First catch your octopus - 10 days studying Italian in Tuscany.
May 15th, 2011, 12:24 PM
#1
First catch your octopus - 10 days studying Italian in Tuscany.
Inspired by the trip report of some other brave souls who have been on language courses, mainly in Italy but also elsewhere, and by another student in my italian class, about 3 months ago I screwed my courage to the sticking post and signed up to spend a week in a language school in Orbetello in the south of Tuscany, followed by a few days in Florence, which is where I am now. You are probably thinking that it would have been better to do two weeks, and you would be absolutely correct, but for reasons beyond my control [which of course had resolved themselves by the time the trip started] I could only manage to get away for 10 days, so I decided to do a week’s course followed by a few days in Florence hopefully to practice what I had learnt!
How, you are asking yourselves [or possibly yourself] did she choose which school to attend? If you google for example “langague schools in Italy” you will come up with literally hundreds of choices. I started by thinking that as I would be travelling alone, I should make things as easy as possible. That meant choosing an airport where I knew that there was easy access to the train system as I didn’t want to drive. And as allegedly the purest Italian is spoken in Tuscany, that narrowed it down to flying into Pisa and choosing somewhere that I could get to easily from there. So that meant possibly Pisa, Lucca, Siena, and Florence.
There are LOADS of language schools in Florence. I don’t know how people choose between them; I did it by rejecting all of them on the basis that I had been to Florence for a week with the family a few years ago and I didn’t want to go to somewhere I already knew, if not well, then a little, as it was likely that any activities and excursions would repeat some of the places with which I was already familiar. Then some other fodorites recommended a school in Siena, but that suffered from the same problem - I had been there before. I found a very nice-sounding school in Bologna [and I had read a lot about the food in Bologna so I was quite keen to try it] which came well-recommended but initially the school could not accommodate me for the dates I wanted, and by the time they came back to me with a proposal, I was already comitted elsewhere.
Eventually, I ended up here: www.linguaterramare.it in Orbetello, on the south-west coast of Tuscany, just before it becomes Lazio.
It had the advantages that it was in an area completely new to me, I could do a variety of activities including learning about local cuisine and wine, and the person I was communicating with, Maria, seemed very friendly and helpful. and it was reasonably priced - €450 for the weeks’ activities and €50 per night B&B in a local hotel. So in the end, my decision was made for me.
Let's find out how I got on:
DAY ONE - Sunday 8th May
With a flight to Pisa at about 1pm, I needed to leave home at about 8am to do the 3 hour drive to Bristol airport and to get there in time to check in, get through security, etc. Having gone to bed early to prepare for my 12 hour journey, I slept hardly at all, and by 7am I was exhausted! But I was on the road by 7.45 and apart from a 30 minute wait at the gate due to some unspecified technical problems, the Easyjet flight went like a dream, and landed on time. For those who like me prefer to travel with more than one change of clothes, which IMHO makes taking carry-on more or less impossible, the luggage had arrived almost before we had reached the baggage-reclaim area, and by 16.30 I had my train ticket [€11] to take me to Orbetello from Pisa aeroporto via Pisa Centrale. Those of you who have travelled by train in Italy will know that it is necessary to validate your ticket in a machine on the platform before you board the train; if you are familiar with Italy will not be surprised to read that none of the machines worked. Luckily, someone had grabbed the guard, and had got him to write on their tickets, so I did the same and thrust my ticket into his hand before he could escape, as on a previous journey we had forgotten and been fined, so I was VERY keen that shouldn’t happen again. As it happened I would have had time to find a machine at Pisa centrale while I waited for my train, but it was one less thing to worry about.
Changing trains at Pisa was not particularly difficult, but it was hard work - lots of steps down from the platform we arrived at, and lots more to get to the right platform for Rome, [Orbetello is conveniently on the line from Genoa to Rome which goes through Pisa]. I began to wish that I had packed less, though with one bag well within the weight limits on easyjet and one piece of hand luggage, I had not felt that I had overburdened myself. [note to self - put all clothes out and then put half of them away]. [on the way back I found out that there are ramps and/or lifts, but you have to look hard to find them]
Helpfully, all the trains were shown on overhead displays with their final destinations, and train numbers, as well as which platform was needed, and announced in italian and english. Somewhat to my surprise, the train I needed actually started at Pisa, so I had plenty of time to get on, and arrange myself. Fortunately it was by no means full so I was able to keep my luggage next to me, which was good as before we left, a couple of disreputable looking types came through the train leaving cards begging for money [amusingly printed very professionally in what looked to me like pefect italian and very good english] and after we had set off, they came through the train asking for handouts. I have found that if you simply say “non” they go away, and so it proved, but if I’d had to leave my luggage in the area at the end of the carriage, I would have kept a very good eye on it while they were around. Another argument for travelling light/er.
