Final reflections on an incredible year

I’m back in Vicenza, Italy, and it feels so good to be “home”. After more than 10 months of living here, arriving back at the Vicenza train station after my trip to Budapest felt so natural! One of the nice things about traveling around Europe for a month and then coming back to Italy was realizing that Italy is home for me now. 10 months ago “home” was Minnesota, and Italy was foreign. Now Italy is home and Hungary and France are foreign! It was amazing how confident I felt hearing and speaking Italian again after the unfamiliar sounds of Hungarian and French. Just as traveling away from the US made me realize how lucky I was to have grown up in Minnesota, traveling away from Italy made me realize how lucky I was to have had an exchange year there. My friend from school picked me up at the station and made me pesto pasta for dinner (my favorite!). Last night a bunch of my classmates came over to her house, where I’m staying, for a potluck. It was so good to laugh and catch up with them again! As all exchange students say, just as you start to feel at home in your country, it’s time to leave. And so it is. My suitcase (which has been skillfully packed to 22.7 kg, the weight limit being 23 kg) is sitting by the door and my backpack is full of as much pasta and chocolate as I could fit inside. I too am full of Italian food, because I’ve been eating as much as I possibly can before I head home. Mostly, though, I’m full not only of food but of emotions- gratitude, appreciation, and excitement about going home. Time has flown here. There were so many moments I thought this year would never end, and all I wanted was to be allowed to walk barefoot in the house and to sing Minnesotan choral music and to decorate the Christmas tree with my family. And now that it’s all over, and I’ve finally accepted certain cultural differences (such as the fact that in Italy you have to go to school on Saturdays), I realize what is so powerful about a one-year exchange. It’s given me a sense of pride that I’ve couldn’t have gotten from anything else. This year I was homesick and frustrated and doubted myself and had no choice but to stick it out and try my best- without anything or anyone familiar to me- then I got to the end of the year, and realized that I did it and actually had a lot of fun! I’ll always remember with fondness biking through the Alps with my exchange student friends, bargaining for a good price on sandals in the street-market of Jerusalem, and helping Italian students prepare for their English exams. I’ll also remember with fondness the teacher who yelled at me for “sitting the wrong way” in class, those times the shop assistant refused to speak to me in Italian because she could tell I was foreign, and that time I missed the train and arrived at a Rotary event 4 hours late (in jeans, by the way, and everyone else was wearing cocktail dresses). After making mistakes, and learning from them, and doing it right the next time, you get an unparalleled sense of accomplishment. Who could have guessed how triumphant it makes me now that I just spoke a sentence in Italian correctly using both the imperfect conjunctive and the conditional verb tenses? I’ve finally gained the cultural competence I would need to live in Italy. Even though I probably won’t choose to live in Italy forever, I know I am capable of doing so, and I gained that capability with the help of people who less than a year ago were strangers to me! My wonderful host family who tolerated me for the whole year, my classmates who included me and answered every question I had about Italy, the exchange students who shared both my happiness and my grumpiness. (I know this is getting cheesy, but it’s my last post, so I’m entitled to a bit of cliché J). So, as almost every exchanger says, it’s been a wonderful, frustrating, discouraging, encouraging, short, long, and rewarding year.

As I face the transition of coming back to Minnesota and starting college, I’ve put together a list of things I’ve learned here in Italy- things I’ve learned through experience- that I can take back with me.

1    )   Patience with myself and with other people. I used to get so angry with myself for every mistake I made and I would get annoyed at other people for messing up too. If you offend the principal by calling him the informal word for “you” instead of the formal “you”, just apologize sincerely and call him the formal you in the future. It’s best to cut yourself (and others) some slack when things go wrong.

