We are in our last week here in Italy. I cannot believe that it has already been 8 weeks. I feel like we just go here and we just started this incredible journey but it is coming to a close. I knew that it would go by quickly since we were having so much fun but I didn't realize this fast. As we finish up our last week here in Rome, I cannot help but think about the beginning and where it all started. Where we all were scared and did not know quite what to expect. This journey has made us all more aware of our surroundings and made us quite comfortable being any where in the world.
I came to Italy a little bit scared but mostly excited. I was afraid of being that far away from everyone that I loved so much but I was so excited to be on this journey and make new friends. The few weeks leading up to this journey were the hardest. I did not even feel that I was ready to leave the country and be away from everyone yet. It came as a shock that I was leaving in such a short while, but the time had come. When we got to Italy, everyone was so excited to be there and see everything that we weren't even scared to be away anymore. I will never forget the firsts in Italy, the first time we saw the Coliseum will always be the most memorable for me. I will always remember that moment in time and the way that I felt seeing such a great monument to Rome.
This experience has shaped me into a great person and a world traveler. I cannot imagine living my life now without traveling and going new places. It would just not be me to stay in the U.S. anymore. Without this journey to guide me, I would not know that I wanted to travel the globe. I appreciate this experience so much because it has made me more aware of what I want out of life now and who I am now. We visited so many cities in Italy that I had never heard of before coming on this trip and they were absolutely fantastic. It was very weird to be in another country and be so far away from the U.S. but it was well worth the flight. I cannot imagine my life without coming on this fantastic journey. It is weird for me to know how many places I have been in just a short while. It still does not seem real that I have been everywhere that I have.
Walking around the streets of Italy, seems surreal still. I still feel like it a dream that I have not yet woken up from. In a few short days, we will go back to America and back to our everyday lives. This is quite the saddest thing I have ever said in a blog. We have to go back to reality. We can't just stay in Italy forever?! No, we have to make more money and finish our studies in America. This makes me sad because I have met so many great people on this trip. It is amazing to think that I would not have met any of these people if I had not come on this trip and my life would be totally different right now. I now have to go back to America and live my life and I hope that I do not just forget about this experience entirely, but I do not think that I will. I cannot imagine living my life without remembering and taking back my experience with me to the States.
This journey has been full of amazing experiences and new learning experiences. I now know how to get around in the world's largest cities. It is amazing to think back on my experiences and laugh about the moments that I was crying during. Like almost missing my plane back to Rome from London this past weekend. Like missing my bus stop to campus and having to walk 2 miles. There were times that I just wanted to scream because I didn't understand something, but only a couple. Now, I think back on these past 8 weeks with full-hearted emotion. I think back on it with so much love. I had the time of my life and I want to take back this experience with me to the U.S. I cannot wait to tell everyone back home about my journey and share with them my experiences. Ciao for the last time from Italy!
Monday, December 10, 2012
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Sociology 490 Week 6 Last Blog!
We finished up week 6 this past Sunday, I cannot believe but we are almost done with our journey here in Italy. I could not be any more saddened by this fact. I feel like it was just yesterday we were in our first week at our new campus in Italy, but it was more than 7 weeks ago. We were stumbling over our Italian the first week and did not know what to do unless we were around our trusted translator, Danilo. But, here we are in the seventh week now and we know how to order things in Italian and greet mostly anyone on the streets. We have come in contact with people of all races, ages, and ethnicities. My eyes have been opened more than ever through this experience. From the buses to the subways, we always have an eye on our bags and belongings because you never know who could be a pickpocket. I don't say this to scare any of you that are reading this blog. This is just the way you have to be in any big city.
I have found myself calling this place my home and I like it a lot. We go off every weekend on our weekend trips and then we are all excited to go home, back to Rome. We are learning Italian very well, I may add. This last Thursday, we had to interview Italians about their healthcare in a local market. Did I mention, most of them did not know any English?? We were told how to ask them if they wanted to take a survey for our university. We went up to them to ask and many told us no but we just had to keep going and ask other people until we got all 10 interviews done. My partner and I had this same experience with the fact that people would say no and we just had to carry on. We finally found a huge group of University students and they spoke English!! We got all of our interviews done, yay! It was pretty difficult to ask people to do these surveys in Italian but we did just fine after asking a couple people. I really enjoyed doing this assignment because it challenged us to use our Italian and ask random people questions.
