Closer and Closer...

So I had a dawning realization around 12:03 Tuesday night, it is now June and my trip would be coming up a lot faster than I realized. A quick glance at my countdown, inspired by one random day of paloozing around at German Tutoring with Maggie, confirmed this. No longer at triple digits when I just started, or even a seemingly abundant number of days, but only 29. Now just 4 weeks from my overnight flight from Detroit to Rome, all of the scary logistics of what I still need to do - and others want to do - are setting in. Granted a month is still a long time, but it is still surreal how close it now feels. Just the turning of a clock brought a swift change from "Meh, I've got plenty of time" to "AH I've got to do things now now now" literally overnight.


On a side note, Italian classes are going well. I am learning a lot, though I recognize that I'll need to teach myself some basic phrases and will still feel deep over my head. As long as I can master phrases like "How do I get to X" or "Where the *%#*!`@ am I?!" I will feel accomplished. I can also say last night is the first time I've actually dreamed in Italian - ok, maybe that's a little strong but the language was involved. Sitting in an Italian restaurant, the waiter apparently immediately picked us out as Americans and started speaking English. Not to be outdone, I ordered in Italian and made sure to reason out that I said Grazie and Prego. It sounds silly, but dream-me was pretty smug about it, and I was actually kind of impressed later that Italian has started to seep into my subconscious. I don't remember when my first experience of German dreaming took place, but it was certainly not a few weeks into a crash course.



This whole experience has brought a lot of comparisons to just starting out learning German. Thinking back to my first year, I don't think I would have had a chance of surviving in Germany based on my knowledge. It really took until Sophomore or Junior year until I was really coming into my own in the language, and I never could have imagined how far I have come with it. Even freshmen year of college, I was doubtful if my knowledge of German  could get me by if I were travelling. As time went by, and certainly after dealing with learning a third language, I have become a lot more confident in my German and look forward to putting to the test - hopefully one day soon. It has really brought out the inner linguist in me I never really knew I had, and I'm already looking ahead to possibilities of trying to tackle other languages and maybe even attempting to master Italian at some point.


Since I've been home, I rediscovered and reinstalled an old game, Age of Empires II. Originally I planned on just passing a bit of time while dicking around with some pseudo-Italian things. While Italy is not directly in the game, a kind of German-Italian hybrid, the Teutons, is used to represent the many city-states of Central Europe. Playing through the campaigns, the Italian city-states make many appearances: from Milan to Venice to Padua and of course, Rome - though mostly destroying all of these cities as the Holy Roman Empire or Attila the Hun. Granted, nothing in the game achieved my original goal of learning more about these cities or their medieval history, but it has rekindled my love in this game. I spent countless hours playing it from 5th grade through middle school. As nerdy as this section is, I have really enjoyed picking it back up and realizing how much better I am at the strategy of it all after years of not playing. I also found it pretty cool that the German speaking villagers are now understandable to me. Their clever responses of Jägerer or Holzer are no longer jibberish. 


If nothing else, playing this game - in addition to passing the time - has brought about a raised interest in the cultures of European powers, from Germany and Italy to Spain, Britain, and yes, even France! Maybe it's just my fascination in this period of history, but it has really inspired me to one day travel to all these countries. I'm not sure "disdain" is the right word, but I am less than fond of the French. I don't know if it's the stereotype of the better-than-though, fashion obsessed, egocentric Frenchmen sitting in a coffee shop, smoking, wearing a beret and holding a poodle or what, but I tend to have a very negative view of French culture. But as I played around with Joan of Arc, I found myself admiring the resolve and pride of the French, their spectacular knights and heavily walled cities. I also have a vast disinterest in Mexico and Central/South America, which really discouraged me from pursuing studying Spanish - but playing around with the home country made me realize how fascinated I am with strictly Spanish culture, if not Hispanic. I can't even explain why this is. But I will be sure to follow my Architecture friends' experiences in Barcelona these upcoming two semesters with an increased vigor. Maybe this is all just silly, but the real point of it is just playing this old game has sparked an interest in me with many different European cultures that I hope to continue to explore and experience, starting, most prominently with my Italian adventure looming ever closer on the horizon.