I don’t know why, but I had not expected the journey to be so long [I had printed out the timetable so it shouldn’t have been a surprise] but the train seemed to take ages to inch its way down the coast of Tuscany, stopping at one little town after another. But the scenery gradually became more dramatic and interesting, and as we were nearing my station, I spotted some deer grazing in a field close to the lines. Then suddenly we were there, with yet more stairs to negotiate, down and up again, before I could extracate myself from the station. Disabled people did not appear to be well catered for; there was a ramp leading up from the underground passageway beneath the platforms, but I couldn’t find the one leading down! [see above - I did find it on the return trip as it made sense that there would be one; but it was pretty well hidden!]
Maria, the school’s organiser, [and as I later discovered, tour guide, teacher, driver and trouble-shooter] had kindly offered to pick me up from the station and I had phoned her from the train, but I was not entirely surprised when she was not there to meet me; when she arrived she said that there had been a traffic jam because all the weekenders from Rome decided to return home at the same time, and the local council were digging up the roads. This was certainly true - traffic was having to use a car-park as a thoroughfare in order to get from one part of the town to the other, to the dismay of people trying to use it for its more usual function. but my first impressions of Orbetello were good - a lovely town set in a beautiful if slightly smelly lagoon, surrounded by hills, woods, castles and beaches.
Having parked the car [not in the middle of the new thoroughfare] she walked me to the hotel she had booked me into, and we agreed to meet about 30 minutes later, when hopefully she would have located some other sutdents so that we could get to know each other over dinner. As I had last eaten a sandwich on the plane at about 2pm, and it was now after 8 that appealed to me greatly, but after 45 minutes of hearing nothing, I took things into my own hands and chose a restaurant for myself. I’d just ordered when she phoned; fortunately the others had not sat down anywhere and they came to join me, along with Maria. Equally fortuantely, it turned out that completely accidentally, I had chosen a very good place to eat. I decided to try the spaghetti con vongole [clams] e bottarga [smoked grey mullet roe] which was really excellent; with a 1/2 litre of red wine, sparkling water and home-made pannacotta, it all came to €25. Not a bargain, but reasonable for what I had. My dinner companions and I soon introduced ourselves - my fellow students turned out to be two middle-aged teachers from Denmark with the same first name [which had apparently caused great confusion when they had made their bookings] and a yound german girl. They were already following the school rules of speaking only italian, so I had no choice but to join in! It also turned out that we were right next to the school [mind you, Orbetello is the sort of size that nothing is very far from anything else] which proved useful the next morning when I had to find it in a hurry.
Although Italy is an hour ahead of England, by 10pm I was exhausted, and I was very happy to be escorted back to my hotel by my fellow students before they dispersed to their various lodgings, and I didn’t even unpack before crawling into bed and going to sleep. After all, there would be plenty of time for that in the morning!
Next - let the fun begin.
How, you are asking yourselves [or possibly yourself] did she choose which school to attend? If you google for example “langague schools in Italy” you will come up with literally hundreds of choices. I started by thinking that as I would be travelling alone, I should make things as easy as possible. That meant choosing an airport where I knew that there was easy access to the train system as I didn’t want to drive. And as allegedly the purest Italian is spoken in Tuscany, that narrowed it down to flying into Pisa and choosing somewhere that I could get to easily from there. So that meant possibly Pisa, Lucca, Siena, and Florence.
