Tag Archives: grammar

Italian for People Who Can’t Legge Bene

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In the months between my acceptance and moving to Italy, I spent a good chunk of time learning Italian through as many venues as possible. I went through three levels of Rosetta Stone. I read Italian blogs and newspapers. I discovered some great Italian films (and some pretty terrible melodramatic, sad-violin ones). Then, I stepped onto my first train in Italy, promptly missed the transfer and ended up in Cuneo. It was about 8 pm on a Mon night, and the trains stop running shortly thereafter. Panicked, I tried to ask the guy across the aisle for help, but all the Italian I’d learned had flown out the window. Luckily, he knew enough English to tell me I had 5 minutes left to catch the last train of the night. Clearly, my Italian still had a ways to go.

For the most part though, I don’t need to know that much Italian for day to day living, other than talking to vendors. All coursework is in English, and Italian classes are not part of the Food Culture & Communications program at the University of Gastronomic Sciences. So, if you are serious about learning Italian, you’d better do it on your own. Alternatively, you can also make your way through a year in Italy by honing your skills at charades, but that is passing up a grand opportunity to learn one of the world’s most beautiful languages.

It is not well-publicized, but the city of Bra actually offers Italian classes for foreigners through the Informagiovani office. The website is not updated to have information on course offerings (of course), but according to this article, there are not only foreign language courses, but also classes on film and computers. You can also sign up for classes in other languages (French). But let’s stay focused. For a mere €12, I signed up for a year-long ISL (Italian as a Second Language) class. Or is that ITL for me?
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First Pizza

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For an informal pre-start of class get-together, the UNISG May 2010 cohort gathered for beers/aperitivo at the bar on the premises of the Slow Food headquarters. In the courtyard, there is a small restaurant named Baladin, with a small bar outdoors that serves wine and a couple beers on tap. On this particular night, the Isaac and Nora beers were available, the former being similar to a Belgian white beer and the latter an “Egyptian” style lager.

Of the 25 people in the class, I met about 17 or 18 of them tonight, and presumably the rest will be present at class tomorrow morning. There are five men, 5-6 Americans, two Italians, a Thai, a Mexican, an Ecuadorean, and some Aussies. As you can imagine, everyone is fairly cosmopolitan and speaks many tongues, but the winner for linguistic diversity might be Luca, an Italian who speaks English with a perfect British accent who studied Chinese in Beijing for several years.

Post beers, we trekked around the corner to Aqua Pazza Pizzeria, which was described by Luca as being a reasonably priced, cheap pizza place. Much to my surprise, the pizzeria was decked out with nice wine racks, track lighting and white tablecloths–Papa John’s this was not. On the other hand, the menu was filled with about 20 types of pizza, all between €5-8. That is definitely cheaper than the American equivalent. Also, I was amused to see some creative naming in the Pizze Baby section.

After scanning the menu carefully, I decided to go with the Basilica, topped with grape tomatoes, mozzarella and basil. The crust was thin but not cracker-like, with enough chew and durability to support the toppings. It was also a pretty hefty serving for one person, unlike some other Neapolitan pizzas I have had, where you walk away hankering for another half a pizza.

Time to go to bed, so I can bike to class bright and early in the morning.