Lessons Learned - Thank you to Everyone!

I cannot express how much I learned from my Italian teachers, Italian students, and Italian Family. They all taught me incredibly important lessons during my stay – I can never thank them all enough for the wonderful experience with so many wonderful lessons!

Lessons Learned from my Teachers:

It is important to always be aware of yourself as a teacher so that you understand your relationship with your students and what kind of dedications you have as a teacher. In Italy the students remain in their room throughout all the grades and teachers move around the school to the different classrooms. So, as an observer, during some of the days, I would notice that the same students acted differently depending on the teacher present. Depending on the teachers’ form of teaching, discipline, and relationship with the students the students would act accordingly. In short, it really isn’t the students but the teachers who are responsible what is happening in the classroom – including student behavior.

Teachers should set rules early in order to avoid chaos and issues that arise throughout the year that you, as a teacher, could easily avoid with set rules. And they should be simple so that they are easily understood and followed.

Always be willing to learn more about teaching, education, and your subject area. Antonella, the English teacher of the students I taught, was always willing to learn more about English from be and about the differences between British and American English. Also, when we had our English Language Learners meeting many teachers attended which shows their great desire to learn more about teaching native languages to non –native speakers. It is refreshing to see teachers, like I did in Italy, want to learn more about teaching!

Lessons Learned from my Students:

Be brave and bold! The students were always so willing to participate even though they were nervous to speak English in front of a native speaker. The very first day of meeting me they introduced themselves in English and their curiosity, bravery, and love only grew from there. They are fearless!

Many of my students were very smart in their studies but they were even smarter in doing unproductive, doing bad things like cheating, copying, etc. – like any other student their age in America. So, as a teacher it is important to really pay attention to what is happening in your classroom.

Always do your best as a teacher to engage your students with the information you need to teach and their interests – that is how you will become invested, interested in what you are teaching and they will, you know, learn!

Lessons Learned from my Italian Family:

Be patient and go with the flow as often as you can! Many times I did not know how to get somewhere, where I was going, what I was doing, what was being said – but, I just gave in and let someone else be in control and did not worry about what was happening…believe it or not, I – Crystal Ann Yakel, went with the flow! And I tried so many new things and did things that scared me, but I did them! I was more patient, more go with the flow, and brave – three things I would like to do more in my daily life.

The second lesson I really learned is one that I am so glad to have experienced. I am very busy and I give my time to many different things. Being with my Italian family has taught me that it is important to help others and give your time but it is also very important to really give your time to those who most need it, will appreciate it, and give your time to things that make you happy. My host family spent a lot of time with family, friends, and they gave time to themselves. So, I would like to say “no” to some things, not run myself down, and give more time to my family and friends! This lesson from my Italian host family was the most important lesson I learned while in Italy!

Thank you to everyone who made my trip so wonderful! Goodbye for now Italy, but do not worry - I will be back! Ciao!

Bocce Ball Time in Bologna and Florence

Thursday June 2nd was a holiday in Italy – 150th anniversary of Italy becoming a republic. So, no school! Lorenzo had a bocce ball competition in Bologna so the whole family went to watch. It was a lot of fun to watch the competition. Lorenzo lost but he still played well and it was a great time with the family for the day! After the competition all the players and families have a large lunch together, talk, and play games in the afternoon. Later in the day Andrea, Lia, family friends of theirs, and I took a long bike ride out to a WWF wild life preservation area, spent some time there looking around, and then we rode our bikes home in the rain – I loved every minute of the trip because I enjoyed being with them and being outside!

The next monring on June 3rd the study abroad students left for Florence. . We arrived in Florence adn traveled directly to our hostel which was very nice and it has free breakfast too (free is always good, especially when everything is so expensive!). My group left the hostel, walked through the markets, and about the city – seeing the sites! We crossed the Ponte Vecchio which provided us with a beautiful view of the city river and then of course we had gelato (really can’t go ten blocks with out it!). We then found the galleria academia where there is the beautiful art work of Lorenzo Bartolini as well as Michelangelo’s original David statue. The history we learned about the art work and David’s statue was wonderful! After a full day of walking about the city we dressed to go to a restaurant we had made reservations at earlier in the day. We had a wonderful dinner. Ihad amy first dish of Alfredo pasta in Italy and it was served with peas – it was delicious! After dinner we went to an Americanized Italian college bar  named the “The Lion’s Fountain.” They had shots for different colleges including KU (it was a prarie fire shot so I certaintly didn’t have that one!) We then went to a club called “Twice.” We danced a lot and we generally just had a very nice night out in Florence.

