Trip to Verona

Marissa, Luis, Brenda and I flew to Verona, the city of the most famous lovers in history; Romeo and Juliet, for this weekend. The day before we went to Verona, all four of us watched a movie ‘Letters to Juliet’ and that movie gave us higher expectations. While we were there, it was very cold all the time and we could barely see the sun. Regardless of the weather, we came to Verona as tourists and we kept to our itinerary. We visited the Arena, Casa di Giulietta, Teatro Romano, Museo di Castelvecchio, Chiesa di S. Zeno, and Chiesa di San Fermo. In Casa di Giulietta, we wrote letters to Juliet and took pictures putting our hands on Juliet’s right breast just like what other people do for good luck. Other than visiting tourist places, we ate a lot! We had the best pasta in Verona since we arrived in Italy.

The hostel we booked was little bit on the outskirts, so we had to take a bus to go to downtown Verona. Also we had curfew because the bus stops operating after 8:00pm. During the entire trip, we never got off at the right bus stop, but instead a few blocks before or after. So we had to walk awhile in the dark which now I think as one of the unforgettable memories in Verona. Overall, Verona is a small city but very pretty and I enjoyed being there.

daycation in Rome, 28/1/2011

As you can see from the picture above, today’s class/tour of Piazza Novona and the Pantheon was cancelled due to an unfortunate event with our tour guide, Margaret Brucia. So with our check-in’s bumped to an earlier time, the group was able to get an early start to enjoying our Friday. As some went and spent the weekend out of town, a group of us decided to go exploring and see what else Rome had to offer instead of Campo’s food and the rest of Rome’s breath taking historic sights.

During check-in’s we were advised to take advantage of the Roman subway system and see neighborhoods outside of the city center. With that and making sure everyone went to the backroom, we were on our way. We started at Termini where we took the B line, which runs north and south, to Marconi. The subway station seemed like any other station back home in the states, one difference I did notice though was the amount of people that would pack into these things. Maybe I haven’t been on enough subways but the first train was full, there was a guy that had his leg closed on when the doors were closing, he managed to get it in though. We decided to take the next train.

Once we got to Marconi, it was like coming to Rome for the first time. None of us knew where we were going, didn’t really know the language, and we were hungry. We did end up finding our way to the main strip and was told that Marconi had a lot of shopping and even an outdoor market, but another thing we ran into was the Italian siesta, which I refer to as “nap-time.” During nap-time, most businesses close around lunch time and don’t reopen till late afternoon.  Realizing that the stores weren’t going to be open for awhile we went looking for food, this also turned into an adventure of it’s own as even restaurants were closed for nap-time and didn’t open till dinner. Continuing to walk, we walked passed a number of bars that offered the usual, panini’s, tramezzions, and pastries. But we were on a journey for something more to fill our stomachs. After coming across a nice bakery that had what Americans would know as a deli, we found our destination. Here we were able to practice our ordering in Italian that we recently learned in language class and got some good food.

All in all, today was a good day. It was nice to stay in Rome for the weekend, as most of us are planning on doing weekend trips in the upcoming weekends. But at the same time it was something different then just checking out the same sights that have been here for decades, or even centuries. Having the opportunity to see some surrounding neighborhoods gave me a homely feeling here in Italy and Marconi won’t be the last neighbor we check out. 

Service Learning.... Lesson of the day: Humble Yourself

January 27th 2011

 Today had to have been one of the most humbling days of my life. While being in a position of slight power, I was the one at a disadvantage. As we do every Tuesday and Thursday, today we went on to our service learning locations. I assist an English teacher at Iqbal Masih, a primary school with a decent variety of cultures and ethnicities. When I walked into the classroom that we are usually in, instead of about 20 kids and at least two teachers, there were only two students. They looked like they were at least in the forth grade, and one was helping the other. As I tried to use the little bit of Italian that I know to my advantage, all odds were against me. The kids were starting to get frustrated and apparently they weren’t sure what I meant by “no capito.” After sitting there for maybe five minutes going back and forth with each other, the boy went a grabbed a teacher and let me know that the teacher that I usually assist for was absent.

On Thursdays, the kids have a religion. I find this extremely interesting because they are only in the third grade. For Iqbal Masih to only be a primary school and not a “Catholic Primary School” per say, that would be uncommon and biased in the states. The only schools that I know of in the states that teach religion are religion based private schools. This is so intriguing to me because it’s on the topic of my research paper. Though it is not fully thought out, I know that I am in interested in how religion affects the identity of the students.

They also had a music lesson today and the teacher would have them copy the beat that she was making with her hands. It amazed me because not all kids have impulsive rhythm, but their determination to get it was unspeakable. They are great listeners and always manage to do well. My lesson of the day was that language is merely a language and though it is a great barrier, interactions are the same in every language.

Today was a great day and I’m looking forward to many more!!! Rome is a nice place to be!

January 26th, 2011

Happy “Hump Day”! Wednesday was an eventful day packed with an Italian lesson on ordering food, a philosophical, eye-opening, enriching… for lack of better words “deep” presentation from Amara Lakhous, the author of CLASH OF CIVILIZATIONS OVER AN ELEVATOR IN PIAZZA VITTORIO and a spicy, blissful group dinner hosted by Germaine and myself. I would like to thank everyone who joined us for dinner. Let’s do it again!

Buon Appetito! Aurora’s Italian class dealt with how to order food. We had the chance to learn some of the common Italian foods such as cappuccino, cornetto, gelato, birra, pizza and so on. We also had the opportunity to play the role of a cameriere/a and cliente, using our newly acquired phrases. Exchanging a few phrases amongst ourselves wasn’t enough. Aurora ended class 20 minutes early and took the class to a local bar where we practiced our Italian and ordered macchiatos and cornettos.

