My first trial lesson: Italian It's great! It feels so much different to learn a language with someone I can speak it with (especially a teacher), compared to studying it alone, by myself. I suppose I'm a bit more confident that I can have a better idea of my progress now that there's another person who can check me. It's a semi-formal lesson, and my teacher, Ms. Francesca, was very nice. I like that she assured me that I can feel free to express myself, and that's one of the things that helped with my shyness/nervousness. So basically, she tried to gauge my skill level by going through the basics; asking me to repeat a couple of phrases/sentences at first and then to answer in Italian based on what's in the material that she sent me. Here's what I can remember from the top of my head (in no particular order): Buongiorno, desidera qualcosa? suitcase = valige Non ho sentito bene Come si chiama, lei? / Come ti chiami? (infml.) etc etc because I'm feeling very sleepy right now... One thing that I should consider is choosing a different schedule for the next lesson. This one was at 9:30pm, so I might not be able to memorize well due to sleepiness/body clock. In conclusion, I enjoyed it and look forward to the next session. Also, I hope I can meet some language partners/friends. [end of notebook entry]