The next day mosto f our group was signed up to go on an out of town excursion so Taylor and I explored the city for the day. We walked almost 6 hours around Florence seeing so many sites – Piazzale de Michelangelo (which has the most beautiful view of Florence), S. Croce, an arch way (it looked like the coolest, tallest arch way on our map but it totally turned out o be a complete fail but we had a good laugh about it), we tried to see this gigantic garden (it was totally fortressed in and we probably spent 30 minutes just trying to find an entrance – which we never did), the Piazzale de Donatello, Basilica di San Lorenzo (it was built in 393!), Palazzo de Vecchio (it has some very beautiful and historic statues), and Dante’s house. Everything was of course beautiful and it was wonderful to see so much history. In teh evening we had a nice dinner, gelato, and night in with cards and lots of laughter.

During our last day in Florence we went to Catholic mass under the archbishop in Florence’s Duomo. It was quite an experience! Afterwards we headed to the Uffizi Art Gallery for a wonderful guided tour of art by Botticelli, Titian, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and other artists of the Renissance and Baroque periods. It was such a great experience! We had lunch after the Uffizi at the pizzeria where the Jersey Shore peeps are working (Jersey Shore’s new season is being currently taped in FLorence). It was the Jersey Shore’s day off but it was fun! We headed back towards the hostel after lunch. But before we returned we wished to do our last minute shopping. However, mother nature would not let us havour way. IT began to rain and hail like I have never seen before! It was crazy! We were completely soaked and the streets were so flooded that just within the hour we had to find a different way to get to the bus, for the bus to get to us, and for u sto get home in the bus. It was a terrible rain but we all just laughed…at least mosto f the time!

We had a great weekend and I wouldn’t change a thing about it really  (besides that it was our last weekend in Italy L ) – it was wonderful!

Lessons on Holidays

During my time in the schools I have taught my own lessons, observed several different teachers as well as co-teach english grammar and literacy almost everyday of school. After my 2 days of my scrabooking lesson I taught two more lessons concerning holidays celebrated in America.

I taught the studetns about the history and traditions, activities and food conected to Independence Day and Thanksgiving. For the Independence Day lesson I read aloud for the students the information I had gathered (the information was also printed out on a worksheet for the students). The students were asked two questions where they stated what they would do and what they would eat if they were in teh United States during the 4th of July. Then I sang the National anthem and they filled in teh missing lyrics on their worksheet. IF was difficult for them (and me! – I was so nervous to sing inf ront of them) so I also read through the lyrics twice.

For the Thanksgiving lesson I did thesame thing for the first solida lesson by reading aloud (it is nice for them to hear a native speaker) and then the students answered questions based on facts from the reading. We did not have time to make “turkey hands” because we had a small party. I brought some dessert and gifts for the students adn they gave me a wonderful picture of their class w7 signature, and a very sweet messgae on a poster. I will treasure it!

Vallauri High School and beautiful Verona

On Tuesday, May 31st, the last day of May, I went on my “field trip” for this study abroad program. Each student travels to a different school or performs, live, a chidlren’s book for the elementary students. I chose to attend Vallauri for a day of school. Vallauri is a vocational school for students interested in fashion design, electronics, or mechanics. Vallauri was quite the experience…

The 5 stuy abroad students who attende this field trip were split into 3 groups. Taylor and I follone one English teacher for the first 3 hours of school. The teacher’s two classes were English classes for the second level of high school. They were all female students because the students are divided by their vocation and typically all classes are either all female or all male because the girls want to do the fashion design and the boys want to work with the mechanics. We were just supposed to observe but our teacher wanted us to teach. So, Taylor and I talked about the simple past by using pictures of past events to express the simple past in sentences on the board. She used pictures on her computer and I used pictures from a photo album I created for my host family. Those two classes were perfectly fine except our teacher of English really spoke down about the students in front of them, saying things like “they are lazy, they don’t know very much,” etc. Having experienced this in the middle school I see it as a part of a more open culture but in this case it seemed to be much more derogatory and at the same time, to a degree, true. It was obvious with their level of English being lower than my 1st level middle schoolers, that even had the students not learned much from their previous teachers, they were not learning anything with this current teacher – but in her negative comments she never took any blame and she honestly did not seem to care if they learned from her or not.