The highlight of the day was Amara Lakhous’ presentation of “Youth in Italy: A Resource or a Problem.” Although some of his philosophical ideas and responses were lost in translation, what the English-speaking audience was able to pick up remained impactful and thought-provocative. Confidence and wisdom radiated from Amara. I love his stance on identity, “half immigrant, half citizen; half Italian; half Algerian; half North Mediterranean, half South Mediterranean” As a daughter of immigrants, I have always felt this sense that I fall in an group “Ni de aqui, ni de alla,” Spanish for “Not belonging here or there.”

 In summary, “Italy is NOT A COUNTRY FOR YOUTH.” Amara made many good points as to why, and that is 1) the brightest youth leave the country because they know they don’t have a chance to prosper, 2) youth is acquainted with inexperience and immaturity, 3) there are no unemployment benefits for youth, 4) over 90% of Italy’s immigrant population is young, which proposes an immediate threat and 5) there are many reasons more! I also loved the idea that it is impossible to speak about the youth without addressing the elderly. In a world where ‘old age’ is frowned upon and drastic measures taken to reverse biological maturation, Italy is one of the few places in which coming of old age is looked forward to. One question that stood out to me was “How should we bridge gaps between different truths? According to Amara, “in order to tell truths, diversity is needed.” Lastly, his explanation of Amadeo’s dream was profound. The birth of violence and immigration depicted by blood, agony, and sacrifice is genius. Absolute genius.

Alas, the night ended with a joyful get together in Trastevere. The spicy pasta, fresh salad, local bread and great company was the perfect ending. Ciao, Amici!

January 25

We had service learning at the refugee center today.  It was my second time being there and didn’t exactly know what to expect. Brittany, Laura, and I helped Salva make tea and pass out croissants.  After this we decided to go and try our luck with going into the classroom.  Surprisingly three or four guys walked in right away and wanted to learn English.  I couldn’t believe their patience with us.  I don’t have any experience with teaching English, and at first we were all a little frustrated with organizing how we were going to teach.  There were three guys that we were able to help with the alphabet, numbers, how you are, where are you from, favorite hobbies, professions, etc.  Overall it was a successful day at the refugee center.

Laura, Natalie, and I had a delicious lunch at Insalata. For class today we had two speakers come and talk to us about the Italian Educational system.  Anna and Federica informed us about the history of the Italian education system which began in 1859.  Legge Gentile (1923) was appointed to enhance the role of Liceo Classico and he created technical & industrial schools. 

Education was divided in 5 stages, kindergarten, primary school, middle school, high school, and university.  The first university in Italy was in Bologna.  40% of pupils of foreign origin are in primary school.  The Pisacone school is 90% foreign students.  In the past 5-6 years more immigrant children have been going because of the changing of neighborhoods.  The families of the immigrant children are the cultural mediator.   

24th of January

Today, January 24, 2011 I am under the impression that mostly everyone suffered from a long restless night. All of us being college students, at some point in our lives, can understand that not having a good night’s rest requires extra effort to get through the morning. Every moment seems to take extra-long while we are under this state. Nevertheless, we all managed to all be present and ready for class at nine in the morning.

I particularly enjoyed today’s class. When it comes to social justice issues; especially when discussing immigration and education, I am very passionate and motivated to engage in constructive dialogues. Lucky me, we were discussing immigration and education in Italy, so I felt at my element. My interest was grasped and maintained by the topics. Further, we got to know one another at a more personal level. It takes a certain comfort, courage and willingness to be vulnerable by sharing one’s perspective to a stranger that we just met three weeks ago. Nevertheless, from my point of view, I am sure that we were all true to ourselves and to our classmates. I find this kind of exercise useful and create room for contrastive dialogues; which creates space for improvement and a learning environment. What I took from this exercise is: you don’t necessarily have to agree to understand and respect one another’s opinion.

After an emotional class, I joined Britney and Marissa. We were determined to get admission tickets; our ‘plan of attack’ was to go to the information desk at the Vatican. After touring the area and asking for direction we finally knew where to acquire the tickets. However, we were confronted by the guards. Who don’t show facial expression – not even a smile. We good our tickets from the non-smiling guards and decided to go tour inside. It was definitely an unexpected surprise.

After a couple of hours running around; and after watching the movie based on the book Clash of Civilizations Over an Elevator in Piazza Vittorio I finally went back home. The first thing I did was to get into the shower. The guys cooked dinner and it was YUM YUM YUM good. What a day.

Ciao,

22 January - G2 presentation

On Saturday evening two representatives, Ezequiel Iurcovich and Alphius Militant, from G2 came to talk to us about their mission. Both of the men are Italian immigrants. Ezequiel was born in Argentina and moved to Italy when he was 3 years old with his family. Alphius is from South Africa. Both men recently gained Italian citizenship.

G2 stands for second generation and was founded in 2005. “Second generation” is referring to second generation immigrants – immigrants whose parents came to Italy and had a child or brought a child with them. G2's main goal is to change immigration laws and accomplish cultural reform. Currently under Italian law it is very difficult to gain citizenship.

