Learn Italian language: La società italiana de TSR

Child poverty in Italy: 1950 to today. It was interesting although, with hindsight, it would have been easier to do something literary. But it shows diversification, I guess, which is apparently good if you're on a class boundary (which I am) in final year.

I really wouldn't suggest changing your topic unless your supervisor suggests it. I think everyone has those moments of crisis, but you just (generally) have to push through.

Which edition is this? I could do with some extra stuff for my exam

Good luck! All my friends spent the entire year complaining about Dante. Not the book, the lecturer

This thread revival is making me miss Italy

When I was in Milan I found that lots of the Spanish students stuck together and aside from the Spanish students who were in my language class, they didn't speak Italian very well at all and many had no inclination to improve their Italian either. I didn't socialise with many Italians from the uni as they didn't seem very interested, so most of my friends were from my language class. Despite the fact that all but one person in my class spoke English fluently (especially the Brazilians), we almost always spoke in Italian (both in and out of class) which was great. I made most of my Italian acquaintances/friends through a Rugby club where I trained.

God, I want to visit Venice again.

Wow, that sounds crazily broad! Good luck on getting bumped up

Well I haven't actually started yet so haven't submitted any proposals or anything nor do I have a supervisor. (However Jo seemed to like my ideas and was happy to supervise me (along with M for the renaissance side) so that's awesome.)

I don't actually have a specific idea yet so it's not like I've wasted any work. I just got really into an essay I did about the mother/daughter relationship in one of the Women's Writing novels so almost would rather do something literary along those lines than too historical and stuff.

Slightly off topic, but you lived in Murcia as well last year right?

Haha, yeah. He is very serious about it, but in a way, I quite like him, even though I'm useless. He teaches a course in the English department too.

There's another Dante module that he doesn't teach, I think?

I'm glad he wasn't doing my speaking exam though.

Yeah, I think Keen does the other one. I'm still pondering who this BS is that I have for my oral. I just hope they're nicer than my other examiner (guess who?! haha). Who did you have for yours, and how did it go? Were the topics this year as stupid as they were last year? "If you were an animal, what would you be and do?"

It wasn't really as bad as it sounds, although at the end of the editing I was ready to break things!

Oh, okay, that's alright, then. Literary is probably easier (and Jo is well into it!), purely because it's what we do for the vast majority of our degrees. I just had massive literary fatigue at the end of last year after having done double Dante AND double Ren. Rivalries (SG, who doesn't teach the module any more, and DL made us read somuchstuff). But, y'know, that was probably my own crazy stupid fault.

Oh, maaan, I'm gonna miss Warwick SO much. Don't want to graduate. Don't want to graduate. Don't want to graduate. E non ci saranno più possibilità di parlare in italiano, visto che la mia specialistica è traduzione. Dovrò trovare qualche Erasmus italiano!

Yes, how are you finding it?

BS? I can think of people with a surname beginning with S, but no B as a first initial. I feel sorry for you, I'd have hated it
Will yours follow the same format from the last two years, but longer? or are there big differences?

I had Palandri. I'd never met him before that, which I think was good, especially since the people who I know are nice, were paired with someone who I wasn't too fond on.

I think it went fairly well, and he's a fine man. I don't know who the woman was who he was with, and I can't remember her name, but she was nice too. It wasn't the person who was meant to be with him according to the timetable. Could she have been a postgrad, do you think?

The topics were a bit more serious, more than that anyway, but it sounds like an amazing question. We had things like 'do we live in a masculine society?', 'should there be a limit on expression on the internet?', something about cinema, and I can't remember the last one, and I can't be bothered logging on to moodle to check.

See this year I did Magic and Marvels, AL, Cinema and Women's Writing...so very mixed bag. I'm ready for some nice soft literary stuff, haha. Doing politics this year really reinforced that our degrees reeeeally are focused on developing lit skills. The Ren Rivalries modules next year are M and ER...the term 2 one is probably gonna be a bit ridiculous - TWO epics...definitely considering going for FLT instead if it will save a lot of brain ache. It's bad, I've begun to think in the way of getting better marks :/ But given that my current Masters idea is in the rough area of history of psychoanalysis or doing a psychology conversion it's probably not a bad plan. Tbf I don't have a clue what I want to do when graduating so I probably should just think marks not too tactically in other ways.

