Tag: florence

Giving Thanks for Travel

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Train stations are so much cooler than airports!

Wow, I can’t help but be thankful for this amazing year. Foremost, I’m thankful it happened at all. It could have remained a dream forever. Instead, it became an actual goal and then reality.

And it could have been awful. I could have failed to learn any language. I could have gotten sick. I could have been robbed. Stranded in Italy and forced to huddle in the shade of a marble cathedral surviving only on focaccia sandwiches and Brunello di Montalcino wine.

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“Can you spare some prosciutto?”

So after 10 months of traveling, here’s what I’m most thankful for. Friends, art, and of course, languages.

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How to Learn to Speak Another Language

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Not "oastmasters"

Practicing my Italian with an audience

What’s the best way to learn another language? The answer must be move to a country that speaks it. (Otherwise this trip was a very bad idea.) Then you just soak up the sounds through osmosis while sipping Mai Tais or Mojitos or Belline. (I’m claiming that as the plural of Bellini.)

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Not a bellini, but still delicious…

Except our brains are lazy. They are very good at resisting any new skills that aren’t absolutely necessary. And it’s certainly possible to get by in most foreign countries using English and hand gestures.

So if I’m going to become fluent in three months I’m going to need a plan and discipline. (Though I really wish I could learn by drinking those Belline. I hate discipline.)  But it’s not going to be classes or Rosetta Stone software or even a top-secret computer program to beam the language directly into my brain, code-named The Intersect. (Very tempting, though. Especially if I get to work with Sarah Walker.)

No, I’m going to hack my way into the language. And if you want to play along at home, you can do this too.

Summary

  1. Find someone to speak with
  2. Prepare a conversation before it happens
  3. Refer to the Lonely Planet phrasebook
  4. Consult Google Translate
  5. Get over your pride

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My Florence

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It's a facade.

Basilica Santa Croce (Holy Cross)

It only took a week for me to find my places in Florence.

In California I had my winery, my dance hall, and my pizza shop. Now I’m in Florence and I have my piazza (square), my cafe, and my pizza shop. Yes, good pizza is something I take great delight in.

I picked an apartment near the Piazza Santa Croce, whose basilica was begun in 1294 and finished in 1442. It’s huge and gorgeous, built with green, white, and pink marble. There’s a great big square in front of it, which is nice to hang out in when it’s sunny. I like to sit on a bench and study Italian grammar out in the fresh air. As an extrovert, the tourists milling around turn out to be very energizing.

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I Made It!

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I’m in Florence, in a beautiful apartment with all of life’s essentials: water, heat, and WiFi. It’s been a bumpy ride since Saturday. I moved out of my apartment, flew to Italy via Philly, and got moved in to my apartment.

Saturday was a disaster. I alternated between three scenarios of certain doom. The first was that I would have to miss my flight because I would not get everything done. The second was that I would lose a bunch of money by forfeiting my security deposit or having to pay someone to clean my apartment. The third was that I would lose a bunch of money and still miss my flight. I spent the entire afternoon cursing.

Leonard Bernstein said “To achieve great things, two things are needed: a plan, and not quite enough time” I’m not sure I really had a plan. But with the help of several people I was able to pack my bags, store the most important things I wasn’t taking, and give away the rest. Thank you – you know who you are.

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