By Rachel Lutz, Assistant Editorial Editor
This past winter, I decided to take a winter class. For me, winter break is too long to do anything productive, but too short to get a job to fill the time. So, I saw that Italian 2 was offered, and I jumped on the opportunity to take it.
The main reason I was so set on taking a winter class was because Italian 2 wasn’t offered during the spring at times that worked for me (read: it was only offered Monday-Wednesday-Friday). I wouldn’t have been able to intern, and my sleep schedule would have been even more messed up than it is now.
Another reason I wanted to take it over the winter was because I thought our ridiculous six-week break was too long of a gap between Italian 1 and 2 to actually retain anything I’ve learned about grammar and conjugation.
Ultimately, taking a winter session class worked in my favor. I had the same professor for Italian 1 as I did for Level 2, so I knew her style and what to expect for the assignments and exams. I think it was harder for those students who either didn’t know her style or hadn’t taken Italian 1 recently – proving my theory that it helped to bridge the gap between fall and spring semesters with another class.
I had heard that taking a winter class was “a guaranteed A” and “watered down, so there’s no way to screw it up.” As it turns out, those weren’t entirely true. My professor said that the winter session was solo per il forte and she was right. It was almost four hours of Italian four days a week, plus homework and studying. We had four exams in 11 days, and one of them was snowed out.
I’m not sure that taking a winter class is for everyone, but it’s definitely worth looking into. Especially if you’re looking to hurry up and finish your language requirement (like me).
Do I feel prepared for Italian 3? I’m taking it this semester; I’d better be. The course was watered down, but it’s just the extra gravy that was cut out. I like to call it the lean option. Sure, we could get into the cultural stuff, how Italians express different gratitude and ask politely. But we cut it out, because during a full semester, that stuff is just the filler anyway.