After these first 2 classes our teacher’s 3rd class went to see a film created by some of the students with disabilities in the school. It was a beautiful short film but before we watched it the teacher of English told us not to expert much, and that it would probably not be very good. At this point I had had it with this teacher. There were not cultural differences or excuses to excuse her behavior. It was simply ridiculous. After these classes the teacher gave us a tour of the fashion wing of the fashion sector, laboratories of the school. The fashion sector was wonderful with many needed tools and the students’ work was very impressive – their talent is obvious. The teacher of English then left us with the mechanics/electronics teacher as it was the end of her day. The mechanics/ electronics teacher was very nice and gave us a nice tour of his sector of the building. Overall, by the tours, it seems the school really can provide for the vocational needs of the students but it struggles – at least in its English department - to provide for the students’ general education needs which was demonstrated by my first English teacher in Valluri as well as my second English teacher of whom I will speak of next.

Lastly, we have a sort of grand finale to the school day. Taylor and I were passed on to a different English for the last hour of the day. She told us on the way to class that these students in the next class were terrible adn the worst in the school. We arrived to the class adn ys the dsutdnets were a little unruly and continued to become more so throuhout the class but, I personally believe, the teacher did very little to help her situation. SHe did not create even a semblance of order in her classroom and she did not command respect – so she never received it. At one point the students were being so unruly – doing their own thing, leaving the class to get drinks from the vending machines, being disrespectful in general – that she stopped going over a test they had taken previously and made the most unruly students translate Italian sentences into English on the blackboard. One of the students did not know how to complete his translation in English so he turned to me and asked, “help?” and I said “no” because this was obviously set up as a punishment for him and whether I agreed or not it was not my place to interfere. The student, unhappy about this, called me a bad name in Italian, the students laughed and of course the teacher flipped a lid. She began writing in the class book (similar to a diario from the middle schools where a teacher writes attendante adn disciplinary actions). The student was upset by this and continued to say in Italian “it doesn’t matter, she doesn’t under stand” etc. He was told to continue but the class only became worse. It came to a point where the student who called me a bad name was so out of control – at one point stealing her pen from her hand as she wrote yet again another disiciplinary note for him – that the principal or another head figure had to be called into the class. It was a mess!

I udnersand that I do not teach “difficult students” on a daily basis and so I do not completely under stand what some of these teachers experience but I can safely say it is not only the students  that are responsible for their learning and for their behavior in the classroom but it is the teacher’s responsiblity tot o help students learn and manage their behavior in the classroom. The situations I experienced can be easily experienced in hundreds of classrooms accross the United States. However sad the experience was with apathetic teachers (and students – really as a result) I am glad that I had the experience in order to remind myself of the difficulties in teaching as well as remind myself that not everyone has a passion for teahcing and for learning – the two very things I wish to change, whever I teach.

After such a tiring and trying experience I had relief by going to Verona with my host mom. We had a wonderful time visiting the city including the Duomo, the bridges, tomba dei Giulietta, the house of Romeo, the various piazzas (all very beautiful!), the areana (colesium of Verona), and the casa di Giuiletta! We had such a great time visiting all of these monuments, taking photos at Giulietta’s house with her statue (I of course wrote Juliet an “electronic letter” and wrote on the wall.), and just talking as we walked around in the beautiful city of Verona! I can’t thank Lia enough for being so wonderful and for taking me to Verona!

Wonderful Venice

This passed weekend the study abroad group traveled to Venice. Venice is a beautiful and romantic city. We drove the bus from Carpi to the outskirts of Venice and then proceeded to take the tram across the water a short way. It seemed it may be bad weather with a drop here and some clouds as well but as we walked over our first bridge in Venice the clouds parted the sun brightened the sky. It was perfect, just like my entire trip!

I traveled around Venice with my roommates for this weekend trip– Taylor, Randi, Kendall, Logan, and Hannah. We had a WONDERFUL time! We checked into our residence and then headed straight to lunch. We ate at a lovely little restaurant and had gelato on the way to San Marco’s square. The square just takes your breath away. It and all the buildings in Venice just do not seem real to your eyes. Unfortunately, not but 5 minutes into our visit at the square I got lost…woops. Well, you see I thought I was doing the nice thing by  waiting up for Taylor while the other girls headed forward. I thought Taylor was throwing away the rest of her gelato and so I waited so that we could then catch up. I looked forward again and the group was gone and I looked back and I couldn’t see Taylor. So, I stood in the middle of the square, apart from people, waiting for rescue. After about ten minutes or so I convinced myself that “everything was fine, I could be all by myself for the day in a city that I do not know but that I do know is known for thievery.” Just as I was coming to terms with my lonesome fate my roommates found me and I found out that I wasn’t being kind and waiting for Taylor but I was waiting on some randoooo lady who also happened to have blond hair. Just wonderful – next trip, a leash please. Also, Logan looked at her watch wrong and thought that we had missed our tour so they were frantically trying to find me as well as try to get to our tour of the Doge’s Palace – even though it was thought we were an hour late!

