My Cultural Adventure
On the morning of Saturday the 13th I got up, showered, and started the last of my packing. I had been text messaging all morning with a couple of friends from school whom with I was planning on taking the train to the airport. A little before noon I got a call on the phone. It was a friend from school. He let me know that our connection flight to Paris was cancelled, but our flight from Paris to Florence was still on. He asked if I could get to the airport within the hour because there was a flight leaving at 1:00 to Paris. If I caught the next train from Nivå I could get to the airport in by 12:30. I ran into my room and threw my cd player, a water bottle and a couple other things into by backpack and was heading out the door when I received another call. This time I was told that there was a flight at 2:55 that we should catch, but it's with a different airline, and that I should meet at the airport around 1:30. So, I calmly sat down and started to breath again. But, it wasn't finished. I received two more calls with conflicting information until I received one saying that people had taken the train from Helsingør and that I should get on at Nivå in 20 min.
We ended up catching a flight wish SAS to Paris and then got onto AirFrance from Paris to Florence. It was confusing, but at the end of the day we made it. We arrived in Florence and our Italian friends were there waiting. After we picked up our luggage we were each whisked away to our Italian homes. My host friend's name is Aida. Her father and cousin came and picked me up. We then drove an hour and a half to Poggibonsi where I'd be staying for the next week. When we got to her house I was greeted by her mother, another cousin, her younger sister, and younger brother. Her mother had cooked a huge dinner for me. At this time it was around 10:30 at night, and I had eaten both in Paris and again on the plane. I wasn't at all hungry, but I didn't want to insult her, so I digested as much food as I could. It was tasty, but I thought I was going to explode. It was difficult to explain why I wasn't eating since Aida spoke very broken English, and her family spoke none at all. We used a lot of hand motions.
Here is where I should explain that Aida is not Italian. Her and her family emigrated from Albania three years ago. Her parents work on a vineyard, and they live in a small house provided by the owners of the vineyard. Along the vineard there is a small group of houses that are occupied by people who work on the vineyard. The house Aida's family lives in consists of four rooms. The parents bedroom, bathroom, the children’s bedroom(all three kids share a room), and of a kitchen. In the kitchen there was a stove that was run by wood. There was electricity, but not much. Each room had a light bulb, and whenever possible windows were open so they wouldn't have to use light. On top of their house was another floor consisting of the same number of rooms. No one was currently living in it, so Aida and I stayed in a room up there while I was in Italy.
Sunday we spent the day walking around the vineyard and getting to know each other as best as possible. As long as I spoke in simple sentences and very slowly Aida could usually understand. It wasn't always the same case in the opposite, but we figured it out. In the evening we got together with the rest of the Danes and Italians and had a small welcome party.
Monday morning Aida's father drove us to the bus station. From there we took a bus to the school. This was the same routine we'd follow the rest of the week. Once at the school we met up with the other students. From there we took a bus to Florence. We did the tourist thing around Florence. We saw a couple of old churches(I'm really sorry I don't know the names of things), and saw many famous statues like the one of David.
Tuesday we went to Vinci, the home down of Leonardo da Vinci. We toured the museum dedicated to his inventions.
Wednesday we went to the school where we attended gym with the Italian students. The experience we unique to both parties, for gym in Italy is much like gym in the United States. They play "P.E. Games," and try to get out of it as much as possible. Afterwards they re-apply deodorant and go on with the day. This is not the case in Denmark. The Danish students are hard core when it comes to athletics and physical education class. They work hard, and long and afterwards always shower. I've gotten used to this way to, so the experience was unique for us all. The Italians were quite surprised to find out that we shower after gym class. In the afternoon we went to San Gimignano and saw the famous old towers.
Thursday we headed back to Florence. This time we went to a large market place and then to a museum. Both times we went to Florence I was quite disappointed in the trash and pollution. There was trash everywhere. This was also the case in the rest of the Italian towns I saw, but the worst thing about Florence was the beggars. You were constantly being hassled by people asking for money. One kid from my class even got his ice-cream cone stolen by a beggar as he was reaching for the spare change in his pocket. Luckily they don't understand Danish, and so when either a beggar or street vender would begin to hassle us we'd pretend we didn't understand English and just speak Danish back to them. It seems to be the only use Internationally for the Danish language.
Friday we headed to Siena. In Siena we once again visited a couple of nice churches. We also go the afternoon off and a chance to explore the city a little. I had a fun time in the town circle playing with the pigeons.
Saturday we met at the school like we normally did the other days. I knew they were planning on having a little get together for us before our plane left, so that's why I figured we were meeting at the school. What I didn't realized was that they always have school on Saturdays. When we got to the school everyone was there, and it was just another day for them. We had a quick going away party and then the Danes headed for the airport.
I took two roles of film which I will develop later this week, but my classmate Faheem took tons of photos with his digital camera which he is kindly burning on a cd for me. Hopefully I will get those soon and be able to post photos of my trip. My over all impression of Italy was okay. I thought it was beautiful, but I didn't enjoy the pollution or overall un-cleanliness of the cities. The people I stayed with were great, and the Albanian food was fantastic. I swear she was trying to fatten me up so they could eat me later. One important thing I learned on this trip was that I don't like group trips. I found that this trip was quite disorganized, and I would have liked to do a lot more things that I was unable to do due to time restrictions, and previously planned activities. I think I enjoy getting to plan my trips myself. I like to be able to go where I want, and see what I like, and skip the things I don't like. Next time I go to Italy I'd like it to be on my own terms.
