Up, up, and away

Ciao everyone, happy weekend to you all. Oh, wait, that's just me I suppose. It's Thursday, but I am finished with class and now coasting on into my weekend with a little bit of work mixed with a little bit of relaxing. I had all three classes yesterday and stayed at the Study Center, reading up on some materials for my papers I'm writing for a while, came back to my apartment, put some books away and got my other ones, went to class and came back home again. It was quite busy, but I worked on my paper a bit and now I'm almost done, although I've really made pretty minimal progress on my second paper . . . tonight / today that should be done a bit.

Today in Italian I had a tandem session with an Italian student, as twice a quarter we get to have La Sapienza students come in (the University here in Rome) who study varying amounts of English, and chat with them for two hours. Every other class gets really terrible turnout, like 1 or 2 students, but for some reason our class always gets about 10-12 students, meaning often you have someone there to speak to one-on-one.

I had a partner all to myself today, and it was pretty cool to just chat and let my Italian fly off the handle, simply trying to speak it and not trying to think about it too much. They wanted to practice their English too, so it worked out a lot where they'd speak to me in English and I'd try and return it in Italian. My partner, however, had taken several years of English and was relatively proficient, about 75% of the way there anyway, meaning I had a few more struggles than they did, but I held my own. I was complimented several times on my vocabulary, which is probably the strongest part of my Italian, just the number of words I know. The hardest part is probably the agreements and making sure my subject agrees with the conjugation, tense, and gender. But I'm getting much better, and the tandem today made me feel pretty confident in my ability to speak some Italian. I can say I'm at least conversational if nothing else, since that's what I had today: a conversation.

And after all, that is the definition of conversational.

After that, I came back here to work on my papers, do a little laundry, and pack for Istanbul, Turkey tomorrow. I'm really, really excited for this weekend, and finally I can focus on it a bit more! I'm just excited to see a new, different country, one that I've only heard awesome things about. Kirsten and I will both be there through Sunday, although I have 8 hours at the airport due to very different travel schedules and me not wanting Kirsten to travel alone to the airport and my flight leaving 6 hours after hers. Oh well, I'll bring some necessary literature for my classes and get caught up / study for my classes finals, which are in less than 3 weeks now. How is this possible, that I am thisclose to finishing this program?

Today is the 20th, and my finals are on the 8th and 9th of December. That means that 3 weeks from today, I'm finished with finals and on my last whole day of the program. Just unbelievable how fast time has been moving.

Next week at this time we've got a Candia Thanksgiving Super Big Party Boom, put on by some of the girls downstairs and facilitated by myself. I'm making lots of pasta and whatnot for the huge potluck, and we're all going to bring something in large quantities so we can have quite the time. I know there'll be at least ten of us there, and they're all people I genuinely enjoy spending time with, which is a total plus. Food, drink, and good company, not a whole lot more you can ask for. Gianni, our landlord / owner of this apartment complex who very well may be il Padrino (the Godfather), or at least be a high member of the mafia, offered us to use the Candia covered courtyard for our festivities, and I gotta say, I think it'll be fun.

I really wish I could be in Portland for Turkey Day, obviously. I mean, so much family is going to be in Portland at the new house and everything; it'd be great to be there and share stories and feel close to family again. But it's 33 days til Portland bound now, and every day it inches closer, I feel like they're moving faster.

Anyway, I'm off to work on papers and pack for Istanbul. I know some people have had reservations about Turkey or visiting, but I promise, I'll take good care of myself (and Kirsten, worry not Tellams) and keep my wits about me; I'm pretty confident in the research I've done about getting around and handling yourself there. It'll be a memorable experience undoubtably, and I'll report back to you all again soon.

Have an excellent weekend my friends, and until next time,

Ciao.