Susan Zalkow

I have been fascinated with foreign languages since I was a child. My favorite past-time, playing school teacher with my stuffed animals who were seated in two rows, was supposed to become my profession: namely, a teacher of Russian and English. After passing my university entrance exam, I was no longer interested in becoming a teacher but I was fascinated with learning English. After a voluntary social year in Scotland, I began to study English. But I soon discovered that a living language becomes less enjoyable when you have to study it. I then left the University of Leipzig as a graduate translator of English and Italian after two international semesters in Edinburgh and Bologna.

I learned the latter from scratch. Since I couldn’t even order a cappuccino without making a mistake during the basic course of studies, I felt it was time to make some progress. Out of this necessity, a passion for the language, country and people quickly developed. Thus, it was only natural that I moved to Brescia with a fully packed car just a