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.