Questionnaires: my experience of the exchange

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I think so far you understand that I'm enthusiastic about the exchange. We always complain that we can't practice talking in English, especially to native speakers. Well, now we had that possibility. My peers and I talked about many topics, some of them were completely new for me, others not so. This experience was very exciting, although it was not always easy. I found it really interesting talking to my peers on Skype, but I usually feel more comfortable in face-to-face communication. To me body language and facial expression (non-verbial communication) play a very important role in conversation and make it more effective. Anyway, it didn't affect the exchange so much.

My knowledge about the other country and its culture is wider now. Furthermore, I think that talking to other people is an opportunity to change your mind and get to know things from another point of view. Nobody was stuck in his/her opinion. We never had particularly serious problems of misunderstandings. The conversation was fluent and if it happened that somebody didn't know much about one issue we simply tried to explain it.

Skype exchange: 4th part

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Hi everybody!

Last Wednesday Stella, Cristina and me talked to our peer Ashley. This time we talked only about our final project: it's no easy task to develop a work method! First of all we taked about the possible topics and our ideas.

1. University life
2. Health care system
3. Pregnant women's rights at workplace

In the end we chose the third proposal because it is the most attractive to us and because I think we are the only group that decided to delve into the subject. It took a while since we all agreed but in the end we did it!

Then we had to think about our work method and we decided to send us e-mails and write on the wiki page of our group so that we could find information by ourselves and then compare them later.

So far we are still researching and we'll keep on till next Wednesday.

Bye bye

Immigration in Italy

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In the year 2005 there were 3.035.000 imigrants living in Italy ( Dossier Caritas), 59% in the North, 27% in the Centre, 13,5 in the South. In the past Italy was a country of emigrants, now we are one of the country where people immigrate. When we talk about immigration, I think, we must specify who immigrants are. I mean, there are young people coming from abroad who want to study, there are workers , there are people who moved because they wanted to go back to their origins and there are 'clandestine' imigrants.

Legal immigrants in Italy are approximately 2.7 million, while estimates ranging from 500,000 to 800,000 people live illegally in the country. Many of them attempt to come into the EU through Italian coastline, a target for illigal immigrants who can then take advantage of the Schengen zone and travel free within the EU. In the last few years we heard a lot about desperate people who travel in inhuman condition, on untrustworthy boats in the hopes of finding a better life. The lucky ones who reach the coast lose their hope very soon. This issue is very delicate: on one side the government must control the phenomenon and says that illegal immigrants must go back to their home country because they don't have the right to stay here. On the other hand, if we consider that most of them come from very poor countries, where rights are denied and food is not available for everyone, then, developed countries we must do something to help them. The problem is that many 'clandestine' immigrants become then criminals and that's why citizens are worried. As a student living in Padova, for example, I don't feel safe. I think the system does not work; if you come in humble conditions from a poor country and nobody besides criminals can 'help' you (in fact they use you for their dirty purposes) you become then a criminal as well.

As far as legal immigration is concerned, I think that this is a natural phenomenon also due to globalization. In order to become a citizen you need 5 years. Before foreigners can partecipate in public life, although it doesn't include partecipation in political life except for EU citizens who can vote in municipal elections. Europe is becoming more and more international, maybe we are living the first steps for an european melting pot.

Skype exchange: 3rd part

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Last wednesday Stella and me talked to Ashley about our favorite topic: election 2008. She asked if we were going to vote, the answer was no because both Stella and me don't live in Padova and don't have enough time to go home. Anyway, we made her a very interesting question: 'if Obama wins the elections, would it be a landslide victory defined by race?' And: ' if Clinton wins, would it be a landslide victory defined by gender?'. Well, she told us that both candidates have many supporters according to race or gender and she told us that a roommate of hers is going to vote for Clinton simply because she is a woman like her. She doesn't care about Clinton's political programm, is just a matter of female solidarity!!

Unfourtunately this time we had only few minutes to talk because Ashley had to go to class.

Skype exchange: 2nd part

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Before reflecting on my second skype exchange I would like to thank Sarah for having given us this great opportunity. We, as students, always complain that we cannot speak and communicate with native speakers, well, now we can. I would like to add that this activity should be part of the previous years' courses as well. I noticed that by talking to native speakers on actual subjects I can get an idea of my level of English. While we are having a conversation, we don't have so much time to reflect on grammar, syntax, words, etc. Everything becomes much more complicated and we have to be quick. That is why by talking we can really improve our English! For these reasons, I think teachers, in general, should promote this activity.

