One of my classmates at the Accademia Internazionale di Lingue in Florence (International Academy of Languages), where I studied Italian over 15 years ago, was a 63-year-old American woman of Italian descent. Her biggest challenge was trying to un-do the terrible Italian she learned orally growing up. She was a great student, though, and the teacher and students loved her! Lynda, by all means, TAKE that Beginner Italian course. You will have so much fun!