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| Kirsty and I on the Slopes! |
So I realise that I haven’t updated this blog for a HORRENDOUSLY LONG time, so I apologise and will try to write more often from now on.
January has literally flown by, I returned to the beautiful city of Ferrara 5th Jan just in time for La befana! This is traditionally the holiday Epiphany but in Italy its also the day when the children receive chocolate and sweets from La befana, the kindly old witch who missed Christmas. So after I had treated myself to a bit of chocolate it was time to get stuck into these exams!
9th Jan
Exam number 1: French comprehension. Luckily this sort of exam was fairly straight forward. But the exam itself was so strange! Everything was so informal. We just strolled in, with some students arriving 10 minutes after the exam had started, phones/ipods in pockets and on desks. There were even people having a chat in the middle of the exam!! Completely bizarre!
10th Jan
Exam number 2: History of Cinema. First of all, in Italy, when they say the exam starts at 10am, it doesn’t. An hour and half later, after they’d taken the register and faffed about, they finally started the exam. All the students were sat in the normal lecture hall whilst the 3 professors situated themselves in different corners of the room, and students were called up individually to each examiner to do their exam. The strangest exam experience ever! The 4 other erasmus girls and I sat together waiting for someone to call our name, too nervous to even go to the bathroom in case we missed it! After 2 hours we realised we were there for the long haul. I was lucky and finished my exam at 1pm, and got 30/30, RESULT! Unfortunately for some of the other Erasmus girls were still there until 4pm, Poor things! Everyone passed thankfully, being Erasmus definitely goes in your favour in Italian exams.
Since then I‘ve been struggling to plan this stupid year abroad essay for the French department in Birmingham. It’s an absolute pain in the arse! However it hasn’t stopped me having a bit of fun.
18th Jan
We returned to our favourite haunt of Sofisti’s Pizzeria then on to Clandestino’s bar for Terri-anne’s birthday and we gave her a good send off before she left to go to Seville. We've become regulars at Clandestino’s. When we sit down they automatically bring us a glass of prosecco each (I’m pretty sure we’re getting discounts too since the last time I was there I paid €9 for at least 6 glasses of prosecco!)
23rd - 29th Jan
For the first time ever I went skiing!!! Ellie, Kirsty and I found a really cheap apartment in Folgaria near the Dolomites in the Trentino region to go for a skiing holiday this week. Mixed reviews: I loved the feeling of skiing, so liberating, However, SKI BOOTS ARE AND INSTRUMENT OF TORTURE! I envied the snowboarders in their comfy attire meanwhile my calf muscles were cramping like a bitch and my shins felt bruised. However I had 12 enjoyable hours of ski lessons with the lovely Claudio, all in Italian! (If that doesn’t improve my Italian I don’t know what will!) Yes I fell over (many times!) and have some cracking bruises to show for my troubles. Great weather for skiing, lovely food, I think we sampled a hot chocolate in every establishment there! I also tried a bombardino which is like a coffee liquor, it was nice but STRONG!
30th Jan
Back in serious work mode now. I finally have a plan for this stupid french essay, just have to write the god damn thing now! Oh and I also have a new conversation partner! He’s called Lorenzo and one of the guys I met at Clandestinos last week. We had good chat for a couple of hours over coffee, so I think he’s a keeper. I also got an email from another Italian about english speaking lessons who offered me some lessons on his ukulele in return, one good deed deserves another!