After our minor heart attacks we walked around San Marco’s square, looked out on the water and all the beautiful churches and other buildings surrounding it. It was all so beautiful! After looking around for a bit we went to Doge’s Palace. It was beautiful building with an incredibile amount of history. The guided tour also lead us on Ponte dei Sospiri (the Bridge of Sighs). For those of you that do not know Ponte dei Sospiri is a bridge built between the Doge’s Palace (the building of the former courts, government, and the Doge (a figure head political, government leader)) and the jail. Prisioners would have to walk from said freedom in the government building to their cells – so the prisioners would sigh. I actually ended up purchasing a hand painted canvas drawing of the Ponte dei Sospiri (a small one of course). At the end of our tour we traveled to the gift shop and much to my suprise my Economics 104 professor from this semester, Brian Staihr, tapped me on the shoulder to say hello. Since I was leaving early and had to take his final in Italy he knew I was going to be in Venice. He mentioned he would be in Venice during that time as well and we both though “how crazy would it bei f we bumper into each other” and sure enough we certaintly did. Seriously, small world.

After our tour we walked around some more, stopped for a sit, water, and wine, did some shopping, more seeing the sites like the Riolto Bridge and then we returned to our residence to freshen up and go to dinner. I had spaghetti for the first time since I have been in Italy and it was very good! We all had a great time at the restaurant – lots of laughing and taking pictures. Actually, lots of laughing and lots of pictures really sums up our weekend! After dinner, of course, can you guess? We had more gelato. It was necessary – trust me. Okay, not really but it is so good!

The next day we woke up early so as to see all that we could! We walked around the square some more and then  decided to take the boat taxi to Lido Beach across from San Marco’s, a 10 minute ride. Lido and the beach were very nice! Lido is a cute little town and we had an amazing time walking through it and the beach. We took some really great pictures at the beach and we experienced our first topless beach. This is how it went - walking along the beach, picutres, walk, picutres, walk and then “oh let’s climb these few rocks and walk out onto this little peer…where all the old ladies are laying out…with their tatas out.” Ah,  a new cultural experience! You know, whatever floats your boat is fine by me. After the beach we had one of the best lunches I have had so far in Italy at a little restaurant in Lido. It was a bugliese pizza – simply a pizza with onions but it was so good! We headed back to the mainland of Venice to walk around more (discovering along the way some more beautiful spots in Venice), shop, and of course eat dessert (do you see a pattern here with the food?).

Venice was an amazing trip and I spent my time with some really great girls! I was happy though to come back and see my host family! I can’t wait for Florence next weekend – but I can at the same time because this trip is going entirely too fast - I want more time with my students, host family, and Italy!

Please make it slow down. Okay, thanks!

Peace

Cooking Dinner for my Host Family and Random Interjections

This passed Wednesday I made dinner for my host family! It was quite an experience! I made 3 or 4 trips to different grocery stores in search of the ingredients, I had to look up the ingredients in Italian to purchase them at the store, I was cooking in someone else's kitchen, and I had to free hand all the measurments (not gonna do conversions, not my thing!). With all that and cooking for four hours it was still one of my BEST experiences here so far. It was a challenge and it was baking - two of my favorite things! So, I very much enjoyed the experience! I made bean burritos for dinner and since it was my host parents' 20th anniversary I made them a carrot cake which my host siblings helped with and, which actually turned out really well! We all had a wonderful night with this dinner and just enjoyed each others company.

First random interjection: I found gold today. Or in other words a "porta banana." A porta banana is like a tupper ware case for bananas. It is shaped like a banana so that when you are on the go and you want a banana (always the case in my life) it doesn't get crushed! A true revelation.

Second random interjection: I accidentally ate a couple bites of meat today after being a vegetarian for 2 and half years. Some how, I thought what I was eating a vegetable I didn't recognize - I am a dumb one sometimes!

