Author: victoriagordonbrown

…Living somewhere really is the best way to learn a language.

After spending just five weeks living in Sorrento, I have noticed a drastic difference in my ability to speak Italian. I am much more confident thanks to all the practice and I am now able to use more complex grammar in my speech with better fluency.

Before arriving in Sorrento, I imagined that I would eat lots of pizza, take pictures of stunning views, make friends with locals and improve my linguistic and cultural competencies by continuously using Italian inside and outside the classroom. And I was right. I ate lots of delicious pizzas, the diavola being my favorite. I saw incredible views, made Italian friends around Italy and spoke Italian at every given opportunity – it was amazing!

Whilst going out in the evenings with classmates, I met locals who taught me about the Napolitano dialect. For example, I learnt that instead of saying ‘salve,’ to say hello, they often just say ‘ve.’ Learning such specific features of the Italian language helped my confidence even more! It was so much fun casually saying phrases and seeing shocked Italian faces. Finally, as I said I would, I went on as many adventures as possible. The coolest of these was a weekend trip to Verona where I watched the Italian opera ‘Aida,’ in an ancient Roman arena!

This trip has solidified my love of communication and my desire to be able to communicate with more people through foreign languages. To others with the same goal, my best advice would be to not be shy. When studying abroad, try and start conversations with shopkeepers at the local market, ask for recommendations from your professors of where they like to eat or activities they enjoy doing. By really engaging with the community you can learn so much more about them and have incredible experiences that you otherwise couldn’t imagine!

On my last day in Sorrento, I find myself reminiscing about my time here. It has been an incredible experience in terms of the development of my linguistic and cultural skills, but also by enabling personal growth. At the start, when my tentative attempts at Italian were met with English, I would sometimes bow to the pressure and use English. Now, when people hear me responding in confident Italian, I hardly get any English responses – I get ‘wow, your Italian is really good!’ instead. During my trip, I have also developed my resilience and patience: when things get stressful or frustrating, I respond in a more productive way, allowing me to retain mental clarity and not get as overwhelmed.

When thinking about my favorite memories from this trip, one that comes to mind is Sant’Anna Day, dedicating to celebrating Saint Anna. The town sets off fireworks intermittently throughout the day – which I have to say is a little disconcerting when it is midday and you hear a loud banging noise all of a sudden – and they have a celebration in the Marina Grande in the evening. They had stalls lining the street selling candy, toys, jewellery – lots of different types of small things to honor Sant’Anna. In the evening, I went down to the Marina with my friend where we wandered past the stalls to ‘Soul and Fish,’ a restaurant on the edge of the water (100% recommend). There, we had the most incredible dinner: we sipped complementary Prosecco whilst we browsed the menu, then ordered our food. As we were waiting for our food, we were served a delicious, small, breaded fishcake. Then, before we knew it, our food had arrived: sea bass with zucchini and pesto with a side of lemon risotto. Again, it was incredible! After eating the plate clean, we ordered tiramisu for dessert which did not disappoint. It was a great way to finish the meal! We left the restaurant feeling extremely content and wandered to the beach just in front, where we dropped our things then headed into the sea for a late evening/night swim; by this time, it was dark out. From the water, we could see the lights of the decorations, the bustling street with the stalls, people enjoying meals at the surrounding restaurants and even fire performers! It was amazing to be present for a local celebration and experience their traditions and joy but there was something even more beautiful about watching it slightly from afar in the sea. As we floated in the gulf of Naples, we watched marching bands go past in their traditional outfits, playing Italian folk songs, children watching magicians and dancers performing – it was magical! My takeaway from this was that, although it’s important to get involved in other cultural experiences, there is also value in taking a step back and observing from a distance so as not to disturb their cultural flow.

Every region of Italy has specialty foods and Sorrento is no exception. Walking around the markets of Sorrento, there’s on thing that you can’t miss: lemons. Lemons are everywhere! Lemon granitas, lemon pasta, lemon risotto, lemon soap, bucket hats with lemons on them, and, of course, limoncello. Every store in Sorrento has at least one shelf dedicated to lemons. There are even stores that only sell limoncello.

But why are lemons so popular and why are they the food of this region?

Well, the soil and climate provide the perfect conditions for producing juicy lemons. Sorrento lemons are often not the best-looking lemons but they are the best tasting. Due to the incredible lemon-growing conditions, production of lemons is booming. Moreover, the combination of great tasting lemons and the natural beauty of Sorrento’s coastline has transformed Sorrento into a tourist hub, with a brand of lemons. Most clothing stores use lemon prints, all the fridge magnets and shot glasses available either have lemons or lemon trees on them and even the storefronts themselves are often decorated with delicately painted lemons.

