Italy vs USA

Dear all

have you read the subject of this post? Yes, you've read correctly: ITALY vs USA. I'm not talking about the challenge Luna Rossa vs Oracle, even if it would be comprehensible since there is the America's Cup in Valencia...at all. I'm talking about the power point presentations my classmates and I gave on Monday afternoon through Internet with the Middlebury College in Vermont, USA. Are you wondering how is this possible? But thanks to the webcast technology!!! Ok, I stop doing the know-it-all and I will tell the truth^_^. I had no idea of what a webcast technology was before Sarah, our teacher, explained it to us...and let us know what she had the intention to do.

The fact is that Sarah loves using us as guinea pigs... A webcast is an online presentation where the voice of those giving the presentation can be heard and their presentation slides seen on the screen. The even more interesting thing is that the audience can intervene using a text chat making for example asking for something they didn't understand. Unfortunately, Sarah wasn't able to organize this experience wth our American peers from Tulane...what a pity since we already knew them. But, she didn't give in... so, we webcasted with a class which is an Advanced Level class in Italian Literature at Middlebury. We gave our presentations in English and they gave theirs in Italian. Their theme was about how women are presented in Italian literature and the different representations of love, whereas our general theme was a comparison between Italy and USA of some cultural aspect. The purpose of this experience was to listen and give constructive feedback each other in terms of language and content.

It has been a very exciting experience and I really enjoyed it! ^_^

The topic of the presentation I gave with Susanne and Maria Chiara, as I probably already wrote in a previous post, was a comparison between American fraternities and sororities and the local 'Goliardia'. If you want to see my presentation just click Photo source

I'm back!!

Hi people!

how are you? I'm really sorry but last week I had a lot of problems both with my pc and with my work so that I was not able to write my reflective blogging...what a pity!! My internet connection suddenly stopped as I was editing the wiki page on Water resources in USA but luckily now everything is ok...or at least it seems to be ok... sometimes I really hate technology and if there were a webcam on my screen everyone could see me shouting and getting angry with my pc...a really amazing show, or terrifying...it depends from the points of view!!!! ^_^

Anyway, now here I am again.

Last Monday my classmates did our last skype exchange with our American peers but unfortunately I wasn't there because I was working...what a pity again! However my friends Susanne and the other classmates told me it was very fun having a visual contact with people you had only had on phone before...

This week I'm preparing with Maria Chiara and Susanne our final presentation. It will be about American fraternities and sororities compared with Italian 'Goliardia'. It is a very interesting topic and I'm working on it very hard: I spend very much time in Internet searching for websites which contain interesting information and photos.

For the moment that's all, but as long as my work of research goes on and my presentation takes shape, I will write another post...it sounds like a promise, but I think that it's more a threat... ^_^

Cheers

Alice

Photo source

Talking about water

Hi people

here I am again after the Easter break. Last week I spent two days (Easter and the Monday after Easter) eating and drinking with my family but especially with my friends. We went on the hills near Padova and we had a lot of fun playing and laughing together. And you, did you enjoy your "Easter break"?

After this brief introduction, let's now talk about serious things...^_-

As usually this week too I had to contribute to a new topic in our wiki project concerning WATER resources in Italy. This is a very interesting topic because in this way you have the opportunity to stop for a moment and think about the importance of water as a resource of life.

As all my friends already know, I am not a very good writer when it's time to express my feelings and emotions (or maybe I'm just a little bit lazy...), so I decided to quote someone else's thoughts and statements...clearly dealing the topic of this week: water.

I'm not going to explain the reason why I chose these statements because I would like to think about them by your own.

