Lesson #1 - Italians are noisy!!!
An Italian restaurant is a far cry from a Parisian one in terms of noise, but living with an Italian family takes things to a whole new decibel.
I am spending my week off living with an Italian family in a small town about an hour north of Rome. My main goal is to improve my Italian (Drastically! I give up if this doesn't work!), but I figured a peak into the everyday life of an Italian family would provide me with a few good stories to share with my tour members.
My host family is very Italian - Complete with a 90 year old nonna that embodies everything you'd expect in an Italian grandmother. Everyone lives a vicino (nearby) and some are living virtually on top of one another. My apartment is below the main house and shares a wall with one of the daughters and her family. I like the idea of the proximity of family (in theory), but the reality of this became all too clear last night when the bambina started screaming at the top of her lungs despite the consoling of her very loud Italian parents. I'm just glad that's all I heard.
My host mom and teacher, Alessandra, is a widow and the owner of 5 dogs who serve as a nice alarm clock during their morning feeding. I love dogs, but you add 2 Doverman Pinschers to an already loud family and you have one noisy bunch. The chorus of barking just outside my open door is occasionally punctuated by "Basta Dante! Basta!" but to no avail... The barking continues. Mamma Mia!
The noise is a far cry from my quiet apartment back home, but in the end it's nice to have family nearby... Even if they aren't my own.
An Italian restaurant is a far cry from a Parisian one in terms of noise, but living with an Italian family takes things to a whole new decibel.
I am spending my week off living with an Italian family in a small town about an hour north of Rome. My main goal is to improve my Italian (Drastically! I give up if this doesn't work!), but I figured a peak into the everyday life of an Italian family would provide me with a few good stories to share with my tour members.
My host family is very Italian - Complete with a 90 year old nonna that embodies everything you'd expect in an Italian grandmother. Everyone lives a vicino (nearby) and some are living virtually on top of one another. My apartment is below the main house and shares a wall with one of the daughters and her family. I like the idea of the proximity of family (in theory), but the reality of this became all too clear last night when the bambina started screaming at the top of her lungs despite the consoling of her very loud Italian parents. I'm just glad that's all I heard.
My host mom and teacher, Alessandra, is a widow and the owner of 5 dogs who serve as a nice alarm clock during their morning feeding. I love dogs, but you add 2 Doverman Pinschers to an already loud family and you have one noisy bunch. The chorus of barking just outside my open door is occasionally punctuated by "Basta Dante! Basta!" but to no avail... The barking continues. Mamma Mia!
The noise is a far cry from my quiet apartment back home, but in the end it's nice to have family nearby... Even if they aren't my own.