2    )   In fact, I’ve realized that it’s best to plan for at least a few things to go wrong so that it doesn’t make you stressed out when they do. Rarely do things go perfectly according to plan, but they usually turn out to be great stories (if you want an example on that one, ask me about this year’s Christmas choir concert).
      )   Looking for the good in people, and not judging them by a first impression. When I first got to Italy I thought everyone was racist against Chinese people, because they kept telling me never to buy things from stores where Chinese people worked. Little did I know that the reason people in the Veneto region of Italy didn’t want me to buy from those stores is that foreigners sell “Italian” crafts like Venetian glass claiming to be made-in-Italy. Really they were made in China and imported to Italy, but are sold for half the price of the real Italian goods. The result is that Italian glass blowers go out of business because tourists just buy the cheaper, made-in-China versions of Italian glass. So the Italians wanted me to buy glass made in Venice and not in a Chinese sweatshop.

4    )   You are not stupid because another person knows something you don’t. On one of the first days of Italian school the English teacher was lecturing on Edgar Allen Poe, and she asked me to tell the class what I knew about him (because I was a native speaker and obviously had studied him extensively). I had not studied him extensively. I had read a few of his short stories in my sophomore year of high school, but I didn’t remember hardly anything about him, so I mumbled something vague about him being a British poet/writer, and was immediately corrected that he was American, not British. Everyone thought I was a dumb American for that gap in my knowledge, and it was embarrassing. At the end of the day, though, you have to trust that you are an intelligent person even when you forget Edgard Allen Poe’s nationality. (Besides, I later redeemed myself by giving a dramatic recitation of the prologue to Romeo and Juliet, which they found very impressive). 

5    )   Not all who wander are lost. This became my motto for the year. Exploring new places just by walking around randomly is absolutely a good use of time and will (almost always) lead you to discover great things! How else would I have found that free cello concert in a public park in Budapest? How else would I have found that café in Vicenza that sells the best croissants I’ve ever had for a euro each?

6    )   Eating large amounts of pizza, gelato, pasta, tiramisu, gnocchi, prociutto crudo, cheese, and lasagna does not make you fat. It makes you happy.

7    )   Italian people are very generous. Generosity is a wonderful quality to have and I have made it a goal for myself to be as generous to foreigners as everyone here has been to me!

There are more things I’ve learned but this post has become long enough. If everything goes according to plan (and this time I really am hoping it will), I’ll arrive in Minnesota at 6 tomorrow evening! The only words I can think of now about my exchange in Italy are “thank you”. Italy has been so good to me, and I will remember this year forever J Grazie a tutti per un anno fantastico, e spero che ci rivedremo presto! Arrivederci Italia! 

Will (a friend of mine from Nfld who was on exchange in Belgium this year) and I in Budapest

A thermal bath/pool in Budapest

My Italian classmates <3

One of my last pizzas in Italy

Last dinner with my whole host family- aunts, uncles, grandparents, etc.

Sempre in giro (always traveling)

It’s been a long time since I’ve posted, because I’ve been traveling and unable to find time or a computer to update my blog! I don’t have time for a long post but here is a quick update of what I’ve been up to and what my plans are for the rest of my exchange. I’m back in Vicenza for the day today, and tomorrow I leave for Budapest. For the past month I have been doing some solo summer traveling! I figured that after school was finished it would be great to explore some more of Europe before I head home. I love traveling and want to make the most of my time here prima di partire! So the day after school ended I packed my backpack and left for what turned out to be a great adventure. First I went to a goat cheese farm in southern France for three weeks. (I had found the farmstay through a website similar to WWOOF that brings together volunteers and farmers who need workers). I worked on the farm there in exchange for room and board, and had a great time milking, making hay, and working in the vegetable garden. It was run by a German couple, and there were a few other workers there at the same time as me, a French guy and an American. The French man placed guitar and was hosting some of his musician friends at the farm while I was there, so I got to sing and play ukulele with them! We even made some recordings of us playing together, with various instruments and voice. The music was an indie/reggae style, different from the music I normally sing, and I really enjoyed trying out the new style! It was great campfire music. The farm was right in the beautiful Pyrenees mountains, and so one of my favorite jobs was herding the goats up to their mountain pasture in the afternoon to get a panorama view of the mountains. This involved walking (or sometimes running) behind the herd of 66 goats and directing them to the right place by yelling and guiding them with a stick. Goats are such funny animals, and being with them really made me realize how much I had missed having pets this year! Overall the farm was a fun learning experience, especially because of my friendly hosts.

