Ho finito le lezioni
Classes are over! What a busy few weeks these have been. It does not even seem as though almost five weeks have passed by...that's over 30 days that I have been in Italia and my jaw still drops every time I pass by the Chiesa di Santa Croce, not to mention il Duomo...
I definitely learned a lot in both of my classes, Italian and Painting (a little less in painting, though; I just don't have that flair). My italian professor and I shared a nice moment at the end of class. I was the last one to finish the test, mine had some extra pages in it with material I was completely unfamiliar with and I was kind of freaking out when I looked over at a classmate and saw how far ahead she was...I was stunned, she must have studied A LOT to be that far ahead of me. I wasn't cheating, just observing the class' timing of the test. I was feeling really stupid when I asked her how many grammar questions she had, and we discovered I had 20 extra questions on mine! Francesco came over and quickly marked through all of the extra questions (the one's I knew I shouldn't have known) and apologized with great remorse. I was extremely relieved at that point, but I answered about 10 extra questions, so I was behind.
Anyway, with all of that said, I was the last one left trying to finish up the exam. Just me and Francesco. He came over and sat down by me as I circled my last answer and he told me about the evaluation he was giving me for the class and that he would definitely like for me to keep in touch. I told him that I already had an e-mail, handwritten to him in Italian, asking him about schools and their music programs and teaching opportunities and such. Then I gave him Giacomo Fiore's CD (a friend from school, originally from Genova, great classical guitarist) to enjoy and play during class. Then we stood up to say goodbye and it was kind of bittersweet. I held out my arms for a hug (I have only had one other hug since I left America, folks. Don't we need 10 meaningful touches a day?), and he gave me a great hug and then grabs my shoulders and gives me the most intense bacci (kisses on my cheaks) I have ever encountered. That's just the way they show they care...
He has been such an excellent teacher, someone to really admire. I can only hope that I can have that kind of energy in front of my orchestra classes some day. The previous day we had talked school a little bit, mostly because I was frustrated with some classmates who had slacked off the entire month until it came time for the test. One of them has been here for five months and she has taken the beginning and intermediate italian courses and she cannot speak a bit of the language (She reads her book in class, rather than doing the practice assignments he could have given us for homework). That is a complete waste of time. And it shows a complete lack of respect for the people of Italia that are gracious enough to share their country with us, AND our incredible teacher! Especially the people of Florence. Where, during the summer, it is overwhelmed by tourists from all over the country.
I'm almost off my soapbox, read on for some wisdom from my favorite author:
Time is to be treasured, worked with, never ignored. As the astrophysicists understand time now, it is not like a river, flowing in one direction, but more like a tree, with great branches, and smaller limbs and twigs which may make possible for us to move from one branch to another, as did Jesus and Moses and Elijah, as did St. Andrew and St. Francis when they talked with each other in that light of love which transcends all restrictions of time.
- Madeleine L'Engle
That's all for today. I'll try to put up more pics before I leave for Rome on Saturday morning! You really have no idea how much you are going to miss your family and friends until they are out of reach. I will be so glad to see you in just a little over 5 weeks!
Ciao for now,
Grace
I definitely learned a lot in both of my classes, Italian and Painting (a little less in painting, though; I just don't have that flair). My italian professor and I shared a nice moment at the end of class. I was the last one to finish the test, mine had some extra pages in it with material I was completely unfamiliar with and I was kind of freaking out when I looked over at a classmate and saw how far ahead she was...I was stunned, she must have studied A LOT to be that far ahead of me. I wasn't cheating, just observing the class' timing of the test. I was feeling really stupid when I asked her how many grammar questions she had, and we discovered I had 20 extra questions on mine! Francesco came over and quickly marked through all of the extra questions (the one's I knew I shouldn't have known) and apologized with great remorse. I was extremely relieved at that point, but I answered about 10 extra questions, so I was behind.
Anyway, with all of that said, I was the last one left trying to finish up the exam. Just me and Francesco. He came over and sat down by me as I circled my last answer and he told me about the evaluation he was giving me for the class and that he would definitely like for me to keep in touch. I told him that I already had an e-mail, handwritten to him in Italian, asking him about schools and their music programs and teaching opportunities and such. Then I gave him Giacomo Fiore's CD (a friend from school, originally from Genova, great classical guitarist) to enjoy and play during class. Then we stood up to say goodbye and it was kind of bittersweet. I held out my arms for a hug (I have only had one other hug since I left America, folks. Don't we need 10 meaningful touches a day?), and he gave me a great hug and then grabs my shoulders and gives me the most intense bacci (kisses on my cheaks) I have ever encountered. That's just the way they show they care...
He has been such an excellent teacher, someone to really admire. I can only hope that I can have that kind of energy in front of my orchestra classes some day. The previous day we had talked school a little bit, mostly because I was frustrated with some classmates who had slacked off the entire month until it came time for the test. One of them has been here for five months and she has taken the beginning and intermediate italian courses and she cannot speak a bit of the language (She reads her book in class, rather than doing the practice assignments he could have given us for homework). That is a complete waste of time. And it shows a complete lack of respect for the people of Italia that are gracious enough to share their country with us, AND our incredible teacher! Especially the people of Florence. Where, during the summer, it is overwhelmed by tourists from all over the country.
I'm almost off my soapbox, read on for some wisdom from my favorite author:
Time is to be treasured, worked with, never ignored. As the astrophysicists understand time now, it is not like a river, flowing in one direction, but more like a tree, with great branches, and smaller limbs and twigs which may make possible for us to move from one branch to another, as did Jesus and Moses and Elijah, as did St. Andrew and St. Francis when they talked with each other in that light of love which transcends all restrictions of time.
- Madeleine L'Engle
That's all for today. I'll try to put up more pics before I leave for Rome on Saturday morning! You really have no idea how much you are going to miss your family and friends until they are out of reach. I will be so glad to see you in just a little over 5 weeks!
Ciao for now,
Grace
posted by Unknown at 9:07 AM
1 Comments:
Hey girl! I'm glad to hear that you finally figured out what was going on with that test! Whoo.
I forwarded you an e-mail from Southwest with some great discounted airfair. You could come visit me before you start back to school! (if you have time of course)
I'm glad we got to talk today. Miss you!
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