There are LOADS of language schools in Florence. I don’t know how people choose between them; I did it by rejecting all of them on the basis that I had been to Florence for a week with the family a few years ago and I didn’t want to go to somewhere I already knew, if not well, then a little, as it was likely that any activities and excursions would repeat some of the places with which I was already familiar. Then some other fodorites recommended a school in Siena, but that suffered from the same problem - I had been there before. I found a very nice-sounding school in Bologna [and I had read a lot about the food in Bologna so I was quite keen to try it] which came well-recommended but initially the school could not accommodate me for the dates I wanted, and by the time they came back to me with a proposal, I was already comitted elsewhere.
Eventually, I ended up here: www.linguaterramare.it in Orbetello, on the south-west coast of Tuscany, just before it becomes Lazio.
It had the advantages that it was in an area completely new to me, I could do a variety of activities including learning about local cuisine and wine, and the person I was communicating with, Maria, seemed very friendly and helpful. and it was reasonably priced - €450 for the weeks’ activities and €50 per night B&B in a local hotel. So in the end, my decision was made for me.
Let's find out how I got on:
DAY ONE - Sunday 8th May
With a flight to Pisa at about 1pm, I needed to leave home at about 8am to do the 3 hour drive to Bristol airport and to get there in time to check in, get through security, etc. Having gone to bed early to prepare for my 12 hour journey, I slept hardly at all, and by 7am I was exhausted! But I was on the road by 7.45 and apart from a 30 minute wait at the gate due to some unspecified technical problems, the Easyjet flight went like a dream, and landed on time. For those who like me prefer to travel with more than one change of clothes, which IMHO makes taking carry-on more or less impossible, the luggage had arrived almost before we had reached the baggage-reclaim area, and by 16.30 I had my train ticket [€11] to take me to Orbetello from Pisa aeroporto via Pisa Centrale. Those of you who have travelled by train in Italy will know that it is necessary to validate your ticket in a machine on the platform before you board the train; if you are familiar with Italy will not be surprised to read that none of the machines worked. Luckily, someone had grabbed the guard, and had got him to write on their tickets, so I did the same and thrust my ticket into his hand before he could escape, as on a previous journey we had forgotten and been fined, so I was VERY keen that shouldn’t happen again. As it happened I would have had time to find a machine at Pisa centrale while I waited for my train, but it was one less thing to worry about.
Changing trains at Pisa was not particularly difficult, but it was hard work - lots of steps down from the platform we arrived at, and lots more to get to the right platform for Rome, [Orbetello is conveniently on the line from Genoa to Rome which goes through Pisa]. I began to wish that I had packed less, though with one bag well within the weight limits on easyjet and one piece of hand luggage, I had not felt that I had overburdened myself. [note to self - put all clothes out and then put half of them away]. [on the way back I found out that there are ramps and/or lifts, but you have to look hard to find them]
Helpfully, all the trains were shown on overhead displays with their final destinations, and train numbers, as well as which platform was needed, and announced in italian and english. Somewhat to my surprise, the train I needed actually started at Pisa, so I had plenty of time to get on, and arrange myself. Fortunately it was by no means full so I was able to keep my luggage next to me, which was good as before we left, a couple of disreputable looking types came through the train leaving cards begging for money [amusingly printed very professionally in what looked to me like pefect italian and very good english] and after we had set off, they came through the train asking for handouts. I have found that if you simply say “non” they go away, and so it proved, but if I’d had to leave my luggage in the area at the end of the carriage, I would have kept a very good eye on it while they were around. Another argument for travelling light/er.
I don’t know why, but I had not expected the journey to be so long [I had printed out the timetable so it shouldn’t have been a surprise] but the train seemed to take ages to inch its way down the coast of Tuscany, stopping at one little town after another. But the scenery gradually became more dramatic and interesting, and as we were nearing my station, I spotted some deer grazing in a field close to the lines. Then suddenly we were there, with yet more stairs to negotiate, down and up again, before I could extracate myself from the station. Disabled people did not appear to be well catered for; there was a ramp leading up from the underground passageway beneath the platforms, but I couldn’t find the one leading down! [see above - I did find it on the return trip as it made sense that there would be one; but it was pretty well hidden!]
Maria, the school’s organiser, [and as I later discovered, tour guide, teacher, driver and trouble-shooter] had kindly offered to pick me up from the station and I had phoned her from the train, but I was not entirely surprised when she was not there to meet me; when she arrived she said that there had been a traffic jam because all the weekenders from Rome decided to return home at the same time, and the local council were digging up the roads. This was certainly true - traffic was having to use a car-park as a thoroughfare in order to get from one part of the town to the other, to the dismay of people trying to use it for its more usual function. but my first impressions of Orbetello were good - a lovely town set in a beautiful if slightly smelly lagoon, surrounded by hills, woods, castles and beaches.
