A Lesson Learned

Stay with me people, this is going to be a long post! Ignore what I wrote about changing schools in my last post- it turns out that I won’t be switching after all. On Tuesday I woke up in the morning and took the bus to the linguistic school, where a really nice girl (a friend of one of my classmates) took me in and introduced me to the teachers and students. They showed me their class schedule, and as I looked at it I realized the linguistic school taught the exact same subjects as the scientific school, expect for an extra hour each day of Spanish. Oh well, I thought, at least I get to take Spanish here. But as I was sitting in my desk, quietly listening to the teacher’s lecture, I began to get a bad feeling about changing schools. The more the day progressed, the more I realized that this “linguistic” school was academically almost identical to my old school- but socially it was stricter and more cliquey. The atmosphere was even more rigid and formal, and there was less of a sense of community like I had noticed in my old school. As I looked at the other kids around me I began to miss my former classmates. I thought about the reasons for switching in the first place- to take classes that were more interesting to me- and suddenly I realized that a school change was not going to accomplish that. My problem with the science school was that I sat through 5-6 hours of lectures every day, hardly understanding most of what I was hearing. I was surprised at what teachers used their class time for- they just talked at the students, who sat taking notes for the whole hour. We never did any discussions or activities, and the only time the students were allowed to speak was during “interrogations” (oral tests where one person is interrogated by the teacher in front of the whole class, ant then the teacher tells them their grade and usually gives some harsh feedback). I guess I thought that it was just my old school, and that other schools would be different. Wrong.

The public education system here in Italy is very different. It is much more formal. So far I have gotten in trouble for talking to the person next to me (when the teacher wasn’t talking), stretching my arm, singing (after class), yawning, drinking water, and eating. When a professor enters the room all the students stand up as a sign of respect. Once my classmate was telling a story to her friend and was imitating some character from a movie by talking in a funny voice, when suddenly the teacher walked in the room, saw her talking in a funny voice, and reprimanded her. It seems to me that the teachers demand respect from the students that they do not reciprocate. All of these things I didn’t like, and wanted to get away from- but in fact you can’t escape it because all schools in Italy are like that. My little host brother, who is 10 years old, asked the principal of his school if he could switch classes to be in a class where all of his friends had been placed. The principal said no and told him he was a “spoiled child” for having asked. At the end of that first day at the language school, I went to the secretary and asked to return to my old school, even though there are still things about the science school that I don’t like. But hey, if I’m going to school in Italy for the whole year, I’d much rather it be with my original classmates at the science school, who are so friendly!

So in conclusion to this whole story, yes, it was silly of me to change schools for one day and then switch back. But I’m glad I at least tried the other school, because it has taught me this: sometimes during exchange there are things about my host country (ahem the oppressive public education system in Italy) that I really don’t like. Yes, there are so many amazing things about Italy- the delicious food, the old architecture, the friendly people, the beautiful language- but just like the culture of the US, there are also things I don’t like. I think accepting that is part of living abroad- not just being a tourist, but experiencing everything about the country.

Basta with speculations about exchange. In other news, this weekend we took a fun trip to Cremona for the torrone festival! Torrone is a typical dolce (dessert) of northern Italy, made with a marshmallowy substance and almonds. The festival was beautiful, with a medieval wedding, fire jugglers, dancers, classical music performers, and lots of Italian food. Here are some pictures!

A church in Cremona

Medieval wedding!

With the giant "torrone" 

A giant violin... made of torrone!!

Beautiful view of the city from the tower in centro

A day trip to Venice, and changing schools soon..

Well, tomorrow marks a big change for me in my daily life here in Italy! For the past two months I have been attending a scientific school, but tomorrow I will be switching to a linguistic school. As nervous as I am about changing schools, I know it’s the right choice for me. At the new school, I will get to take Spanish, German, Italian, and English, instead of heavy loads of math and science classes. The only problem is that changing schools at this point in the year means missing the senior trip L Each class of students in their last year of high school gets to take a trip together, to a city of their choice in Europe. My new class at the language school has already taken their trip (they went to Barcelona!) and my classmates at the scientific school were planning to go to Berlin in March! Now that I’m changing schools, I won’t be able to go with my old class to Berlin, and I’ve missed the trip to Barcelona with my new classmates. Pretty disappointing. However, I’ve had plenty of travel opportunities with Rotary and my host family, so I can’t complain too much. Yesterday I got to Venice for the first time, and it was unbelievable! We really lucked out- it was a sunny, crisp fall day, not a cloud in the sky, and a family friend who works in Venice gave us a great tour of the city! He told us lots about the unique history and architecture, which was very interesting to me. It still blows my mind that Venice is a thousand years old, and that it was built on the water. One thing that really stuck out to me about Venice is that it is impossible to have cars in the city (the streets are either canals of water or narrow sidewalks), which means that to get around you must either walk or take a boat. I think it was the first time I’ve been in a city completely without cars- there is something beautiful and particular about it. Venice is extremely crowded, of course, but with people, not vehicles. Looking at ancient buildings that have existed for centuries, and being unable to take buses, trains, or cars… it all made Venice feel less frantic than other cities. The atmosphere was more relaxed- maybe the word to describe it is timeless. Anyhow, I loved it, and I plan on going back for a day of wandering as soon as I can! The other day I remembered the quote “Not all who wander are lost”. That’s becoming my motto in Italy.