I cannot believe that we know enough Italian now to go up to random people and ask them things in Italian! It just goes to show how much we have learned throughout our journey here in Rome. In these interviews with Italians, we found that some of them had not even been to a hospital in their lives. This surprised us since they have universal healthcare in Italy. I still do not know what my position is on universal healthcare because we keep reading things in our healthcare book and it keeps changing my mind about it. For this week, we finished the book and it did not help my opinion on the issue since I keep getting more knowledge on the issue and it just gets me confused on my position. In our book, Farrel's article speaks about infant mortality rates and life expectancies. He states that the U.S. ranks 29th in the world for infant mortality rate and 48th in life expectancy. This is very surprising since I feel that we are all around a healthy country.
I am not sure how I feel still about the universal healthcare issue but doing these interviews with Italians that have universal healthcare has helped. I found during these interviews that most Italians do not like the universal healthcare system that they have. The topic that we also had to discuss is Can we cure disease through the power of prayer? I do not believe that this is possible but you do need spiritual power to keep up your hopes and to help you keep fighting against a disease. You need hope to keep fighting in these situtations and if you do not have this, you could just give up. I do think that the power of prayer is important in fighting off a disease but it cannot be cured without medical help. I have enjoyed so much this experience and I have loved learning about healthcare this class as a whole. Thank you to everyone who has been reading my blogs as well!
I have found myself calling this place my home and I like it a lot. We go off every weekend on our weekend trips and then we are all excited to go home, back to Rome. We are learning Italian very well, I may add. This last Thursday, we had to interview Italians about their healthcare in a local market. Did I mention, most of them did not know any English?? We were told how to ask them if they wanted to take a survey for our university. We went up to them to ask and many told us no but we just had to keep going and ask other people until we got all 10 interviews done. My partner and I had this same experience with the fact that people would say no and we just had to carry on. We finally found a huge group of University students and they spoke English!! We got all of our interviews done, yay! It was pretty difficult to ask people to do these surveys in Italian but we did just fine after asking a couple people. I really enjoyed doing this assignment because it challenged us to use our Italian and ask random people questions.
I cannot believe that we know enough Italian now to go up to random people and ask them things in Italian! It just goes to show how much we have learned throughout our journey here in Rome. In these interviews with Italians, we found that some of them had not even been to a hospital in their lives. This surprised us since they have universal healthcare in Italy. I still do not know what my position is on universal healthcare because we keep reading things in our healthcare book and it keeps changing my mind about it. For this week, we finished the book and it did not help my opinion on the issue since I keep getting more knowledge on the issue and it just gets me confused on my position. In our book, Farrel's article speaks about infant mortality rates and life expectancies. He states that the U.S. ranks 29th in the world for infant mortality rate and 48th in life expectancy. This is very surprising since I feel that we are all around a healthy country.
I am not sure how I feel still about the universal healthcare issue but doing these interviews with Italians that have universal healthcare has helped. I found during these interviews that most Italians do not like the universal healthcare system that they have. The topic that we also had to discuss is Can we cure disease through the power of prayer? I do not believe that this is possible but you do need spiritual power to keep up your hopes and to help you keep fighting against a disease. You need hope to keep fighting in these situtations and if you do not have this, you could just give up. I do think that the power of prayer is important in fighting off a disease but it cannot be cured without medical help. I have enjoyed so much this experience and I have loved learning about healthcare this class as a whole. Thank you to everyone who has been reading my blogs as well!
Monday, December 3, 2012
Global Learning Week 6!
I cannot believe it once again, but we have come to the end of another week here in Rome. This week was a very eventful one and one that I thoroughly enjoyed being apart of. We went to the Vatican City twice this week and it was a blast! On Monday, we climbed the Dome of St. Peter's Basillica. It was almost 600 stairs to get to the top of the Dome. By the end of the climb to the top, we were all dying and very out of breath, but the sight at the top was more than I could have every imagined. It was crazy to think that we had climbed up to the top and had such an amazing view of Rome from the top of that place so high up. The walk down from the top was a little less tiring but it was scarier for me since you could see the stairs and see yourself going round and round to the bottom. It was an experience of a lifetime and I am glad that I got to see that!
