Ciao, I’m Vera – and I’m Scuola Italiana, too!
You probably won’t believe it, but my love for Italian was actually sparked by a little bit of student pragmatism. The Italian bilingual grammar school held its entrance exams a month earlier than most other schools, and the prospect of having longer holidays was a very tempting bonus.
Little did I know how deeply Italian would capture my heart. I soon immersed myself in the language so completely that I started tutoring younger classmates. Although my parents convinced me to apply to university to study economics and get a degree in something “normal”, I never lost touch with Italian – quite the opposite. I started living the language.
Every summer between academic years, I spent time on the Italian peninsula, and when I brought home my economics degree in 2008, I already knew that Italian was the language I wanted to devote myself to fully.
I taught my first lessons under the name of an Italian language school in my father’s former medical practice, which had been converted into a classroom.
The rest is the story of what Scuola Italiana has become and what I live every day.
Today, Scuola Italiana is a team of 30 experienced teachers who open the doors to our Italian world for our students.
Italian has been a permanent part of my life, and what makes me happiest is knowing that, through our school, it has become part of the lives of so many other people too.
Because that’s simply how it is – Italian is a love affair for life.
And when you don’t see me at school, I’m probably travelling. Somewhere with a backpack on my back – in Tajikistan, Nagorno-Karabakh, Iran, Cambodia, Transnistria, Colombia or Nicaragua, which I’m still looking forward to exploring. Or I’m walking yet another stretch of the Camino de Santiago in Spain.
Because walking 1,000 kilometres teaches you humility. And humility is (also) very important in life.
Thank you for being with us!