That is all - Ciao

First English Lesson of My Very Own

I taught my first lesson, one on my very – one that I didn’t just help lead, on Monday May 23rd. I began my lesson by reminding the students, from last week’s assingment to bring pictures, what scrapbooking is in the United States. Since scrapbooking is a fairly foreign concept here in Italy I decided toh ave all the students create their own scrapbook page. They were provided with scrapbook paper, markers, and stickers. The students brought pictures to class. The students were asked to decorate their pages with stickers, pictures, materials such as a ticket from the enven in their picture (scrapbook scraps), and then write in English their age in the picture, what is happening in the picture, who is in the picture, possibly how the event was (fun, exciting, etc.) and of course their name.

A good number of students forgot their photos but they still participated by imagining what photo they will bring to the next class adn writing about that imagined picture. The students did well adn they used the English I asked them to use, with some reminding and some writign of that English on the board. I asked the students to say things such as, “May I please use the scissors, markers, glue, stickers” adn we worked together in English, in Italian, adn wiht a pocket dicitonary to understand each other. The students worked hard the entire hour and the hour itself flew by. Once everyone’s page is completed I will put all the pages together in the scrapbook I brought. I will present the pages to the class in a scrapbook that I brought and when it is presented we will have a wrap up discussion on what scrapbooking is and why people in the US scrapbook.

Holiday Weekend in Modena, Tuscany - Pissa and Lucca

May 20th is a holiday in Carpi for the Patron Santo Bernadino so the schools are closed. Thus, Valentina (my host sister), Catertina, Kendall (the host student of Caterina),  and I went by train (my first train ride!) to the city of Modena. It is only 15 minutes by train from Carpi and it is also a beautiful city! We saw beautiful buildings including the Duomo, a military acadamey, an art school, and countless others. We shopped, took many pictures and had pizza in the square. The best part was Kendall and I learning more Italian and Valentina and Catarina learning more English. They tried to make learning a little difficult for us by giving us words that are difficult to pronounce and this made them laugh because we spoke them terribly! They would laugh and laugh and so I then I used a bad word from the bad words my host dad has been teaching me (He doesn’t know much English but he can communicate well enough to teach my bad words in Italian). So I then used one of these bad words - pretending to be angry at their laughter - and it made them laugh even more. So, at least I can say bad words in Italian just perfectly! After an adventurous day we returned to Carpi to do homework and Lorenzo and I went to the grocery store to buy food so that I can cook dinner next Wednesday – wish me luck! We then went to the square later that night. I had an absolutely wonderful day with everything and everyone!

Over the weekend we then went to Tuscany – Pisa and Lucca. Both places were absolutley beautiful. We first went to Pissa and visited the Piazza dei Miracoli. We went inside the cathedral, baptisery, and up to the very top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. All the monuments were very insipiring and wonderful. We spent the afternoon Touring them and the surrounding area. We had a wonderful lunch in Pisa and then we had an also wonderful dinner at our bed and breakfast. The bed and breakfast was right out of a movie, it was so beautiful and it had the most wonderful view of Pisa from the mountainside. After our stay at bed and breakfast we then traaveled to Lucca – the city of 100 churches. But before actually touring the city we ate at a bar (a bar is a breakfast, gelateria, etc. in Italy – much different from the States I can assure you) for breakfast and I had a nutella crossiant – it was so incredibly good!  Lucca was also a beautiful city and we toured, of course, some very elaborate and nice churches will we were there. We also went up on top of this tower that had trees growing from the top of it – it had a beautiful view of Tuscany, much like the Leaning Tower did.

I had a wonderful weekend with my host family and I truly could not have had a better time than I did. I cannot thank them enough for being so kind and for giving me such a great experience!

Focherini: Being in an Italian School!

Being in the schools and teaching in the schools has been quite an adventure! It is thrilling and I love every minute of it. The differences between student responses in the classroom and teaching styles, when compared to the American classroom, have been many. My first day of school I stayed in one classrroom of 7th graders (or what they call the second year of middle school) and simply observed them and the teachers for the day. It is important to note that in Italy students in all grades from elementary through high school stay in one classroom all day (like our elementary schools) and the teahcers move around the school. Also, the students go to school from about 8:00-1:00, Monday through Saturday (the high schools longer and the high schools are specialized into art schools, language schools, etc. and middle schools can be as well such as with Lorenzo’s school – Alberto Pio, which is a school with a music program).

There is a lot to learn about and from Italian people. The Itialians that I have spent time with really seem to appreciate the things they have and they respect things and others greatly. For example, my host family and many others really conserve energy, recycle everything, and they are generally very mindful of people around them and the needs of others. They spend a great deal of time with their family, friends, and even if there is little time do so, at times, they still make it a priority in their lives. I really hope to take away a greater apreciation for this consciousness in their lives and transfer it to my life. I am very busy but I really do hope to express how much I love my family and friends by giving them more of my time and slow down my life at least a little bit more.

