# Gelati: 1, Distance Walked: 6.6km
I was woken early today. There was some 5km fun run happening this morning. I believe it started at 5am (why?!). It started in the Piazza Maggiore and then the route wound through the city centre. It actually went right past my front door. I got woken at 6am. Not by the runners, they were going to quickly to be too noisy. Instead, there must have been several hundred (possibly an exaggeration) people at the tail end who were just walking and chatting and chatting and chatting and chatting. It took a good 20 minute for the walkers to all file past my door.
Today was the last day of class so we didn't do anything new fortuately as I would have been too tired to take it in. Instead, we revised the Passato Remoto, again.
We also played a board game called something about Narratives. You rolled a pair of dice to determine which square your token landed on. This gave you a verb in the infinitive. Another die gave you the subject (e.g. first personal singular, second person plural) and a card gave you a time period (e.g. yesterday, next week). You then have to invent a (very) short story using the verb in that time period and in that form. You got bonus points for every other verb and time period you used correctly. This was a lot of fun, especially as Livia and I tied for first.
After the coffee break we had Arianna for conversation. She had been one of the runners this morning. We usually play a game but instead Arianna told us a long, involved story about how she got into the city centre for the run, which morphed into a story about the useless mechanic who is failing to fix her Vespa, which became a story about why she boycotts the local city buses which somehow led to a discusson about garbage collection and recycling. It wasn't a monologue. We all got the opportunity, if we wanted it, to put in our 2 cents worth on running, garbage collection, public transport and the general difficulties with tradies. I enjoyed this section as it was more like getting together with friends for a chat than a lesson.
For lunch I went to a chain restaurant that just serves tortellini with various sauces. Tortellini is a local speciality and I haven't had any before so this was my last chance. I had mine with a cacio and pepe (cheese and black pepper) sauce. It was surprisingly Good.
After lunch I had my last conversation lesson with Miriam. I had the bright idea of asking her advice on how to improve my Italian. Back in Melbourne I take a weekly class but I know you really need to do something every day. I have four apps on my phone and I was going to go through each one with her and see which ones she thought were worth the time/money. Also, did she think listening to podcasts and/or reading books and/or watching TV would be useful. This could easily fill an hour.
However, she wasn't interested in any of the apps. Instead, she told me she thought my vocabulary and knowledge of grammar were quite good but I really needed to work on my conversation skills. She recommended a 5th app called Tandem. This lets you make contact, for free, with someone who is a native speaker in the language you are trying to learn who also wants to learn your language. You then meet up (either in person or online) for conversations. You spend half the time talking in your language and half the time in theirs. That way you both get to practice. Ethan, in my class, uses it.
I've downloaded the app but I'm not sure I'll ever sign up to it. Making conversation with a trained teacher was hard enough. Making conversation with some random stranger would be worse.
For dinner I went to the brand new restaurant near my apartment that I went to the other night. I had the savory ricotta tart again to start which was still Absolutely Delicious. Next I actually had a main course as I'd had pasta at lunch. I ordered the stuffed zucchini in a tomato sauce. I had imagined they would have been cut in half, topped with some mince mixture and grilled before having some sauce poured over them. Instead, they were kept whole and a rod-like shape of mince mixture was shoved down the middle. They were then topped with a little too much tomato sauce. This dish rated as Interesting. For dessert I had their version of the local chocolate cake with marscapone. It was just Good. It was a slice of a rich, moist chocolate cake. I've had other versions that were an entire small cake with a self-saucing, liquid centre. That variant is better. Still a pleasant final meal in Bologna. I've not had a bad meal here. At the very least, everthing has been Decent and most it has been Good.
I'm back in my apartment now trying to get everything to fit back into my suitcase. The only extra things I've bought is a couple of fridge magnets and one ridiculously overpriced t-shirt. It should all fit in easily. It all fit in on the way over!
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