After my time in France, I flew to Sardinia to visit a friend of mine who is on exchange there. He lives near the center of the island, but we took some day trips to the beach- which I loved. The beaches in Sardinia are like paradise. Having grown up in Minnesota, I rarely get to see the ocean, and so the white sand beaches with clear water really made an impression on me! There’s nothing like swimming in the sea on a hot day and then laying out in the sun. The Sardinians were laughing at how excited I was about the ocean waves.

So now I’m back from Sardinia, and I have one more trip to Budapest with a friend of mine from MN before I return to the US on July 15. For the last few days of my exchange I’ll be staying with a friend of mine from school, which will be fun! Tonight I got to have dinner with my host family, and it was wonderful to see them again.

I’ll post once more about my trip to Budapest and for some final reflections about my exchange. Until then, ciao a tutti!

The garden at the farm in southern France, with a beautiful mountain background!

Cheesemaking at the farm

Another volunteer and I in Baillestavy, the closest small village to the farm

mountain flowers

Milking goats!

Hanging out with the animals :)

Exchange students in Cagliari, Sardinia

Gorgeous sea in Sardinia

At the beach! 

Maggio é un tempo per viaggiare

Time is speeding up again. I have less than a month left of school and then I’m hoping to do a bit of travel before I head home on July 15! It’s been awhile since I last posted, but here’s what I’ve been up to:

During Easter I got to visit one of my closest friends from home, Hannah, who’s also on exchange right now! While my host family was visiting their daughter on exchange in the US, I took the train up to Hannah’s host family’s house in Switzerland for a few days, and then she visited me in Italy. It was a great trip, and we had so much fun to catching up after 9 months apart on separate exchanges! Although we’ve been in different countries, we’ve had similar experiences and challenges. Since we both love singing, we sang all of our old choir pieces together too J

Another highlight of the past month was the Rotary weekend in Cinque Terre, a beautiful coastal region of Italy that I think looks like paradise on earth! Ellen and I took the train to meet another group of exchange students and Rotarians there. Although it’s a touristy and crowded region, I LOVED the landscape. Cinque Terre is probably my favorite region of Italy because it has beaches, mountains, and beautiful hills of fruit trees. It’s also a national park, so it’s clean and has hiking trails through the hillside farms and along the ocean. We went hiking and swimming, and got to stay at the house of a Rotarian who lived there. The next day he took us to Pisa so we had a relaxed day visiting the leaning tower and walking around.

This past weekend was our Rotary district’s last group trip! In two days, we biked 80km through the mountains of northern Italy. I love going up to the Alps, because the mountain towns have a really different feel from the cities here. The people speak mostly German (Italian too of course, but it’s close enough to the border of Austria and Switzerland that almost everyone speaks German) and are more Germanic culturally. The region we visited was known for growing apples, and the bike paths went right through some of the orchards. Beside the path at one point, there was a little wood cabin that had a self-serve apple juice bar! They had different types of apple juice and plastic cups set up, and there was a sign asking you to leave some money in the cash box. The juice was fresh and delicious after biking, and I really appreciated the honor system of just leaving a sign out asking people to leave money in return for the juice- it’s something you would never find in a bigger city like Vicenza. It reminded me of an Amish farm my family once visited in the US where you could pick your own blueberries and then leave your payment in an unattended cash box. Everyone trusts each other.

