Sicilia

*Top-Entrance to Sigonella, the naval base

*Bottom- Shannon's street in Sigonella 

After all of my classes ended, I traveled to Catania, Sicily to visit my friend Shannon.  Shannon’s dad is an officer in the US Navy and is stationed that the base in Sicily.  I had never been to a naval base before, and I was very excited to see what it would be like. It was very different from what I hade expected.  I thought that there would be one base where everyone lived and worked, and I expected to see sailors walking through the streets.  However, there are actually three different areas for people to work and live, and the only time I saw a sailor was when we presented our IDs at the gate.  The base had a distinct Italian feel in its architecture, but offered many activities found in the US such as a bowling alley, movie theater, and skating park.  I was amazed that the commissary had products found in the US, such as peanut butter and salad dressing, which I desperately missed after being in Italy for almost 2 months.  I loved being on the base and having the opportunity to still visit Italy, but at the same time feel like I was in America. During my stay with Shannon, I learned quite a lot about life on a naval base, which was a cultural experience in itself very different from what I experienced in Florence.  

An Eye Opener

My Italian Cultural History class painted a very different picture of Italy from the one I had when I first arrived. The two most shocking topics we discussed were the control of the media by the prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, and the view of women in the media. The prime minister controls about 90% of the media.  Because of this, he has been known to state something in a press conference, then deny ever having made the statement and order the television networks and newspapers not to report the original statement. Citizen Berlusconi, a PBS documentary on the control Berlusconi has over the government and media, gives a thorough description of the extent of his power and can be found at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSw1pu3IcBE.  Berlusconi has also changed the way women are viewed by altering the way they are portrayed on television.  This short documentary, http://www.ilcorpodelledonne.net/?page_id=91,  shows the images of women that are seen daily.  One might argue that we have similar programming in the United States, but according to my professor, the portrayal of women as sex objects occurs on majority of the television stations all hours of the day, and children grow up watching these shows.  Although similar programs may be found on some cable networks, it is not the only option for entertainment by television.  What shocked me even more was the fact that women are not protesting the way they are portrayed in the media—as pieces of meat for sale, as the last scene in the documentary literally depicts. These two classes allowed me to see a different side of Italy, and took away some of the romance of the country, which Italy portrays to the outside world. 

 

A short update on my desire to volunteer while in Italy: I asked the resident director to help me find a place to volunteer and she said it would be difficult to do during the summer but would look into it.   I followed up with her about a week later and she had not found anything yet (although I’m not sure how hard she looked), so I decided to try and find a place by myself.  I located an elementary school that I believe had summer camps and went to ask if I could volunteer there.  Unfortunately, no one there spoke English, and my Italian is not very strong, therefore, I was unable to express my desire to volunteer.  As much as I would like to continue to try and locate a place to volunteer, I realize that I do not have very many weeks left in Italy and it will be very difficult to convince someone to allow me to volunteer for such a short period of time. 

Hidden Treasures

As much as I love living in Florence, I think I would have enjoyed living in Siena much more.  The town appeared to be much smaller, and it was much less touristy than Florence.  One of the things I have enjoyed the most about visiting smaller cities is that it is easy to wander around them and find “hidden treasures.”  For instance, in Pisa, the small group I traveled with managed to wander away from the tourist area and into the residential areas.  I liked getting to catch a glimpse of what living in Pisa would look like.  Likewise, in Siena, we gave ourselves some time to wander around the city without a specific destination.  Because of this, we stumbled across an adorable little decorative candle shop.  The Italian woman was dipping the candles into the hot wax, cutting, and shaping the candles right in front of us.  It was a wonderful experience to watch the precision and speed in her work.  Even though it is important to research and plan when one travels to another city to make sure you see all the significant sites in the city, I would suggest giving yourself time to simply walk around and enjoy a less traversed part of the city. Everyone who goes to Pisa sees the Tower, but watching children ride around on scooters and finding an old abandoned church can make the experience truly unique. 

Firenze

Walking around Florence is such a surreal experience.  The amount of history that I am surrounded with is amazing.  I feel like a little kid and get so excited at every new street I walk down and building I see.  I wish there were some way for me to capture everything I see and hear and smell so I can take it back to the U.S. with me.  I find myself wanting to take pictures of everything, because it is all so beautiful and novel to me.  As exciting as the city is during the day, it takes on a whole different feel at night.  It seems as if most of the tourists turn in for the night, and the locals come out.  The streets are surprisingly well lit, but not with harsh florescent light like we often see in the US, but yellow light that creates a relaxed, cozy feel about the city.  The American pop music coming from the stores and market vendors during the day is no longer heard as the acoustic guitar players and jazz bands form in the pizzas at night.  The music and lighting creates an atmosphere like of a dream.  As magical as Florence is, I feel as though I am still an outsider.  I suppose I always will be.  However, I would like to find a way of integrating myself into their culture a more than would be possible if I were just visiting for a day or even a week.  The problem is that I know almost no Italian, but I have decided to speak with the resident director of my study abroad program.  I have asked her to help me find a place to volunteer with young children for the weeks I will be staying in Florence.  I hope that this will allow me to make some personal connections with the residents of Florence, and put me on a schedule that is more similar to the one I have in the U.S., especially once classes start.  

Salad?

The first lunch I had in Florence was at a small spaghetteria near our apartment building that is located is a less touristy area in Florence.  We walked into the restaurant and explained to the waitress that we wanted a table for 7 in a mixture of English and Italian.  When we opened the menu, everything was written in Italian, although some words were easily recognizable like pizza and spaghetti.  However, most of our group did not want a warm lunch, so we asked the waiter if they had salad.  He pointed to a place on the menu and we ordered "salad."  Several minutes later, the waiter brought us a big plate of spinach.  I don't mean fresh spinach that you would have in a spinach salad.  This was frozen spinach that was warmed up and piled on a plate (I tried it, and it wasn't even seasoned).  The faces of the members of the group must have tipped off the waiter that something was wrong, and we explained what we thought we had ordered.  He was very kind, and brought us a mixture of vegetables.    As awkward as I felt at the time, it was a very funny experience that I'll carry with me for quite sometime.  I'm looking forward to learning Italian so I can know what I am ordering. 

So It Begins

One of the reasons I wanted to study abroad was to get a change from my education classes.  This past year I did not take any courses outside of Peabody, and next year will be similar.  I love all of my classes, but I was definitely looking forward to exploring a different area of study.  This summer I am taking and introductory Italian language course, a course on Italian culture entitled Italian Cultural History, and a course in renaissance art and architecture.  My Italian Language course is very practical, I’ve already learned a lot.  Although I wish we had it more than twice a week. It is hard to learn a language in only a couple of weeks, but we are already learning a lot of vocabulary and grammar.  My Italian Culture course is challenging me to think differently about how you perceive culture, and I will have to describe the contents of this course in more detail in a later post.  Finally, my art history class is like getting a private tour of the different churches and museums around the city.  My professor is very intelligent and presents art history in the form of stories making it both entertaining and much easier to remember.  All of my art history classes except for test days are onsite so we can look at the actual painting/sculpture/building while we are hearing about it.  The picture above is of our professor, Peter, who guides us around the city on his bike.  I look forward to learning more about Florence and Italy through these classes and I believe they will definitely provide me with more insight into where I am living than if I were just visiting.  

Buongiorno!

Due to some technical difficulties, I am starting to write this blog much later than I would have liked.  Therefore, my first few posts will be a look back in time to a couple of weeks ago at the events that happened since my departure.  I am excited to keep you all updated on my adventures as I study here in Florence during the week, and travel to other cities in Italy.