A few examples of how difficult it is to gain residency include:

• living in Italy for 10 years before applicable to apply for residency
• If a child moves to Italy at a very young age or is born in Italy to immigrant parents, they must wait until they are 18 to apply for citizenship and even then it is a good chance they will get denied – if the individual is denied the Italian government negotiates with the government of the individuals home country to set up a way for the individual to move back to their country of origin
• The individual applying for citizenship at age 18 must have lived in Italy for 18 consecutive years without any 'black holes' or missing documents of residency
• Immigrants can obtain citizenship by marrying an Italian
• Citizenship is automatically given to anyone born to Italian parent regardless of where they are born
  
  
  

Immigrants who are living in Italy but are not applicable to apply for citizenship are banned from working in most of the public sector. Public sector jobs include bus drivers, lawyers, doctors and so on. In Italy the public sector is much larger than in America and many of the high paying jobs in Italy are public jobs. Because of this factor, many immigrant workers are forced to work in low wage jobs in restaurants and the like. This is one aspect contributing to the growing inequality gap in Italy between immigrants and Italians. Another issue involving immigrants and the workforce is if ones job is lost. If you are an immigrant in Italy and you lose your job you have 6 months to find a new one or you lose legal residency status.

G2 is working towards cultural reform and acceptance of immigrants and non-Italy born citizens. The people of G2 are proud Italians who are tired of being seen as “the other.” Ezequiel, who came to Italy when he was 3 years old, has a last name that is obviously Eastern European. When he meets people he says they often make a comment about how good his Italian is. Many are surprised that a 'foreigner' can speak Italian so fluently and with a Roman accent. Ezequiel also said that in elementary school he was one of the only immigrant children, now days, that is very different. He says from what he has observed, there are many more immigrant students.

G2 has come a very long way in a very short time – only 5 years. They have made a booklet of information and a short graphic pamphlet about who “real Italians” are. The face of Italy is many different colors, shapes and sizes. Italy's 15^th brithday is in March and G2 hopes to see a “New Italy.”

Siena

This weekend, Laura, Brittany, and I took the train to Siena to stay with some family friends of mine. There are no words to describe the beauty of the landscape and the city. Ulrike and Gerard, our hosts, live in a villa on the hillside overlooking miles and miles of grassy rolling hills and even in the winter months the view from their kitchen table blew me away. I can't imagine the sight during the summer. Ulrike cooked us the most delicious meals and cared for us with such hospitality. On Saturday morning she drove us to Citta di San Gimignano which she said is the "Manhattan of Tuscany." She treated us to capuccini and we continued to explored the quaint city. We were the ultimate tourists snapping photos of every little detail. Later on, Ulrike dropped me, Laura, and Brittany off in the main part of the city in Siena where we went to the duomo and the piazza which was definitely one of my favorite piazzas so far. We had a very relaxing weekend in the countryside, which is just what the doctor called for. She invited us back for another weekend so I am hoping to make a trip back when the weather becomes a bit warmer. Hope everyone enjoyed their weekend. Ciao ciao!

A night out with ArciGay!

Part one: Friday, January 21st, 2011. or for the sake of being in Europe: 21/01/2011

Today, Mirela Pribac came to our classroom to discuss her experience documenting the Roma through photography then comparing them to stereotypes. She started her presentation with the following quote:

“The Roma have never declared war on anyone, because they have never needed land. They have never felt the need to seize someone else’s territory. We are the only people in the world that have never resorted to terrorism to demand the sacred right of existence. We do not claim any territory but rather an existence that we have been denied since the time when we were forced to leave our land of origin. Even today, the Roma people, who were victims of that circumstance, are still regarded as a social flaw that needs to be eliminated. Until our people is acknowledged as an ethnic minority and are also recognized all political rights, we will remain paralyzed in the word "gypsies," citizens of any country, but always third-rate citizens." 

by Santino Spinelli, the first Rom In Europe to become a senior lecturer. 

Empowered by the language, it drew us all in to the subject! She then discussed the three questions that lead her into finding out more information about “Roma”. 1) Why are they here? 2) Why do they stay? 3) Where do they stay?

Isabella Clough is an artist! How cool right? She passed out a long roll of film during her presentation for all of us to look at. It was moving! She tried to capture the beauty of these people rather than the ‘trash’ around them. Her presentation was informative and covered various topics. Some key facts were things such as:

• Roma reached Europe in the 1300s 
• They were first mentioned in Italy in 1422
• They are divided into three main blocks: Eastern Roma, Central European Roma: Sinti and Romani, and Cale: Spanish and Portuguese Roma. 
• Most camps are on the east side of Rome 
• The estimate numbers are 3 to 4 times as much as the ‘official numbers’
• Something she said: “The national government are uncomfortable with counting the numbers of Romas in their country - and i’m uncomfortable with the official number because it’s misleading” 

One question she proposed: 

How do we fight against stereotyping and discrimination ? 

The biggest portion of her lecture was on a camp named Campo Nomadi Salone. It is the largest camp in Europe. Around 6,000 people have lived there. On the morning of 7th of March, 2005. She took her first visit to this camp through a contact she knew from the 5th Department of Campo Nomadi Salone. The gentleman had worked there for 10 years and has never been mention. Yet, he solves the water problems, hygiene problems, and in sum is the middle man between the Roma and the government. 

During her first visit she took photos: “focusing on the people rather than the context”. She explained how she gained the trust to be allowed to come into the camps and take photos. Her explanation was she wasn’t a journalist, she didn’t want to come in and show the conditions they were living in but she actually just wanted to take a photo of their faces and hear their stories. After the people in these camps were victimized in 2006 by networks like BBC, it was difficult for her to gain access and she felt quiet lucky!  She took her 2nd visit, 6 years later in 2011 and noticed the rapid change. “A space that holds 600 people in a number of container now holds 1000 and they only sublimated 20 containers. After calculation - you can only imagine! Less space for everyone.”

