Francais? or Italiano?

So today I had my second ever class in Italian 101 and (in keeping with the first day)I felt completely lost. It made me realized just how true it is that the older you get the harder it is to learn a new language. I'm hoping it will get better, I have an ear for languages when it comes to pronounciation (this comes from my love of imitating people), hopefully I can coast on that until I start understanding what is being said to me.

Now why, you might ask, is a French-loving girl like me taking Italian? For a couple of reasons. The main one being that I needed to add another class to my schedule asap when I didn't get into Advanced Composition. Italian was open, it fit into my schedule, and its taught by one of my favorite professors here at Converse, Dr. West (she's amazing really). Italian, like French (and spanish), is a romance language and so shouldn't be too different to learn. But I didn't take into account that I've been taking French classes since middle school, so it's not all that easy switiching from French to Italian. They're not quite as similar as I first thought.

Another reason I decided to take Italian is so I can boast about being tri-lingual. I may even torture myself some more and take Spanish 101 fall of next year (my SENIOR year). I figure it could only help. Unless I try to speak to someone and end up speaking some hybrid of the three languages. Anyway, I'm semi-fluent in French(though that seems to decrease the longer I go without hearing it. Which doesn't bode well for my trip to Paris and Tunisia) and plan to be able to speak at least a little Italian and Spanish by the time I graduate.

Speaking of my trip I think it just may be possible. When I spoke to Dr. West Friday (she really is my favorite) she said that she may have gotten the cost down to $2400, which I think I can do. I have the $1000 scholarship I got for the trip, and if Mommy thinks she can handle paying my tuition I'll use the $1000 grant I'm getting for volunteering with Americorp this past spring/summer for the trip and then I'll only have to raise the $400 plus the money for a passport and spending money. It may be possible, expecially if I get a job at the phoneathon, or even better a real job. In any case I've got my fingers crossed and at every 11:11 I wish (among other things) to be able to go on this trip.

Here's hoping.