Buondì.
This year I’ve exchanged emails with hundreds of club members, from many different countries.
Off the top of my head…
‘Ciao’ to Maria in Canada, who gets through the winter there by dreaming of sunny Italy.
Also to Karen in the UK, who hosted an Italian teenager for a few weeks, and survived!
Many thanks to everyone who has sent in feedback to help us improve our material.
Willy from Germany is a glitch-finding machine, who has been bombarding me with corrections and broken links.
And there’s Anne, a restaurant critic from Chicago, who pointed out that the female characters in our ebooks are sexist stereotypes.
There are several Evas, who I get mixed up.
At least one of them is from Sweden. She’s been very encouraging when I mention that I’m learning her language.
In total, there are about eight thousand of you, so too many to name here. Perhaps I’ll keep a list next year.
Nevertheless, it’s always great to hear from people learning Italian through our site.
Do, please keep writing in.
Running the club, a sort of hobby for me, has turned out to be like having friends all over the globe.
When I occasionally escape Italy to go somewhere that isn’t Bologna, club members from the places I’m travelling through write in with suggestions and, occasionally, an invitation.
For example, in Texas, back in June, my daughter and I had drinks and Tex-Mex food with Paula and her husband Marty.
If you missed reading about that: What to do if an armadillo digs up your yard
I say the club is ‘a sort of hobby’ because, as you know, my wife and I have an Italian school in Bologna, Italy.
Given that we’re competing with older, bigger schools in much more famous destinations such as Florence, Venice and Rome, there’s clearly some promotional value to this type of online activity.
And so, every now and again, I’ll be introduced to a new student who heard of us through the club and decided to come and study with us in person.
Talking of the school, you might recall that last Monday I mentioned a 20% discount promotion on 2018 Italian courses.
Well that offer ends today.
Just saying…
Bene allora, hope y’all have a really great Christmas day.
Of course, that should be ‘have had’ for those of you down under.
And ‘will have’ for our friends in Texas and spread out across the American continent.
Buon Natale a tutti voi!
A mercoledì.