The trip was great, but at the end it was sad to think that it was our last group excursion of the year! It’s all gone so fast. My exchange isn’t over yet- I have until mid-July- but it’s still strange to think that I’ve been here more than 8 months and that soon it will be time to head back to Northfield. Though I’ll miss Italy, I’m actually more excited than I thought I would be to go home. It’s been a fantastic year, but I’m ready to go to college. One of the many great things about traveling is realizing how wonderful your home is. Until July 15, however, I plan on eating as much gelato as I can, on traveling as much as time allows, and on hanging out with my friends and host family here as long as possible!

Ciao a tutti J

Taking selfies with the cows in Switzerland because they're EVERYWHERE

Hanging out with Hannah in Switzerland!

Enjoying the Easter baskets Hannah's host family made for us and their two kids

Chilling by the beach near Cinque Terre with the other exchange students

Feeling that ocean breeze at Cinque Terre

Leaning tower of Pisa

In the mountains of northern Italy for our last group Rotary trip!

Biking in the mountains

Shalom from Israel

This past week has been one of the most amazing weeks of my life. Along with about 120 young people ages 17-22 from 22 different countries, I traveled to Israel for the Rotary/LEAD leaders to peace conference. What a powerful experience! The first day I flew into Tel Aviv and was picked up by a host family, where I (and two other young people) stayed for one night. They were so welcoming and had signs and balloons taped to the front door to greet us! The next day they drove us to the Neve Shalom peace village, a community of Jews and Arabs who live together, where we stayed for the rest of the conference. We saw many different parts of Israel (the dead sea, Jerusalem, the Negav desert, Tel Aviv), and had discussions and heard lectures about multifaith/ multiculturalism, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and peace.
The conference was incredible for many reasons, but the new friends I made were a huge highlight. I got to know so many interesting people! Our discussions and activities were held in small groups of 12 people that we kept for the whole week, so our group became really close. Our group was diverse, too, as we had four Israelis, a German, a Canadian, two Italians, a girl from Belgium, a guy from Poland, a girl from France, and me as the only American. We all had lots in common and had lots of great discussions about peace in all its forms- peace with yourself, with people from your community, and with people different from yourself. We talked about our cultures, how to be a good leader, and about what we can do to bring about peace in our communities. We talked about how difficult it is to hear about violence and suffering in the world, but feel like we can't do anything to change it. Sometimes it feels like everything is decided by the government, so there really isn't anything we as young people can do to bring peace, but one of the big points that we brought up was that peace doesn't start with politicians. It starts with the common people. The conference was in an ideal location to discuss this because we applied it especially to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Neve Shalom peace village was the perfect example. We listened to an Arab woman who had grown up at the Neve Shalom village speak about the history/significance of the village, and it was so interesting. We ended up getting into a discussion about the whole Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The village was started in the 70s when a Jewish man- who had converted to Christianity, becoming a monk- wanted to start a community where Jews and Palestinians lived peacefully together. The monestary where he lived gave him their blessing to start a village, and gave him a piece of land on a hill to make it work. In the beginning, the place only housed workshops and projects. These projects were designed to give opportunities to Jews and Arabs to meet and converse with each other. Gradually, a few families moved to the village permanently, and the community was started. Today, there are 60 families living at Neve Shalom, exactly 30 of them Jewish and exactly 30 of them Arab. This equilibrium is an important aspect of how the village functions. Both Arabic and Hebrew are spoken, and even if some of the Jewish adults have trouble learning Arabic, all the children are bilingual. The woman was talking about how even though both Hebrew and Arabic are the official languages in Israel, Arabic isn’t obligatory at school, so most Jews don’t even speak Arabic at all, they only speak Hebrew. This creates a language barrier between the Jews and the Arabs living in Israel (which is made up of 76% Jews and 24% Arabs). She says it is absolutely crucial for all Israelis to speak Arabic as well as Hebrew so that the two groups can begin to form relationships with each other. The current situation for Arab Israelis as well as Palestinians living in Gaza and the West Bank is very difficult, because they feel that they don’t belong anywhere. Their ancestors had to leave Israel in 1948 when the state of Israel was created, so they aren’t really wanted in Israel, but they have no other home as there is no Palestinian state. An Arab girl at the conference spoke about how conflicted she feels about her identity as an Arab Israeli. There is a huge separation between the communities of Arabic-speaking people and Hebrew-speaking people in Israel, and the language barrier separates them more than anything now. The big problem is getting the two groups to meet, because there is such a history of conflict between the two groups. The Palestinians are angry about being forcibly removed from their homes in 1948 when the State of Israel was started, but now that their homeland has changed to a Jewish state they don’t feel like they belong back there anymore either. The woman we were talking to says that as an Arab living in Israel, the only place she feels safe to express herself and her opinions is at Neve Shalom, where she grew up. 