As for what I am learning in the schools so far, I am not exactly sure what I will take away just yet. I am in Focherini (spelling mistake in my first blog but this is really how you spell the school's name) middle school and the teacher I teach with is an English teacher, Antonella. Antonella is very nice and eager to include me in her lessons as a co-teacher as well as teach my own lessons (Next monday I am teaching a lesson on scrapbooking so the students can practice English as well as learn about scrapbooking which many Italians do not do - I am very excited!). As of right now, I believe it is too early to tell what I will take away from the schools, the teachers, and the students. They have all been wonderful and I am learning a great deal about Italian culture and education. Many things are different in the schools in Italy as compared to the school systems in the US. With variances in culture schools in each country are run differently and teaching styles are different. Italian students on the other hand seem to very similar to students their ages in the US. Schooling is very imporant to many people in Carpi and so the government in Carpi works hard to make sure that educaiton is put first and made as great as it can be for the students.

In my observations so far I have seen 5 different teachers teach and many are pretty strict and short with the students. The teachers discipline the kids by singling them out and then the student must bring their “diario” (a schedule book with all of their disciplinary actions taken, notes sent home to parents, grades, and homework lists) up to the front of the class and the teacher then writes down what they were doing wrong or if the student was not prepared for class that day in the the diario. However, for the many disiciplinary actionts taken that seem embarassing or harsh with sometimes cosntatnt yelling or desk pouding from a teacher, things that most American students would cry over, do not seem to phase most students. All of the Italian teachers I have observed also give praise only to their best students and they are very open about telling you, in front of the other students who is a bad student and who is a good student. The Italian teachers that I have observed so far also do not praise unless something is completely correct and when I correct a student but then praise them it confusses them greatly. These have been some cultural differences I have noticed in the classrooms at my school here in Carpi. One is not necessarily better than the other, just culturally different!

I think that both Carpi schools and many, many schools in America face a similar challenge though in their schools. As I have talked with my host mother and father about the different schools and their chidlren’s experiences as well as my experiences in the schools, Ihave found that schools have very good teachers who care but they also struggle to find those good teachers who are well trained, are passionate about the teaching and then in turn teach well. Ibelieve this is a great issue in America and it seems to be so here in Carpi, though with new initiatives and laws education seems to moving towards more imporvement. However, like in the US education is being cut back left and right – just this year in my school they had to close another computer room, science, lab and the only art room in school because they needed to provide more classrooms for the growing student population but they cannot afford many more teachers or a new building. Considering that the municipality in Carpi really considers education to be very important this situation will hopefully change.

As for teaching in the classroom, I have been very busy! The first day I spent observing and I have been teaching ever since in the English classes of levels 1, 2,  and 3 or in the US 6th, 7th, and 8th. The first day of their English class I asked the students to introduce themsleves to me – name, favorite color, favorite subject, what they like to do in their free time, where they live, etc. Then I presented myslef in the same way. The students then asked me questions about myself, American culture, etc. After the presentations and the question time I talked to the students about the differences I noticed from my first day of observations between students in Carpi and students in America. I told them that in public schools religion is not allowed whereas in Italy it is because Catholiscism is the official religion in Italy – we talked about why there is not religion in public schools and why there can be religion in private schools. We also talked about the way they count on their hand and raise their hand as compared to students in America. In much of Europe people begin counting with their thumb whereas Americans mostly start with their index finger and students in Carpi mostly raise their hand with only their index finger up right and the rest folded in their hand whereas students in America raise all of their fingers when raising their hands. I noted other differences like the length of school day, how many days, and how students in America have lunch at school and do not go home for lunch.

The students appreciated learning these differences adn so did I! It is fascinating to learn how other people live and in what ways they carry out their days. I have learned so much in the schools from this week alone and I cannot wait to learn more from the people of Carpi!

What a wondeful place!

Where do I begin. This first week has been incredibile. I have seen so much and done so much already during just the first part of my stay in Italy. It feels like I have been here for much longer than 6 days, but in a good way. People in Carpi, my host family, and the students are wonderful but especially my host family. They have been so great to help get me settled, take me out and about in the city, and they have made me feel like apart of the family! I already cannot thank them enough.