She feels like her artwork is a tool to FIGHT DISCRIMINATION! The small remarks she hears from people to see the beauty in these people rather than view them as objects - is what assures her she is making a difference!   

“INSTEAD OF OPPOSING INTEGRATION TO DISCRIMINATION, THE ITALIAN GOVERNMENT MADE ITS CHOICES”

The word “Choices” was linked to an angular view of “Solone, Rome, Italy” in Google Maps and then compared to Auschwitz.  - TAKE A LOOK FOR YOURSELF! 

Part 2: Manka with her red mini skirt & Souvonnah with her thigh high boots! 

I am sure at this time, most of us are still recovering from a long night out on the town with ArciGay! What an adventure it was! 

We started our evening at 8 p.m. in UWRC then we walked together to the bus station to meet members of ArciGay on the other side of town. When I say “the other side of town” - I am sure most of us felt like it was the other side of the country! Yes, I am being a little dramatic, but all the rain and walking was so worth it by the end of the night! It was hands down, my favorite night here in Italy. Personally, I go to sleep around 9 p.m., so the fact that I was out so late was something I was boasting about! 

Our long walk consisted of; ATM stops, a Cappuccino & Expresso stop, meeting our friends from ArciGay, and finally arriving to a real ‘chic’ and ‘hip’ cafe & bar. I was amazed by how beautiful this place was in such a dark quiet town. The chairs were all so fun, the music was great, the drinks were expensive but tasteful. With laughs, conversations, awkward moments (In reference to: the back room wall photos & a empty rack with hangers in the center of the room?), and great company! It was a time worthwhile. 

Our group decided to split up in two a few hours into this adventure. Majority of the group went out to eat and explore the night life back near our apartments. From what I hear, they had a great time! 

The night ends with with Gina & I with Stephanie, Manka, and her friend from England! We went to a club/art show at a place called Rising Love. We waited in line because the place was so popular! We paid 10 euro to become members of ‘Arci’ - I’m still not sure what that means but we felt “official”. And most of all, we had a GREAT time! I bought my favorite dress in the world from a small rack of clothes and Gina bought a really nice ring from the sweetest and most understanding guy! I speak so proudly of him because my entire glass of wine was spilled all over his rings!! Can you believe it? I did buy a ring from him after that!. 

A special part of this show, was the collection of photographs that was displaced when you first walked in. It was unified in a sense that everyone was themselves. All photos where displayed exactly the same. They were 9X9 inch photos (I am estimating) of 1 single person in their room. Each had its own special touch because it allowed the personality of that individual to shine through! 

We left Rising Love full of excitement, called a taxi, and called it an AMAZING NIGHT in ITALY!!!!  

Thank you Manka & Stephanie! 

a walk around the forum and our first service learning visit

Sorry this is a few days late...

Today (Tuesday Jan 18) has been one of my favorite days in Rome so far!  This morning we had a guest speaker, Margaret Brucia, a professor from Temple University.  She gave a wonderful lecture about Roman Mythology.  I loved learning about all the Roman gods and the difference between Greek and Roman mythology.  In high school I took a class about Greek and Roman mythology, and loved learning about all the stories and getting familiar with the various gods.  Today gave me different look at mythology, specifically the Roman gods. 

After the lecture, our class took an excursion to the Forum.  Since being in Rome, I've walked past the Forum a couple of times, but never had the opportunity to go inside, so I was super excited to walk around inside.  Margaret told stories and countless interesting facts as we walked around the ruins.  At one of our first spots on the tour, Margaret described how for years the Forum was buried beneath layers of dirt.  I imagined how different things must have looked in the past, when the Forum was the center of Rome's hustle and bustle.  We learned about the arches and their significance of victories in the past.  Also, I was amazed to learn about Julius Caesar being killed right where the UW Rome Center is currently located.  I have been sleeping over the site of Julius Caesar's death!!!! Margaret's tour was one of the best tours I have been on!!  Her knowledge and passion for Roman history (and mythology) was fascinating and kept me hanging on her every word!

After Margaret's tour, it was time for a quick snack then to our orientations for service learning.  While half the group went to the school, I headed to the refugee center with some other students.  I was so excited about going there!! Once we got there, we got introduced to a bishop and a former organizer of the center (the current organizer was out sick :[ ).  We went over some introductions and details about the center and the refugees who were there.  After that we went down for a tour of the center itself.  I was surprised to learn that the center was only open from 8 am - 2 pm each day...during the other times, the refugees are responsible for finding something to do/somewhere to go.  There were not any refugees there when we went (since it was after 2 pm), but it was exciting to see where they spent their days.  Many of the walls were decorated with murals and paintings that some of the refugees had created.  After we left, I was excited to come back and see what it would be like when there would be refugees there! 

Overall, today was awesome!! Getting to walk around the Forum has made me feel so thankful for being able to live in Rome and experience all this amazing city has to offer.  And going to the refugee center has me pumped and ready to go to our second visit!!! 

January 20th

This morning I woke up with a growling stomach. I managed to get out of bed and stumble my way from my living room bed into the kitchen. I gulped down a couple of drinks of milk to satisfy my hunger. Still dazed and unaware of my surroundings and a stuffed up nose I bumped my head in the ceiling. The BAMB!!! definitely woke me up. I quickly dressed for out Italian language class and headed to UW Rome Center.

In language class, I learned to count from zero to twenty. My Italian skills are improving day by day - if I say so myself. I learned to ask: dove lavori? dove habiti? in addition to our already mastered sentences to encourage conversation with native Italians. During class, Jenny handed me two pills to reduce my fever. Hopefully, this is a temporary sickness and will pass soon. After language class, a couple classmates and I decided to seek out pizza. However, I ended up buying a ball of meat and rise and another filled with rice and cheese; which felt like goodness to my stomach.