At Neve Shalom (the name means "peace oasis"), the families live together and undergo projects to promote meetings between Arabs and Jews. For example, each year the community hosts groups of Arab children ages 8-10 from Palestinian Refugee camps to come stay at Neve Shalom for a week. Even though it is extremely difficult and even dangerous to find permits for the children to enter Israel, they do it. The officials who handle the permit process are very cold and only talk about the children using their identification numbers instead of their names. Although the kids are terrified when being transported across the border, the woman told us how amazing it is to watch the Palestinian children interacting and playing with the Neve Shalom children (who also spoke Arabic, being bilingual from living in the Neve Shalom village). 

I was so impressed about how the village works to create healthy relationships between the Jews and the Arabs, and especially how they are starting with children to teach tolerance to the new generation. It isn't always easy, as the residents of Neve Shalom say, but they have found peace in the midst of one of the greatest global conflicts. Their goal to spread peace between the common people instead of starting with the governments was so inspiring. 

We had many other great experiences outside of Neve Shalom as well! In our travels around Israel, my favorite place was the dead sea. It is so salty that getting the water in your eyes could cause you to go blind, and drinking only a quarter cup of it causes you to die (your body drowns in the salt). Despite these things, I LOVED how much you float in the water! You can lay on your back on the surface of the water and just float there, totally relaxed. There is no need to tread water because you stay afloat- you couldn't sink to the bottom if you wanted to. Nearby there was a mineral mud pit, so we all covered ourselves in mud and let it dry in the sun, since it's supposed to be really good for your skin. Afterwards we rinsed off in the sea. The surrounding desert scenery was beautiful! The Israelis thought it was so funny how excited I was to see a camel. We spent a night in the desert in a tent (basically a cloth roof on wooden poles) which was super fun because we had a campfire and time for group singing. Jerusalem was also an amazing experience. The highlight for me was the Western wall, a two-thousand year-old wall where people go to communicate with God. You write a wish on a slip of paper and put it in the cracks of the wall. It was a spiritual experience to touch the wall and to watch people praying and even crying at the wall, communicating with God. The environment around the wall was definitely spiritual-- you could feel that it was a sacred place. The other parts of Jerusalem were fun to see as well!

All in all, everyone was so disappointed to have to leave Israel, because the conference had been such a success! I would love to come back someday to visit my new Israeli friends. 

Other than the conference in Israel, the other big recent event for me was that my dad came to visit me in Italy for 2 days at the end of March! It was great to see him after 7 months of not seeing each other, and I showed him Vicenza and Venice. We had several meals together with my host family so they could get to know each other. 

Sorry for the long post, if you've stuck with me this far I thank you! Until next time, ciao ciao. 

Neve Shalom ("Peace Oasis"), the village where we stayed for most of the conference

With a welcome gift of Israeli candy from my host family the first night! Such a sweet woman.

On the way to the dead sea, the lowest point on earth

Our small group at google campus, where we stayed the whole night working on peace-through-technology projects

Covered in mineral mud from the dead sea!

A beautiful sunny day in Jerusalem!

Enjoying the panoramic view in Jerusalem 

Hanging out with my dad in Venice!

