Thank you for the warm welcome!

As I’ve seen elsewhere, I really should set a goal for myself. And my goal is probably misguided, but here I go.

Before the Japanese bug started in secondary school, I went on a 2-week school trip to Italy. Part of the stay was in Rome, in a hotel that had a lift made seemingly from kitchen worktops. It was rickety and undeserving of the title “lift” and more deserving of the term “deathtrap.”
The penultimate day in Rome, I went down the elevator, and closed the SWINGING door on it. And suddenly an older Italian guy started shouting at me, verbally berating me about the lift. I cannot speak a word of Italian aside from “Pizza”, “Cappuccino” and the like, so I could only vaguely understand what he shouted at me for a full. five. minutes. I felt bewildered and helpless, that I couldn’t say anything to defend myself in the situation, and that “sorry” did not cover it for him, purely from the language barrier.

I want to reach a point in Japanese, that if such a situation like that ever happened again, I could (a) apologise and be understood, and (b) if warranted, answer back with some smartalec comments.

But in Japanese. As I have no wish to visit Italy ever again…