Happy Groundhog Day!!! All the way from the US, Staten Island Chuck, the groundhog, did not see his shadow this morning; meaning spring is on its way! But for those of us in Rome, today started out with beautiful sunshine anyway! First we an Italian lesson with Aurora. We practiced our masculine and feminine, singular and plural nouns that we learned last week; I think I’m starting to finally get the hang of Italian! After that, we learned how to order at a restaurant, which is something I’m sure the whole class will be able to put to good use! Aurora mentioned that we would be having a class dinner next week or so when we will be able to practice our new Italian and order something. Hopefully by then I’ll be able to say things in Italian without looking at my notes!
Later, we welcomed Julie at her second class here in Rome by going over our schedule for Naples. I think everyone is just as excited as I am for our trip there tomorrow! I have heard wonderful things about Naples, especially about the pizza there! I’ve had some amazing pizza here in Rome, but apparently Naples has THE BEST pizza! Our class trip is only planned for Thursday and Friday, but there are a number of us, in the group who are planning on staying there a bit longer or heading down to Sicily and Pompeii. I’m so excited to see what Naples has to offer us!
Also during our class, we had the opportunity to hear from Alex Valentino. He was born in Naples and is still living there today, but he has traveled throughout Europe. He even lived in Rome for a while! His lecture focused on his experiences in Naples and the history of the city and surrounding areas. It was really nice when he set up Google Maps and we were able to see the landscape of places he’d been and where certain events had taken place. One thing that I found surprising was when he talked about the trash problem in Naples. Since it is one of the most densely populated cities in Italy, with 4 million people, there is an issue of where to put the garbage. There is no empty land where the garbage can be put, but Alex also mentioned that this is not just a problem in Naples, but worldwide. I had always heard that Naples was absolutely beautiful, but I guess I should expect it to be dirty too, since all the garbage is just on the streets. From Alex’s lecture, I also learned that Naples is home to the largest number of immigrants without papers in Italy. It’ll be interesting to see how the immigrants there differ from the ones here in Rome. Having Alex speak to us has made me even more excited than before to see Naples! Hopefully his experiences and tips will help us to all have the best time there we can!
The day isn’t over quiet yet, but I’m sure it’ll end with packing for Naples and a little gelato! Can’t wait till we start our travels tomorrow!
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