A Month In Venice

Note: This is  a cross-post from Vivarome.com of the review of my first week in Rome, Italy while attending Torre Di Babele

I have been away from this blog for far too long. Quite honestly trying to get stories published in newspapers today is quite a hassle. The reason behind this is because many newspapers are going out of business and do not have a budget for any freelance writers. So I have been changing up my tactic and writing for the online publications which seem to be somewhat immune to this downturn.

However, I did want to put up a review of my experience at TorrediBabele in Rome, Italy. This was the language immersion school I attended while I was there and it was the reason I went to Rome in the first place. Now to be honest it was not always a pleasant experience but that is to be expected when you are in a foreign country for one month. You have to realize that not everything is going to go your way.

The best word that would describe the first week in Torredibabele would be stressful. But this is honestly what you want when trying to learn a language. If you go with the apartments that the school will set you up with then you are going to learn Italian much faster. This is because they choose to put you in apartments in non-tourist areas of Rome where very little to no English is spoken. I was put in Piazza Bologna area which is very near to the school. This area is extremely Italian and extremely Roman as well. This means that you better start talking Italian very fast otherwise you will have a very hard time.

The first task is just learning to survive when you can not speak the language fluently. This means finding and learning all you can about shopping for food and going out to eat. These are by far the two most important subjects in Italian you should learn first. If you do not know how to get food you will starve. Being a single guy in Rome is also a disadvantage. Most Italians seem very helpful to all the single girls but guys not so much. I am not sure why but I did notice a difference when ever I went out in a group.

Now as far as the lessons were concerned the school teachers will only speak to you in Italian. You can not speak a word of English, Spanish, or any other language while you are in class in this school. It is a forced language immersion school. But this is okay as the first day of class they do teach you how to ask questions in Italian so that you can try to understand what they are talking about. Some people found this forced immersion technique to be a bit stressful and either quit or broke down. I actually found this technique stressful as well but was lucky to find a friend in the school to help me out.

The very first day of class you are given your textbooks and a list of cultural events sponsored by the school. I would highly recommend that you attend these during your first week as that is one great way to make friends while you are away. Without some sort of friends your stay is going to be miserable.

The first week was a stressful one but I learned more Italian in this week then I ever would if I had studied it on my own. This is because of the classes and the environment as well. Rome is one hectic and noisy city and you best have your game face on if you want to learn the language. Italians do not like to speak English and would prefer to speak their own language. That is one great motivator in learning the language so that you can get along with more people while you are away.

Well my trip to Rome is rapidly approaching. I guess I am starting to count down the days until I am finally in that city to learn Italian. My Italian is not so great so a entire month in the city should definitely help with that. The anticipation is starting to build.

I will keep you posted as to how to prepare for such a long trip away from home.

Well today I figured I would finally announce what has been in the works for quite a while. I am finally going back to Italy to learn the Italian language. As some of my readers are aware that is what the whole purpose of this website was created for. Initially my intention was to spend a month in Venice, Italy. However, I feel like that I might get a better experience if I spend a month in rome instead. Rome being the capital city is one place where I know I can get connections and really immerse myself in the italian culture.

So I guess after some considerable time I finally did it! i of course will be chronicling my time in Rome on this website as well as my other Italian websites such as my Rome website, which just makes sense! This is the realization of a long term goal.

The school I am going to be attending is called Torre di Babele as I believe that this school offers the most value for the money spent. They have some really good Italian Language Courses and if you are ever considering learning Italian then I would give them a chance.

With a month in Rome i also plan on having enough material to really launch my travel writing career so in that effort I will be really working hard getting published in some of the major newspapers and online magazines. It will be tough I know but I believe that anything that is challenging is well worth the effort.

So you can follow my journey of spending a month in Rome on my main Rome website Vivarome.com as well as osme of my other Italian websites. It  should be an interesting adventure.

