Lets answer some questions!

So I'm making this my first of many "interactive" posts. By that I mean I would really like to take some questions from the comment sections of my posts and answer them. I have been waiting for a good day to do this, and seeing as my 6 year old cousin has just posed some questions she would like answered, I figured it would be a perfect day to finally dedicate a post to this.

So to answer your questions Carly...

Q: What Kind of Instruments do they Play in Italy:
A: Great question, and it's right up my alley. One of the fun things about Rome I have found is the street performers throughout the area. Public performances in piazza's (squares) seem to be legal, even if they get pretty loud. Musicians play sorts of stringed and wind instruments, such as violins, saxophones, trumpets, and my favorite, guitars. Some even plug into speakers, their music filling up the surrounding streets. I am trying to get my hands on a guitar so I can try this out for a day, go sit in a piazza and see how much I can make off of tips (could be an interesting blog post). I haven't seen any unique instruments so far, but I'll keep my eye out for any good ones.

Q: Do you understand the Language?
A: This is where my Italian tutor comes in. Carlotta has been great in helping us all learn pretty quickly how to manage around the city with Italian. After only 5 days of 3 hour classes I feel much more confident with the language. Understanding it tends to be much easier than speaking it. Some words are familiar to the English translation, others to a word in French I somehow remember, and even more are somewhat recognizable in the context of who it is that is talking, and where I am. If I go into the cafe and try and order a sandwich, and the person behind the counter asks whether I want it for here or to go, I can understand what they are asking and answer them. If I have to ask for directions though, it is a bit harder to have an actual conversation with someone, and to initiate the conversation. Both my understanding and ability to speak Italian has gotten much better every day, and I've come a long way from trying to order regular tap water on the airplane on the way over here (I was given seltzer water twice out of three tries). Hopefully in a couple weeks I'll be able to hold a real conversation in Italian!

If you have any questions that you'd like to be answered, post them in the comments of this post and I'll be sure to answer them. If they are short answers, I'll just edit this post and add them on, if it's something I think would make for a good post then I may hold off and use it for another full post like this one.

Thanks for the questions Carly!