One week in Florence

Is it really already been a whole week!?!?!? Amazing!

Somehow time seems to playing tricks with my mind, all the time. Even though I always know what day it is, at Thursday I was sure I would have two more days to go before weekend. So when at Friday school was out, I was surprised to find that another new round of saying goodbyes was presenting itself. This time it was saying goodbye to my new friends here at school. Some will stay, but some left and are hopefully safely home by now.

 What happened last week? It is amazing how much and yet how little has happened. I surprised myself by the way I was able to adapt to my new surroundings. By Tuesday I already felt like it was a ‘normal’ school day; I made my way to school (always the 25 minute walk), I had my coffee break at the bar opposite the school, and after school I would wander around town, though feeling quite at home.

For anyone who hasn't been to Italy: coffee is very expensive if you’re an unknowing tourist. After your sightseeing tour you probably want to rest your feet, so you sit down at a terrace and order in your best tourist-Italian an American coffee, or a cappuccino. The coffee isn’t particularly good but the real shock happens when you receive your bill. They probably charge you € 4,- for each coffee. What is this? It wasn’t that good!? And if this is the case, how are Italians able to drink as much coffee in these bars?

Here’s the secret, they don’t sit down! That’s all. A real Italian walks into a bar, directly towards the cash register and asks for his desired coffee, whether this is a cappuccino, an espresso, a ristretto or a café corretto. He pays, gets a bill, crosses the space towards the bars, asks again for his coffee and hands over the bill. He probably paid between € 1,- and € 1,40. He drinks his coffee, standing at the bar, where he probably has a conversation with one of his neighbors.

So, what about the Italian language? Well, to be short, it’s difficult.

They have more grammar then the Germans (der, dem, den, etc. ). In Italy, if you have a simple sentence, all the words have to adjust if you change one of the other words. I will try with an example and hope I get this one right. In English, you say: the red guitar (single), the red guitars (plural). Seems easy, right? In Italian: la chitarra rossa (singulare), le chitarre rosse (plurale). So you think the cat is black would have the same changes??? Noooo, il gatto nero, I gatti neri, because it’s male!

You should be able to tell what is male and what is female, but they have so many exceptions, you actually have to memorize every single word. And every word has at least 4 ways of changing, so you know it’s single or plural, or male or female. And don’t even start me on the verbs!

I now think the Dutch language is so much easier! At least we say to every person that’s more than 1 the whole verb, the English is quite similar to Dutch in this way.

Dutch: Ik ben, jij bent, hij/zij/het is, wij zijn, jullie zijn, zij zijn.

English: I am, you are, he/she/it is, we are, you are, they are.

Italiano: Io sono, tu sei, lui/lei è, noi siamo, voi siete, loro sono.

And no, not all the verbs change the exact same way.

Mama mia, c`è horribile!

Ma... mi piace!