<p>Grazie tanto, vi prego a perdonare mia ignoranza!
Penso veramente che parlano tanti uomini italiano da Amherst!</p>
<p>For this lovely thread not to get deleted, the translation:
Thanks alot, please pardon my ignorance!
I think that many people are going to speak Italian at Amherst, actually!</p>
<p>Here you go.</p>
<p>"Mark well, therefore, our souls,
rather than the poor players garb
we wear, for we are men of flesh and bone,
like you, breathing the same air of this
orphan world."</p>
<p>It is the Prologue from Leoncavallo's Pagliacci. In my spare time, I'm an opera singer (among other things), and my d. at Smith is the Research Assistant to the Five-College Opera Consortium. She is studying Italian, and plans to spend her junior year in Florence. Italian is one of those courses at Smith that students at Amherst often get shut out of, because Smith requires a full two years (plus a course in Italian stylistics) for folks to go to their program in Florence, and that's one of the reasons many people go to Smith.</p>
<p>Well, I could not go to Smith, for obvious reasons... well, the operation is NOT an option. But then again, my father lives in Rome, I can learn all the Italian I want :)</p>
<p>Lucky dog! (You will love Amherst! It's a great place. ;))</p>
<p>hey, sorry to jumb back subjects, but how easy/hard is it to go to a nearby school to take italian?</p>
<p>Smith is about 20 minutes away by shuttle and its Italian department is excellent.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, my D. tells me that it can in fact be quite difficult. Smith's Italian department is among the best in the U.S., but because the requirements for the Smith program in Florence are so stringent (two full years, the first of which is 5 credits a semester, and a course in stylistics), candidates basically must start the first term of their first year to have any chance, and it is one of the big reasons students choose Smith in the first place. Since Smith students have priority for the Florence program, Amherst students do get shut out.</p>
<p>This year, however, there was a happy ending. Even after enrolling them, 2 or 3 Amherst students were disenrolled when Smithies filled up the places. But demand was so great, they created a whole new section at the last minute, and all the Five College students got in. Doesn't happen every year though.</p>