Last few days....

I can't believe that my time in Italy is coming to an end! Thankfully we had the opportunity to have a bit of a party before everyone parted ways. I think that the Festa was the perfect way to end the program not only allowing us to celebrate with our families but also getting a chance to meet some more of the families that may not have been able to come to pizza and gelato. The Villa Delfini was speculator and I was so happy that the whole family could attend and meet all of my friends. I can't believe the amount of hospitality that this group of people had for me throughout my stay made the experience the best I could imagine. The effort that they put into making sure I felt like a part of the family was something I am so grateful for. I think that living with the host family was one of the only ways that studying abroad can be the most enriching and beneficial and I am so thankful for the opportunity to do so. I have learned a lot about not only about Italian culture and traditions but about myself and most of that is due to the Po Family. I am forever in debt to them.

I also was lucky enough to have opportunity to introduce my host family to my real family. We met to go out for dinner and even though my family does not speak a word of Italian, everyone got along famously. My parents and sisters from home having the opportunity to interact with the Po family really helped them to understand and hear about what I had been going through for the past few weeks. After dinner however it was time to go our separate ways. I can't wait to go back and see my host family as soon as possible, I miss them already.

History of Carpi

While Carpi is a small town that nearly everyone around the world things you are mispronouncing when trying to say "Capri", it is a town full of a rich history! Their is a castle and a church that have been around for centuries. There are two piazza's, an old one that sits between the castle and church and the new, much larger piazza that has served as the main piazza since the Pio family, or the rulers of Carpi, changed the way the castle faced in the 1400's. Not only does it have many old, beautiful buildings but it also houses a few museums within what use to be the Pio Palace, or the castle. There is a tour that can be taken through almost the entire castle to see where the Pio family used to reside. The museum also shows the progression of the city of Carpi and it's textile empire over the past few centuries. Not only is there a museum that covers the history of Carpi and all that has led to what it is today, but there is also a small commemorative museum that holds artifacts and the strong, brave words of many victims of the holocaust camp that was located right outside Carpi in Fossili. We have had the privelage of going into see both of these museums, and while the Pio Palace is beautiful and full of many paintings and rooms, it was the "Museo della Deportazione" or the Museum of deportation, that really got to me. Across all of the walls there is at least one quote from a victim or survivor of the camp, words of fear, hatred, weakness, courage and strength. There are also many different paintings that were drawn to depict the horror within the camps and the victims of such terrible events. Those carvings in the wall along with the artifacts, such as barbed wire, letters, jumpsuits, etc. made the museum an intense experience that I am so thankful I got to hear about. While it is very sad, the words that were on the walls were not at all what I expected nor thought were possible from people living in such a place. Everyone should go to this museum or at least visit the memorial that is outside the museum in the form of 6 meter tall gravestones with all the names of the concentration, deportation and work camps that were opened in world war 2.

Italian Family Life and Tradition

Having the opportunity to live within a family had given me an chance to see how the structure and family roles are both different and similar to those that make up a typical family in America. While the general idea is pretty much the same, in most cases, mom, dad, one or two kids, the roles that each of the family members hold is a little different. In my host family, our household is made up of the father and mother and two children, a boy and a girl, the daughter is however from another marriage and her father lives in America. The father also has two other sons, that are older and live with their mother in a home in another part of Carpi. They are often over here, however, their mother is their main caregiver. I have found that this is often common even for families that are structured a bit differently, the mothers are usually the ones in charge of caring for the children and cooking the meals. While I was somewhat aware of this fact from knowing a bit about Italian culture, I was not aware that generally children don't move out of their parents home until well into their late twenties. Usually they stay in the family home until they get married or move into a home with the person they plan to marry. Also, in regards to traditional Italian milestones, when a man and woman decide that they are going to become engaged, a ring is not always exchanged. As soon as the ring is given the couple is bound to getting married there is no backing out.

I have also come to realize that in general the way of life and the way that the Italian culture evaluates their day is very different. The schedule of the day goes a little like this:
8am- leave for school/work
Between 1pm and 2pm - Everyone goes home for lunch. I mean everyone, most schools let out, stores close, etc.
Between 2:30 and 4:30pm- Nap time, homework time, free time or back to work. Generally right after a big lunch people take naps for at least 30 minutes or, like my family, the parents go back to work. Otherwise kids go do homework or relax as well. No one really goes out because none of the stores open up again until 4ish.
Around 5pm- My "mom" comes home after picking up my "brother" from scouts, futbol practice or his friends house.
From 5 to around 8:30 pm- Relax time, go hang out with friends, do homework, keeping napping, etc. At around 7 or 8 most of the shops close, if they chose to re open after lunch that is. It is hard to tell since almost none of the shops have the hours posted because they aren't really sure what they are going to be.
8:30 to 9pm- Dinner time
The rest of the night is time to hang out with the family until either the older kids go out or it is time for bed.

While I love the naps in the middle of the day and the homemade meals, not knowing when or if a store is going to be open is highly inconvenient and has gotten a bit frustrating at times. 

Falco Magico

I really enjoyed performing "Spot goes to the Circus" at Falco Magico last week! There were two days of shows each two different performances for varying age levels. I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to attend one of the performances as well as to be in the show itself the next day. Seeing the show was a really fun time. All of my students had some familiarity with the story line since I had read the book to them a couple of times and we were going over a lot of the animal names in class, however they are still only four years old so the actors really did a good job making sure that they enunciated and spoke very slowly. They also really enjoyed the songs that we sang throughout the performance especially since each song was played twice so that the students could remember the song better the second time and get a little more excited about singing and dancing to it. Being on the other side of the stage and being an animal in the circus was also so much fun! I tried very hard to make sure that the audience had just as much fun as my students did when they saw the show. I think that putting on a show of the book was a really good idea and helped me to not only expand my students understanding of what the book was about without having to translate the words but it also got them excited to read it again and talk about the animals in English. I also realized how important enthusiasm is when trying to help a student understand something or get excited about learning something. Knowing that we were having fun as actors really helped the kids in the audience feel like they could get up and participate and have as much fun as we were.

