It's unbelieveable to think that we only have three more days left here in Rome! I can still remember vividly the first time we got off the plane. Looking back it is overwhelming how much we have visited and learned about in a mere eight weeks. It literally makes my stomach turn knowing I have to figure out a way to pack all my luggage while keeping them underweight and making sure nothing breaks. CHALLENGE ACCEPTED...
Probably the most important thing that happened last week was getting to be a part of the Papal Audience in front of his Holiness Pope Benedict XVI. So so so so cool, espicially for not being Catholic. Not only were we in his presence, but we were only 50 feet away from him, sitting in the second and third rows with our "red tickets". (BIG thanks to Danilo for that one, such a great experience) I can honestly say I had goose bumps before he came out and took an enourmous amout of pictures. People travel all over the world to get blessed by him, and I am proud to say I am one of those people.
We also visited Nettuo and went to an American Cemetary for soilders who fought overseas in Italy. Being able to give respect to those who served overseas and never came home was very moving. It makes me proud to be from a country where men and women are willing to risk their lives for the freedom of others. While in Nettuno we had class on the beach....no it wasn't warm. Although it was beautiful it was freezing and I found myself making my scarf into a babushka by the end of the hour discussion.
While the week winded down, the excietement was not over. Friday morning Sydney, Rachel, Amy and I left for London. A case where history repeats iself was present in my day. Thursday night I made the terrible mistake of staying up and doing silly shenanigans unitl about 1:30 but had mindset to shower and pack and be up by 4am to leave for the airport. FAIL. I fell asleep and woke up at 3:25 with an empty suitcase and no shower :(
Friday and Saturday in London made up for any mishap that happened to occur prior. I LOVE LONDON! Deciding to go there the last free weekend was one of the best decisions I've made since I've been here. More than ever I want to travel more and esp. visit London and stay longer.
As we finished this week, we also finished The Talented Mr. Ripley. I can say it was quite an easy read for two reasons. One, because everywhere he talked about and experienced in the book, we have been while in our time here. It was so easy to relate and connect the readings to our own experience. Reason number 'due' is becasue he is a twisted man and the plot line is too good to put it down. The details used in the book to describe Venice stood out vividly for me. "He liked the fact that Venice had no cars. It made the city human. The streets were like veins, he thought, and the people were the blood, circulating everywhere..........pigeons everywhere." After spending a weekend in Venice and making this analogy it makes so much sense and makes me appreciate the trip even more than I already did.
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday...and dun dun dun, we leave Friday morning. Such a bittersweet feeling, but I know I am taking so much out of this and am beyond excited to share everything with my family and friends ...and cat when I return to the states. May our Walsh Family stay close, and cherish the memories we had together. The next step from here is... REUNIONS AT THE MUSTAFAGA'S! Woot, consider this my RSVP.
Monday, December 10, 2012
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
SOC490: Week Six
As we begin to finish our health care book and wrap up our class discussions I'm reflecting back on the last six weeks and how much I have learned. I really didn't know as much as I thought about our health care system, let alone Italy's; It's astonishing how far we have come.
Last Wednesday, to prepare the data for our final, we were asked to go out into a market and interview 10 Italians about their health care system. Not only does this tie into our Soc490 class, but also a test of how much Italian we have actually learned. Ippolita, our Italian professor, helped us come up with a little dialogue and how properly (and the easiest way) to start a conversation. Due to the downpour on Wednesday, we went to an inside market instead of outside. When we arrived at the market it was nervracking at first, but it became a little easier once we figured out a University was beside the market. Many if not most of the students spoke some English, and they didn't mind at all filling out our surveys. The hardest part was truly finding people who were actually Italian. The first guy I spoke entirely in Italian to, started filling out my survey with no hesitation but waited until the last question to tell me (in Enlgish) that he was from India.
It was intersting to see how honest people where, whether it be correcting spelling mistakes and yelling in our faces, or being simple and blunt about Italy's health care system. I remember one girl in particular, she was one of the students and she spoke some English. After she finished the survey, she asked me what I was studying. To keep it simple I just said, "Health Care." She bluntly laughed in my face and told me Italy was not the place to come...needless to say she does not like the current system and gave everything an average to low rating. Looking back, I am glad interviewing random people was part of the class. At times it was frusterating because some people were so rude, but some make great stories. There is one guy I still laugh out loud just thinking about. A little back story... When we were in Italian class learning the greeting dialogue, Ippolita did not understand why we were asking the gender because she thought it was a clear thing that is known by looking at someone. Amy, a fellow student, argued this by saying this is not true in all cases, however Ippolita was still in disbelief. I approached one man at the market and he willingly started to fill out my survey. As it was clear he was a man, he started to cirlce "femenilie". In my head I was thinking, "THIS IS WHY WE ASK!" and started laughing to myself, confused. The second question on the survey asked for one's age, as he read this he turned to me, touched my arm and asked for my age. I looked at him dumbfounded and said, "No, I need YOUR age, this is YOUR survey." He laughed and replied, "NO, it's YOUR survey...I need YOUR age." After arguing who's survey it actually was and him trying to interview me on my own survey I laughed and gave up.
After reviewing all the data it's interesting to see the differences between the age groups and how different individuals feel about the current Italian system.
Another point that was brought up in our class was whether "spiritual healing" is true. I think it depends on how religious one is, but I think it does make a difference. Although I think one cannot be healed or cured of cancer without medical help and treatment, praying and asking for help from God is also important. Praying and keeping a healthy spiritual mind is a part of completing a balance of "health" and keeping a healthy mind. I once heard it said that, "God loves to give you more than you can handle"...otherwise people wouldn't be on dependant on him as they need to be, therefore being spiritually in tact is important.
