Recently, a group of SYA students (including myself) ended up talking about how we want to study Italian more intensely than what the school is offering at the moment. Therefore, we decided to come up with a solution: let's form our own Italian class!
SYA Italy Class of 2016 is fortunate because we have an Italian gem, whose name is Allegra. She identifies as an Italian since has lived in Florence all her life (before she moved to America for high school). Thanks to her eagerness and generosity to teach us learning-hungry kids, we formed our own Italian class that theoretically will meet every Saturday. And today was our first "lesson."
We met at Happiness cafe (seriously, where else would we be at?) and as soon as we got together, no one was allowed to speak English. An hour later, we covered prepositions and the future tense. It was amazing.
But what was more amazing is that a group of us got together outside the school just for the sake of learning the language. The fact that I am not alone in the process of adapting to this culture made me feel better.
I hope this continues regularly! It would be disappointing if it does not fall through.