Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Yo Soy Una Moligo

This past Monday John and I went to the Cal Poly bookstore to pick up our Italian I workbooks. That is right…we are going back to school! Just like Rodney! Well under different circumstances of course. We are taking it in preparation for our trip to Italy this October. Also after visiting Germany without knowing ANY German we figured the smart thing to do would be to learn the language of the locals. Seriously…after not being able to shop in Germany due to the language barrier I vowed to NEVER let that happen again!

It was pretty weird to be on campus and in the bookstore for a legit reason. The big shocker was that the workbook was $47! What a rip off! I need a scholarship.

It has been 8 years since John was a student and 6 for me and we were both nervous as to what to expect. Would all of my awesome student skills come back to me? Would it be like riding a bike? Would I be able to stay awake?

As we were walking to the class John wanted to know if I wanted to ditch class and go make out in the library. I see some things haven’t changed.

The class was actually really full which was a pleasant surprise and was filled with people older than us, except for maybe 3 youngsters. It was really weird to be sitting in a desk again, and man are those things uncomfortable! I really like the desks that have the extended part so you have something to rest your arm on, which is not what we had.

The teacher seems intelligent, and was really upbeat. She seemed a tad scatterbrained, but she does know her stuff.

One thing I forgot was that there was always one student that would annoy me in about every class I took. Unfortunately this class was no different. Over my left shoulder was a young boy; I’m thinking maybe 18/19 years old. He started off real quiet, but then after the first half hour I guess he started to relax a bit, which entailed him to suck in his mucus, but not clear his throat. Does that make sense? It’s hard to describe but it was really annoying loud sniffs that aren’t your normal sniffs. They were more low and deep sounding coming from the bowels. Like when someone really wants to hawk a big one. It was SO gross! Like we all wanted to hear his gross snot issues? Go outside and deal with it! (This also went on for an hour and a half).

Then he kept pronouncing words a second before our teacher would, which made it really hard to hear her…especially when he wasn’t always pronouncing the words correctly! He was totally acting like a know it all and I started to wonder if he already knew the language. However when the teacher came over to have a quick exchange with him the arrogance left and he acted like he had no idea what he was doing. Go figure. All I know is that I’m going to get to the next class a bit earlier and sit as far away from him as I can.

As long as I can avoid Mr. Annoying I think the class will be great. It’s really exciting to be learning a language that you know you will need to use in 4 months. It’s a great motivator. I’m also lucky because I’ll be able to practice speaking with John and learn from him.

I was hoping that having a Spanish background would help me, but it seems like it will both help me and hurt me. For example, to say Good evening it’s Bunoa sera. Now I want to pronounce ‘buona’ like a Spanish word, but the correct pronunciation is b-wona. Yeah that’s right…a W sound is in that word! There are also a lot of g’s that you don’t pronounce either. I have the feeling that Jovanie and I will be using a lot of Italianish on our vaca.

3 comments:

Brianne said...

I am BEYOND jealous that you guys are going to Italy this fall! Eat a ton of Gelato and think of me. Oh and if your in Rome, eat at Est! Est! Est! and eat the world's greatest pizza and think of me too. Happy studying!

Sarah said...

I hate those stupid phlegm suckers. Just get a tissue and get rid of it people. No one wants to hear that thing sloshing back and forth. Pretty soon all you can think about is "it's been 5 seconds, I know it's coming, wait for it, wait for it, blamo! There it is. Ok only 6 seconds until the next one." Not the best way for focus on a new language.

Unknown said...

Is that Giovanni? I think lesson #1 should include learning to spell your husband's Italian name. Also,
don't look now, but there is a "w" sound in "bueno"!
So, you should do great, what with your extensive Spanish vocab...