I don't even want to think about leaving, haha. I like being here. It would be so tempting to stick around for Masters or PhD (wonder if I went off and did psychoanalysis somewhere else that I could come back to the Italian dept to do a PhD bringing that into the literary stuff?!) but tbh I don't know if it would be healthy to be here for quite that long! Aargh I don't know, it's stressing me out already, I dunno how you guys are coping...

No, they are, completely. I think that's why so many people had problems initially with the AL essay, because it's not literary. Haha, I don't blame you... why make life more difficult for yourself? Especially if you're doing a dissertation, I would seriously go for less complicated modules. I would definitely swap the term two Ren. Rivalries for FLT. We had DL (and ER randomly for one lecture at the end) and it was so hard. I know fo' sho' that I would have failed if I hadn't done a long essay.

I honestly don't think it makes any difference avoiding modules. I mean, obviously, if you wanted to do the Renaissance MA at Warwick and you'd never done a Ren. module in your life, it might be a bit unwise, but generally I'd say it's fiiine.

Definitely do Dante, then. And then maybe Experiments in Narrative? Nice and balanced.

I can't find it now (they've changed the website!), but I definitely remember reading a student profile in a moment of procrastination where they left Warwick after BA and came back for PhD, so it's definitely possible. I was tempted to stay for MA, but the thought of being basically the only one left (as far as I know, none of my year are staying for postgraduateness) would be too depressing, plus the fees are £1k+ more expensive than Birmingham aaand Warwick wanted 65, and Birmingham want a 2i. I mean, the last point is moot because I only need 50 this year to get a 2i, but I wasn't keen on paying an extra grand for the privilege of being the only person I know left.

IHe's a nice guy (he did my interview all those years ago), but his lessons are awkward to the max. He once went round our class asking everyone "What is sex?" and we all had to give a different answer. And he spent so long pondering really irrelevant philosophical questions and telling us about his past instead of teaching the set texts. It's likely she was a postgrad. I had Enza as a grammar teacher in second year, was it her? For my second year oral I had Vieri and Franca, so it was great, they aren't intimidating at all unlike some of them!

I think our other topics were "Is the royal wedding a good thing for England", "Should Macdonalds sponsor the Olympics?". They sound dossier than yours, but also more ridiculous. I don't think anyone actually did the animal one, but it sticks in the mind as particularly silly!

The Third Year oral is completely different. Basically you spend your year abroad working on a topic of your choice. When you come back to England you give a twenty minute presentation on the topic, then answer questions on it for another ten or so. It's essentially a verbal essay, since you have to submit a bibliography and properly analyse things. You submit a 1000 word summary in late August, and the oral itself is in freshers of fourth year. Mine's on sexism in Italy and why women in Italy aren't making as much progress as in other European nations. Nice and upbeat

Yeah, I just put my form in Harpal's pigeonhole this afternoon. I put Experiments in Narrative and Dante for term 1, and Experiments in Narrative and FLT for term 2. Definitely thinking it is sensible to think about marks. I'm not too worried for the culture side of things - that'll easily be a 2.1 average - but I know my language is a bit of a sore point (at the moment from the October exams I'm only sitting on a 55 average and although I think I might be able to drag a 60 out of the essay portion, but I know my translation is shocking so that'll drag me down a bit) and I would be surprised if I did well in the politics essays because I know one was a pile of rubbish...I just hope those don't drag me down too much. SO next year may well be a case of making up the difference because I am NOT graduating without a 2.1 overall.

I was very tempted by the Ren. MA. However starting to doubt myself. I dunno, too much to think about right now! Currently having a stress implosion and watcing The Proposal on iPlayer instead of doing work :/

If I did stay on for a MA I would still have a few friends about. A few would be back from Erasmus (they go next year) and a few would be on MA/PhD courses still. Most people would be gone, though. That would be if I didn't take a year out, though...which I am strongly considering as I reeeeally fancy doing a ski season and it wouldn't hurt to do a TEFL course and see how I took to that. Or au pair again, why not. (Sorry beginning to ramble about my confusion now ) BUT I think it does definitely make sense to do an MA somewhere else - we've had the Warwick experience for four years by graduation...that's quite a long time. It's good to explore elsewhere Do you have any post-MA plans yet?

