remember correctly. Moving indoors the second week changed things up- there were more people (now six or seven in the lane), the pool is only 25 meters long, and it's harder to hear instructions. And the "extra" people in the same lane as me are all a lot faster. So it gets confusing sometimes. But it's so fun, and I'm really enjoying it! I've found that I really miss swimming. Since I somehow lost my swimsuit in moving home from OU, I've been wearing a swimsuit-material sports bra and the mello volleyball shorts from last year- when a 2 piece makeshift bathing suit is your only option, you get over body image issues pretty darn fast!
I also found a wind band to join! A friend of the family I am living with knows the director. It also happens to be the same place where Marco goes for his music lessons. He just chose his instrument last week, and he will start to learn clarinet soon! I'm really excited for him. Giordano, the director of the music school and the community wind band, gave me a horn to play. It's a single F, which causes problems sometimes when I use B flat fingerings without thinking, but I'm really just happy to have an instrument to play! The band itself is kinda U Band-ish, but very small. The instrumentation is... interesting. Yeah, let's go with "interesting". If my memory is accurate, there are 3 or so percussionists, one tuba, one trumpet, 2 horns, 8 clarinets, 4 saxes, 1 tenor, 1 oboe, and maybe 5 flutes. But it's a really great group! Everyone is no nice! Some speak English and some don't. Giordano translates his instructions (though he joked around last week that he was only going to use English), though sometimes he goes overboard and translates what are already normal musical terms. I never really thought about the fact that those are really just words, even though we all learn them as technical terms. And not all of them translate the way we are taught! "Subito" is my new favourite word to use in everyday conversation.
My next big goal is to really start getting out of the house. I was out quite a bit the first week, while I was learning my way around the downtown area, but lately I've been holing up in my room during the day. Yeah, sometimes I'm working on Italian or doing other semi-important things, but mostly I'm browsing Pinterest and Imgur or playing Candy Crush. So that needs to be changing. It's a good thing Netflix doesn't work here, though, or I'd be in even more trouble, haha! But I want to start going to different coffeshops to study Italian, go to the museums and violin makers, and get to know more of the city!
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