verifiche

voi dovete essere felice a sapere che il Master procede benissimo! alcuni giorni fa, ho fatto la cosiddetto verifica finale del modulo di cui mi occupavo per due settimane: ero nervosa, ansiosa, e incerta sul contenuto perché pensavo di non averlo capito bene: invece, quando ho ricevuto la risposta della mia prof (che chiamiamo i tutor perché siccome apprendiamo in rete, il ruolo del prof svolge altre attività e richieste molto diverse dal ruolo del prof tradizionale) ho fatto benissimo!! Lei mi ha scritto che le mie risposte erano ben sviluppate con chiarezza ed esaustività!! (parole sue; ve lo giuro). Dovete sapere inoltre che trattiamo qui dei concetti della linguistica generale ed applicata: un tema non mica facile da capire! quindi sono felice e affronto questo nuovo modulo con calma e tranquillità; anche perché adesso trattiamo dei temi su cui ho già lavorato parecchio: facciamo ora l'apprendimento di una L2 o LS. Ci occupiamo delle varie teorie psicologiche e neurolinguistiche, due campi che ho già studiato all'università; mi chi non sa, una delle mia facoltà all'università era psicologia con una concentrazione sulle neuroscienze; c'era la richiesta pure per fare un tipo di specializzazione durante il percorso della facoltà di psicologia e ho fatto la mia proprio nel campo di "apprendimento"! EHI!! ho fatto benissimo e sono davvero contentissimaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

L'estate finsce

e anche se sono triste a vederla partire, devo dire che a me piacciono tutte e quattro le stagioni: l'estate però è la mia preferita! sole, mare, amici, fiori, frutta, giri, vacanze...c'è sempre una cosa bella da fare in estate!!! l'inverno però è un'altra cosa completamente...allo stesso tempo che mi piace l'inverno non mi piace l'inverno...è freddissimo per mesi (odio il freddo), diventa difficile muoversi per la città non solo per la neve o la pioggia ma soprattutto perché si deve mettere tanti vestiti per non prendere freddo che porta anche la febbre, il raffreddore, e tutto ciò 

Ma certo che c'è la bellezza della neve (che ne abbiamo parecchio a NYC) quando è fresca fresca come se fosse una coperta sulla città: c'è poi il silenzio della notte e le piccole stelle che brillano in un cielo che è di un colore blu così profondo che appare quasi nero come se fosse petrolio; 

l'autunno porta i colori della terra che mi piacciono tanto tanto; bordeaux, carminio, arancione fiamma, bronzo, castagno, granata, oro, marrone, beige, seppia, ocra, viola, rubino...e ci sono alberi qui vicino i quali foglie diventano scarlatte a tal punto che l'albero sembra che sia in fiamme

e anche non possiamo dimenticare la primavera: quando il mondo cresce ancora...dopo mesi del grigio dell'inverno, c'è una specie di rinascita come il mondo si sta svegliando da un sonno profondissimo...

adesso però il mondo sta per addormentarsi; l'autunno è l'inizio di questa fase del ciclo e l'unica cosa con cui mi consolo è che l'estate torna ancora fra poco (ma dai... neppure un anno che devo aspettare...)

un ricordino

due foto della spiaggia a NY.... la mitica Jones Beach

metterò più foto in seguito....per ora, me ne vado verso il fiume per godere un po' questi ultimi giorni dell'estate!!

bacioni dalla grande mela

technology, oh how I loathe thee

sometimes, techonology is just not on my side. Sigh. Take this morning for instance: I am all geared up to take my exams, to dowload the final so I can begin work on the questions, and Firefox has decided that it feels like being recalcitrant and doing whatever the hell it feels like doing (today this has taken the form of not risponding). Well, you know Firefox, there are many moments in my life when I too feel like not risponding (for instance, when my boss asked me the other day about how I was going to vote in the next election and then proceeded to extoll the virtues of George Bush Senior...I was, needless to say, totally flumuxed by this commentary and wondered silently if I was being tested by some strange and evil diety trying to make its presence known to the world) but not being a web browser, I DON'T HAVE THAT OPTION!! Why do you do me this way?? why oh why??? I implore you oh gods of hypertext, please let firefox function!!