Berlin, Bologna, and a Mummy

This week I got to go on a four-day school trip to Berlin with my classmates! We had an amazing time visiting the museums, enjoying the sunshine, and touring the city. I’ve been to Germany before, but Berlin has a different atmosphere than the other places I’ve visited there. I think it’s one of the most fascinating European cities I’ve seen yet.

The thing that really made an impression on me about Berlin is that the whole city is like a museum. It has such a tragic history, and yet the people have managed to overcome that and turn Berlin into a vibrant, friendly city. The Germans have done a great job of setting up memorials to remember the past, while still acknowledging that the city doesn’t always have to be a place of sadness. For example, there was a stretch of the Berlin wall- which of course shows how divided the city once was- that had paintings of doves and quotes about peace on it. Instead of just tearing down the wall, they had used it to create something new and beautiful. Hundreds of people had written inspirational quotes in various languages. There were colorful paintings and signatures too. That way, looking at the remains of the wall, you remember that the city was once separated, but there is a peaceful message written on it to show hope for the future. In another place along the wall, tall metal poles had been set up where the wall once ran. They are wide enough apart for a person to cross through them, but visible enough that you remember when you look at it that it hasn’t always been that way. It was a simple but perfect way to remember the division of the city. Next to that part of the wall, there was a stone block with pictures of the people who had died trying to cross the wall. Many of them were children. And yet as we were saddened to look at the pictures of 5-year-olds who had been killed in Berlin in the past, there were lots of healthy, happy ones running around and playing in the park. There are very few places in the world that have found such a perfect balance of living in the peace of the present without forgetting the tragedy of the past. Overall I loved Berlin not because it was the most beautiful city I’ve ever seen, but because it was one of the most unique. Plus it was great to spend time with my Italian classmates!

The other exciting recent event here in Italy was carnevale. Rotary took us to Venice and Trieste for the festival, and although it was POURING the whole day we were in Venice, we had a great time in Trieste. Carnevale here in Italy is a multi-day festival where you put on costumes, walk around the city center, throw as much confetti as you can into the streets, eat special holiday foods, and dance/party in the evenings. We went to a parade with elaborately decorated floats in a town near Trieste, which included lots of dancers and some of the most beautiful costumes I have ever seen! My favorite was a monster-themed float that had people dressed as wardrobes walking around. Every once in a while the doors of the wardrobes would fly open and the person inside would scream and throw confetti in the faces of anyone nearby! The Italians really know how to have a party.

Yesterday I took a train to Bologna to visit the city with Ellen and Julia (some exchange student friends). One of the highlights of the day was that we visited the mummy of St. Catherine, who died in the 1400s and whose intact mummified body still sits upright in a beautiful church. You can go in and see her body for free during certain hours, and we were lucky enough to be in Bologna on a day the chapel was open! Santa Caterina was dressed as a nun and was inside a glass case, in a small but elaborately decorated circular room. I think it was the most beautiful room I have ever seen, with colorful frescos, golden statues, and fresh flowers everywhere. People went up to her and kneeled at her feet to pray, crossing themselves and touching the glass that surrounded her. There was definitely a sense of importance and mystery about the room. I also went up to Santa Caterina to kneel before her, and it was amazing to look at her mummified feet, hands, and face. I've never had an experience like that before, it was spiritual somehow! The rest of the trip was great as well; Bologna is just a beautiful city to explore because of all the buildings, fountains, and statues. I definitely want to go back someday. 

Outside of my travel excursions, I have been continuing to help teach English at school (which I’ve really enjoyed), study Italian, and hang out with my classmates and fellow exchange students. I know it sounds cliché, but I can't believe I've already been here for 6 months.

Until next time, ciao a tutti!

Visiting the Reichstag (Berlin capital building) with my classmates

Viewing the mummy of Santa Caterina- yes, that is her real body 

Artwork on the Berlin wall

Another snowshoeing expedition!