So far you understood that I'm enthusiastic about our skype exchange! Last wednesday I talked to Ugo and he told me that he has Italian ancestors, as my previous skype partner. So I thought that probably most Americans who decide to learn Italian are of Italian ancestry and are therefore linked in some way to our culture. After a brief introduction of ourselves we begann to talk about politics and I gave him the link to the video of Berlusconi. Actually, it took a while before I succeed in convicing him that it was not a joke. He could'nt believe that a political candidate could do such a thing. Comparing it with the videos of the Obana girl, we came to the conclusion that it could benefit but also demage the image of Obama himself and that it is not respectful of his privacy at all.

We then dicsussed about the role of the media (especially in democracy), focusing on the political campaigns. He knew that three of the major Italian channels belong to Berlusconi and that the other three channels are not so free as they are supposed to be. He told me also that CNN is on the side of Bush as well. So, where is media freedom? Is this control on print and broadcast media threatening democracy? I think that it could be worthy to explore further this aspect as we are living in countries which are always proud to confirm how important democracy is. I must to say that I have never been so interesed in politics as I am now. So our skype exchange is not only useful for our language but also for our personal knowledge: it is important for us to stay informed, not only about what is happening domestically, but also globally.

Intercultural Competence: the YOGA form

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I had never sat down and reflected on my intercultural competence before. By using the YOGA form I tried to assess and understand what intercultural competence is. I realized how important it is to have a cross cultural preparation nowadays: it is not only important if you work or study abroad, but it is also significant for other reasons. For example, if you simply go on holiday abroad, I believe, you need to be prepared and you need to know how you are expected to behave within a different culture. Of course, it is impossible to deeply know all cultures all over the world, but the awerness of the existence of other cultures besides ours is crucial.

Right now, I'm attending a course of international business at the Chamber of Commerce and from the very first lessons we were told how important it is to know other cultures, their differences and their similarities. We learned how similar situations are handled in different ways according to the country in which they take place.

I think I know the german culture better than any other since I've lived for one year in Germany when I went on Erasmus and now I go very often there. Before using the YOGA form I never examined my intercultural development. If I think about that, I realize that when I'm abroad I always attempt to integrate myself in with people who live there and I always try to communicate in the host language (of course when I can speak it), otherwise I communicate in English. It can happen that I see that some aspects of the host country's culture are very different from my own and if I have the possibilty I like to talk with people about it . It can be a nice comparison but it must be well-balanced.

Reading the YOGA form I realized that it takes a lot of time to deeply get to know host cultures. I think the most important thing to keep in mind is the attitude with which you face new situations and contexts. I personally went abroad many times and, as I like travelling, I always try to spend my holidays as far as possible. When I'm going to visit a new country I always try to get information about it before my departure even though I know that only by living there and being in contact with people I have the chance to know that society. In the end I can say that the self-evaluation guide helped me to analyze some aspects of my behaviour that I didn't considered before and I realized that although I don't know deeply many cultures I have a very postive attitude towards everything that is new to me and I hope in the future I can develop my intercultural competence more and more.

Skype exchange

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On Wednesday me and Stella talked to Ashley, an american girl from Dickinson University. We introduced each other and talked about different topics. We decided to organize our conversation talking 10 minutes in Italian and 10 minutes in English; we could talk for about 40 minutes approximately.

We discussed a lot on how different the education system in our countries is and we were all very surprised to see that they only have few things in common. She told us she lives on a Campus and she was very surprised to know that in Italy we don't have that kind of structure. I was very interested in her campus living experience and I believe it has many advantages: you can get involved in campus events and organizations, you can easily meet students from different cultures, you can live indipendently but you are not alone as you are surrounded by your collegues. I experienced something similar when I went on Erasmus in Germany, but it was rather a dorm and not a real Campus.

Then we discussed few minutes the meaning of 'meritocrazia'. I read on our wiki page that the Americans don't know this word and that they believe that a teacher who is 'raccomandato' is better than others who are not. Me and Stella explained to Ashley that here not always you get a job or you are appreciated because of your personal skills, abilities, or job's experiences. Most of the times you need a sort of 'abstract ID' which means you have to know certain people in order to make career or simply to get what you are trying to achieve. From Ashley's reaction I understood that this kind of thing doesn't exist in the US, or at least it is not as common as here. I believe this is a very negative aspect of our country, an obstacle which is hard to overcome.

Among another things we talked about the class size: can you believe that in America people who attend classes are 10 to 20? Here it would be utopia since sometimes there aren't even enough seats for students and one is compelled to sit on the stairs or even to stand. I think that class size matters and that students benefit from being in small classes. Unfortunately this is not the case with us.

I really liked this experience and I'm looking forward to doing it again.