Venice....

As cliche as this is, words can not describe the beauty that Venice possesses! The entire place is a labyrinth with streets that look like alleys and a walkway that is seemingly always filled with tourists. All kinds of stores, stands and restaurants line the street and so many of them are filled with the glass and masks that Venice is so famous for. The masks are every color and style you can imagine and many have elaborate feathers, lace, fabric, etc. designed all over them. The glass is beautiful and colorful and formed into so many different shapes! There are glasses, paper weights, animals, perfume bottles, jewelry of all sizes. We walked for hours all around the city getting lost and seeing all the different Piazzas, the Palazza Ducale. The bridges and small sidewalks all along the canal are all the entrances to either residences or even more stores. The houses along the canal are decorated with clothes lines and colorful paint and beautiful roofs. While we were walking through the market we also had the opportunity to see a parade walk through with so many young girls and boys dressed in amazing pirate looking costumes. The only things that I had any issue with the the amount of people all over the city. It is incredibly tourist-y and so many different languages are being spoken by groups of people all around you. Also there is a fairly steep sitting charge at almost all of the restaurants so even if you are buying something, its going to cost you to sit at their tables and eat their very expensive but tasty food.

All around Carpi!

I am amazed at the beauty that not only Carpi possesses but also the areas around Carpi. At the end of last week I had the opportunity to go to the Safari Zoo in Pastrengo, Gardaland near Verona and a beach in Tuscany. The zoo was unlike anything I had ever seen before! My classroom went as a field trip and I was an extra person to watch the students, however I was as amazed and memorized as the kids were. Unlike every zoo I have been to, driving into the zoo was like a true safari, the animals were running in front of the bus and roaming around together freely. It was truly an experience I was lucky to have because I got to see various types of animals I had never seen before in an environment as close to natural as possible. The drive to get the the Zoo was also very beautiful and I was able to see many different types of houses and a glimpse into what Verona looks like. Gardaland, which is the equivalent of our Six Flags was an adventure even without going on any rides. For the most part things were exactly the same except both much more relaxed. Small differences like people jumping the rope lines and smoking in line and changing in the middle of everyone were just a few things I noticed right off the bat. The most efficient thing however was the line management system. At the front of every line there was a automated screen that said how many people could go on the ride at that time and then allowed that many people through the gate. So simple, yet so smart! Tuscany was an entirely different world. I have never been in a more beautiful place. Spending the day at the beach bartering with people selling necklaces and books along the shoreline and then walking along the beach during sunset, I saw a completely different part of Italy that was only 2 hours from the place I had been the past two weeks. The types of houses, the businesses and the people were all amazing and I hope to one day get the chance to spend more than just a day there.

In Carpi!!

I can't believe how fast the time is going already! Carpi is amazing and all of the people I have met are so helpful and eager to meet the "Americana". The first week flew by with the introduction to the families, our schools, Carpi and Italy in general. By 9pm everyday I was in bed or was waking up for dinner after a 4 hour nap. We have gotten the chance to experience so many things already especially within the school system here in Carpi. I personally am in a Pre-school class with 4 year-olds who, along with their teachers, did not speak a word of English upon my arrival. At first I was incredibly nervous when I walked into the room, but that nervousness was overcome by excitement and all of the hugs and pictures from my students. Surprisingly, working with the younger kids has helped me learn a lot of basic terms in Italian language, the things that someone who is older wouldn't even think is an important thing, mostly in regards to answering my question "come si dice... (point to an item)". I have seen so many differences and similarities within the classroom as far as behavior management and how different situations with students are handled but if you just looked at the class, aside from the Italian words, it looks like a typical preschool classroom. This however, was not the fact in the rest of the schools I have had the opportunity of seeing. We learned that instead of students moving from classroom to classroom, the teachers are the ones that generally move leaving the classroom itself, pretty bare as far as decoration goes. Also, in many cases, from discussion with other kids visiting Carpi, there is very little structure as far as time goes in the schools. I can't wait to see how much more I will get to learn and see in our short time left.

Ciao, America!: An Italian Discovers the U.S.

This book was a fantastic read for any American planning on traveling to another country. It was fascinating to see what America is like to a person from another country, but the thing that I enjoyed and found most helpful was the fact that I was reading about an experience of a person that was going to be going through the same type of experience that I will soon be going through. It allowed me to see the perspective of a person that was in the country that I am most familiar with. When filling out applications to the program, I was to answer certain questions about things I may encounter when in Italy, things that may see trivial to anyone that lives in Italy or has experienced the culture, but I found myself slightly overwhelmed. Severgnini, similarly wrote about issues where to me, seemed like common sense knowledge however, he got himself into frustrating situations. He talks about issues such as getting settled, buying a unfurnished and not so nice apartment from looking through ads, to setting up telephones and even getting a car. I found it funny and a little bit distasteful in the sense that they talked very poorly about baseball games and clearly the food in America, the types of food and people that he encounters at restaurants that all Americans have predispositions about was very funny to say the least. Seeing our culture through another pair of eyes made for a very humorous and helpful book. I will try my best to not be so quick to judge and "jump" at certain situations while I'm thrust into the Italian culture. Anyone planning to travel abroad should read this book!