In front of paintings on the Berlin east side gallery (remains of the wall) 

Dancers during a parade for carnevale in Trieste

A float for the carnevale parade

Deep speculation on Italian culture, by Anika

Time is really starting to speed up! I hadn’t realized that it’s been more than a month since my last post. The past month has been filled with so many fun experiences, such as going snowshoeing in the Alps with Ellen (my exchange friend), making valentines day cookies with Marco (my little host brother), going to a glass-making factory in Venice, and singing for an evening mass at a beautiful church with the conservatory choir.  I’m really looking forward to the next few months because I have some great travel opportunities coming up! In March I’ll be going to Berlin for 5 days with my class from school, and in April I’m flying to Israel for a week for a Rotary peace conference. More on that later!

Right now it’s time for more deep speculation on the Italian culture. (Aren’t you excited? J) Now that I’ve been in Italy for more than five months, I’m starting to understand this country in new ways. There are so many aspects of the Italian culture that I didn’t fully understand when I first got here, but the longer I stay here the more I learn.

One day at school we had a guest speaker come in to talk to us about an initiative called VocAzione (the name means “vocation” or “calling” but it’s also a play on the words “voce” and “azione” meaning “voice” and “action”). The program’s goal is to address some of Italy’s social issues, and they wanted to reach out to young people to see what we had to say on the topic. The presentation was fascinating to me because it revealed (and confirmed) a strange, pessimistic mentality about Italy that I’d been noticing here but hadn’t really understood before. I also really appreciated the program’s mission of spreading positive social change! Let me explain. Whenever the topic of Italy as a country comes up in conversation, Italians often sigh and say the phrase “Italia sta scendendo”, which means “Italy is going downhill”. At first I was surprised and confused that Italians would say this about their own beautiful country! Italy is idealistic in so many ways- it has friendly people, amazing history, gorgeous landscapes, delicious food, the list goes on- and whenever I hear Italy mentioned in the US people usually talk about how wonderful Italy is. Yet when our guest speaker asked us to think of one word that describes Italy, almost all the words were negative. In addition, many of my classmates have said that they want to leave Italy for college, and I’ve heard countless rants about Italian politics. What were the Italians talking about?

My question was answered when our guest speaker showed us some data from a survey that the VocAzione initiative had done. They had asked different Italian citizens from various ages, incomes, and regions to answer a set of questions about their values- the things most important to them. They were asked to first list their personal values (things they hold important for themselves), and then their cultural values (things they believe are values for their culture as a whole). The difference between the two lists was astonishing. On average, the second most important value Italians said they hold for themselves personally is honesty. In contrast, the first value Italians listed for their country on a cultural level was corruption. How, the speaker asked us, could the number one cultural value in Italy be corruption, when on a personal level everyone said that honesty was among their top three most important values? Honesty and corruption are, after all, opposites. No one could answer his question. He then went on to show where “personal responsibility” (defined as feeling personally responsible for how things go in your community and country as a whole) was ranked on the list. As a personal value, people ranked it #48, and on a national level, it was #68. That, he said, is the root of the problem. People rank just about every other value they can think of higher on the priority list than personal responsibility. If nobody feels responsible for the future of the country, things go downhill pretty fast. Interestingly enough, Italians rated patience and adaptability high on the value list, suggesting that the commonly accepted response to things going downhill is to be patient and just adapt to it. This explained some of my observations about Italian culture here. For example, whenever I ask people about the political system in Italy, they usually shake their heads and say that it's a mess, that it's corrupt, but that there's nothing to be done. Some people have stopped voting. I'm not saying patience and adaptability are bad values- in fact, before I got here I was generally very impatient, so the patience I am learning here is definitely a good thing. 

What I really appreciated about Vocazione, though, was that it wasn't just depressing research predicting unavoidable social decline. Our guest speaker went on to talk about the VocAzione initiative and about how we could all create positive social change, especially as young people. We did a brainstorming exercise about the problematic education system in Italy and thought about ways to change it. We also wrote out personal commitments (things we promised to do better in the future for ourselves, our families, and our communities) on post-it notes and stuck them on the blackboard. I thought it was a great way to create a sense of personal responsibility. After all, if everyone holds themselves responsible for what happens to their country, the country as a whole will improve.

