Marimar

Final Reflection of my Experience in Italy

Wednesday May 30, 2018

Today is my first week back in the United States. Everything is a rush for me because I had to catch up with other commitments, but I do not find myself back home yet. It's weird... It does not take me a while to adjust back to the United States when I come from my trips to Ecuador but I guess this delay is happening because I also moved back from NC to NY. I have mixed feelings.

On the other hand, regardless of how I am feeling, something that I know for sure is the inmense gratitude I feel towards all the people I met in Italy. Not only one, two, or three people, but I mean every single one of them, including the lady who will warmly welcome us for breakfast at Europane every single day we went. Every single person in Italy made me feel like I was in Ecuador, everybody tries their best to welcome us regardless of the struggles they were going through at that moment. When people ask me what I liked the most about Italy, I tell them everything, but they want a specific answer, so I have no option but to choose one thing, I always respond the people. The people from Italy represented their identity, the pride they feel for who they are and their culture and their homeland, but most importantly, the knowledge they own about their own history. In Bernalda, people were proud because of the history it carries, because of the strong personality that this place shapes youth with, in Lecce, people were happily living at the sea, willing to offer their resources to others. This is how every place we visited was, people had their something unique to offer and share with others without expecting anything back. The least we could do was to appreciate every cultural aspect and let them know our gratitude. However, sometimes I would act selfish and not do that, and wished I could have given so much more in return of what I received.

Lifestyle was very different in Italy than in the United States. As my final reflection, something that I noticed that was very similar to Ecuador and that I hope Ecuador improves on and so Italy is the role that women have. Women can work and have a contribution to society but yet, in my native country, she is the one that cleans, cooks, and is the boss inside the house, but outside of the house, in the public sphere, the man is the one that oversees and takes decisions for the family. Men is the responsible one for the family and it is not often well seen that the woman works while the man does not. I spoke with a couple of my students at Bernalda, and when I would share my personal story they felt connected. It is true that nowadays in both Ecuador in Italy women have more rights and a voice, but there is so much they can do and offer. The same issue happens in the United States, in a different way though. Women are given more freedom but are they really more valued? A woman in the United States can have the same position, tasks, and responsibilities than a men, but yet be paid less in most places. Men are more likely to be found in the STEM field and so does in my native country. So yes, it is a pattern that I have noticed in the three countries I have been in.

However, this is not all I see in Italy. I also saw the effort that people put into the aspects of their culture. For example, I have never seen a wood oven inside a business and I know that that has a big influence in the taste of the best pizza I have ever eaten in my life. In Ecuador, it takes people about one hour or even more to turn on a wood oven, and in the United States, I barely see people doing it. Even people who do barbecue do it with electronic grills which I always thought was better because of convenience, but I changed my mind. Another thing that I noticed was that Southern Italy is rich in seafood. I hate myself for being so culturally incompetent and not trying to eat seafood. Maybe this it could have been different and maybe that I am older my stomach could have not rejected. Yes, I was more opened on trying other new foods here than other places I have been, but I should have done more. I could have been able to, I should have tried! I could have done it! However, there's no way back and I think that the best way to improve that is to keep that mentality of being opened to new things that do it for a next occasion. Hopefully one day I have the resources to go back and try those things that I missed. But as Fabio says, I am too young and I must push myself to experience more!

What can I reflect from this trip? There are pages I could write because everything I experience deserves the gratefulness, attention, and the lessons learned that I could give. On the other hand, even though it was time for me to come back because I was enxious to move back home from college, it was weird for me to not go to the school that Monday we were in Rome. I told myself at 7:58am on that Monday: "If we were in Bernalda, we would be arriving to this school at this time..." and left myself thinking and started remembering every student I could think of. Once again, going back to the United States was hard for me. I felt nauseous the first two weeks all the time because food was fresher and had less chemicals in Bernalda and I was used to that already. Right now, I am still trying to adjust to the foods we eat here. I also miss the slow walkings at evenings. I still remember the first couple of days how we walked so fast and we were often told to slow down. Now I am told to "hurry up" because I am still walking at a slower pace. I learned how to go to bed at 10pm or 11pm, and then wake up at 7am. My parents are so happy about that because I get to see my dad before he goes to work. Irrelevant things in a daily life became so relevant to me at transitioning back to the United States. Now, I told myself to keep the good memories but most importantly every single lesson learned before, during, and after the trip. I made mistakes too, but I have no shame to acknowledge them, reflect about them, and improve them for the future and myself.

All I have to say is thank you to all the people who made this trip possible for me and who allowed me to see the aspects I need to improve in order to become a more professional and kinder human being. It definitely has impacted who I am personally and professionally, and shaped the experiences I am living as a young adult.

Pompeii and the Impact of Volcanoes: A True Learning Experience for me

Saturday May 26, 2018

It was unexpected for me today. Everything new to me was shocking, and I had a lot of moments where I saw myself making connections with history and my own moral opinions.