Heraclitus said:

" The sea is the purest and the foulest water; it is drinkable and healthful for
fishes; but for men it is unfit to drink and hurtful. "

(Fragment 36,Clement Strom. VI, 17, 2)

Water is the most important figure in all T.S. Eliot's "The Waste Land" and during the whole poem it is the most desired element, as we can notice in this part:

Here is no water but only rock
Rock and no water and the sandy road
The road winding above among the mountains
Which are mountains of rock without water
If there were water we should stop and drink
Amongst the rock one cannot stop or think
Sweat is dry and feet are in the sand
If there were only water amongst the rock
Dead mountain mouth of carious teeth that cannot spit
Here one can neither stand nor lie nor sit
There is not even silence in the mountains
But dry sterile thunder without rain
There is not even solitude in the mountains
But red sullen faces sneer
and snarl
From doors of mudcracked houses
If there were water
And no rock
If there were rock
And also water
And water
A spring
A pool among the rock
If there were the sound of water only
Not the cicada
And dry grass singing
But sound of water over a rock
Where the hermit-thrush sings in the pine trees
Drip drop drip drop drop drop drop
But there is no water

(T.S. Eliott, "The Waste Land", 1922, part V. "What the Thunder Said")

There would be many others works I could quote, but I want to close this post with one song of my favourite singers, Damien Rice.

Cold, cold water surrounds me now
And all I've got is your hand
Lord, can you hear me now?
Lord, can you hear me now?
Lord, can you hear me now,
Or am I lost?

Cheers

Alice

(Photo source 1, photo source 2)

Having fun with Skype

Hi people!

how are you? A new week has just begun...I hope it won't be too hard to face...^_^

This afternoon we're going to speak again with our American friends...it's really cool because last week I enjoyed it very much. Last Monday Lucrezia (a classmate) and I spoke with Francesco (typical American name isn't it?) and it was very very cool. In fact Francesco (as you can all understand) has clearly Italian origins ans he speaks Italian very well...do you know Filippo Nardi (he participated to Italian Big Brother and to another show, Le Iene, some years ago)? Our American friend speaks like him and I like it very much...^_-

We were supposed to talk about alternative sources of energy and at the beginning we did it...but after ten minutes, more or less, we began talking about our lives in general and about stereotypes ^_^. So, we asked him if he is part of a fraternity and he answered he is not and he added he doesn't like people who are in it because in his opinion they're very arrogant and too snob. In fact, Susanne (another classmate) told me that Anthony, the guy she was spoking with, was in a fraternity and he is quite snob.

We also asked Francesco if he knew some stereotypes referring to Italy. Come'on... guess ... you've got them: MANDOLINO, MAFIA and PASTA. So, I asked why he didn't mention PIZZA and he answered that American are convinced they were the first in the world inventing PIZZA...WHAT?! I was very surprised hearding it...PIZZA IS OURS, PIZZA IS ITALIAN !!! ^_^

That's all for the moment

Cheers

Alice

Photo source

Cooperation

Hi everyone!

I know I'm late with my reflective blogging, but I had to work this weekend and I was very tired yesterday.

Anyway, in this topic I'm going to talk about cooperation. Last week in class Sarah (my prof.) read the post I had written in my blog (the previous to this one) and if I had to be sincere I was a bit disappointed because nobody commented what she read. I mean, at the end of that post I had written that in a wiki it's not important ONLY what you write but ALSO how it is written concerning the structure. I only hope that my classmates didn't get angry for what I wrote because I didn't want to play the role of the teacher but I was only giving some pieces of advice.

In order to create and edit a good wiki page the most important thing, in my opinion, is COOPERATION. You don't have to add something that is already written in the page only in order to show that you've added it but you have to correct what in your opinion is bad written. As I've already said many times, in a wiki a structure is very important and I think that when you write something you have to care about form too. I mean, when you finish editing a wiki page, check out the structure too and if it's not like the rest of the page (in font, colour etc...) go back and edit again and don't wait that someone else do it for you.

Linked to what I've just said I have to say that I'm happy because even if my classmates didn't comment my post in class, this week they gave an eye on structure too and not only on the content...well done!^_^

I know that this post is not adressed to my classmates, but if anyone should create or edit a wiki page I hope this little pieces of advice could help.