Do I need to make some sort of virgin sacrifice to get the damn thing to work? How many times can one send the same resoconto to Apple without seeming completely redundant? Maybe I should restart the whole operation and start again from scratch?

any suggestions?

learning online

hey!! so the online courses are fun! I'm beginning to get the hang of instant messaging and forum posts and ignoring confusing messages from other students!! YAY!!

as you may have guessed, the Masters program really did start (as detailed in a prior post) and I am happily plugging along on the path to knowledge (tangled with brambles and thorny impediments thought it may be). I have a few more sections to get through before I take my first exam....

so now, I am off to learn and be educated! (oh, and finish the laundry! WOO HOO for clean clothes! BOO HOO for being the one who has to clean them!)

so apparently, keeping up a blog is much more difficult than I once thought: I log in today only to realize that my last post was something like two months ago...how did that happen? so much for my brilliant idea of updating regularly. Although, this would seem to indicate an already established pattern in my life of initiating some activity and then taking my sweet time to complete it.... a trend? perhaps. (might I point out my love for the sentence fragment?)

In other news: the Master's program starts on 1 september (I swear being bilingual is sometimes problematic from the standpoint of mixing uses and functions and forgetting that rules which apply in one language are not translatable to the other) 

I have downloaded the patto formativo and am ready to begin the course of study (nervous though I may be): this is going to be a lot of work. I have the academic schedule and this wil facilitate my progress - a calendar of events so to speak - which details all the modules, exams, deadlines, and requisites...WOO HOO!!

I am off to the beach today...after pulling the week from hell this past week (think thirteen hour days and a seven day work week...yikes!) I need some form of relaxation to unwind and staccare la spina (though not in the literal sense)

more news later....who knows, maybe if I start posting twice daily I will be able to recuperate from not having posted anything in months.....

I'll keep you posted (though I'm sure readership is nil)

baci dalla grande mela dove si va al mare 

ciao ciao

il tempo passa...

allora...mi trovo ancora a New York (una città che è davvero incantevole; vi allego qualche foto forse) visto che è stato un pò di tempo da quando ho fatto l'aggiornamento del mio blog e alcuni amici mi hanno chiesto di farlo, eccomi di nuovo.
ci sono tante tante cose che mi sono accadute da quando ero a Perugia (ma ovviamente, no?) e vi racconto solo alcune per questa la mia prima volta qui dopo quasi un anno!
mi sono laureata recentemente e c'era mia cugina alla cerimonia; c'erano anche i miei (ma non era ovvio?), gli zii, ed alcuni amici (che sono davvero cari) comunque è stata la giornata forse più bella della mia vita (manca quella in cui sono nata)
Sono diventata professoressa di italiano (anche di inglese!) come lingua straniera: un lavoro che è davvero gradevole! mi trovo completamente al mio agio e in un ambiente molto adeguato ... si può vedere che mi piace? ihihihihihi insegno per due scuole private e mi piacciono sia gli studenti sia i colleghi
Faccio parte di un gruppo teatrale con cui recito una commedia di Dario Fo: abbiamo avuto alcuni problemi fin'ore ma comunque è un'esperienza da non perdere nella vita; si può imparare tante cose non solo su se stesso ma anche come riagire ad avere un rapporto con gli altri cioè come si fa ad avere un rapporto che non è esattamente un'amicizia neppure un rapporto professionale, ma è una specie di tutte e due insieme. Quindi è un'esperienza interessante...
Vi devo dire che mi trovo molto bene in questo periodo della mia vita e sono contenta, felice, e sento in armonia con l'universo...

Ciao Perugia

WOW!! I can't believe I'm leaving!! It's been an absolutely amazing time here......I'm going up to Genova to visit my family.....more pics from there.....

and so I leave you with some stunning images of Perugia....hope you had as much fun here as I did....... Baci dall'Umbria e ci vediamo ancora quando arriverò a Genova!!........

the Griffin of 1477......500 years before I was born!

Corso Vannucci

La Fontana

Porto d'Ercule

Sala dei Notai e la Galleria Nazionale d'Umbria

Corso Bersaglieri

the view from the roof of the università

this is a false grade.....look closely though and you can see the aqueduct....ah.....the genius of Roman engineering!!

Sala Grande....that painting in the back is a futurist painting (can't remember the name of the artist) but it used to have a depiction of Mussolini in it....til the fascist regime fell and then they painted over him......il Duce probably wasn't too thrilled...

San Francesco.....

La Madonna

The walk home from university.....

San Francesco al Prato....

God, Umbria is really beautiful....

Arco del sole ? the scudi at the top fast became a symbol of Perugia....this wall was originally constructed by the Etruscans....and added to by the Romans.....

the cityscape is really breathtaking from up high....

illegal pictures of Apollo from the sala dei notai.....the ceiling is just incredible though!!

I don't think I even knew the name of this chruch but it's right at the end of corso bersaglieri.....this is where I turn right to get to university......Piazza Fortebraccio is just down the street.....

I will miss it sooooooooooo much!!