One note about Italian culture- Italians and Americans have very different ideas about which things are healthy and which things are unhealthy. For example, the other evening I had taken a shower and was just lounging around with my hair still wet. My host mom asked me if I was going to blow dry my hair, and I said no, I was going to bed in a few hours anyway so there really wasn’t any point in blow drying it before I went to sleep. She looked concerned and responded that I would get a cold if I didn’t blow dry it! Apparently it is common knowledge here in Italy that if you leave your hair wet and just let it dry you’ll get sick. They also do not eat ice or drink water if it’s too cold, because they think it’s bad for your stomach. I’ve never been taught those things, so I guess some of my habits are considered unhealthy here. To me that’s ridiculous though, because Italians smoke all the time and eat cake for breakfast! Smoking is way worse than eating ice! Ah well.  

Another new thing is that I’ve started studying at the conservatory of music here in Vicenza! I sing in the choir and will soon have an audition for voice lessons. Apparently the voice teachers here each specialize in a certain type of music (there is one who just does Baroque singing) so you have to sing for the teachers and then they’ll help you decide which type of singing you want to do, or which type is best for your voice. I’ll be interested to see where I end up. The other day I went to a history of music class with my friend from school as well. I like the environment of the conservatory: it’s much more like a university campus, and everyone is so friendly.

Allora, adesso devo dormire perche sono stanca.. but I will write a new post once I’ve experienced a few days of my new schoolJ

Ciao a tutti!

The city center of Asiago, a little city in the mountains. Ellen and I took a day trip here on weekend!

Getting friendly with the local cows in Asiago :)

A specialty cheese shop- look at how big those cheese wheels are!

The courtyard of the conservatory of music in my city

On a bridge in Venice

Beautiful Venetian glass windows

The water spills onto the sidewalks in Venice

Houses on the sea in Venice

November in Italy

This weekend we didn’t have school on either Friday OR Saturday (a downright miracle in Italy), which made for a great three days! Not that I don’t like school, but sometimes it can be pretty boring because I still can’t understand about half of what is being said. Also, many of my classes, namely physics, latin, and math, are pretty uninteresting to me… however, this week I took a test in English class and got a perfect score! Hehe I know it was my native language but I was still impressed at how advanced the test was for foreign language speakers. It was on Romantic poetry (specifically William Wordsworth’s poems) and one of the questions was, “Which line in the poem The Rainbow is paradoxical?” In my language classes in America, we definitely didn’t have literary analysis questions like that on our tests. So I think my classes here are the equivalents of AP classes in the US.

Anyway, this weekend without school was molto divertente as I got to do some more traveling! J Thursday was Halloween, so that night I went to a Halloween party with Davide and Ellen, and met some kids from my class there as well. What a party! It was at a popular discoteca near Vicenza, and there were more than 1000 people there. About half of them had dressed up in a costume (in Italy a Halloween “costume” is much more simple and involves putting on just one or two accessories, like a bit of zombie makeup or a hat or something).  I’ve discovered that at parties or social events in Italy, the first hour or so is spent greeting everyone you know by saying ciao, kissing them on the cheek, and chatting for a bit. So for the first hour we talked and greeted everyone, and after that we danced. Italians listen to a lot of American pop music, so many of the songs were familiar to me! We danced and hung out at the discoteca until pretty late, and then Ellen slept over at my house that night because of our plans for the next day! We got up early and caught the morning bus to Asiago (a city in the mountains about an hour away, famous for its Asiago cheese) for some scenery and hiking. The weather was much colder up in the mountains, but it was still a beautiful fall day. We packed a lunch and walked along a path in the green hills, and found a herd of friendly cows who all had name tags on their ears! One of them, named Rebecca, let us pet her. It was great to get out of the city for a bit- as much as I love living in a bigger city like Vicenza, I need some nature time every once in awhile. On Saturday the exchange students in my district took a day trip to Verona for some sightseeing and shopping. Verona is such a beautiful city- and this time while we were in the house of Romeo and Juliet, this guy proposed to his girlfriend on the balcony! She said yes and everyone cheered and clapped for them as he put an engagement ring on her finger. It was really sweet, although I still think it’s a bit funny that everyone considers Verona to be the most romantic spot in the world because of Romeo and Juliet. It’s supposed to be a lucky, happy place for love. Tons of couples come to Verona just so that they can kiss on the balcony, but in the story, Romeo and Juliet only knew each other for a few days, and they both ended up dying so it wasn’t even a happy love story. Oh well.

Last weekend I got to go to a great concert with my Rotary tutor (an older woman named Pasqualina)- we saw the singer Albano! He was really dramatic and Italian, and he talked to the crowd a lot. The people sang along with him on the songs they knew. Towards the end of the concert, he invited random people from the audience onstage, set up tables for them, and poured them all glasses of wine! It was SO Italian J  

That’s all for now. Today is Sunday and I’m resting after my tiring weekend. Until my next post, ciao tutti!

This is from "cioccolandia," a chocolate festival that took place one weekend in my city! Vendors set up huge booths selling every kind of chocolate imaginable. I bought some delicious truffles. 

View from a bridge in Bassano, a nearby city

Marco and I with a funny street performer

A street musician in Bassano- one of the many things I love about Italy is that the music of violins, accordians, harps, and guitars are like a soundtrack to walking down the street

The apple pie that I made! :)

My host mom showed me this public park in Vicenza that has TONS of bunnies hopping around in it! I took some pictures of them but this one is my absolute favorite. It looks so angry. 

AND SOME OF THEM ARE SO CUTE! I couldn't get over the fact that there are random wild bunnies roaming around this public park and they look so domesticated.. I think someone must be feeding them.