IES Farewell Dinner

Ciao Tutti,

I had a great day yesterday.  I had no exams, but exams continued until 2:15 PM on Thursday.  I took advantage of my free time by going to the beach with a group of my friends for one of my friend's, Tahli's, birthday.  The beach is about a 30 minute train ride from Rome and the train ride is part of the public transportation system, so it only costs 1 euro to go.  We met at our school at 10:30 AM and got to the beach by 12:00 (we had to take a bus to the train station).  Once we got to the beach, we met up with one of the Italian students who is a member of a private club on the beach.  He took all six of us into his club!

The sand was so hot that I thought my feet were on fire when I had to walk on it!  I didn't fully go into the water because it was so cold, but I sat along the shore and let the tide cover my waist.  The water was so blue and it was so refreshing.  The beach was a perfect way to relax after a week of finals, Tahli definitely had the right idea for how to spend her birthday!

I only stayed at the beach for three hours because I needed to get back to my apartment early and weigh my bag (I borrowed a scale from one of the people that works at IES).  I made it back to my apartment by 4:15 PM.  After weighing my bag, I found out that it was exactly 23 kilograms which is the limit - talk about luck! 

I straightened up my room a bit and threw out some things I'm not taking back to the US.  Then, at 6:00 PM our "IES Farewell Dinner" began.  It started off with the screening of the two movies that our film class made in front of an audience of our peers.  As director, I introduced one of the films.  I think the students liked our film - it is kind of funny watching people you know on screen acting as people they are not!

Then, the two people who run our program gave out four awards to the student body - Best Comprehension of the Italian Culture, Most Motivated, Most Inspiring, and Best Full Year Student.  I won the "Most Inspiring" Award.  I was completely surprised!  The director of the program, Octavio, said that he got a call two years ago from Penn State saying that they had a student who was determined to study abroad in Italy.  Octavio also mentioned that I made it clear that I was going to have the time of my life over the past four months.  He commended me for my rigorous travel schedule and also said that I was not ready to go home, which was true!  The award came with an Amazon.com gift card as well.

After the award ceremony, we had a dinner on the school's terrace.  The buffet was absolutely amazing.  I filled my plate to the brim! 

Then, we all started making rounds to say bye to everyone which was kind of premature because everyone met up late last night at one of the favorite hang outs for students.  I stayed out until about 12:15 AM before calling it quits.  It took me a good half hour to make my rounds and say my final good bye to everyone.  I have met so many people over here that I think I will stay in touch with when I get back to America.  I already have a few people from other Big Ten schools coming out to Penn State football games. 

It was bittersweet night last night in Rome.  Pretty much all of the students had flights out of Rome early this morning - I was only one of a few students who is staying late.

Reverse Culture Shock?

Ciao Tutti,

Today was a pretty ordinary day in Rome (which is not ordinary at all).  My architecture class met at Il Vittoriano which is also known as the Wedding Cake to tourists or the typewriter to Romans.  I suppose I am still a tourist as I still refer to it as the Wedding Cake.  Look at it and tell me it does not look like an over sized Wedding Cake!

We learned that it was built after Italy was unified by Victor Emmanuale and Camello Cavour in 1861 when they decided to make Rome the center of their new country.  It took forever to complete, however, and was not officially finished until 1930!  They destroyed some of medieval Rome while building it, kicked people out of their homes to make room for it, and dug so deep to make it that they found the remains of a mammoth.  No wonder nobody likes it!  My teacher also said it was too white for Rome as "Rome is not a white city."  That being said, it was still pretty cool.

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

Victor Emmanuale

 Inside the horse's belly (pictured above) - now you know how big everything was

After our field study, I had film class.  We filmed the scene that I am not directing, so I was able to relax and watch the process this time.

Then, we had our Italian class.  We had our second meeting with the director of the program who came in to talk to us about our return back to the USA.  He cautioned us that we would have "Reverse Culture Shock" when we returned.  He said we all may be a bit depressed because "noone will understand us".  I, personally, think it is a bunch of bologna, but he seems adamant that we will experience some form if it.  It is not just the director of my program that has mentioned this, though.  So far, my parents have received something from IES Headquarters and I have received an e-mail from Penn State on the topic.

I am still very skeptical of the whole term as I honestly did not have the "culture shock" I was told I would have when I got here.  I think it may be a product of traveling a lot when I was younger.  I have learned how to deal with other cultures from a young age.  I will, however, let you all know if I am "shocked" in any way when I come home.  Don't worry.

Tomorrow is my last day of classes for the week as I am skipping my Italian class on Thursday to go to Croatia.  I'll update soon!

Ciao,
Michael