Every morning we have an Italian language class. I love it! It is so helpful to be able to learn the most useful and important phrases along with vocabulary and grammar. I can read and write in Spanish but am not fluent because I have never immersed myself in the Spanish language. In Urbino I have that opportunity to do that with Italian.

I spent the weekend in Florence, exploring the city with friends. It is a gigantic city and by far one of the most beautiful cities that I have ever been in. We spent hours roaming the city and taking in everything that it had to offer. We also went on a bike tour!

The beautiful carousel in the piazza in Florence that we discovered.

One night, as we were walking back to the hostel, we got slightly turned around. I decided to ask a man behind the counter of a small pizzeria if he could tell us where the street that we were looking for was located at.

I said, “Scusi?” and Erin reminded me to say “Dove”, which means “Where” in Italian. Then I said to him, “Dove il Via Guelfa?” With hand signals and Italian words, he kindly pointed us three streets up. We had just misplaced ourselves a little bit and had walked past our street.

I feel that instances when I have a chance to practice Italian with locals can be the best learning tool there is! Without actual conversation, the language is only letters and words on paper. Until we can hear and speak the language ourselves, no matter how badly or broken, only then can we truly learn what we are saying and what we are doing.