After lunch, all of us gathered in our seminar classroom and discussed the progress of our internships. During this time, I was reminded of last night’s adventures. To start, Sarah and I took a cab to meet Arcigay to discuss our project for the remainder of our time in Rome. However, we were dropped off in the middle of the ghetto - as Sarah puts it. We had no idea of where we were and with my little to no Italian and Spanish managed to ask for directions. All I have to say to that man - is that karma is bound to get him. After a half an hour of… I hope we are headed in the right direction and I hope we are safe... we stumbled upon the right street. On the bright side - this was an adventure and our Italian skills were put to good use.

After vividly remembering such instances I was brought back into class and we were choosing pairs for our assignment. Señorita Gina and I decided we would tackle the tast together. Once we arrived at Piazza Vittorio we began "hunt our prey" to interview an immigrant and a native Italian youth. Our initial attempts were futile we couldn't manage to maintain a conversation mainly because of language barriers. We kept rolling with the punches and maintained a positive attitude. Gina and I placed ourselves in "their" shoes and if someone approaches us and wanted to talk about immigration then we'd probably wouldn't want to engage in conversation. So, I began to share my story. I shared my story and my struggles being an immigrant to the US. This seemed to open the doors to conversation. During these interviews, I realized that a support group of different immigrant minorities is present nearby Piazza Vittorio. Different ethnic groups can gather and interact with one another in their mother tongue and celebrate their customs and culture.

Afterwards, Manka took us for dinner to an Indian restaurant. By the looks of our plates - I believe that we all seemed to like the food. Later, we filled our stomach with gelato - pistachio and almond flavor for me. YUM... We then took a train or a bus to come back to Campo di Fiori the movie "The Orchestra of Piazza Vittorio". What strikes me the most about the video were feeling of resentment and intolerance demonstrated by their chants: "Go home illegal aliens, we will not tolerate any impositions. What racism? What immigration? This is nothing by invasion."  What is scary to think is that these were the struggles that were being faced by immigrants ten years ago. Nowadays, laws and its enforcement or lack therefore of hasn't progress; but has implemented actions for the worse - ignoring human rights. There is lots to think about; and lots more to learn while in Rome.

For now that is all.

-Ciao

Wednesday, January 19th

This morning, like every morning, Brenda and I were awaken by the outrageous clanging of our heater turning on to warm our apartment. I smile every time I hear the sound of what seems like someone trying to break down our door.  

Today turned out to be an amazing one, Italian class was fun learning some new verbs such as abitare, lavorare, studiare, etc. Aurora then taught us numbers up to 20, very exciting!  Afterwards we checked in with Manka about our first impressions of our service learning meetings.  After our check in we headed out for caffe to start our journey to Piazzo Vittorio.  We split into pairs to conduct our interviews with an immigrant and with an Italian.  

Kelsey and I paired up and had some success with asking a young Filipino man about immigration. He seemed interested in talking to us, he was 24 years old and had moved to Italy 14 years ago.  He wasn't interested in talking about immigration, possibly because he's been in Italy for so long.  We also talked to a young man working at a butcher from Egypt.  He thought immigration "was good", he seemed to think Italy has an "okay" policy with immigration.  He mentioned that, "working here is a lot better than Egypt", which is his reason for immigrating here.  Unfortunately Kelsey and I had little luck with interviewing an Italian person.  Either they wouldn't have the time or the patience to listen to us. 

But overall the experience was very eye-opening and interesting.  Manka took us to an Indian restaurant that was DELICIOUS and to the largest gelato place I've ever seen! I am way too full but happy :)

Class 5: Introduction to Italy and Immigration

Today was an extremely informative day. We started the class session checking in with Manka, and sharing our travel experiences to Florence. Seemed as though everyone who traveled had an amazing time in Florence and are ready to be back at our home away from home, Rome.

We continued the class session with a learning method called KW(L): What do you know about immigrants and immigration in the US and Italy?, What do you want to know about immigration in Italy?, and what have you learned about immigration after the interactive lecure? Based on the essays that we read for today, "Law, immigration and exclusion in Italy and Spain" by Kitty Calavita and "Age of Migration" we all knew some information about immigration and immigration in Italy. We joined groups and answered the KW section of the questions. Following, Manka presented a lecture that informed us of Immigration as a Global Phenomenon, Immigration and Migration, Immigration in the US, and Immigration in Italy. This gave us a great backbone structure for the basis of our learning experience both in class and in our internships for the remainder of the quarter. For me, I was most interested in learning about migration, interdependence, and transnationalism and how all of these concepts influence national identity and the social, economic, political structures of every country. I want to learn more about the construction of "Otherness" and how the workforce and  immigration laws of a country leads to integration and exclusion of immigrants which in turn influences racial and ethnic ideologies.  After the lecture, we all complete the L component of the questions in which we wrote down what we had learned from the lecture. For example, I learned the importance of understanding transnational ties to in order to understand  immigration in one country, and I learned that Italy's national identity is tied to their particular "Ethnic Model" making acceptance of immigration and immigrants more difficult. During lecture Manka said, "Italy is in its' youth in terms of immigration" which was a great metaphor to understand immigration in Italy compared to the immigration in the US.

We have a very busy schedule this week and we will hopefully all begin our internships. Tonight, we are all headed to Manka's for a delicious home cooked meal. See you all there! Ciao, Ciao!

Our first day in Firenze!