This is a guest post by Veraz

Ah, Venice! What a marvellous melange of art, culture, architecture, all reasons to visit the city, just once in your life, if only once. From its Medieval architectural wonders, its location, its Carnivale, it’s glorious foods, its ambiance, it is not a place you should miss in your life. If you have died and missed visiting Venice, you have missed the most romantic city in the world. Tourists flock to the city in droves, all hoping to absorb the beauty and romance of it all. The summers fill Venice with its tourists; the winters fill Venice with the mist from the sea. The pigeons remain. It is quieter then, when the mist rolls in.

My first time in Venice, we stayed at a hotel very close to the Rialto Bridge. It was in the days before the tourists actually came in floods like the sea does to Venice. It was May. There was a view of the Grand Canal from our window. The hotel was styled in the old traditional Venetian way. Old charm and elegance would describe this hotel, a little dusty in its age and withered beauty, with its high ceilings. I remember the room was dark; I remembered a darkness, with faded silks and tapestries, reminding one of times past when elegance had been the rule of Society. A gentle light flowed through the old arched windows. This was no longer a luxury hotel in Venice with its tattered beauty. Perhaps, it’s been renovated since then. I can only guess. I never went back because I never like to look back, as always, I wanted to look forward and to discover something new about Venice each time I returned.

From the window, I would watch the busy traffic on the Canal, the classic gondolas, the vaporettis. A gondola alone, black and sleek, bobbing on the water waiting for passengers. I heard music, the conversations of Italians, the motorboats, a cello playing its lonely chords. Young children ran through the narrow paths, laughing and shrieking with delight in their childish games. Waiters were setting up tables on the terrace, busy with their chores of laying out the silver and crystal. Colorful flowers, Murano glass souvenirs, fresh fruit and always the abundance of the sea that surrounds Venice.

The Piazzo San Marco was empty in the mornings, shrouded sometimes in fog from the sea. Except for the pigeons, a lonely hurried, traveller or businessman, rushing with urgency to their unknown destinations, the Square lay empty in the early morning hours. Someone alone, smoking a cigarette, thinking about something or other, I don’t know. I would sit in a café with the walls of frescoes, inside, in those early days of spring because it was too chilly outside. Handsome young waiters in white jackets served pastries and tea with a silver tea service to me. They treated me like a princess. Ah! A cup of tea or coffee back then was only a dollar. They served with an elegance and a style not known in my own city.

My days were spent, walking around the small streets along the canals, discovering small shops selling flowers, fresh fish from the sea, souvenirs, and designer clothes. Of course, I saw all the tourist sites, the Doges’ Palace, the Bridge of Sighs and I imagined the sufferings of its prisoners, and I shivered with the awfulness of it all. I gazed up at the vaulted ceilings of churches in silence, in awe of the power of man, inspired by God to build such temples of worship to him.

That was Venice to me in the old days. I’ve been back many times to the city of Venice, staying at various hotels in Venice. It’s renovated now. The crumbling beauty seems to have disappeared. The sea creeps higher silently, its power invisible and frightening and limitless. It is possible to disappear in Venice in the summers now, surrounded by the millions of tourists who now visit the city they should not miss, for just once in their lives.

Well I have to tell you that I really enjoyed watching Anthony Bourdain’s show No Reservations on Venice, Italy. I really like this take on anti-tourism that Anthony pursues with his show. You have agree that tourism or day trippers is a plague on some of the most beautiful parts of the world. I completely agree with just about everything stated in that show.

What I did not really like about this show though was the off center cinematogrpahy that for some reason left me a bit disjointed as to where he was in Venice. I have walked pretty much all of Venice, Italy and remember most of the streets but some I just could not make out.

Also this is just me being picky but some of the show was in Burano which in my opinion is outside of Venice. Yes it is where almost all the residents of Venice live but still this does not really represent the city.

The shots of the food, the wine and all that great stuff wanted to make me board a plane that night and head for the city. Unfortunately I can not afford to do that at this time but it sure makes me want to strive for hat level of ffeedom.

All in all I thought it was an excellent representation of the city and Anthony did a superb job of explaining the real Venice that many tourists overlook.