In many languages, animals are used to describe human characteristics, but not every language uses the same animal for the same characteristic! Marika shares with us the Italian point of view.

Marika gives us a tour of her living room, where the family is entertained, and where she has lunch and dinner parties for guests.

Marika shows us her apartment's master bedroom.

It's time for the grand tour of a very important room in Marika's apartment, the bathroom! You'll notice she gets a little mixed up between hot and cold water faucets! Don't worry--the position is the same in Italy as in other countries!

Marika shows us around her kitchen, the heart of the household. We can bet it's her favorite room of all!

Marika shows us her children's cozy bedroom. You may notice that there is an emphasis on drawing and coloring. Italian students are graded on their drawings.

We continue getting acquainted with Marika's apartment. This time she shows us the hall with its furnishings.

Marika shows us the entryway of her apartment, from the intercom to the coat rack.

Strolling through Rome, we stop in front of the so-called statue of Pasquino, who, rebelling against the rigid regulations of the reigning pope, made the statue "speak" by using placards, registering his protest against the city.

In fairy tales, good triumphs over evil in the end. This one's no exception.

Here's one of the most famous fairy tales of all, "Cinderella." The Italian, "La Cenerentola" comes from the noun la cenere (ash, ashes, cinder). See how much you can understand without the English subtitles!

Being a fairy tale, there's a happy ending. Maybe you'll understand it even without the subtitles!

There's plenty of new vocabulary in the well-known story of "Sleeping Beauty". And since there are both a king and a queen, and twelve fairies, many verbs are in the third person plural of the passato remoto! Make the most of it!

Many of us know how this story ends. That's why it will be easy to understand. And there are still plenty of verbs to learn in the passato remoto!

"The Frog Prince" is a famous fairy tale—nothing new! But what an opportunity to learn and practice the passato remoto! In everyday conversations this tense is rare in much of Italy, but when we're talking about "once upon a time..." it's a mainstay.