I am going to study in Siracusa, Sicily this summer. It was a tough choice between Madrid and Sicily but in the end Italy won out. Has anyone here done study abroad? Also, what's the best way to learn some basic Italian? I'm okay at Spanish (btw are those language schools in Mexico worth it? Do they help you perfect your Spanish?) so it shouldn't be too difficult to pick up, the number system is almost the same and they are both romance languages. Thanks!
went to Salamanca, Spain for a summer in college. It was great, go somewhere if you have the chance. didn't do much studying though
I have a friend whose studying abroad in florence this semester. I think shes taking Italian 101 while over there.
I'm not doing a study abroad program, but I am hoping to attend a University in Dublin Ireland this fall. (Med school).
I didn't like it much at first either, and I don't recommend it as a big tourist destination, but it does have it's own charm living there. I could see myself living in Milan, but never in Venice or Rome.
never lived there although my wife went to school there for a few years. she feels about like i do about milan. i actually prefer small town italy and the countryside- this is what italy has over a lot of other countries. almost every other country in europe has better cities than italy. just my opinion of course.
I was an exchange student and lived in Spain for a year. So I do not want to get too deep here but: you need to ask yourself if you are really going to learn italian? I ask this because it sounds like your background in italian is limited and that you have not really learned any italian. Speaking spanish in italy will get you by ( most of the time) but obviously spanish is not italian. After Spain I took italian in college thinking I could do well with it and actually struggled more than most..this was because I was influenced to use spanish and therefore my technical italian was off and some words are exactly the same but some things totally - another language. So knowing spanish can actually work against you as you get into the 2nd layer of italian past regular plain 'where is?' talk So if you have time to learn the basis for italian before you go I think you should stay in italy at least 6 preferably 8 weeks. With that approach I could see you making some real headway with the italian language. If you are not going to take any class or have a basis besides spanish prior to going then just go for the fun of italy and not rack your brain trying to learn too much italian. Also in terms of the language I would go more to see if this is something you may want to really learn and while there make arrangements to set something where you can be immersed for a solid 3 months at least but preferably at least 6 months. Also I say immersed because if you go to sicily and there are a bunch of americans with you the natural tendency will be for all of you to hang out and speak english. I remember when I was in spain all the USA exchange students met after a 6month stay for a vacation in the rioja together. We tried to speak spanish to each other at the beginning and it was funny because within minutes we were all speaking english. Very doubtful you and your buds will simply begin to speak italian to each other just because you are in italy. You will not learn italian speaking english to other americans/brits. So this means if you do have the chance to not have the crutch of speaking english and you have an italian basis ( verbs,sentence structure) a summer abroad will allow you to come back being a decent italian speaker. Then the key for your italian will be keeping it up afterwards- speaking to everyone and anyone who knows italian otherwise you will also lose it. any language school is good but the key to any language is immersion, not speaking any english during that time, knowing general ( very general is fine) sentence structure and then keeping it up after the fact. With 6 weeks you could be a pro. I can tell you that it was 1992 when I left spain and I still speak spanish but it is not like the matrix where you just download the language and always know it. I have forgotten alot and being in the USA you can imagine that I have been able to practice quite often. So I guess what I am saying is if you are not going to make the commitment to learn the language and the things I mention then why rack your brain over it? If you are not thats fine it will liberate your mind to not worry about it and just go and have a good time.. Remember also the sicilians are very prude so I wouldnt plan on getting an tail!! save that for the girls back here as speaking italian ( even broken italian) is a powerful tool with the ladies. better than spanish!!
I'm thinking about doing a short study abroad course in St. Petersburg, Russia this summer. Anyone been to St Petersburg before? Recommend it or no?
SCF...I don't know if you belong in this thread...it's about studying abroad, not studying a broad. You can still do that in Arkansas.
I studies in Bourges, France for a couple of summers and in Beijing for about a month. It was so enriching. I would tell anybody that this is a great way to intensively learn about other cultures and people and it will stay with you for the rest of your life. You will also get laid constantly!
Studied abroad in Cologne, Germany (Koln) Had a blast. didn't speak a lick of german, though I tried learning it. Too hard for me
Not quite small town, but of the cities I really enjoyed Verona - not as big, not as touristy, but it had a mix of big and small feel that was nice. But, yeah, living in a small Italian village where the life is slow and enjoyable and the buildings are a smooth mix covering many centuries would be a great way to live. Milan sucks. Too industrial. I lived/studied in Paris (Columbia/Reid Hall and Parsons) and it was by far my best experience in college. Sicily is kind of an odd choice but it has an interesting medieval history similar to parts of Spain where Muslim, Christians, and Jews all lived together. Mad for interesting architecture. The North African influence, though, is also the reason why Northern and central Italians can be "racist" towards Sicilians.