After spending our first night in the hostel- I must say, it was very nice- we headed out to explore the city of Florence. Grabbing a waffle smothered in Nutella, we headed to conquer the climb to the top of the Florence Cathedral/ Duomo. First, we headed to the interior of the Duomo to admire the marble-laden floors. After taking a few photos of the inside of the Duomo, we headed outside to admire the Lorenzo Ghiberti's golden doors deemed 'The Last Paradise' by Michelangelo that depicted Florence's escape from the Black Death plague. Finally, we headed to the side of the Duomo to start our hike to the top of the Dome. On our way up, we were able to admire the fresco of The Last Judgement adorning the dome of the Duomo. I must say, this was some of the most amazing art work I have ever seen. It was such a treat to see the artwork I have studied in art history classes in person. After admiring the frescoes, we continued our hike up to the top of the dome! Climbing through cramped hallways, we finally made it to the top. The climb to the top of the Duomo was definitely the coolest thing I have done during my time in Italy thus far... The expansive view of the city at the top was extremely rewarding. We could have spent our entire day gazing over the city of Florence from the dome but we knew there was more we wanted to see. So, after soaking in the sun for a few minutes, we headed to the Ponte Vecchio bridge. This is the only bridge in Florence that Hitler did not destroy during World War II. Spending some time at the bridge, we then headed over to the Palazzo della Signorio where Michelangelo's David was originally placed. There is now a replica of the David in its place sitting amongst an array of other sculptures in the Palazzo Vecchio. While we were enjoying admiring the sculpture garden we were determined to make it to the Palazzo Michelangelo to watch the sunset over Florence.

We began our hike up to the Palazzo Michelangelo where we curved through a hill to make it to the top. Once at the top of the palazzo, we admired the view of Florence from above. After admiring the view from the top of the Duomo as well as from atop the Palazzo Michelangelo, there was no question that Florence had  beautiful views. While watching the sunset, we were able to admire the churches and other monuments we had seen throughout the day from afar.

Once we had watched the sunset, we headed back to our hostel before we set out to see what kind of food Florence had to offer us. While we had our hearts set on heading to a restaurant where we could sample a brie ravioli, we wandered into a pizzeria instead. Our stomachs empty after walking around Florence all day, we each ordered a whole pizza to ourselves!

We thoroughly enjoyed our first day in Florence and were excited to head to the Accademia Gallery in the morning to view Michelangelo's original sculpture of David. There is no doubt that Florence is much different from Rome. Florence is certainly a less congested city that does not seem to be filled with as many tourists as Rome does. It was refreshing to be able to walk down a street without having to continually move out of the way for a macchina (car).

Home Sweet Roma

Today the majority of our program returned from our weekend travels to Firenze! We all went to the Uffizi, the biggest Renaissance Museum in the world. It was unbelievable: room after room of gorgeous paintings that are preserved to a tee. Then we took a trip to the Gallery of Michelangelo to see the original Davide. It is amazing to think that just one person carved something so intricate and grande with his bare hands. The museums were inspiring and I think we all could agree that it was the perfect way to end our trip to Florence and head back to Rome.

As of now, for me at least, Rome has become home. Today was the first time I was a little homesick, but I was homesick for the big and vibrant city which we will call home for the next 10 weeks. Rome has so much to offer and I know that I speak for everyone when I say that starting our internships this week is something we are looking forward to. On Monday and Tuesday we will have orientation at our respective programs: a gallery in Rome, St. Paul's Refugee Center, ArciGay, and Iqbal Masih (all of these organizations have their link on the toolbar to the right).

But for now I will enjoy a goodnight's sleep in MY bed in the city that never sleeps!

Check In and Firenze

Stephanie lead the class on Friday which was our first check in. During this class we were able to pick our partners for the vlog and rione project. In addition, we were able to meet with our groups and discuss potential ideas for our research projects. Everyone seemed to have very interesting topics and ideas which will sure to flourish during our internship experiences. The check in sessions seem to be very helpful, especially once our internships begin.

After class on Friday, majority of our group headed off to Florence! We all took the same bus to the train station and boarded the train around 2:30. We were all very excited for the upcoming adventure. I had never been on a train like this one before so it was a very new, enlightening experience for me. I loved seeing all of the scenery on our way up North. The train ride was 4 hours, which was a great time for some of us to finish the readings and catch up on sleep. Once we arrived in Florence my group and I were ravished so we made way for some good old Mcdonalds' french fries to tie us over while we dropped our luggage off at the hostel and could find an descent restaurant to indulge at. Walking to our hostel that night we were all amazed at what charm Florence holds. It is much more quaint and quiet than Rome, which was a nice change of pace. The Duomo was the first tourist sight we passed by. It is incredible how old the Church is and how beautifully detailed every inch of it is. After completing a delectable dinner of funghi pizza, gnocci, chicken, tortellini, and risotto, we headed back to the hostel for a good nights rest. We wanted to be up early and refreshed for a long day of sight seeing and tourist attractions! Ciao for now.

Roma

When many people say 'Roma' the first thing that comes to mind is the beautiful city of Rome, Italy. However, today our group learned a new definition to the work 'Roma.' Isabella Clough Marinaro, author of "Integration or Marginalization? The Failures of Social Policy for the Roma in Rome," came to enlighten our group about the European Union's largest ethic minority (10- 12 million). A people whose history has largely been ignored, "For more than one thousand years, the Roma have been an integral part of European civilization," (EU 2010). Isabella spoke to our group in detail about the role the Roma play throughout the world but, more specifically, the role they play in the city of Rome. Isabella shared with our group that the Italian government recently declared a 'Nomad Emergency' throughout many regions of Italy. The declaration of this national emergency means that the government is going to aim to confine the Roma into fewer and fewer areas of Rome in order to make them much less visible throughout the city center. In order to do this, the Italian government has developed prison-like camps in which they can contain the Roma.