Having parked the car [not in the middle of the new thoroughfare] she walked me to the hotel she had booked me into, and we agreed to meet about 30 minutes later, when hopefully she would have located some other sutdents so that we could get to know each other over dinner. As I had last eaten a sandwich on the plane at about 2pm, and it was now after 8 that appealed to me greatly, but after 45 minutes of hearing nothing, I took things into my own hands and chose a restaurant for myself. I’d just ordered when she phoned; fortunately the others had not sat down anywhere and they came to join me, along with Maria. Equally fortuantely, it turned out that completely accidentally, I had chosen a very good place to eat. I decided to try the spaghetti con vongole [clams] e bottarga [smoked grey mullet roe] which was really excellent; with a 1/2 litre of red wine, sparkling water and home-made pannacotta, it all came to €25. Not a bargain, but reasonable for what I had. My dinner companions and I soon introduced ourselves - my fellow students turned out to be two middle-aged teachers from Denmark with the same first name [which had apparently caused great confusion when they had made their bookings] and a yound german girl. They were already following the school rules of speaking only italian, so I had no choice but to join in! It also turned out that we were right next to the school [mind you, Orbetello is the sort of size that nothing is very far from anything else] which proved useful the next morning when I had to find it in a hurry.
Although Italy is an hour ahead of England, by 10pm I was exhausted, and I was very happy to be escorted back to my hotel by my fellow students before they dispersed to their various lodgings, and I didn’t even unpack before crawling into bed and going to sleep. After all, there would be plenty of time for that in the morning!
Next - let the fun begin.
May 15th, 2011, 01:05 PM
#3
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God. I thought I was the only non Italian to visit Orbetello.
I was once the young "Talented Mr Ripley" (or Dickie Greenleaf) there some many years ago.
Ann, two trip reports in one week is becoming a little decadent.
Let the fun begin, indeed!
I was once the young "Talented Mr Ripley" (or Dickie Greenleaf) there some many years ago.
Ann, two trip reports in one week is becoming a little decadent.
Let the fun begin, indeed!
May 15th, 2011, 01:15 PM
#5
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We've debated enrolling in an Italian language course but are fearful that class time would interfere with eating,drinking and, of course, dolce far niente. At home everything except very intro classes in Italian have been replaced by Arabic and Chinese at the local colleges. I'm very eager to read about your experience. Thanks for writing!
May 15th, 2011, 06:49 PM
#9
Waiting to see what transportation you chose to Florence.
I considered this program a few years ago, but with the Siena/Orbetello combo (http://www.saenaiulia.it/). Is it the same school? Maybe I'll get there one day, but am currently leaning towards Il Sasso in Montepulciano. (Your link for the school doesn't work.)
I considered this program a few years ago, but with the Siena/Orbetello combo (http://www.saenaiulia.it/). Is it the same school? Maybe I'll get there one day, but am currently leaning towards Il Sasso in Montepulciano. (Your link for the school doesn't work.)
May 15th, 2011, 09:03 PM
#10
OK - this should work - scusa!
http://www.linguaterramare.com/
kybourbon - it is not the one you mention, and your link didn't work for me either!
the one in Montepulciano looked good to me and i exchanged e-mails with them but it looked a bit of a pig to get to on public transport, so that was why i rejected it.
My transportation to Florence ended up being the train, as buses on a sunday are not very numerous. I did splash out on the Fretta bianca back to Pisa though- which was much more comfortable and cleaner, not to mention faster than the treno regionale I took on my arrival.
thanks very much to all of you for your interest - i will try to maintain it. although i didn't have a wifi link in Orbetello [not even sure of wifi has got there yet!] humpty - there were not many [?any] foreigners there, apart from the language school clients, but they were expecting a large party of american ladies [meaning that they were numerous, not the other meaning, perish the thought], hence my problems hiring a bike that was any use as a bike, that is, about which more later.
