# Gelati: 1, Distance Walked: 7.6km
There was another new student in class today, Xander, who is also from Melbourne. Strictly speaking he was only new to me. He has been part of this class for some time but works from "home" for his Australian company so isn't always able to come to class.
Several students in the class don't come to the whole lesson. It baffles me given how much it costs. Naor (not North) is always 30 minutes late and Fall rarely stays for the 2nd half. At about 200 euro a week I'd want to get my money's worth.
I also found out today Naor's correct name. It turns out he isn't American. His family are actually Russian Jews who have settled in Israel so his native language is Russian. In my defence he speaks English with an American accent and Naor, when spoken with a strong Italian accent, sounds a lot like "nord" which is Italian for north. Also his father is currently in NYC for his work.
Today in the "grammar" section of the class we studied no grammar at all. If I'd wanted to improve my knowledge of Italian grammar I'd be peeved. However, since I'm trying to improve my communication skills this is actually good for me.
Today we were paired off and given a topic. One of us had to write a short argument in favour and the other against it. We read them aloud and the rest of the class voted on who was the most convincing. My topics were
- "Travelling is never tiring" - against
- "Cruises are the ideal holiday for families" - against
- "Baths are better than showers" - against
The class voted in favour of my opponent every time :-(
After the coffee break we were paired off again and had to come up with a grant proposal to improve life in Bologna. I was paired up with Livia and our proposal was about measures to improve the air quality and reduce noise in the historical city centre. One of our key proposals was to ban buskers. This won us Arianna's approval and the grant money.
The school doesn't have air conditioning so we keep the windows open for fresh air. The school is also near a square where buskers play every day. Yesterday it was a flautist. They were a competent musician but only knew about 3 different pieces of music. It got old fast. Today there was someone playing a trombone. That musician had a wider repertoire but it is not a particularly lovely instrument. This evening there is a woman on a bicycle riding in slow circles around the piazza at the end of my street. She has an amplifier strapped to the back of the bike and is singing into a microphone as she pedals. Props to her ingenuity but she is not very good and she is very loud.
I had a new conversation teacher this afternoon, Giulia. I dutifully showed up at the school at 2pm. I'm not sure why. I had been told 3pm. I had put 3pm into my calender app. I was forced to go to a gelateria far from the school to fill in the time. It turned out for the best as that gelateria, Gelateria Galliera 49, is the best one I've been to so far. I had pistachio and chocolate with sour cherries. Both flavours were Absolutely Delicious. It is just a shame it is a good 20 minutes walk from my apartment.
My conversation class went well today as Giulia and I actually had a conversation. She would ask me questions and follow up on the things that I said. It is a shame I'll have Miriam again tomorrow. I'm putting together a list of questions to ask her, such as which city would she recommend I visit on the weekend. That should make the hour go more easily.
For dinner tonight I went to a randomly chosen trattoria near my apartment. It was a good choice. I had lasagna with bolognese ragu and a side salad. The lasagna was Good with generous amounts of ragu and bechamel, although not as much cheese as I would have used. What I really liked was the wine list didn't just list wines by the region but also had a brief explanation of what each one tasted like (e.g. dry, fruity) for us tourists who have no idea of each region's characteristics. Simple but helpful. For dessert I had a baked ricotta cheesecake with raspberry coulis which was also very Good.
Off now to think of questions for Miriam tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment