Ferrara: Day One

After a long voyage and a well-earned night's rest, our CIEE students greeted their Italian language instructors with enthusiasm and curiosity this morning for their first day of class. Today's lesson focused on how to introduce yourself, as well as how to make conversation with a new aquaintance. Soon thereafter, we went into the streets to practice our Italian with the locals!

Cobblestone streets and narrow, medieval alleyways make exploring all the more fun. Ferrara is a quaint city with its own personality and grit. Its streets are bustling with bicyclists and families, workers and university students. It has a certain low-to-the-ground charm that lends itself to total immersion. I snapped this fun photo just as a group of students were returning from their conversations in the street, and something tells me they had a good time chatting with the ferraresi. 

 Of course, it's no Italian workday without some pasta. I think this entire table had seconds (and, admittedly, so did I). 

Our first full day together concluded with a lovely tour of the Este Castle in the middle of town. It's not often you get to walk through a Medieval fortress fit with a working moat and dungeons for political prisoners, but today was our lucky day! Just before entering, I asked the group to pose for a quick photo. Once they were organized, I told them "pretend you're a big family!" and they immediately wrapped their arms around one another and smiled wide. 

We're going to have an excellent month together. I can just tell!