Blog Post for Monday, April 14, 2014 by Lorraine Yu

After a hectic weekend of traveling during a train strike, it was nice to be back in Rome again.  We started our Monday learning how to order food and learning the differences between feminine and masculine nouns.  I think it’s interesting that each noun has a gender, but can get quite confusing.

During our four-hour break, Sydney Staples and I were going to find a coffee shop to do some homework and soak up some vitamin D.  After walking around for ten minutes, we finally settled on a restaurant called Cajo & Gajo because the waiter said there was wifi.  We attempted to put what Aurora taught us in class today to use and ordered our food in Italian.  I asked for the wifi password, in which he responded with something along the lines of, “Big A ten times.”  Sydney and I both tried to enter in the password on both our laptops and phones with no luck so I asked him to write it in my notebook.  His response was, “You don’t remember? It’s just ten times big A!”  We tried a few more times while we ate our lunch (Sydney had pasta with tomato sauce and bacon.  I had pepper and cheese pasta) before giving up and going back home.  For the first time since we’ve been in Italy, the check was given to us before we asked them for it.  It was strange to be rushed out of a restaurant, but reminded me a lot of the States.

At 4:30 our class went to Di Donato Secondary School to learn about immigrant/non-Italian school children in Italy and funding for Italian schools.  First, we learned about intercultural education.  The school works with all the classes to make sure that new students feel welcome.  There are also intercultural mediators available to bridge the gap between the child’s home culture and Italian culture.  They are not translators but provide linguistic and cultural support if needed.  Second, we talked about financing of Italian schools.  In Italy, the state budget for schooling is 4.7% of GDP, compared to an average of 9% in other EU states.  Depending on different grade levels, schools will get funds at the municipal and/or state level.  Third, we talked about the parent association in Di Donato that was established in 2003.  It started as a place for parents and students to get to know one another and provide a bridge for immigrants and Italians to get to know one another.  At first only 30 parents were involved, but currently houses about 200 members.  There are many different after school activities available, such as study hall, dance, karate, and painting.  What started as a place to promote intercultural exchange quickly became a hub for the community to gather together.  One interesting thing that I learned during this talk was the requirements for second-generation citizens to apply for citizenship.  In Italy, you must be in school until you are 16 years of age.  Anything after that is optional.  However, if a non-Italian who was born in Italy would like to apply for citizenship, s/he must be in school for at least 18 years.  I find this interesting because they made it harder for non-Italians to get citizenship by increasing the years that they need to be in school.

After our visit with the school, we ate at an Italian restaurant.  I had the pork with potatoes but everything that everyone else ordered looked delicious, too.  It was a nice departure from eating pizza and pasta everyday and I enjoyed the fruit salad at the end.  My diet since coming to Italy has consisted mainly of carbs and gelato so my stomach was happy to get some protein and nutrients since it has become rare in the last two weeks.  It was the perfect ending to a long day.