All in all I was so impressed by the presentation and thought it was a great lesson for everyone who lives in a community anywhere on the globe, and not just in Italy. It’s not just the Italians who lack a sense of personal responsibility for their country. I can see the same problems in the US. It was just interesting for me to see those issues addressed in Italy, because it gave me a deeper insight into their culture. It also made me think about how globally we all have similar social issues, and that the solution is really the same for everyone. I hope there are more programs like VocAzione to get the message out to people to start changing themselves if they want social change. (Writing this is making me think of the Micheal Jackson song “Man in the Mirror” J)

All matters of social issues aside, however, all this has been making me think more about a career in international relations and foreign affairs. I’m really enjoying being an ambassador (well, I guess I’m not officially an ambassador, but I do represent the US to my school and my host family) so it could be a good job for me. We’ll see what happens.

Until next time, Ciao a presto!

Crazy lamppost sculpture in Venice- I think it looks like something out of Harry Potter

Murano, an island in Venice

With some fellow travelers in Venice

With some friends from school

Making Valentines Day cookies with Marco

In the mountains for some snowshoeing

On the snowshoeing path

Even good witches get burned in Italy

Well, the holidays have officially wrapped up! Here in Italy the Christmas season lasts until January 6, the day of La Befana (La Befana is a witch who flies around on a broomstick and brings candy to all the children). On La Befana day, I took a train to Verona with some friends to see the festival, which includes a strange ritual. Even though Befana is a good witch, every year the Italians construct a huge sculpture of her and then light it on fire when it gets dark. I asked multiple Italians why they would burn Befana if she brings candy to the children, but none of them could give me an answer. They all just shrug and say “é cosi” (that’s how it is). Poor Befana. Take a look at the pictures of the burning, it was quite a scene!

The rest of my holiday break was spent in Asiago, a village in the mountains where my host family has a winter house. Unfortunately there wasn’t any snow in Asiago, but we drove a bit higher into the Alps for some snow and some beautiful winter hiking. I absolutely LOVE the mountains, and it was fun to hang out with my host family and spend Christmas together! On Christmas day we went to my host aunt’s house for lunch, and all the relatives were there. I skyped my family in China and Nonno Bruno (my host grandpa) sang “O Sole Mio” for my American family! Nonno Bruno is so inspirational- he’s 90 years old and still living life to the fullest by traveling and going back to university to study history.

Lately I’ve been doing lots of reading- I found “The Da Vinci Code” at a second-hand shop (in English, hehe) for one euro, so I picked it up. IT WAS SO SUSPENSEFUL! After I finished it I bought “Angels and Demons” (also by Dan Brown) and am now fully immersed. It gives me something to do during school when I’m not tutoring in English J Also, yesterday I tried something completely new and ate at a sushi restaurant with some of my friends! I was a bit hesitant at first because I’ve never been fond of seafood, but I was surprised to find that I like sushi a lot! My favorite was with raw salmon and avocado. I’m still horrible at using chopsticks though. Ah well.

I think I’m starting to really settle into life here in Italy! I’ve found a nice balance of having a daily routine and being spontaneous. I have school and after school activities every day, but I get to travel and enjoy a more flexible schedule than I had in the States. My language learning has also been coming along- I really feel like I’ve improved and can communicate well now. I’m hoping to take an exam at the end of this year (from the University of Siena) that will give me a certificate in Italian. 

Until next time, everyone- best wishes for a wonderful new year!

Hiking in the snowy Alps on new years day!

At the "Casa di Giulietta" (Juliet's house, from Romeo and Juliet) in Verona... you have to touch Juliet's breast for good luck!

The burning of La Befana

Some friendly goats Ellen and I encountered in Bassano :)

At the church choir Christmas concert!

Ellen and I enjoying the view on a hike we did one day 

The Alps in winter- could it get more beautiful??