Before I came to Rome I’ve always dreamed not only of seeing its beautiful sights but also of being able to speak its language. The easy part was finding the places of interest, the hard part was and is learning the language. I have spent whole mornings, whole afternoons and whole evenings learning things as basic as verbs, adverbs, adjectives, conjunctions, prepositions, etc. Yes, the very things we learned from our elementary school teacher but have forgotten completely. Do you know what an adverb is? I bet you don’t know too. Yet these things are the basic elements of learning a new language. It’s been almost a month since I began learning the Italian but until now I still can barely speak it. It’s of course easy to build up one’s Italian vocabulary and understand the pattern of the tenses but I find it so hard to string together the words and weave them into grammatically correct sentences.

Aside from the classes, these are the things I do to improve myself: before sleeping I memorize at least ten new words, then when I wake up I try to recollect them and use them in sentences. I also print out the difficult conjugations on bond paper and post them on the walls of my room so that wherever I look I can at least learn a new word. I post them especially near my mirror so that while I’m shaving or brushing my teeth I can read them. Wherever I go I bring my dictionary with me. I read everything on the way: the advertisements in bus stops, the billboards, the warnings on buses, the etchings on the manhole covers, the writings on the wall, the names of the streets, the information on canned products, the printed words on t-shirts, practically everything written in Italian. I try to translate them in my mind and if I find a new word I check out my ubiquitous dictionary.

Sometimes we must do the things we think we cannot do in order to realize our dreams. When I dreamed of learning Italian I did not imagine all these bond papers that are now hanging on the walls of my room. Yet these are the stuff that will make my dream come true. In my day-to-day life here I try my best to dwarf all these inconveniences and magnify my blessings. After all life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s determination and courage.

______________
Sometimes we must do the things we think we cannot do
in order to realize our dreams.
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But well, every beginning is always difficult. But the beginning is also the most important part of every work and every attempt at the concretization of one’s dream. If there’s one thing that I have learned from studying a new language here it is that learning can never be instant. Life teaches us as its own phase, at its own rhythm. I believe that the most important things in life cannot be had nor learned instantly. Yes, one may learn a new computer program in a matter of hours but it will take time before one will ever learn how to love and forgive and share and really come alive. That is why I don’t believe in love at first sight. Intense surge of feelings can be instant but never unconditional acceptance, mutual understanding, and sincere appreciation of each other’s uniqueness. No, these can never be instantaneous. Learning, just like love and growth, takes time.