Marija, Ek - it really is worth it. I feel that even after a week, i am now able to string sentence/s together much more easily. of course, it wasn't near long enough, and if you really are a beginner, a fortnight would be the minimum to get any facility in the language. but if you are frequent [ie annual] visitors to Italy, the rewards of actually being able to converse, joke and argue with the locals are immense, not to mention being able to read menus, timetables, and notices, which in the more out of the way places where there is no english translation can be a real boon.
of course being Italy there is NO chance that the learning will be allowed to interfere with the important business of eating, and you could always do what i did and enrol in a class that combines the two!
ok - Day 3 coming up.
http://www.linguaterramare.com/
kybourbon - it is not the one you mention, and your link didn't work for me either!
the one in Montepulciano looked good to me and i exchanged e-mails with them but it looked a bit of a pig to get to on public transport, so that was why i rejected it.
My transportation to Florence ended up being the train, as buses on a sunday are not very numerous. I did splash out on the Fretta bianca back to Pisa though- which was much more comfortable and cleaner, not to mention faster than the treno regionale I took on my arrival.
thanks very much to all of you for your interest - i will try to maintain it. although i didn't have a wifi link in Orbetello [not even sure of wifi has got there yet!] humpty - there were not many [?any] foreigners there, apart from the language school clients, but they were expecting a large party of american ladies [meaning that they were numerous, not the other meaning, perish the thought], hence my problems hiring a bike that was any use as a bike, that is, about which more later.
Marija, Ek - it really is worth it. I feel that even after a week, i am now able to string sentence/s together much more easily. of course, it wasn't near long enough, and if you really are a beginner, a fortnight would be the minimum to get any facility in the language. but if you are frequent [ie annual] visitors to Italy, the rewards of actually being able to converse, joke and argue with the locals are immense, not to mention being able to read menus, timetables, and notices, which in the more out of the way places where there is no english translation can be a real boon.
of course being Italy there is NO chance that the learning will be allowed to interfere with the important business of eating, and you could always do what i did and enrol in a class that combines the two!
ok - Day 3 coming up.
May 15th, 2011, 09:14 PM
#11
oops - i meant Day 2!
DAY 2 - Monday 9th May - let the fun begin.
Being still on english time [not on my watch but in my head] I was a little surprised to wake up very early - my mobile which I had charged up overnight was telling me it was only 6.30. Loads of time before school started at 9am. I lay in bed for a while, then got up, unpacked, had a shower, read some e-mails, [it was still only 7.30 according to my mobile] and then got dressed, putting on my watch last of all. Oh no! It had not been 7.30 as my mobile had told me, but 8.30 and by now it was 8.45! Only 15 minutes to get all the things I needed [in truth not a great deal but I didn’t have to time find anything, not even a pen] have some breakfast AND get to the school for 9. It seemed very rude not to stop for breakfast on my first day, but I grabbed some fruit juice and a cornetto [which turned out to be full of custard, which was difficult to eat running, rather than the plain croissant I had expected] said “ciao” and somehow got there for 9am. Phew - not a good start to turn up covered in crumbs and out of breath.
After introductions to the teachers, I was given a short test in Italian to see what my level of knowledge was. They already had a idea from the e-mails we had exchanged and from our conversation the night before, and as I had thought the night before, they decided that I was about the same level as the other students. It is an advantage of a small school like this one that you are more likely to be in a small class; that could turn itself into a disadvantage if you were much more or less advanced than the others. The two danish teachers [who I shall call B1 & B2] had like me been learning Italian for about 3-4 years; the german girl [“E”] had started from scratch about 5 weeks before. We all had our faults but luckily they were different ones which evened us out and meant that we could help each other.
Each morning took the same format - 4 hours conversation and discussion, with exercises in grammar and writing and listening, and a 20 minute pause [which had a tendency to stretch to half an hour] half way through. The emphasis was very much on making us converse in italian, with explanations given in italian as far as possible, which for the first day got a bit tiring after 4 hours or so. At about 1pm, we were free to spend the afternoon as we wished. I had [wrongly] understood that after a lunch break there would be excursions and other activities organised and if I have a criticism, it’s that the timetable was insufficiently explained in advance, but in fact, the excursions did not generally start until the late afternoon or evenings, leaving the afternoon free.