For me, the implementation of housing for the Roma parallels the Cabrini Green housing project in Chicago.When the building of Cabrini Green began in 1942 by the Chicago Housing Authority, they were intended to represent the future of public housing in America. Unfortunately, in a short period of time, Cabrini Green was represented nothing but a gangland where the elevator shafts of the twenty-five foot tall buildings housing upwards 15,000 people  served as entrapments for drug deals. Ironically, by the early 1990s, the Cabrini Green buildings became the symbol of all that is wrong with the public housing in America.

After listening to Isabella's presentation today,  I saw many parallels with Cabrini Green and the proposed projects for the Roma. While the Italian government may think they can contain the Roma, I think their housing projects will solely result in violence and become symbols of the government's efforts to force humans into inhumane prison-like cells where they are unable to gain resources and climb the social ladder. Isabella's presentation was both inspiring and enlightening and I am looking forward to seeing how the Roma respond to the new projects they are being forced into.

Earlier this afternoon, we had our second Italian class with insegnante Aurora. During this class we practiced our pronunciations and learned some basic Italian words such as libro (book), penna (pen), chiave (key), macchina (car), and my personal favorite- cioccolate (chocolate). Tomorrow we will have our first check-in with Stephanie and then the majority of us will head to Firenzia (Florence) where we will continue to put our Italian to good use!

One step closer to becoming true Italians...

Ciao! Today in Roma, we had our first Italian course at the UWRC. Aurora, our professor, introduced us beginners to the basics teaching us phrases like “Come Stoi” (How are you?) and “Buona Cera” (Good evening). After repeatedly practicing popular phrases in Italian, we had a one and a half hour break to head to the Piazza and test out our knowledge thus far. As I headed to the Tobacceria to purchase stamps, I decided to test out some of my new found phrases. The woman working the counter at the Tobacceria applauded my efforts saying “Perfecto!”. It was nice to see my efforts being appreciated and my broken-Italian being understood. After grabbing a panini, I headed to my next class. During this class, Manka opened with a short lecture about the divides of the North and South of Italy. Along with many of the other students in the lecture, I was shocked by how divided the country of Italy truly is. Similar to how the North and South of America were once divided, the North and South of Italy is as well. Manka also discussed with the class the effect that emigration has had on the country of Italy. Italians deciding to emigrate to the North of Europe and to America truly had a devastating effect on the Italian culture as a whole. While Italy was not expecting emigration, it caused many foreigners to move to the south of Italy, creating a racially mixed society. This emigration of Italians has caused much of Italy to struggle with the formation of an identity for their society. While America is prideful of their multicultural society and often termed as a “melting pot”, Italy was unsure weather the idea of multiculturalism is something they wanted to term their society. With the Catholic church being such a prominent part of society throughout Italy, charitable organizations existed for refugees and migrants but only of they followed by the rules of the Catholic religion.

After Manka's thought provoking course, we had a few hours break before our group was to attend a mixer at the Rome Center where we would meet students from the Catholic University in Washington D.C. And also from the CHID program at the University of Washington. This mixer was a great opportunity to network with other students and professors teaching and attending school at the UWRC. It was interesting to hear what the other students' programs were focused on as well as their initial impressions of the Italian culture. After a bit of networking, it was time to settle down and watch a showing of the Roman Holiday.

Tomorrow we will continue on with our language classes and I must say, I cannot wait to use more of my Italian on the streets of Rome! I must say, it is great to feel like less of a tourist and more of an authentic Roman. Until then... Buona Notte!

Tuesday, January 11

Today before class I ran down to Cafe Al Biscione for my morning cappuccino, which I have grown accustomed to here in Rome. After paying and climbing the steps back up to the Rome Center, I settled into class where we spent most of the day talking about the service learning component of our study abroad. For the most part we focused on an speech given by Ivan Illich, titled "To Hell with Good Intentions." Manka arranged us into small groups and talk about the four A's to consider when reflecting on the speech:  assumptions of the article, arguments we might have, points of agreement, and things that we aspire to achieve. For me this was a useful exercise as it helped to contextually place the themes in the article within my life here in Rome. Who am I to the people I will be working with? What do and what do I not want to come across as? Following looking through Ivan Illich's speech through that lens we applied some of the things we talked about to creating some do's and don'ts for our own service learning. The group decided to look more positively at the list rather than negatively, creating a list of do's that dominated the don'ts. After talking more in depth about the service learning locations, personally I was excited to start. Much like preparing for my trip to Rome, I have learned that anticipation is nothing like the actual experience. I also expect that, my service learning will have a greater impact on me than in the grand scheme of the organization. It takes many ants to create and maintain an ant hill, and I look forward to the contributions I can make, even on a small scale. 

Following formal class with Manka, a seven of us headed out for lunch and to see the Van Gogh exhibit that is in town for a short while. We stopped at Antico Forno Marco Roscioli for some delectable pizza for "take away" and followed Marissa to the exhibit. Although Van Gogh was not Italian, I was thrilled to be able to see the exhibit and attempt to read the Italian version of background before checking with the English translation. Having studied some art history prior to my trip to Rome, I appreciated, as did many Italians (there was both a high school aged group and an elementary one) the talent of Van Gogh that spanned many different periods and regions. After our cultural experience, and my haggling for a scarf on the street (I got it down to three euro!) four of us broke off and headed towards the shopping area, more specifically the three Zaras that were within about three blocks of one another. Cafe Greco eventually caught our eye and brought us inside for delectable canoli and deserts and an afternoon cappuccino. Content with our purchases and our stomachs we headed home to finish the readings for tomorrow, but stopped by a favorite gelateria for good measure. Now if only I could get the whole cooking for myself thing down... perhaps tomorrow.