Cheers

Alice

Photo Source

It's wiki-time

Hi guys and girls!


How are you?

The topic I'm going to talk about this week is our wiki project. Last week I was so excited because of the skype exchange that I forgot talking about the wiki we are building on...^_^


The subject we are dealing with on our wiki is RECYCLING. If I had to be completely sincere I'd have to tell that is not my favourite topic, because as I have already told you in my indtroductive post my favourite topics are soprt and TV, BUT (pelase notice that I've written it in capital letters) I want to add that thanks to this project I'm learning a lot about recycling.


There are two pages: Recycling in Italy and Recycling in the USA

In the Recycling in Italy page we collected a lot of information about how recycling is organised according to the different regions or towns in Italy. We also wrote about recyclable and non-recyclable materials and how these materials can be re-used. At the beginning maybe I didn't appreciate very much the topic we were supposed to talk about but now I'm satisfied because I learnt a lot of things that before I didn't know about how to recycle.

In the Recycling in the USA page we collected the information our American colleagues gave us during our skype exchange. Unfurtunately last Monday I had another lesson so no skype for me...T_T. BUT (again in capital letters ^_^) I contributed to that wiki the week before. Thanks to what our American friends told us we have been able to write a quite good Wiki page withe a lot of information...


It is very fun and interesting to contribute to a wiki page BUT (third 'but' in capital...) there is one thing I can't stand: why someone has the power to "destroy" what I have done If I did it for the whole group? For example, last week I was trying to give the wiki a good structure and after a hard work I succeded in dividing the page in sections and put all the text with the same font and it came out a well-done job (not only because it was my job...^_-). When the following day I checked out if someone had edited the page, I discovered that the adjustments made were not in the right section and with another font...I've found it very annoying because it is not for my pleasure if I work in order to give the wiki a comprehensible structure but for the whole group...SO please, pay attention to these "little" things too and not only to the content of what you are writing.

That's all for now and I hope nobody will get angry for what I've just written...I hope you will read it as a constructive criticism...^_^

Cheers
Alice


Padova University logo source
Tulane University logo source

Let's have a talk

Hi everybody!





How are you? I haven't written on my blog for many time but it's all because of the exams I had to take...but now I'm back. ^_-


Last Monday during my English class my classmates and I all had the opportunity to talk with our American peers on Skype. This experience has been very exciting and I'm looking forward to doing it again, and again because it is very useful both from the cultural and the linguisitc points of view.

I talked with Lea, a girl from New York who studies Italian at the Tulane University of New Orleans. So, since she speaks Italian and I speak English we decided for a compromise: she talked in Italian and I talked in English. I am a very shy person but when I began to talk with her my shyness disappeared and I didn't care about the mistakes maybe I was doing while I was talking. Since in class Isabella, the girl next to my pc, didn't have a correspondant to talk to we began a three people conversation. What a cool thing! ^_^

I also have to add that I feel lucky because Lea was the only girl (or just on of the few pepole) of the American group who tried to talk with me in Italian and not only in English. I really appreciated it very much!

The topic we were asked to discuss was recycling so we began our conversation talking about the situation there in New Orleans after the hurricane Katrina. Lea told me that recycling should be compulsory but only a small number of students in the campus use different containers for rubbish (or garbage if you are talking to an American person ^_^) and nobody checks if people do it. So in theory there are rules for recycling and there should be sanctions too for those who don't respect these rules but in practice quite nobody respect the law and there are no sanctions for them. I was wondering the reason for that and at the end I understood that maybe there are more important problems to face such as the reconstruction of New Orleans before thinking about recycling.

It is very useful to talk to girls and guys who live in another country because in this way you have the possibility to compare your culture with their and to learn a lot of new topics as well.

Cheers
Alice


P.S. if you want to see why we did it, let's have a look on our Wiki project!

Photo source