The weather continues to be very mixed here in Bologna, and we are not yet wearing our summer clothes. On the contrary, we are still putting our heating on for a short period in the morning and evening. This is a real luxury as in the newer blocks of flats you don’t have control of your own heating, and it is turned off centrally on May 1.
Working on our Italian takes up a lot of our time after school, but it is all enjoyable, more so than if we were studying for an exam, I suspect. We had our first taste of listening to a recording of native speakers today, not slowed down for foreign learners, but at the natural speaking speed for Italians, which most of us found really difficult. Mark is finding it tricky to answer any question directed towards him, as he is struck by ‘brain freeze.’ He has a private lesson booked for next week in the hopes that this will help him find his tongue. Personally, I think an extra glass of wine would do this, although perhaps a glass of wine at breakfast would be a little much.
We are both having difficulty sleeping at night which is I suspect down to what my grandmother would have called ‘over-stimulation.’ In the same way, she called any food that was remotely tasty ‘rich’ and therefore was deemed to be a bad thing and would have her heading for the milk of magnesia.
As we are off out tonight for what should be some ‘rich’ food, we both had a siesta this afternoon, which for Mark meant an hour’s nap, and for me an hour with my feet up and eyes closed as I never manage to sleep in the afternoon unless I am ill.
The school is very busy and our class has now increased to ten students, mainly from the Netherlands, UK and former UK colonies. Luckily the one German student in the class speaks excellent English as that is the language everyone resorts to after school. I know it is good to practice Italian, but we are not yet up to having an extended conversation in it.
To finish, a picture to make you chuckle. We saw this in the student area of Bologna – the university here is very large and has over 86,000 students. It’s a shame the students can’t be given a bigger pitch. Is this why Italy are not doing well in football at the moment?
Tortoise Travel 
Hi Anne Glad to hear you are having a great time! I love your blogs, they really give a flavour of the country. I expect the Italian will ‘click’ soon- it is supposed to be the easiest language but that doesn’t allow for the speed of delivery when you are trying to understand it! All is good here – dare I say quite sunny but not that warm. We have had a busy time with people staying but now things are quieter and I am getting some gardening done. A siesta sounds a great idea! Take care Love Lesley xxx
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