In Sorrento, I have tried lemon risotto, limoncello, lemon slices, lemon granitas, a limoncello spritz, lemon and zucchini pasta, lemon infused fish and lemon gelato. I think it is safe to say that I’ve tried my fair share of lemon-based foods. In fact, last week I had the privilege of learning how to make lemon gelato. It was much simpler than I assumed. However, I did learn some important lessons to prevent you from making critical mistakes:

1. ALWAYS make sure you scratch the lemon’s peel to test the smell. If the peel smells sweet then the lemon shouldn’t be used, but if the peel smells strong and tart, then it’s a good lemon.
2. Don’t judge a book by its cover: good lemons aren’t always the ones that look the prettiest but are the ones with the best insides.
3. Is your lemon heavy? If yes, then it’s probably a good lemon.
4. Always use all the lemon – wasting food is lame!

So now that you know the most important rules when it comes to finding and using lemons for gelato, here’s how to make lemon gelato:

1. Heat a liter of water with 500g of sugar in a pan until all the sugar has dissolved.
2. Allow the sugar-water mixture to cool.
3. Once cooled, add 300g worth of fresh fruit juice and zest.
4. Stir.
5. Place in a container in the freezer and leave for a couple of hours.
6. Remove from the freezer and blend using a hand blender then place back in the freezer for another couple of hours.
7. Remove from the freezer, blend with a hand blender again and serve.
8. Enjoy!

Stress, anxiety, pressure to succeed. These are commonplace emotions and experiences dealt with by students in the US. However, these are not felt by students in Italy.

In Italy, there is not the same striving to constantly achieve. Instead, they prioritize enjoyment and relaxation by spending time with friends and family, eating and going on walks around the beautiful hills and city. This mentality is exemplified by the buildings here: they are timeless. In Sorrento and Naples, I noticed that there were many fewer cranes than in the UK or the US. This is because there isn’t the same culture of needing things to look perfect or to have the newest model that works the best. Italy’s beauty comes from the buildings not needing to stand out but instead complementing the surroundings and enhancing the natural beauty already present. As a result, Italians are more willing to spend time experiencing things rather than speeding through tasks to achieve as much as possible.

As a student from the US, currently living and studying in Italy, I see the merits of both. It has been incredibly enjoyable spending time going on walks, floating in the sea after class and having long dinners in restaurants. However, part of me misses the exciting, fast-paced life that I live at Notre Dame, where there is always something to do or a problem to solve. Whilst it is nice to not place as much pressure on myself, it is also extremely gratifying to work hard for the things that I care about and challenge myself to see how well I can do something or how much I can achieve.

I think one of the main things that I will take away from this experience is an awareness of these differing mindsets which I can draw upon based on what I need. This means that when I go back to my busy college life, I will remind myself that sometimes it can be beneficial to pause and appreciate where I am, who I am with and what I am doing.

Earlier today, I arrived at my new home in Sorrento after a draining three hour wait at the airport for our program transport. I was immediately struck by the incredible views from both apartment balconies: on one side, I could see the inland mountains, lush with trees and dotted with quaint Italian villas. On the other side, Mount Vesuvius stood majestically behind the sea and roofs of homes constituting downtown Sorrento; what incredible sights to see every morning!

After settling in, my roommates and I left our apartment in search of our first dinner. Whilst wandering through the cobbled streets, we saw a red-tiled staircase under an arch leading up to a gorgeous garden terrace restaurant, just off the bustling street – we had to go in! When we reached the top of the staircase, we were greeted by a waiter. Wanting to pass as a native speaker and distract from my redhead-pale skin and bright blonde hair – clear non-Italian-ness, I immediately said ‘tre persone per favore.’ This was met with an ‘ahh, good Italian! Follow me please.’

Despite my efforts throughout the meal, all my Italian received English responses. Not exactly what I was looking for when I came to another country to improve my language skills through immersion. And, this experience was not the only one. Most of the shops I went into spoke to me in broken English, rather than responding in Italian.

These experiences have showed me that continuing my language learning outside the classroom will be harder than I anticipated. I am going to have to blend in more with the culture if I want to be able to better blend in with the language. Although I am already at a disadvantage physically, if I find out more about the fashion, body language and mannerisms of Italians, I can still get closer to looking and acting more like them and getting the immersive experience I so badly want.