Julia: 3 week Standard Course

Three week Standard programme. Julia, in her early 20’s, had low intermediate Italian, and knew exactly what she wanted… to combine some serious beaching with a fun Italian language programme! 

  “I needed to refresh my Italian, but didn’t want to hit a city like Florence or Rome over the summer, the temperatures would have been killing, so decided on the beach resort of Viareggio – now I could tan as well as study! The only hassle is, if it’s a busy beach day, you have to walk a while down the beach to get a ‘bano’. A ‘bano’ is an area you rent umbrellas from … which you always do!  The small percentage of free beach area is almost always full and rocky. Included in the rental are the area’s facilities, which is really civilized. There’s areas off the sand for eating, you can get little storage rooms for changing and locking up your items, access to a shower room, and BATHROOMS! I never was one for roughing it!!
It really is a nice setup I expected a well structured language centre with plenty of opportunity to socialise with other students. My expectations were met; the teachers were professional and friendly. Grammar and conversation lessons in the mornings worked well for me, leaving me (and others) free to beach in the afternoons! My Italian improved (mostly conversational skills.. on the beach, in the bars and in restaurants). If a student wants a really intense academic course maybe I would recommend Rome or elsewhere, but Viareggio really worked for me.
Favourite memories, ..grabbing a ‘gelato’ heading back from the beach with college friends, then going out to walk the promenade searching for the perfect place to grab food each evening. Chatting with friends and people watching, munching on free olives and peanuts, before fish for dinner. Heaven!”