GL week 7

So this is it, my very last GL blog! It is crazy I feel like just yesterday I was sitting down in class and professor was going over the specifics for what our blogs should include and all I was thinking was ughh eight blogs is so many! How wrong was I, honestly I don’t even know where the time or the blogs have gone; all I know is right now I am writing my last blog and entering my last week here. Being in Rome has truly been an experience I will always remember and one in which I have gained so much.

This in particular this week I have been able to go places and experience things that still just blow my mind. Tuesday was one of my favorite days this entire trip I think. When I decided to go on this trip I looked into taking some online course and it happened that I was able to take an education class. For the education class it required that I do field study in Italy. Yes that’s right that meant I had to go and observe in an Italian school, and finally after waiting weeks and weeks I was able to go this week and observe. So Tuesday Brandon, Katie Moore, Katie Bell, and I all headed to the elementary school in Albano to talk to seven and eight year olds about Thanksgiving. Walking through the school it was obvious there were a lot of differences between an Italian elementary school and an American elementary school. I mean one thing I noticed right of the bat was there was not nearly as many technological devices both in the classroom and in the school in general. In the classroom then we had a translator who translated to the students for us. Watching the faces of the children while we were talking was so great! You could tell they were just fascinated by us being there. Afterward they had the chance to ask us questions and that was by far my favorite part. Some of the questions they came up to ask us were so cute and funny and when they asked us their questions in English it just made me smile. Being in that classroom was definitely something I won’t forget.

 Wednesday morning we went to the Papal audience which I don’t even have words to describe that experience. We had to catch the 6:36 am train into Rome in order to get good seats and as much as I was dreading the early wake-up call getting to sit in the second row was worth it! Sitting waiting for the Pope to come out the anticipation was sky-high for me; especially in that last couple minutes when the Swiss guards came out in preparation of the Pope’s arrival. Finally then when the Pope came out from behind the door it was an experience like no other. The lights shone down, everyone stood up and started clapping, and I just had goose-bumps it was just so cool! Then when the Pope gave his speech in SEVEN different languages I was mind blown again! I mean being here I know first-hand how difficult it is to learn a new language and to learn seven I just can’t even imagine! This weekend Brandon and I plan to travel to Rome and see the Pope again at Piazza di Spagna and I’m so excited. I mean to see the Pope once was once in a lifetime, seeing him twice is just unbelievable! 

Thursday then was another early morning out for us. We took a train two hours out to Nettuno and visited the American Cemetery which was another experience I won’t forget! Being there and seeing the soldiers who gave their lives’ for our country was very humbling. There we walked around and wandered for a while. We learned that twenty-three sets of brothers were buried there. From there we walked towards Santa Maria Gotti which was a church with a fairly modern story behind it. Santa Maria lived during the 1950’s and I found it very interesting that the church we were visiting was hers. Typically the churches we visit are very historical and some instances are decaying slightly. You could definitely tell this church was more modern.

Throughout the week we have been reading the book The Talented Mr. Ripley and I’m proud to say I’m done! Although I’m not sure that is much of an accomplishment; the book wasn’t hard to read at all but still nonetheless being finished is nice. While although I am nothing like Tom Ripley I feel like some of the experiences and thoughts he had I too can compare myself to and agree with. When Tom talks about Venice I feel the same way. Although I never wanted to avoid Venice I wasn’t necessarily thrilled to go, I thought I would be disappointed. However, like Tom, I was pleasantly surprised and now looking back Venice was one of my favorite spots. “He had thought only sentimentalists and American tourists raved over Venice… He found Venice much bigger than he supposed, full of Italians who looked like Italians anywhere else… and that the major canals had a transportation system of motor launches just as fast and efficient as the subway system.” I too expected Venice to be very touristy but walking down little alley ways and that wasn’t the case and I too, like Tom, thought the transportation system was very efficient, I believe it ran every 10 minutes? Whatever the wait time was it really wasn’t any different than the buses and trains we had been used to.

Closing now I guess there really isn’t much more to say other than part of me is really sad to see eight week approaching. While it’s been a great experience and I’m ready to go home and see my family and celebrate Christmas and the New Year I feel like part of me will always want to come back to Italy and experience it all over again. Like I’ve said before though the only thing to do is make sure this last week is made as memorable as possible! Ciao!

SOC week 6

WOW! It is so hard to believe that I am in week seven and writing my last Sociology blog! This trip has been one of a kind and I can’t even imagine what my life would have been like if I hadn’t come. I mean honestly I would be missing out on so much! This week in Soc. class we began wrapping up our conversations about healthcare, universal care, and the possibility of the power of prayer. In addition this week we went into a market and surveyed Italians about their opinion on healthcare.

