flash cards

Oh my. After today, my brain is positively buzzing with Italian words, only some of which I have ever learned, despite the fact that they were supposedly in the first six chapters of my textbook... which I probably got through in Italian 101. Thankfully, I pick up vocabulary quickly. I just don't retain it.

I wish I had more exciting things to blog about, but I'm not yet abroad, and preparations can't be all that interesting to you. My most sincere apologies. Regardless, in what was an exciting event for me, I discovered a website today that I hope will be most helpful in the next month: www.flashcardmachine.com. I've spent a great deal of time today sorting through vocab lists, copying vocab into personal groups of electronic flash cards, and quizzing myself. I expected to already know most of these words, and in some categories, I wasn't too far off. But it turns out I really do not know my food- or sport-related vocabulary. But at least I'm isolating some problem areas, and the online slideshows allow me to tag words that I have a hard time remembering.

That's really all that's developed, although I find it quite useful and recommend it to anyone who needs to quiz themself! Aside from that, pressure is increasing, as exactly a month from today, I'll be landing in Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport!

And tomorrow, I'm going to rent an international-capable phone!