It’s fun in Sorrento!

I’m in Sorrento, on the beautiful Amalfi coast and I just can’t believe it! I’m here studying Italian in a school just off the main square and I’m having a great time. Why go anywhere else in Italy to learn Italian when you can do it in a place which is slap bang on the Mediterranean, stunningly beautiful, with great weather, steeped in thousands of years of history and culture… and lots of fun!

Well, actually I’m not supposed to be having too much fun as I’ve really got to get my head around the “passato remoto”, amongst other things!… but I’m feeling really good about coming here and my teachers are great. I’d mistakenly thought that learning a language in the country of origin was only for the rich… but its really not that expensive and being here really makes the language work for you – you can ask for real things in shops, you can buy a real bus ticket, you can order and eat a real pizza and you can get some real sun!

In fact I have just finished a lesson and I am thinking of taking a walk down those little alleyways that make Sorrento so characteristic. Today I have a free day, but we often go out on day trips with our teachers at the school. So far we have seen the Roman ruins at Pompeii which really is a once in a lifetime experience… and Positano which is good for the beach, shopping and delicious cakes! Mmmh!

I have classes for four hours a day, Monday to Friday, and a really great thing about the school is that they have a study room which has computers, books and magazines, so I can do homework and practice my Italian in my free time if I want too! The school is a good place not only to meet and make friends with other international students studying Italian, but also to meet Italians too, as the school also runs evening classes in Japanese, Spanish, French and German for local Italians! I have met “un sacco” (“loads of” in Italian) of interesting people… students on my course AND Italians!

Tomorrow, after class, we are going to visit a mozzarella factory to see how its made. That should be fun..and could be tasty! – I’ll keep you informed!

Ciao Ciao!!

A big thumbs up for Sorrento town and my school.

A presto.

Lisa (UK)