The city of Carpi is so beautiful and pictures could never do it justice. I started my stay by going to the Bulgarelli and Lodi household with my host mother, Lia. The first song I heard, on the way home was Animal Planet (you and me baby ainàt nothn’ but… you get the picture). So, I quickly learned that American music, American movies, companies, etc are very popular in Italy. That was not something that I was really expecting to see while in Italy or at least not to the extent that I have seen. When we arrived to the apartment I was given a tour by Lorenzo (my 12 year old host brother). They are so nice and Lorenzo is just like my brother Donald so it is easy to get along well with him! We then went right into the 3rd largest Piazza in all of Italy! This is one of the most beautiful places in Carpi. There is the Duomo, the Castle of Alberto Pio - a prince of Carpi’s past. It was a beautiful day to be outside.

The next day, May 15th, Lorenzo, Lia, and I went to bowl in Modena, the next town over. We had a wondeful time bowling and I had to explain to them that even though they were always beating me that my scores were much higher here than at home. Then Lorenzo and I played aracade games and air hockey. Then we came back to Carpi – we played Uno, which of course I had to lose at as well but it was fun never-the-less. We spent the rest of the afternoon talking, reading, and watching TV. Andrea and Valentina were in France for Valentina’s skating competition (which her team received 1st place – Yay Valentian!) so I was not able to meet them until Monday but when I did meet them they, Andrea and Valentina, proved to be just as nice as Lia and Lorenzo!

Lia and Valentina speak English well. Andrea and Lorenzo do not know much English but it is interesting and fun communicating with all of them and other Italians! Sometimes I understand them sometimes I don’t and sometimes they do understand me and sometimes they don’t but we always find a way to comunicate. For instance, we are all eager to learn each other’s languages so we use dictionaries at home and I do also when I am at school teaching. In two intances people have wanted to speak to me and I to them but they did not know English and I do not know Italian so we communicated in Spanish because we both knew the language. – this happened with a professor at the my school, Foccerini, and one of Valentian’s friends last night. I was very excited to be able to communicate in this way!

The first few days of this week we spent getting oriented in Carpi with guided tours, a presentation from a woman on the council for education in Carpi, and visiting schools other than our own after our school day was finsihed. We have visited my school –Foccerini, a middle school, a high school – Liceo Fanti, another middle school – Alberto Pio, and  pre-school for ages 3-6 – Ballena Blu. We took tours and learned about the different programs available at those schools. I am excited to continue to learn about the teachers, students, and the school systems in Carpi!

Being in Italy has been a wonderful experience so far and I only anticipate it getting better!

P. S. - I love you family and friends!!!

Ciao!

Passo Due: Experiencing Italy in America (“Under the Tuscan Sun” and “Bread and Tulips”)

For my second Italy assignment I decided to watch two movies in order to see a couple of different views of Italy and Italians. I watched an American movie – Under the Tuscan Sun and an Italian movie – Bread and Tulips. Not much to my surprise the films did not really provide me with an incredibly new outlook on Italy or Italians – many stereotypes, not necessarily bad ones but nothing particularly knew. However, watching both of the films reminded me to open, willing, and excited to being a wonderful journey into a new, foreign country and culture.

Under the Tuscan Sun is a cute film with Diane Lane as Frances. Frances goes through a divorce and her friends decide that she should take their tickets and go on a vacation to Italy. Once in Italy she decides to stay, live in Italy, and really experience the culture (Don’t worry mom and dad – I will be really experiencing Italy myself but I will come home…eventually.). As the movie continues Frances learns to take risks, experience new things, develop new friendships, and she learns more about life. Frances discovers much about Italian culture and much of Italy. In doing so, Frances learns not only more about Italy, its people, and culture but she learns more about herself in her discoveries and experiences in another country.

Bread and Tulips is a funny and yet somewhat depressive film about a house-wife’s journey to self-discovery. The movie begins with Rosalba, the housewife played by Licia Maglietta, on a vacation with her family. Rosalba is having a difficult vacation and nothing is really going in her favor. At the end of the day the last blow comes when she is accidentally left behind by her tour bus at a rest stop. Rosalba does not have a cell phone and she must call her husband from a pay phone. When she calls him, he ends up blaming her for missing the bus. However, they do not return to retrieve her and she must take a train back home. Through a series of events, missing trains on accident and ultimately a decision by Rosalba to stay in Venice, she does not make it back to her home. Rosalba is befriended by a suicidal older man who allows her to stay with him and helps her get a job in Venice. Rosalba’s husband is irate that she is staying in Venice and not at home being a house wife. Through the sadness of Rosalba’s unhappiness at home – commanding and cheating husband and the older man’s, Fernando’s, loneliness is enough to make the film depressing. However, both Rosalba and Fernando change their unfortunate dispositions and begin to discover life and the joy it brings. They both take advantage of new experiences and opportunities. Ultimately the learn more about life and better their lives.