On Tuesday, we went into the Vatican City! We had to go through security and then we went underground to below St. Peter's Basillica. We were very appreciative to be let underground since they only let 100 people a day underground! We got to see the underneath of St. Peter's Basillica and the remains of St. Peter! I could not catch my breath thinking about what I had seen that day. The remains of St. Peter, he is the most influential person in the Catholic history behind Jesus of course...I couldn't believe that we had actually gotten to see that with our own eyes. After we saw this amazing tomb, we had a student-led tour of St. Peter's Basillica by Brandon and Katie. They did a great job and we were very pleased with what we got to see. After the tour, we got lunch at a little pizza place just outside the city, it was delicious! We then had class in St. Peter's Square.
On Wednesday, we had a free day and I am gonna be honest I used it to catch up on sleep and do some homework. Then, we had movie night and watched Home Alone, classic! Thursday, we had American breakfast!! It was made by our very own Professor and Mike! It was delicious, I think it was extra delicious because we haven't had real American breakfast in so long! Thank you Professor for all your hard work to prepare that for us! Then, we hopped on the train to Rome to go to San Lorenzo Market to do our healthcare interviews. We had to interview people in Italian! It was kind of difficult to just go up to people and ask them if they wanted to fill out a survey but we got the hang of it.
On Friday, we left for Sorrento. We had to take a lot of transportation to get there but it was worth it once we finally got there. We took the fast train and then a train from Naples to Sorrento. It was so beautiful and I could not believe that we were there in such a beautiful place and it was surreal that it was our last weekend together as a group. We enjoyed our weekend so much and did not want it to end. Naples was kind of sketchy though, it was kind of dirty and we were pretty excited to leave that place to go back to our temporary home in Rome! This week in class we started to read The Talented Mr. Ripley. It is a very good book about a young man who is sent on a journey to a city just South of Naples to find another young man and bring him back to America. It is beginning to be a very good book and we are getting very into it. I realized when we were in Naples and I was reading the book, that we had waited to read the book until we were in Naples, so that we were familiar with the territory. I cannot wait to continue to get into the book further and finish it before class the last week!
On Tuesday, we went into the Vatican City! We had to go through security and then we went underground to below St. Peter's Basillica. We were very appreciative to be let underground since they only let 100 people a day underground! We got to see the underneath of St. Peter's Basillica and the remains of St. Peter! I could not catch my breath thinking about what I had seen that day. The remains of St. Peter, he is the most influential person in the Catholic history behind Jesus of course...I couldn't believe that we had actually gotten to see that with our own eyes. After we saw this amazing tomb, we had a student-led tour of St. Peter's Basillica by Brandon and Katie. They did a great job and we were very pleased with what we got to see. After the tour, we got lunch at a little pizza place just outside the city, it was delicious! We then had class in St. Peter's Square.
On Wednesday, we had a free day and I am gonna be honest I used it to catch up on sleep and do some homework. Then, we had movie night and watched Home Alone, classic! Thursday, we had American breakfast!! It was made by our very own Professor and Mike! It was delicious, I think it was extra delicious because we haven't had real American breakfast in so long! Thank you Professor for all your hard work to prepare that for us! Then, we hopped on the train to Rome to go to San Lorenzo Market to do our healthcare interviews. We had to interview people in Italian! It was kind of difficult to just go up to people and ask them if they wanted to fill out a survey but we got the hang of it.
On Friday, we left for Sorrento. We had to take a lot of transportation to get there but it was worth it once we finally got there. We took the fast train and then a train from Naples to Sorrento. It was so beautiful and I could not believe that we were there in such a beautiful place and it was surreal that it was our last weekend together as a group. We enjoyed our weekend so much and did not want it to end. Naples was kind of sketchy though, it was kind of dirty and we were pretty excited to leave that place to go back to our temporary home in Rome! This week in class we started to read The Talented Mr. Ripley. It is a very good book about a young man who is sent on a journey to a city just South of Naples to find another young man and bring him back to America. It is beginning to be a very good book and we are getting very into it. I realized when we were in Naples and I was reading the book, that we had waited to read the book until we were in Naples, so that we were familiar with the territory. I cannot wait to continue to get into the book further and finish it before class the last week!
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