This first afternoon, after a lunch of salad in a near-by cafe that the danish ladies had already found and recommended, I was happy to wander around the town with them, eating gelati and sitting and enjoying the scenery, but after the first day, I found myself rather at a loose end in the afternoons. Again, a larger place such as Florence would give one something to do should this turn out to be the case; instead, today I spent the hottest hours of the day in my room reading [and writing this - as you can see the time was NOT wasted] and listening/watching the TV in the background - very good practice, though I can’t claim to have understood it all.
The timetable for this first day required us to meet at 5pm for a trip to a local beauty spot followed by dinner in a nearby restaurant. Again, possibly there had been a breakdown in communication; the two Bs had not told their respective host families that they would not be dining a casa that evening, and in fact one was invited to dine with the family of the other that night. After much discussion ina confusing combination of italian and danish, I gathered that one host family was much more friendly than the other and produced much better food; that was the one that had issued the invitation that evening, as they were talking pity on B2 whose family were the exact opposite - no conversation apart from “buon giorno” and microwaved meals - virtually unheard of in Italy [and later disputed by the lady in question, who everyone else said was an excellent cook. Clearly something had gone wrong somewhere and the rights and wrongs of the situation will probably never be discovered]. Eventually, it was decided that because neither the excursion nor the dinner invitation could be changed, we would do the excursion, then return the 2Bs to Orbetello, and then return to the restaurant for dinner! I began to congratulate myself on deciding to stay in a hotel - it was not that much more expensive, and I did not have to avoid treading on anyone’s toes.
The excursion turned out to be a trip to some of the local castles, built by a succession of conquerors of the area and thus a very pleasant revision, better delivered and in more detail, of my A level history syllabus - being able to see the ground over which they had been fought helped the Italian wars of the 14th to 16th centuries make rather more sense than they had in an english school-room 30 or so years before, and Maria, who had spent 20 or so years as a tourist guide, certainly knew her stuff. After about an hour and a half of looking around fortresses and taking endless photos of stunnng panoramas, we returned to Orbetello to deliver the Bs for their dinner, then returned to Porto Ercole for ours. Maria clearly thought she knew the best place to go and so it proved - we were greeted like old friends, I was introduced to the owners and the chef, and we had a lovely meal, starting with the antipasti buffet, [ranging from prawns to marvellously sweet onions, aubergine and peppers, as well as sea-food salad, beans and tiny carrots] and then sharing a plate of the lightest gnocchi I have ever tasted, in a sea-food sauce. The only disappointment was that the desserts were not home-made, [shock horror] so we passed and had coffee instead. With a 1/4 litre of wine and a small bottle of water, this all came to the grand price of €29.00 for us both together, which we divided equally between us - a terrific bargain. For those who worry about such things, I noticed that Maria left no tip, and even picked up her 50c change so I followed suit. Back in Orbetello Maria dropped me off and I had no difficulty finding my hotel - thank goodness as by 10.30pm, virtually everybody appeared to be in bed!
Next - Day 3.
DAY 2 - Monday 9th May - let the fun begin.
Being still on english time [not on my watch but in my head] I was a little surprised to wake up very early - my mobile which I had charged up overnight was telling me it was only 6.30. Loads of time before school started at 9am. I lay in bed for a while, then got up, unpacked, had a shower, read some e-mails, [it was still only 7.30 according to my mobile] and then got dressed, putting on my watch last of all. Oh no! It had not been 7.30 as my mobile had told me, but 8.30 and by now it was 8.45! Only 15 minutes to get all the things I needed [in truth not a great deal but I didn’t have to time find anything, not even a pen] have some breakfast AND get to the school for 9. It seemed very rude not to stop for breakfast on my first day, but I grabbed some fruit juice and a cornetto [which turned out to be full of custard, which was difficult to eat running, rather than the plain croissant I had expected] said “ciao” and somehow got there for 9am. Phew - not a good start to turn up covered in crumbs and out of breath.
After introductions to the teachers, I was given a short test in Italian to see what my level of knowledge was. They already had a idea from the e-mails we had exchanged and from our conversation the night before, and as I had thought the night before, they decided that I was about the same level as the other students. It is an advantage of a small school like this one that you are more likely to be in a small class; that could turn itself into a disadvantage if you were much more or less advanced than the others. The two danish teachers [who I shall call B1 & B2] had like me been learning Italian for about 3-4 years; the german girl [“E”] had started from scratch about 5 weeks before. We all had our faults but luckily they were different ones which evened us out and meant that we could help each other.
