My feelings about where I’m at in my study abroad experience so far is that everything is becoming more familiar as the initial shock of my arrival is wearing off. I’m getting to know my host family more and have a better feel for the city. Even though this is part of the natural progression of things, it’s still hard for me to believe.
One of the things that I was the most apprehensive about before going abroad, and is a big concern for most students, was what college would be like in another country. I knew that I would be attending an Italian university alongside other Italian students my age, but it was impossible to picture what that would actually like. It’s quite the daunting task and seems even more intangible before arriving in one’s host country.
For the first part of my semester, I’ll be taking an Italian literature course and meeting with tutors weekly for that as well as for two additional religion courses that are slated to begin in early November. The University of Florence’s campus is scattered across Florence and the location of the classroom’s building depends on its respective department. My literature class happens to be a pretty quick walk from my host family’s home through a quiet part of the city.
The prospect of heading into a foreign school and into an unknown environment was definitely nerve wracking. My expectations for my first day of classes were a tad low because I didn’t want to overestimate my Italian language prowess. I walked into the classroom and a part of me was expecting that I would not be able to understand what the professor would be saying. However, after the first hour I noticed that I was able to comprehend more than I initially assumed I would be able to, although it did require a lot of concentration to keep my head from spinning.
When your class is entirely in another language it is difficult to get away with daydreaming without completely missing the points of what the teacher is saying. As a result of this, I have to shift my brain into a different gear in order to follow along and to take notes in Italian.
I think I also went into the class with the assumption that I would need to mentally translate everything into English so that I could actually get it. However, one of the things that I have noticed with learning a language is that there comes a point when one just knows what some words mean without having to complete any mental gymnastics.
This doesn’t mean that I’m in any way fluent in Italian, but I think it does mean that I’m starting to reap some of the benefits of being immersed in the culture of the language I’m trying to learn.