I suppose to start off I’ll comment on the experience of surveying Italians in the market. That had to be one of the most intimating experiences I’ve had. Really though, think about it we were supposed to go up to complete strangers who didn’t even speak our language and ask them to fill out a survey for us. Well to say the least I got off to a rocky start and was pretty nervous to go up to strangers and ask them to fill out my survey. I mean typically I’m a pretty quiet person in large groups and so this took a lot for me. All in all though it was a really good experience and the results I got really surprised me. All the readings we have been doing in our Universal Health Care book suggest that Europeans like their universal healthcare system but that was definitely not the impression I received tallying up my results.

In his article Henry J. Aaron writes about how America should move slowly and cautiously towards universal healthcare. He writes that, “Democrats should beware of once again approaching health care reform the way [in the comic strip Peanuts] Charlie Brown always approached the football that Lucy held- heedless of experience, credulously hopeful, and flat on their backs.”  I love that he wrote this because this is how I feel. In class professor talked about whether we needed to dip our feet in the water and test it out or just jump in head first, I have to say I prefer to dip my feet. Being cautious never hurt anyone and this way no one ends up on their back. I think when it comes to something as big as healthcare before any decisions are made it is important to look at the views of your people but also the views of people who have a system you are looking to adopt. From my results the views of the Italian people do not like universal healthcare, from the view of our book it looks like the Canadian people like universal healthcare, it would be interesting to take a poll now.

The last notion we talked briefly about in class was the idea of power of prayer. I am a very VERY strong believer in the power of prayer. With that said though the question we were supposed to address was whether we can cure disease through the power of prayer and my answer to that is no. While like I said, I believe in power of prayer and that miracles can happen every day I don’t think prayer can cure. I think that because health is more than just physical prayer can help and soothe your mental and emotional health but cure your physical disease? No.  In my opinion prayer is a way to give hope and a way to look forward to a better circumstances. This is why a priest presents the last rites it is used as a way to console and soothe the mental health.

GL Week 6

Week six was yet another week full of unexpectedness and surreal moments, go figure right? I can’t believe that only eleven days are left in this trip; I’m not exactly sure where the other thirty some have gone! No time to waste sad thoughts on that though, with so little time left I’m definitely not taking anything for granted and trying to make the most of the remaining time I have here in Italy!

Where to start with week six? Well on Monday and Tuesday we went to the Vatican and it was so great. Monday consisted of going up to the top of the dome which in my opinion was beyond surreal. It was gorgeous! I mean the view from the top was definitely worth the climb up! Afterward we had a tour of the Vatican museum which was really interesting as well. Ending the tour we found our way to the Sistine Chapel, and thank goodness I had a much better experience with the Chapel this time. Looking around at all the paintings was breathtaking; the scale on which the paintings were done was just amazing I can’t even what it must have been like for Michelangelo to paint The Creation. Tuesday then, like I said before, we headed back to the Vatican and went underneath St. Peter’s and saw the tomb of St. Peter which was both surreal and unexpected. Surreal in the fact that I was standing less than 10 ft. from the bones and tomb of St. Peter and unexpected in the way in which his tomb was displayed. I expected some decently elaborate display but in fact what I saw was almost the exact opposite. Afterward Brandon and Katie Moore gave a tour of St. Peter’s which was really good. It was nice being able to go through St. Peter’s and actually learn about it while seeing it.

Wednesday and Thursday went by pretty quick and before I knew it was Friday and we all were headed on a train to Sorrento for the weekend. On Friday there was a little hiccup with transportation and unfortunately the train wasn’t running how we had planned but that was ok with me. Instead we had to take taxis but saw a much better view. Driving through Pompeii up to Sorrento and seeing the cities in the hills and the cliffs was breathtaking. It was gorgeous.  Now I’m not sure about anyone else but I’m a Pinterst junkie and looking at the cliffs and blue ocean water made me feel like I was on pinterst gawking at all the pictures like I usually am;  this time it was different though because seeing those cliffs with houses on the edge it was real life. Being in the city of Sorrento was kind of the same way. Although it was rainy for basically the entire weekend Sorrento was such a pretty place.

                Like I mentioned at the beginning of my blog week six has come and gone and only two weeks left. This week in class we started the book the Talented Mr. Ripley and it has been such a good book so far! It’s funny because in the book Tom Ripley travels to Italy and some of the experiences he has are ones just like I have experienced here; reading the book brings back some of the memories from the beginning of the trip. Talking about the book in class it was funny because someone would bring up part of the book as a memory and then we would all remember it and laugh and then someone else would do the same. I especially thought it was ironic because while we were in Naples this weekend Danilo was constantly telling us to watch our stuff and be careful because Naples isn’t a good city and while we were on the train leaving Naples I was reading this book and I got to a part where Tom an Dickie, two of the characters, went to Naples and Marge was furious because they went and never told her when they changed plans and she knew bad things could happen in Naples. The book just brings recalls so many memories it’s I’m not even half way through yet!