Each morning took the same format - 4 hours conversation and discussion, with exercises in grammar and writing and listening, and a 20 minute pause [which had a tendency to stretch to half an hour] half way through. The emphasis was very much on making us converse in italian, with explanations given in italian as far as possible, which for the first day got a bit tiring after 4 hours or so. At about 1pm, we were free to spend the afternoon as we wished. I had [wrongly] understood that after a lunch break there would be excursions and other activities organised and if I have a criticism, it’s that the timetable was insufficiently explained in advance, but in fact, the excursions did not generally start until the late afternoon or evenings, leaving the afternoon free.
This first afternoon, after a lunch of salad in a near-by cafe that the danish ladies had already found and recommended, I was happy to wander around the town with them, eating gelati and sitting and enjoying the scenery, but after the first day, I found myself rather at a loose end in the afternoons. Again, a larger place such as Florence would give one something to do should this turn out to be the case; instead, today I spent the hottest hours of the day in my room reading [and writing this - as you can see the time was NOT wasted] and listening/watching the TV in the background - very good practice, though I can’t claim to have understood it all.
The timetable for this first day required us to meet at 5pm for a trip to a local beauty spot followed by dinner in a nearby restaurant. Again, possibly there had been a breakdown in communication; the two Bs had not told their respective host families that they would not be dining a casa that evening, and in fact one was invited to dine with the family of the other that night. After much discussion ina confusing combination of italian and danish, I gathered that one host family was much more friendly than the other and produced much better food; that was the one that had issued the invitation that evening, as they were talking pity on B2 whose family were the exact opposite - no conversation apart from “buon giorno” and microwaved meals - virtually unheard of in Italy [and later disputed by the lady in question, who everyone else said was an excellent cook. Clearly something had gone wrong somewhere and the rights and wrongs of the situation will probably never be discovered]. Eventually, it was decided that because neither the excursion nor the dinner invitation could be changed, we would do the excursion, then return the 2Bs to Orbetello, and then return to the restaurant for dinner! I began to congratulate myself on deciding to stay in a hotel - it was not that much more expensive, and I did not have to avoid treading on anyone’s toes.
The excursion turned out to be a trip to some of the local castles, built by a succession of conquerors of the area and thus a very pleasant revision, better delivered and in more detail, of my A level history syllabus - being able to see the ground over which they had been fought helped the Italian wars of the 14th to 16th centuries make rather more sense than they had in an english school-room 30 or so years before, and Maria, who had spent 20 or so years as a tourist guide, certainly knew her stuff. After about an hour and a half of looking around fortresses and taking endless photos of stunnng panoramas, we returned to Orbetello to deliver the Bs for their dinner, then returned to Porto Ercole for ours. Maria clearly thought she knew the best place to go and so it proved - we were greeted like old friends, I was introduced to the owners and the chef, and we had a lovely meal, starting with the antipasti buffet, [ranging from prawns to marvellously sweet onions, aubergine and peppers, as well as sea-food salad, beans and tiny carrots] and then sharing a plate of the lightest gnocchi I have ever tasted, in a sea-food sauce. The only disappointment was that the desserts were not home-made, [shock horror] so we passed and had coffee instead. With a 1/4 litre of wine and a small bottle of water, this all came to the grand price of €29.00 for us both together, which we divided equally between us - a terrific bargain. For those who worry about such things, I noticed that Maria left no tip, and even picked up her 50c change so I followed suit. Back in Orbetello Maria dropped me off and I had no difficulty finding my hotel - thank goodness as by 10.30pm, virtually everybody appeared to be in bed!
Next - Day 3.
May 15th, 2011, 09:45 PM
#13
My link didn't work because of the ). It's http://www.saenaiulia.it/
Opps. I thought the two schools combined to make the combo program (1 week in Siena and 1 in Orbetello), but I guess it's a different school.
http://www.saenaiulia.it/07_4_summer...iena-italy.php
What was the name of your hotel? Restaurants?