And that my friends, is something I would like to accomplish while in Italy. I want to embrace and learn about a new country, its people, and culture. I also want to really allow myself to take advantage of every opportunity and experience allotted me while in Italy. Italy is sure to be a wonderful place with wonderful people and I am ready to leave for my next, new adventure in life – 4 days until Italy!

Passo Uno: Learn About Italy (Reflection Concerning Ross King’s Michelangelo and the Pope’s Ceiling)

This feels like the first step to taking my journey, one journey I hope will be the first of many. I have a great fascination with culture and being given the opportunity to study abroad with the School of Education at the University of Kansas in Carpi, Italy which seems like a wonderful way to start my exploration of other cultures, countries, people, histories, languages, systems of education, and last but, certainly, not least – foods.

The best way to take my first step was by reading a book that gives me further insight into Italian history and culture. Ross King’s Michelangelo and the Pope’s Ceiling gives a great insight into Italy’s culture and artistic scene of the 15^th century. The combination of Italian art and Italian history in Michelangelo’s world creates a story of trials, rivalries, and dramatic political (all be it religious) struggles.  Ross’s novel demonstrates that the beauty and magnetism of the Sistine Chapel became so only with stipulations that did not necessarily match the Chapel’s wonders and intricacies.

After many well-known sculptor pieces such as Michelangelo’s David, his casting a bronze statue in Bologna for Pope Julius II, Pope Julius II commissioned Michelangelo to carve out and sculpt his tomb. Michelangelo enjoyed this project for he favored the art of sculpting after previous takes at painting, bronzing, frescoing, and so on. However, Julius refused to supply any more papal ducats for the supplies in the creation of his tomb because he wanted Michelangelo for another commission. Julius wanted Michelangelo to fresco the Sistine Chapel. Before beginning on May 10^th 1508, Michelangelo struggled with the decidedly “temperamental” Julius. Michelangelo, after being forced to end his work on the Pope’s tomb and told to return to Rome to work on the Sistine Chapel, refused to return to Rome. Communicating back and forth with Cardinal Alidosi, who acted as the mediator on behalf of the Pope’s wishes and Michelangelo’s unhappiness with the state of his project’s affairs. With the heavy competition of acquiring certain prestigious art commissions, Michelangelo was paranoid, and possibly rightly so, that his rivalries would see him dead. A man named Donato Bramante was his greatest enemy after he succeeded in gaining one of the greatest commissions of the time – the rebuilding of St. Peter’s. Bramante competed with Sangallo, a fellow Florentine and friend to Michelagelo, for the commission of St. Peter’s. Michelangelo was certain that Bramante was out to ruin his career on account of the fact that the large expense of rebuilding the basilica meant that the project of the Pope’s tomb would have to be put on hold which resulted in the end of Michelangelo’s work on the tomb. Michelangelo believed Bramante had persuaded the Pope to stop work on the tomb and put his efforts towards the basilica because having a tomb carved during your own lifetime would bring bad luck. Michelangelo believes Bramante then suggested Michelangelo do another commission. By suggesting a commission of frescoing, Michelangelo believed Bramante wished his reputation and career to come to a terrible end. Considering he was considerably less versed in frescoing than his own assistants, such as Pietro Perugino - who was the one to lead the team that decorated the Sistine Chapel walls before Michelangelo, Michelangelo seems to have been rightfully concerned with the future outcome of the commission of the Sistine Chapel. Raffello Santi – or Raphael was also a competitor of Michelangelo’s working in Rome on a project for the Pope. Michelangelo felt incredible pressure as he began his work on the Sistine Chapel with his lack of frescoing knowledge and the many talented artists around him that seemed they could take his career from him at any time.  Michelangelo stumbled upon many problems as he gave the Sistine Chapel life but he ultimately produced a picture oh so full of wonder and beauty. The politics of artistry inside the religious structures of Italy and between artists of different cities gives great insight towards the social and cultural reactions of Italy during the 15^th century.

My wish is to experience Italy, Italians, and their culture as a person open to realities and perspectives different from my own. I believe by reading texts, or any exposure to a different culture, gives one the opportunity to stand in a position open to learning from new realities and various perspectives. I am standing with open arms.