Ciao! ci vediamo alla prossima...

Foligno

may I introduce to you the flattest town in all of Umbria.....

I was completely amazed to see people on bicycles here!! I mean a woman riding through the piazza on a bicycle!! and an old man even!! eh, wait that doesn't sound right....the old man was riding a bicycle I meant....

see how flat??!?!? ok, well maybe not from that shot, but I swear, it really is FLAT....but this is a nice segue into the gratuitous church photos (of which there seem to be many)

here's the outside (from street level)...

and the inside.....

I wish I had a baldacchino like this in MY house!

never missing an opportunity to showcase everybody's favorite virgin.....

I especially love the moon and snake at her feet.....robbing the pagans again I see?
There is also a military base here (which thankfully I didn't have an opportunity to photograph) and this was a relatively short trip....next stop: Spello!!

Spello

So as I blog on, I realize that I pretty much take pictures of all the same things in different cities......
there are however slight variations....for instance, I was running like a MADWOMAN to catch the train back to Perugia (in spite of the fact that a very scary bald man with an earring offered to drive me back and if not all the way to Perugia as he originally suggested, then at least to the train station......I politely declined in an attempt to avoid all the potentially horrendous endings that the situation could have....my being dead was the number one thing on that list of accidents to avoid).....so I didn't take a picture of the sign in the train station at Spello as I have done in almost every other city I've visited.....I'm weird like that....I start doing a random thing at some point along the way and then it becomes a sort of ritual....
but I digress (as I do in every post) on to the images!!
Spello is on a really steep hill....

But the security is tight.....the people in the middle ages were apprently very wary of unwanted intruders

unfortunately, the signage can sometimes be a little bit confusing...

the requisite church......this one is obviously not as decadent as some others that we've seen...



and what would a medieval town be without the delightful strade strette???

And then of course, like every town on top of a huge hill, Spello has some amazing panoramic views......there's a little park that's way up on top of the hill (in fact the whole city is built on a damn steep hill....didn't I tell you Foligno was the only flat city in all of Umbria??) and from this overlook a whole lot of land is visible:

oh wait, isn't that my house in the distance over there???!?!?

and no kidding, it really is that close to Perugia.....

un Ponte ed una Fortezza

No, it isn't a puppet show.......It's....(can I have a drumroll please??)

SPOLETO!!!! YAY!!!

In addition to the aforementioned Ponte and Fortezza (also lovingly referred to as a Rocca) hang on, photos to follow.....
we also have a lovely chiesa....

lovely both outside .......

and inside.......

ahhhhh, now what would you pay???




I finally managed to get a focussed shot of the ceiling fresco..... this was no easy feat, trust me!



Spoleto has a delightful park with breathtaking panoramic vistas....

the Rocca is visible from the park as well....


I spoletiani call it Fortezza Arnoz on account of the ex-owner of said fortezza.....
my friend Françoise (whom I met at the train station in Perugia.... completely unplanned!) and I took a trip into the Fortezza which sadly, was used as a jail for quite some time; in fact, up until very recently. Many of the freschi were destroyed by either the state constructing cells or the inmates being bored to bits.....well, we weren't permitted to take pictures inside the Fortezza. The whole trip is rather interesting: the "tour" lasts about 45 minutes and is guided: the museum-goers are taken through the rooms that were previously palatial, then incarceratory, and now some are used for important town functions such as official gatherings and the like, and its obvious function as museum. So anyway, they take you up this hill (and steep too!) in a small bus....trust me when I tell you that long winding roads in Italy were not meant to accomodate vehicular traffic....not to mention the fact that this is, after all, a FORTRESS and I suppose that they probably did not want just anybody to have easy access to their fortress and whatnot, but I digress.....anyway, after this short but very bumpy ride, (which really now, would have taken ten minutes to walk and it wasn't like it was too cold or something but whatever......this is Italia we don't ask these sorts of questions here) we arrive at the fortress which is locked....of course the tour guide has keys and you enter into the courtyard from which you can see the six original towers (and of course none of them were open but the tour guide informed us that if we come back tomorrow, the inaugural opening will take place...thanks lady, but I'm only here for the day) so anyway, after said tour of the fortress, which was quite interesting and educational.....

we walked around in the park a bit.....and found......(another drumroll please) the PONTE!!!!!!

view from one side.......



and from the other side.....



this was an aqueduct once upon a time......and is still a functioning bridge actually......apparently, people take their evening passeggiata (stroll) here quite frequently.....

Spoleto (like all Italian towns) has the best strade strette..... (narrow streets that is)


and the coolest time-keeping devices!!!