Opps. I thought the two schools combined to make the combo program (1 week in Siena and 1 in Orbetello), but I guess it's a different school.
http://www.saenaiulia.it/07_4_summer...iena-italy.php
What was the name of your hotel? Restaurants?
May 15th, 2011, 09:58 PM
#14
tarquin - I took GCSE the year before last, and AS level last year. i wanted to do A level this, [no, I'm not a masochist, but i find that i study better with an incentive!] but the college wouldn't offer it as "there weren't enough of us to make it worth while" they have however run and advanced conversation class, and will do the same next year, and there are 12 or so of us doing that, so why not offer the A level?
kybourbon - no, definitely NOT the same, though I'm sure it's very good.
my hotel was the Hotel il sole - hopefully @ http://www.hotelsoleorbetello.it/
it was pretty basic for a 3 star and the staff were lovely - so helpful and friendly, and very willing to listen to my italian. the school has an arrangement with them so my €70/night room was only €50, including a pretty reasonable [for Italy] breakfast.
the restaurant the first night was il taverna in via roma [just next to the school, as it turned out, but in the centre of Orbetello nothing is very far away from anything else!] no website as it is not that type of place, but try this:
http://maps.google.it/maps/place?cli...31709250555126
it didn't look much but the food was excellent.
kybourbon - no, definitely NOT the same, though I'm sure it's very good.
my hotel was the Hotel il sole - hopefully @ http://www.hotelsoleorbetello.it/
it was pretty basic for a 3 star and the staff were lovely - so helpful and friendly, and very willing to listen to my italian. the school has an arrangement with them so my €70/night room was only €50, including a pretty reasonable [for Italy] breakfast.
the restaurant the first night was il taverna in via roma [just next to the school, as it turned out, but in the centre of Orbetello nothing is very far away from anything else!] no website as it is not that type of place, but try this:
http://maps.google.it/maps/place?cli...31709250555126
it didn't look much but the food was excellent.
May 15th, 2011, 10:02 PM
#15
oops - that should of course be "la taverna" - not a good start!!! but it is only the beginning of the week, I'll get it right by the end.
and for those who are puzzled, Taverna being a feminine word should be preceded by the feminine definite article ie "la" not the masculine one "il".
lesson one over.
and for those who are puzzled, Taverna being a feminine word should be preceded by the feminine definite article ie "la" not the masculine one "il".
lesson one over.
May 16th, 2011, 01:59 AM
#16
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This is just terrific! Maybe the nudge that I need to start looking at schools!
You make a very helpful point about choosing a location where there is enough to do in the time between classes.....
I think staying with the family might enhance the learning experience, but at a cost of having to
be on ones toes, liguistically and socially. Good thing you chose the hotel, Ann!
You make a very helpful point about choosing a location where there is enough to do in the time between classes.....
I think staying with the family might enhance the learning experience, but at a cost of having to
be on ones toes, liguistically and socially. Good thing you chose the hotel, Ann!
May 16th, 2011, 04:31 AM
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Ann
How was the traffic in Orbetello? I just remember the busy traffic and the smell.
Argentario was bliss by comparison.
Did you make it to Alberese natural park up the coast?
Do the huge 1950s wooden yachts still come into Porto Santo Stefano?, incredible sight.
How was the traffic in Orbetello? I just remember the busy traffic and the smell.
Argentario was bliss by comparison.
Did you make it to Alberese natural park up the coast?
Do the huge 1950s wooden yachts still come into Porto Santo Stefano?, incredible sight.
May 16th, 2011, 04:49 AM
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I'm so enjoying this, Ann. I've studied Italian for a few years, and have toyed around with the idea of taking a class in Italy for a week. You're addressing all of the questions and concerns that I had, so I'm finding your report both entertaining and helpful. Thanks!
May 16th, 2011, 06:16 AM
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Ann, of course the early part of the afternoon was left free for the siesta. When in Rome....
I'm attracted by the school in Bologna, but wonder if a small not-much-touristed town might not be more fun and more conducive to practicing speaking. In touristy places they take one look at you and speak English. If you speak to them in Italian, they reply in English.
I'm attracted by the school in Bologna, but wonder if a small not-much-touristed town might not be more fun and more conducive to practicing speaking. In touristy places they take one look at you and speak English. If you speak to them in Italian, they reply in English.
