Reflection #1 Bruce



My expectation for this trip I have now realized is a lot different than what we actually have done and experienced. Two years ago I went on a winter term trip to south Africa, I was prepared for it to an extremely different experience, and thought that because I believed the European culture was the closest to American. Though there are many similarities I surprisingly found many differences. One of these is the laid back nature and desire to spend time with your friends and family. In the U.S. dinner is an hour to two hours’ top but here every meal we have had has surpassed that which has fostered more conversation and time together. Along with that their passion for their history has also caught my attention. In the U.S. we do have museums and learn the history of our country, but here the way they have preserved their history and have a pride for it is very different.  
            One problem I have encountered since being here is a language barrier, which was expected, but has made me realize how hard it can be to communicate. I wish I had took it upon myself prior to the trip to learn a few more phrases and words to make things smoother. But that being said everyone’s willingness to teach us new words and try their English to make things easy shows how nice and carrying people are. Another thing I have noticed is how much our group sticks out, our mannerisms, clothing style, and noise makes us a site to see for many of the people living here. I hope in the next week to strengthen my Italian and have more conversations with the people who live here and are a part of the Italian culture. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Reflection #3 Wade

       As our trip comes to its conclusion, I’ve reflected a lot on how different societies can shape natural resources and land. While in the Dolomites, we saw extremely beautiful places and small towns nestled between large mountain ranges. As we hiked, I noticed how clean a lot of these beautiful natural sites were. The mountain tops were free of litter or heavy graffiti and the crystal clear lakes seemed to have barely any trash floating around, even though they were right next to docks and beaches where people were swimming, fishing and eating. I am not sure if littering is less common in these areas or if cleaning protocol is different, but it was great to see such beautiful spaces so well preserved.         I also admire the energy conservation here as well. The way the hotel rooms function on a key system to start up certain electrical appliances such as air conditioning and outlets seems to be a very smart system. In the United St...
Read more

Trey Reflection 3

Vance Berry 6/14/17 Reflection 3 For my third reflection, I am going to write about our final nights in Grado. I honestly did not want to leave. Being in Grado for roughly a week helped create a very solid connection between me, the people, and the culture. Once that connection was established, it was hard to say goodbye and move on to the unknown with Tim and Ben. That being said, we tried to make the last nights in Grado the best of them all. We would always hang with the locals as much as possible at night either at Fifty or the Hamburgeria. One night Fifty had the best DJ they've hired during the whole trip and we became friends through our mutual interest in Motown and soul music. I went up to him first and he was astounded when I asked him to play Earth Wind and Fire and Four Tops. He was confused as to why a person my age was asking about these songs and I told him it was what my parents listened to during car trips. Later that night we met up with Michael...
Read more