So i guess this is my first update, and I'm really excited to set everything out in the open for you. Some of you may know that i was in Italy seeing Ele and her people for the last week and a half, and now I've returned a little more brown, and with a lot more confidence to communicate in Italian.
So where do i start? Since this blog is primarily about language goals, i'll leave the other's for a general quick update once every two months or so. I think it would be good to start with my attitudes before and after Italy. I was really struggling the week before i left because i had a lot of work to do for university and i didn't really have much time to devote to extra-curricular studies. I was very apprehensive about how well i would be able to communicate when i'd arrived as i felt i hadn't worked hard enough. I think i was also being very relaxed about my work ethic before but looking back on it now i doubt that i would have made much progress then anyway.
The exciting part begins when my plane landed in Ancona-Falconara airport, of course it was majorly exciting because i was getting to see Eleonora again after months of being apart, but i'm going to be focused here and limit myself strictly to learning gains. On arrival i decided to put my anxiety about communication behind me and just go for it, i reasoned that the only way i could possibly loose out was if i didn't try and after reading some of what Benny was saying in his blog, i decided to try out his theory. He defines the word speak, and that it's more difficult to learn how to speak another language unless you start speaking it from day 1*.
So from the airport we drove to their family apartment in a coastal town and we went to the beach. It was good to relax from the first moment and take my mind off everything here at home, so when we returned to the apartment for dinner, I made a commitment to open my mouth and speak, to attempt communication, time after time... from this very first night when i tried to talk with her parents, i felt like a child again. There was definitely a feeling of frustration at my mistakes and inability to express myself perfectly, but there was also an undeniable feeling of freedom within my grasp, an ancient gate to another world was opening up before my very eyes. Later in the week i had a chat with Ele's father by myself, and since he could speak no English i had no temptation to cheat. We talked about family, about my father and his ordeal with cancer, about my sister and her interest in horses, which led onto one of his nieces who shares that interest, and onto the prizes that she had won, the ones with the ribbons; mind you i can't for the life of me remember the word for ribbon in italian. The conversation was crude, with many mistakes and plenty of round-about ways of learning words, but i was communicating, and i was excited.
Throughout the week, i found myself learning more as i was forcing myself to speak more, i kept having more and more short and unrefined conversations with her parents and family, but the really profound thing that hadn't even entered my mind before, was that by doing this, these people now expect me to try to communicate with them in their language! It's normal for them now, and for me that's encouraging because they've become a fountain to me, and i can draw from them their knowledge and their style. Another cool thing was that i was given the opportunity to go to a birthday party for two friends of Ele, in the Appenine mountains of central Italy where i also got to use this new confidence with two cool Italian guys who i spent time with collecting branches for the fire.
Then I have also been really lucky to find a very cordial couch-surfer called Giada, she's from Turin and has graciously agreed to help me now and then with conversational italian. I met with her Yesterday in McHughes before the seisun, and i found myself yet again pushed into a small conversation that although started quite reluctantly and with frustration, ended in elation and gratitude for all the mistakes.
Anyway, it's now half six, and it's time to leave the lab. I'm just excited and glad that i can share with you my journey to achieve the impossible this summer/next 6 months
Thanks for all the support
Rob
Also i'd like to just leave you with something that might sound cheesy as fuck, but i think it's true, we climbed up this mountain to a lake (very tiny) called the lake of pilate, lago di pilato, and it near killed us at the time of day that we went up, and with just enough water, very little to eat and improvised hiking poles. By the time we reached the top, i cant say we we're overjoyed, we we're actually totally knackered but we made it, and by the time we rationed our water and made it to the bottom, we we're totally shattered but we achieved something. I feel like this is a journey in learning language too, sometimes there's lots of beautiful forest and views as you climb, then it gets tough, and the heat of the sun is on you, and maybe you want to give up. Hold on in there, suck it up, and push through, it's so worth it...
Ele took this picture
No comments:
Post a Comment