L'Inizio/ El Principio/ The Beginning

Ciao! Sono Haley.
Soy una estudiante en Plymouth State University de New Hampshire.
I'm an English major seeking a minor in Applied Linguistics as well as Professional Communication, and:


In less than one month I will embark on my most epic Italian adventure--ever. I'm doing the full-immersion Italian language and culture program in Perugia, Italy at the Umbra Institue/ L'Università per Stranieri (University for Foreigners). It has been six years since I first encountered the country in the flesh on a trip with la mia madre, and probably fifteen years since I first wanted to learn the language most connected to my roots (always been a dreamer!).

Growing up I studied Spanish because I never had the opportunity (until now!) to study Italian in school. I studied Spanish in school since I was about twelve, although I wouldn't really say I got much out of it until high school, where I got all the way through Spanish 4 (though not with flying colors).


Now here I am, a native speaker of American English, studying Italian with a tutor a couple times a week since late May or perhaps early June. So why does this matter? Well, as a student with an interest in language and linguistics, I can tell you this: Holy interference!! In two and a half months I have successfully learned Italspanglish. English isn't really the problem, but since Italian is so close to Spanish, it creates a great deal of confusion sometimes, especially with vocabulary. Pretty much every time I am searching for a word in Italian, (pencil...pencil...) and cannot come up with it (la matita), I fall back on Spanish (el lápiz). Most of the time it is more amusing than it is frustrating, but I attribute my attitude on the subject to the fact that I don't feel too stressed while studying because it is only me, or it is only me and my tutor. If I were in a typical class with more students, I would definitely feel more hesitant to answer, for fear I might answer in Italspanglish.

I will point out that Spanish has helped me recognize Italian words or structures being so close and all, so I am happy to have had such a long history of studying it, even though much has been forgotten. I'm glad I remember the general grammar parts =].


Back to the present, I feel confident I am at least making progress in my elementary study of Italian. Hopefully after I arrive on August 24 my language skills will begin to climb along with my memory to update the status of my progress =].

Welcome to my journey  through language, culture, roots, and goals finally tackled ;).


Pace/Paz/Peace,
Haley