On the morning of Saturday the 13th I got up, showered, and started the last of my packing. I had been text messaging all morning with a couple of friends from school whom with I was planning on taking the train to the airport. A little before noon I got a call on the phone. It was a friend from school. He let me know that our connection flight to Paris was cancelled, but our flight from Paris to Florence was still on. He asked if I could get to the airport within the hour because there was a flight leaving at 1:00 to Paris. If I caught the next train from Nivå I could get to the airport in by 12:30. I ran into my room and threw my cd player, a water bottle and a couple other things into by backpack and was heading out the door when I received another call. This time I was told that there was a flight at 2:55 that we should catch, but it's with a different airline, and that I should meet at the airport around 1:30. So, I calmly sat down and started to breath again. But, it wasn't finished. I received two more calls with conflicting information until I received one saying that people had taken the train from Helsingør and that I should get on at Nivå in 20 min.
We ended up catching a flight wish SAS to Paris and then got onto AirFrance from Paris to Florence. It was confusing, but at the end of the day we made it. We arrived in Florence and our Italian friends were there waiting. After we picked up our luggage we were each whisked away to our Italian homes. My host friend's name is Aida. Her father and cousin came and picked me up. We then drove an hour and a half to Poggibonsi where I'd be staying for the next week. When we got to her house I was greeted by her mother, another cousin, her younger sister, and younger brother. Her mother had cooked a huge dinner for me. At this time it was around 10:30 at night, and I had eaten both in Paris and again on the plane. I wasn't at all hungry, but I didn't want to insult her, so I digested as much food as I could. It was tasty, but I thought I was going to explode. It was difficult to explain why I wasn't eating since Aida spoke very broken English, and her family spoke none at all. We used a lot of hand motions.
Here is where I should explain that Aida is not Italian. Her and her family emigrated from Albania three years ago. Her parents work on a vineyard, and they live in a small house provided by the owners of the vineyard. Along the vineard there is a small group of houses that are occupied by people who work on the vineyard. The house Aida's family lives in consists of four rooms. The parents bedroom, bathroom, the children’s bedroom(all three kids share a room), and of a kitchen. In the kitchen there was a stove that was run by wood. There was electricity, but not much. Each room had a light bulb, and whenever possible windows were open so they wouldn't have to use light. On top of their house was another floor consisting of the same number of rooms. No one was currently living in it, so Aida and I stayed in a room up there while I was in Italy.
Sunday we spent the day walking around the vineyard and getting to know each other as best as possible. As long as I spoke in simple sentences and very slowly Aida could usually understand. It wasn't always the same case in the opposite, but we figured it out. In the evening we got together with the rest of the Danes and Italians and had a small welcome party.
Monday morning Aida's father drove us to the bus station. From there we took a bus to the school. This was the same routine we'd follow the rest of the week. Once at the school we met up with the other students. From there we took a bus to Florence. We did the tourist thing around Florence. We saw a couple of old churches(I'm really sorry I don't know the names of things), and saw many famous statues like the one of David.
Tuesday we went to Vinci, the home down of Leonardo da Vinci. We toured the museum dedicated to his inventions.
Wednesday we went to the school where we attended gym with the Italian students. The experience we unique to both parties, for gym in Italy is much like gym in the United States. They play "P.E. Games," and try to get out of it as much as possible. Afterwards they re-apply deodorant and go on with the day. This is not the case in Denmark. The Danish students are hard core when it comes to athletics and physical education class. They work hard, and long and afterwards always shower. I've gotten used to this way to, so the experience was unique for us all. The Italians were quite surprised to find out that we shower after gym class. In the afternoon we went to San Gimignano and saw the famous old towers.
Thursday we headed back to Florence. This time we went to a large market place and then to a museum. Both times we went to Florence I was quite disappointed in the trash and pollution. There was trash everywhere. This was also the case in the rest of the Italian towns I saw, but the worst thing about Florence was the beggars. You were constantly being hassled by people asking for money. One kid from my class even got his ice-cream cone stolen by a beggar as he was reaching for the spare change in his pocket. Luckily they don't understand Danish, and so when either a beggar or street vender would begin to hassle us we'd pretend we didn't understand English and just speak Danish back to them. It seems to be the only use Internationally for the Danish language.
Friday we headed to Siena. In Siena we once again visited a couple of nice churches. We also go the afternoon off and a chance to explore the city a little. I had a fun time in the town circle playing with the pigeons.
Saturday we met at the school like we normally did the other days. I knew they were planning on having a little get together for us before our plane left, so that's why I figured we were meeting at the school. What I didn't realized was that they always have school on Saturdays. When we got to the school everyone was there, and it was just another day for them. We had a quick going away party and then the Danes headed for the airport.
I took two roles of film which I will develop later this week, but my classmate Faheem took tons of photos with his digital camera which he is kindly burning on a cd for me. Hopefully I will get those soon and be able to post photos of my trip. My over all impression of Italy was okay. I thought it was beautiful, but I didn't enjoy the pollution or overall un-cleanliness of the cities. The people I stayed with were great, and the Albanian food was fantastic. I swear she was trying to fatten me up so they could eat me later. One important thing I learned on this trip was that I don't like group trips. I found that this trip was quite disorganized, and I would have liked to do a lot more things that I was unable to do due to time restrictions, and previously planned activities. I think I enjoy getting to plan my trips myself. I like to be able to go where I want, and see what I like, and skip the things I don't like. Next time I go to Italy I'd like it to be on my own terms.
indsendt af Jess kl.
1:16 PM
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