Day 35: Starting my Italian Course + Leaving for Stockholm

After waking up at 8 AM, I was excited the entire day, knowing that we would be leaving for the cruise to Sweden in less than 12 hours!

I finished my usual Finnish breakfast and packed up the belongings I would take with me to Stockholm. Because meteorologists forecasted high temperatures between 80 to 90 degrees Fahrenheit, I made sure to bring loose, airy clothing and capris. I was so extremely grateful for the beautiful weather- when my host parents first announced that we would be going to Sweden 10 days ago, I immediately checked the weather forecasts. To my disappointment, most weather stations predicted cloudy skies at best, and rainy storms at worst. It doesn't sound like a huge deal now (it sounds rather superficial of me), but I was afraid that it would taint my Stockholm experience. All the pictures and videos I had researched of Stockholm showed the illustrious city, gleaming under the prodigious sun. From my personal life, I know that weather heavily affects my later perception of the place or experience. For example, I remember the days in Washington D.C. 4 weeks ago with sincere fondness and nostalgia. I still remember when Patti Sanderson, the program coordinator for YFU, treated all the FUSYE scholars to ice cream and we were all sitting cross-legged under the towering trees, laughing about how fast the ice cream was melting. It certainly helped that the weather was nearly perfect. On the other hand, I recall the Porvoo cruise trip with slight disappointment- us FUSYE scholars were all crowded on the deck, shivering while the rain pelted us with cruel indifference. 

Before the school year ended, I was also accepted to a Wellesley College sponsored intensive Italian online language course, which would begin on July 7th and end on August 19th. Today, I officially began my Italian studies! As part of the intensive track, I'm supposed to complete two units by the end of this week. The language course is quite cleverly and efficiently designed, and the interface is simple to navigate. Each lesson starts out with dialogue/conversation between two native Italian speakers, along with a transcript of what they are saying (both in Italian and English). Next, they provide a pdf of the important grammar concepts for that lesson and a new list of vocabulary words. Following the pdf are 8-10 sets of ungraded exercises (usually 10 problems each), where we are shown the correct answer upon completion. Then there are more videos and powerpoint slides if we are still unclear with the concept. After the entire lesson, we are presented with a graded test, which will count towards our final grade. 

So far, I'm really enjoying the course, but I do feel a sense of urgency to complete the lessons as fast as I can, which kind of detracts from the learning experience. Oh well. If I want to be proficient in Italian by the end of summer, I will have to learn how to absorb massive amounts of information in a short period of time.