Here at Pompeii I started learning things about Ancient History that we barely learn at school. For the first time, I learned how much harm a volcano eruption can cause on people and the way many people died hundreds of years ago. I must be honest and acknowledge that I did not know anything about Pompeii nor the danger that a volcano eruption caused here. I learned how an entire community ended years ago because of that. And as ignorant as it may sound I did not know that ashes can kill a human being. At Pompeii, I was able to see an exact replication of the actual dead bodies from this volcano eruption. These replications are made out of plaster. For a moment I thought that the dead bodies portrayed at Pompeii were the actual real bodies of the people who died, and I just could not imagine how unmoral that could have been. I thought so in the beginning because these bodies look very real. Additionally, we did not only see adult human bodies but also animals, babies, everybody covering their head and themselves while trying to survive.

Dead bodies from the volcano eruption got me immediately thinking about the way us human beings die. And then after learning all this information from this historical event, a couple of days after, there is a volcano eruption happening in Guatemala. I was just not only surprised this time but even though I can never understand the pain and desperation since I have not been in that situation before, at least I could portray in my head those exact feelings of desperation and pain from the victims from Guatemala. I realized that there is no worse natural disaster than others, because all of them destroy communities and that makes me more aware of and conscious of the way we treat our environment.

Finally, it was also interesting for me to learn the way powerful people from this area and time entertained themselves. It was fascinating and it made sense how people were comfortable showing their bodies. The fact that were was no shame when showing the human body teach us to today's generations how much people's mentality can change throughout the years, but it also gave me another important reason to learn history.

Being at Pompeii got me really thinking a lot. I constantly kept on picturing in my head the events that people were describing from the volcano eruption. It was very hard to keep up with observing the actual physical place and the significance of the historical moments and aspects we were learning at the same time. However, I acknowledge the privilege I have for being here and learning this aspect of history that not many people know about.

Swimming in the Ocean for the First Time

Saturday May 19, 2018

This blog entry will be a little different. This time I did something unique, once again. For the first time I got to swim in the ocean and even though I was super scared I think of myself as somebody who can do things that I never thought I was going to do. Same as last weekend that I flew off the mountain, this time I threw myself to the middle of the ocean without knowing how to swim. Of course I had the support of Anna and Fabio and he was with me the entire time. Even though I had a lifeguard jacket, I still feel content with what I did and I would do it again.

Taking risks like this reminds me very often about the things that one has to do sometimes for their students. If I get to teach a classroom where there are children who are or come from immigrant families like I am, it is important for me to be a role model and encourage them to not be afraid of trying new things. Once again, I must admit that I am impressed with the new things I have done here, but it would not be fair for me to ask my future students to try new experiences when I do not do so. Yes, it is important and crucial what we learn in the classroom as students, especially when someone is an immigrant or a refugee, but it is also important to talk about the things that we do outside of the classroom. Being new to the United States and the variety of cultures is hard, but it can help when one is opened to have as many positive experiences as possible.

Now, I wonder what new and final adventures Fabio and Anna have prepared for us this time... I guess being open-minded and culturally competent are key tools for these kind of experiences!

Hiking a Mountain to Fall off of it Later!

Sunday May 13, 2018

Today was my second day in the mountains, in my lifetime and so, I got to appreciate the beauty of this place. However, here I was again being uncomfortable. We walked almost the entire day, I hiked the mountain almost to the top, and on top of that, I fell off it. This was something completely new to me but I was so thrilling on doing something new. I think that at this point, I am getting used to do uncomfortable things in Southern Italy!

When reflecting about the area, here is where we started connecting Carlo Levi's book and Southern Italy. I stayed curious because since it was our day off, we briefly talked about him. And honestly, I could not even pay much attention to the discussion because I was too nervous for flying off the mountain. Yet, I noticed some of the main characteristic from the area. This place seemed to be a little more touristic than the other places we have visited. The streets are small, and are meant for people to walk and not drive. I liked the pizza from here, it was the best one I ate, although there was no much difference from Bernalda's pizza. Something else that I also noticed, is that in this area, it would not be very expensive for tourists to come visit. Services and goods are very inexpensive.

Finally, while hiking the mountain, I could hear some of my classmates' conversation. I think I should be more intentional when sharing with them my feelings and thoughts as a minority student on the Guilford campus. This is because I see how we have been challenged so much our cultural competence levels but sometimes people make comments that I see can offend others and their cultures. What can I do about it? While doing this reflection, I think I need to suck it up and speak up! I have an advantage in this place which is that people in the area look like me, so I should use this and my position as the Teaching Assistant to show others how to be more openminded and culturally competent.

Arriving to Italy: Eleven Hours Away from Home!

Tuesday May 8, 2018

This is my first time going to an unfamiliar place without a relative. I was scared because I never thought I could be in Europe this early in my life, by myself! However, things happened better than expected. Coming to Italy was a rush, I travelled two days right after my college graduation, and had barely time to rest. Nevertheless, the limited time did not prevent me from enjoying things every single minute.

As soon as I arrived to Italy I felt disconnected because of the language barrier. But at the same time, I started feeling excited and happy because I was somewhere completely knew and remembered all the good things to come.

My first impression from Italy were the people. Paola and Antonio, teachers from the school where we volunteer were super welcoming as soon as they saw us for the first time. And then when we went to the restaurant, the owner and the waiter gave us a lot of appetizers. It seems to me that in the Italian culture, people eat a lot of appetizers first. The most impressive thing from this moment was that since the first meal, people gave us a lot of food. We only ordered two pizza pies for us the students because we were so full just by eating appetizers. It was a very warm welcoming night and I am super excited to go to the school tomorrow!