Last Wednesday, to prepare the data for our final, we were asked to go out into a market and interview 10 Italians about their health care system. Not only does this tie into our Soc490 class, but also a test of how much Italian we have actually learned. Ippolita, our Italian professor, helped us come up with a little dialogue and how properly (and the easiest way) to start a conversation. Due to the downpour on Wednesday, we went to an inside market instead of outside. When we arrived at the market it was nervracking at first, but it became a little easier once we figured out a University was beside the market. Many if not most of the students spoke some English, and they didn't mind at all filling out our surveys. The hardest part was truly finding people who were actually Italian. The first guy I spoke entirely in Italian to, started filling out my survey with no hesitation but waited until the last question to tell me (in Enlgish) that he was from India.
It was intersting to see how honest people where, whether it be correcting spelling mistakes and yelling in our faces, or being simple and blunt about Italy's health care system. I remember one girl in particular, she was one of the students and she spoke some English. After she finished the survey, she asked me what I was studying. To keep it simple I just said, "Health Care." She bluntly laughed in my face and told me Italy was not the place to come...needless to say she does not like the current system and gave everything an average to low rating. Looking back, I am glad interviewing random people was part of the class. At times it was frusterating because some people were so rude, but some make great stories. There is one guy I still laugh out loud just thinking about. A little back story... When we were in Italian class learning the greeting dialogue, Ippolita did not understand why we were asking the gender because she thought it was a clear thing that is known by looking at someone. Amy, a fellow student, argued this by saying this is not true in all cases, however Ippolita was still in disbelief. I approached one man at the market and he willingly started to fill out my survey. As it was clear he was a man, he started to cirlce "femenilie". In my head I was thinking, "THIS IS WHY WE ASK!" and started laughing to myself, confused. The second question on the survey asked for one's age, as he read this he turned to me, touched my arm and asked for my age. I looked at him dumbfounded and said, "No, I need YOUR age, this is YOUR survey." He laughed and replied, "NO, it's YOUR survey...I need YOUR age." After arguing who's survey it actually was and him trying to interview me on my own survey I laughed and gave up.
After reviewing all the data it's interesting to see the differences between the age groups and how different individuals feel about the current Italian system.
Another point that was brought up in our class was whether "spiritual healing" is true. I think it depends on how religious one is, but I think it does make a difference. Although I think one cannot be healed or cured of cancer without medical help and treatment, praying and asking for help from God is also important. Praying and keeping a healthy spiritual mind is a part of completing a balance of "health" and keeping a healthy mind. I once heard it said that, "God loves to give you more than you can handle"...otherwise people wouldn't be on dependant on him as they need to be, therefore being spiritually in tact is important.
Monday, December 3, 2012
GL350: Week Six
Ahh, only 10 days left! I'm afraid to even blink due to the little time we have here. This past week was filled with interesting and a once in a lifetime experience.
At the beginning of the week we went on a student led tour by Brandon and Katie M. of St. Peter's. This was not the first time I had been inside the basicalla since we've been in Rome, but it still amazes me. Of the many places in Italy, it is one in particular I wish my family could visit. Every time i talk to him on the phone he asked, "Have you met the Pope yet?".... not quite Dad. But honestly, just seeing pictures does no justice to how amazing St. Peter's actually is.
To add to the excitement, we revisited the Vatican later in the week to take a tour of the excavations beneath the basicalla, and the tomb of St. Peter. We had to go through security and went in as small groups. It was a really big deal, because only 100 people a day get to visit this site. Not only did we go below the church, but we climbed the infamous dome. We had the choice of either taking the elevator for the first couple hundred steps or walking the old fashioned way. Of course a large majority of us accepted it as a challenge and took the stairs. Half way up, the bottom of my right shoe detached and was flopping lifelessly....therefore I was basically marching up the steps in order to not face plant. After climbing over 500 stairs we reached the top and were able to go outside onto a balcony. The view was beautiful and well worth the steps. (...needless to say we took the elevator down)
Another tour we took was of the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel. When we got to the museum we were all given "secret agent" one ear-piece headsets, or at least that's what I pretended they were. We took a guided tour, but I found myself lost and group-less numerous times. I was too caught up in taking pictures of everything and admiring the art as the little flag that had 16 on it passed. The guide definitely saved the best for last, The Sistine Chapel. I have to say I pictured it in my head much bigger but it was still amazing. I wish they had pillows on the floor so we could've just laid there all day and stared at the ceiling. It is one thing I defiantly will never forget.
Friday morning the entire group set off for Naples, where our final destination was Sorrento, and Pompeii for one day. This weekend by far went by the fastest. Friday there were some transportation issues with the train strikes, but this did not dull the mood. When we got to the hotel Friday afternoon, my "weekend roommate" Sydney and I found out we were also in a suite with Amy and Danielle. Yes. It poured the entire weekend, and this is no exaggeration. Saturday we took a train to Pompeii to visit the city that was destroyed by Mt. Vesuvius years ago. It was extremely interesting and a lot larger than I expected. Due to the rain (I mean downpour storm) we only got to see the main points.
On the train ride home, I started reading the new book that was assigned, The Talented Mr. Ripley. I was procrastinating until really started reading and soon realized how good the book is. Needless to say I've only been reading for two days and I'm already almost done with the book. The great thing about the book aside from the story line are the details. I love being able to read and directly correlate something from the book to my experience here. I have so many highlighted quotes, but I'll refer to ones towards the beginning of the book, because some people have yet to get to the good part...(*cough* Brandon). An example of one of the details was when Tom was boarding the bus for the first time. "There were no seats, and they were wedged between a skinny, sweating man who smelled and a couple of old peasant women who smelled worse." This could not describe out first experience on bus 64 any better. Hot, smelly, and crowded.
I can't wait to finish reading the rest of the book, and finish out these last two weeks with a bang.
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