The exchange with the Dickinson college was very important to me and because it stimulated my curiosity and interest towards the US. I’ve always been fascinated by the US and last February I decided to apply for an exchange program with the Boston University. I was asked to provide a long list of application papers and to do an interview in English. Finally, despite the huge number of students from every faculty of the University of Padova competing, I was accepted for the exchange.
Therefore I started looking on the web for information about the BU and I asked also to my tandem learning Abby and my peer Allyson to give me suggestions. Both Abby and Allyson explained me the basic differences between the Italian and the American educational systems. We discussed about some Italian habits that sound quite odd to them, and we talked about some prejudices about Italians which aren’t completely groundless.
In particular, I learnt a new word from Abby: jingoism. Jingoism is a strong and unreasonable belief in the superiority of your own country. In my opinion, Italians are sometimes so proud of their origins and traditions that seem to be affected by some sort of jingoism or, as we say in Italy, ‘campanilismo’.
These issues made me reconsider my own culture and I reflect upon the way Americans perceive Italians. I think it’s fundamental to criticise our behaviour and reflect upon our defaults or weaknesses because it helps people to become more open and tolerant towards foreign cultures.
Actually I never felt uncomfortable when working with my American peers or Italian peers. Maybe some topics we discussed about were quite delicate. When we talked about elections everyone in the group expressed freely his or her own opinion. Even though I strongly state my opinions I tried not to offend people who have opposite political views.
As regards the final project, I experienced the problems connected with working as a group. In my opinion, the most important thing while working in group is to respect other opinions, to be responsible with my own work and to respect deadlines.
I think that in my group Allyson gave us important contributions. I think it was difficult for her to interact with us, because not only she met us on skype only once a week but also because she wasn’t very stimulated. I think that Italian students were very prepared and interested in the project. Our American peers weren’t much interested in working with us but I’m not sure about the reasons of this low interest. Maybe it’s due to the fact that the Italian culture isn’t as attractive as the American culture, or maybe we couldn’t stimulate their interest enough, or they weren’t expect to participate very actively in the work. Maybe they simply are younger than us and so they are less trained and motivated to work in group.
Allyson told us that she had much work to do in other classes and so she couldn't send us her part, at the beginning. Anyway, a few days ago she sent us a brilliant report on her film and she actively contributed to build up our page and revise all the work done. Overall, I think this experience was really satisfying and to me it was very important to work with Allyson and the other American peers because I honestly think they tried to do their best and I hope they found this experience very helpful, as well.
While, working on the final project, while speaking on skype, while discussing in class about our topics I felt very satisfied with the work done. One of the best experiences was our meeting with Chiara Olivi. She is very nice and out-going and we enjoyed a relaxing and interesting conversation. Maybe we asked her too many questions and it seems we were doing an interview. Anyway, I think we clearly displayed our interests towards her culture and her country.
Self-Assessment of my Language Learning
- words, expressions I learned in English:
I learnt many words, mainly about politics, abilities and feelings.
Jingoism: is a strong and unreasonable belief in the superiority of your own country.
Warmonger: someone who encourage people to start or to join a war (I leant this word while speaking about Bush).
Stutter: to have difficulty in speaking.
Tycoon: a tycoon is a person who is successful in business and so has become rich or powerful.
Grumpy: irritable.
Laid-back: someone who never worries about anything.
Fussy: someone who keeps everything in the correct space.
Neat: tidy and smart.
To sulk: if you sulk you are silent and bad-tempered for a while because you are annoyed about something.
To creep round the boss: to be pleasant with someone and criticise him behind his back.
Driven: ambitious, determined.
To nag: keep asking to do something.
- improvements in my pronunciation of certain words or intonation:
I tried to abandon the typical flat intonation of Italians and assume an American-like intonation.
- improvements in my listening:
I manage to understand most of the words my teacher and my peer Allyson say. If I don’t know a word a try to work out its meaning from the context or I ask them for an explanation.
- changes in the way I speak Italian to non-native speakers:
I speak slowly and spell words clearly. I try to use an accurate range of words but I try to express myself with short and well-built sentences. I prefer short clauses to long sentences.
- words, expressions I learned doing the wiki project:
close-knit: closely linked
padded cheeks: fairly thick cheeks
raspy: a voice which makes rough sounds
to stroke: move your hands slowly and gently over a pet (in this case)
stiffly: it does not bend easily
to wield: to have powers and to be able to use them.
to shrug: if someone shrugs, he raises his shoulders to show that he is not interested in something
boor: rough, uneducated and rude.
buffoon: foolish
bigot: fanatic, racist
bimbo: although he is pretty, he is rather stupid.
- improvements in my reading doing the wiki project:
I manage to scan and skim information easily. I don’t read all the articles but I focus on the parts that interest me most.
- improvements in my writing doing the wiki project:
I learnt to melt together the information I found on the web and my own reflections on a specific subject. I remember to quote everything I copy from another source and I quote also the words which I paraphrase. I learnt to write smoothly and to express myself in a clear, concise, and effective way.
A Special thanks to Sarah, group 5 in the 1st semester and group 2 in the 2nd semester, my Italian and American peers and all the people who help me to improve my English!
Thank you very much for this wonderful year together! Enjoy your summer and have a relaxing holiday!!! =)