Monday, January 10th

Today we framed the class - we discussed the article by Jeffries and Dyson on youth. We had a thought provoking discussion about how to define youth and all came to a point of extending the definition beyond age. Some of the definitions included dependence and independence which brought up cross-cultural perspectives and how this definition also changes temporally and also depending on the economic condition of a particular country. The students were then asked to go that afternoon and ask questions regarding youth in Italy and their perspectives on their future and the future of the country. We also started brainstorming research topics for their final research projects and presentations. In the afternoon, the students met Aurora Santoro, their Italian teacher. They will be starting language classes on Wed, and they will have these two mornings a week.

Friday, January 7th

Today we all had the morning off. One of my friends, Paul Sherman, and his son were visiting from Seattle so we took them shopping. In the afternoon, we had our first guest speakers for our program, Carlo Chiattelli and Roberto Stocco. They are members of ArciGay Roma, the regional group of the major gay rights foundation in Italy. Paul and my husband, Sundar, joined them and our students for a fantastic presentation. As I explained to the students, we have different themes every week relating to youth in Italy and we try to organize the speakers according to the themes or close to the themes but we also have to accomodate when people can come. So this was one day that worked for them to come and talk to us. Carlo and Roberto told all of us that Arci Gay has a membership (all are volunteers) of 185,000, which is the biggest membership in Europe. Their main goals are to provide services (such as a Gay Help Line which will be included on a White Paper developed by the EU on Minority Rights), and also campaign for equal rights. Some regional groups do fundraising by throwing some parties. What was probably the most distressing aspect of what they presented is that in Italy there is currently not legal protection for gay couples. It was something that was brought by the center-left government in 2007 but a number of forces have stopped this to come forth as a law. The biggest force that Carlo and Roberto talked about and what makes this particularly difficult in Italy has the power of the Catholic Church. Both of them talked about how the church does some wonderful things in Italy but has also stopped some progressive laws to come to be. But both were hopeful that the EU and especially the 2000 European Charter for Human Rights, will be the major push for gay rights to be instituted in Italy. Because of a European directive in 2000, Italy passed a law against discrimination in the workplace against all forms (such as age, gender, sexual orientation etc.). Paul Sherman, my guest, an advocate of gay rights and the president of the board of Seattle Counseling Service, the oldest mental health service for the LGBTQ community in the United States also provided some relevant perspectives for the students in that he reminded us that there are also several parts of the U.S. that do not protect gay rights and that even if we have made great strides in the United States, we should not forget that there is still a lot of work to be done there. On Monday, we will debrief the talk and connect it to the larger goals of the class.

Thursday, Jan 6th

This morning we had our first official class. We did a frames of reference (FOR) exercise where each person gets to talk for 3 minutes about what are the major categories and experiences that have shaped them as they see it. The goal of this exercise is to get to know each other beyond the superficial introductions and also appreciate that we need to question our initial assumptions about people, appreciate different perspectives, and understand the force of cultural and social forces in shaping us. I think (and it was confirmed by several students) that this exercise helped people feel closer and gel more. We also went over the syllabus and schedule. We will only be going over the assignments on Monday morning since the first few days, students really need to relax, catch up on sleep, and experience the city a little. We have a wonderful group of students and I am really looking forward to the next few weeks!

Wednesday, January 5, 2011: First official day of program

Today was our first official day of the program. In the morning, Sheryl Brandalik, provided an orientation to the UWRC. Immediately after that, Stephanie Love, intern at the Rome Center and our assistant for the program, and I took everyone for a short tour of the Campo dei Fiori and environs, mainly to introduce everyone to the major facilities, such as the supermarket, eating places, where to get the phones charged, where to buy stamps. We also stopped at Camerini in Largo Argentina, a famous "bar". All the students got sandwiches, coffees and soft drinks. The waiter was extremely gracious about taking our 18 person order of food and drinks! The students had the afternoon to relax and recover (Brenda had just got in that morning from the States!). Tomorrow we have our first class, and we will go over our schedule and readings. Ciao! Manka

Welcome to Rome from Manka - First week highlights

Highlights for this week -

Tomorrow, we will have Sheryl's orientation to UWRC at 10 and then at 11, right after, Stephanie Love will take you on a tour around the Campo. She will introduce and help you with all the basic how tos - charging money on the phones, how to buy groceries etc. I will be seeing you all at Sheryl's orientation at 10.

We will have our first class in the seminar room on the 1st floor - our classroom for the rest of the quarter - at 10 a.m. on Thursday for 2 hours. We will be introducing us to each other and getting to know each other better, and introducing the class and readings to each other. We will not be having our group dinner that night (we thought with jet lag it wouldn't be a good idea) but on Sunday.

On Friday, we will meet at 4 p.m. in our classroom - we will have Arci Gay - a gay rights group - come and talk to us about their work.

On Sunday morning we will meet at 8 in front of the door at the Rome Center to go to Porta Portese - the flea market. We should go early because that is when the best stuff is available. That night we will meet for dinner at 8 at Grappolo D'Oro ( a restaurant near us ).

Please call me if you need anything - 338 438 6084 - do get some sleep!

Cheers,

Manka