LOVE it!! Leaving in 12 days and I don't want to gooooo quick question though, how did you find integrating with the other english out here? because i seem to be the only one whos out here for only half the year! And while everyones been lovely to me, its been hard to form that bond that they all seem to have! not that it matters terribly, i've made plenty of friends elsewhere but I was just curious!

Yeah, I just put my form in Harpal's pigeonhole this afternoon. I put Experiments in Narrative and Dante for term 1, and Experiments in Narrative and FLT for term 2. Definitely thinking it is sensible to think about marks. I'm not too worried for the culture side of things - that'll easily be a 2.1 average - but I know my language is a bit of a sore point (at the moment from the October exams I'm only sitting on a 55 average and although I think I might be able to drag a 60 out of the essay portion, but I know my translation is shocking so that'll drag me down a bit) and I would be surprised if I did well in the politics essays because I know one was a pile of rubbish...I just hope those don't drag me down too much. SO next year may well be a case of making up the difference because I am NOT graduating without a 2.1 overall.

I was very tempted by the Ren. MA. However starting to doubt myself. I dunno, too much to think about right now! Currently having a stress implosion and watcing The Proposal on iPlayer instead of doing work :/

If I did stay on for a MA I would still have a few friends about. A few would be back from Erasmus (they go next year) and a few would be on MA/PhD courses still. Most people would be gone, though. That would be if I didn't take a year out, though...which I am strongly considering as I reeeeally fancy doing a ski season and it wouldn't hurt to do a TEFL course and see how I took to that. Or au pair again, why not. (Sorry beginning to ramble about my confusion now ) BUT I think it does definitely make sense to do an MA somewhere else - we've had the Warwick experience for four years by graduation...that's quite a long time. It's good to explore elsewhere Do you have any post-MA plans yet?

People look at me so strangely when I tell them I'm not doing external modules. I did Epic (English department) in first year, and it was horrific so I've stuck with what I know since then!

Join the club for language mark woes! I think I got 65/72 for the October oral/aural - which I was ecstatic with (I did a little dance down the fourth floor corridor!), but then I got 58 on essay and 60-something in translation, which dragged me down to a 62 overall. The point of this is to say that I really wouldn't worry about your October results too much. They're weighted so un-heavily (lightly?) that literally anything can happen, as you can see!

One of my parents' friends is a lecturer in Birmingham, and he also said that if you're stuck on making a decision between two places you should go for the one that's not your BA university. Apparently it's easier to get in for postgraduate, but I don't believe that, since a) Warwick took AGES to get back to me; b) they didn't give me any kind of fee reduction (or, at least, they didn't advertise it; and c) they specified 65. Four years is a long time, though, and I'm looking forward to getting out of the bubble and going somewhere new. At the same time, though, some of the lecturers are amazing (SG, I'm looking at you) and Harpal's a sweetie pie.

Post-MA I am looking to go into publishing, hopefully. Applying for so many internships at the moment! Failing that, just any job in Birmingham will do me nicely (don't want to move back home!) and then hopefully some freelance translation on the side. I could be tempted by a PhD if I find a nice topic and some funding, though.

shallow comment but: Riccardo Scamarcio in your photo *swoon*

Haha yes, wish I hadn't bothered going out of the department. I only know one other person who stuck to Italian modules and it seems like her year has been much more relaxing!

Aww crap. I know my language was better in October (I made stupid little mistakes which dragged me down a LOT though, grr) so I'm gonna end up with worse grades for these exams. Argh! Well...as long as I average 50+ over IT301 and IT401 it's not the end of the world. I hope that my other modules will make up for that in the overall final classification.

It's weird, one of the lecturers I really wouldn't want to leave would be Jo. I wasn't sure of her in first year with Reps but this year she's been so great to me. I'm excited to have SG next year though! I've heard loads of amazing things about him.

That sounds fun. What is it about Birmingham that you like so much to not want to leave?

Nooo, if you work on it there's still chance to pull it up.

Oh, Lord, Reps was a bore. So much of the stuff we did in lectures was just so unnecessary! SG IS AMAZING. Quite envious that you're doing the module, really, even though I've obviously done it already.

Erm, my boyfriend. He's a medic, so is going to be living there for the foreseeable future... and I'm not too keen on the whole long-distance thing after a year in Italy, and a summer there last year! Also, my home town is much smaller, so if I'm going to get a job anywhere, Birmingham is much more likely.