Today I began a new Italian language class at the Scula di Lingua e Cultura Italiana ( School of Italian Language and Culture) in South San Francisco. The class only meets once a week for 3 hours, but it”s a total immersion environment for those 3 hours. The instructor speaks minimal English while teaching… and she talks FAST !
I was a little worried that because my breathing has been really bad most of this week, that I’d be too short of breath to speak much in class, but I managed to get through it surprising well. I think the distraction of having to concentrate on something other than my lungs really helped. The school is quite a drive ( 40 miles each way from my home), but it has a very good reputation and the intuition is very reasonable, so I think overall, it’s worth the hassle.
So why Italiano ? Well mainly because I’m half Italian. I love the language and the people. I also planning to go back to Italy in a few months and Id really like to be able to communicate better with the locals. Contrary to popular tourist belief, not every Italian you run into in Italy… speaks English ( and they shouldn’t have to).
The classes are held every Saturday morning, which means for at least the next 13 weeks, I’ll be doing my long training walks on Sundays instead.