Writing Assignment #3

Write about your interviews conducted at the Esquilino market and the Piazza Vittorio in which you asked a native Italian and an Italian immigrant several questions pertaining to their views on immigration policies and other pressing issues in Italy today.

Today’s assignment was to engage with both a native Italian and an immigrant Italian to discuss and gain understanding about how immigrants feel about government policies, Italian laws on obtaining citizenship, etc., and how some native youth (18 – 25) Italians feel about immigrants and their thoughts on immigration in Italy.

We were very fortunate in being able to successfully open dialogue with several immigrants who were willing to discuss such personal matters with our small group. However, it wasn’t exactly easy communicating with an immigrant who wasn’t fully conversational in English, in addition none of us knowing very much Italian.

One Italian immigrant we were particularly able to have a long conversation with was a man named Ahmed from Bangladesh. He has been living in Rome for seven years, and is willing to maintain a long distance relationship with his wife and seven year old son who are still in Bangladesh while trying to gain his Italian citizenship. I must note that it is especially difficult for immigrants with no native ancestry from Italy (having either one or both parents born in Italy) to gain citizenship in fewer than 10 years. However, Ahmed did not seem too disconcerted with this government obstacle. His plan is to keep applying for his working permit (when it expires) while living legally in Italy (unfortunately, living a legal immigrant status in Italy is becoming more and more rare) until he eventually receives his Italian citizenship. Once he succeeds in gaining his citizenship status (which is extremely difficult for many) he will open his own business in the international district and fulfil his dream of becoming a successful Bangladeshi businessman. He then plans on going back to Bangladesh to get his wife and son. Ahmed would also like to travel to the USA for a short amount of time a tour/explore before coming back to Rome permanently.

While discussing with Ahmed his dreams of becoming an Italian citizen and a successful businessman, I asked him his opinion concerning immigration laws in Italy. He stated that he doesn’t have any personal issues with the immigration process in Italy, nor does he find it a particular inconvenience. In my own opinion, I believe that Ahmed isn’t worried about the long and gruelling process of becoming a permanent resident because he is only concerned with the end result, which is his citizenship and being reunited with his family.

Although, I have to add that while Ahmed was pleasantly engaged in conversation about the personal details regarding his life’s story, and with complete strangers who spoke very little Italian, his struggles and worries were completely obvious to me. However, he wore them very proudly. What I mean is that Ahmed stated that he was only 27 years old but to me he looked more like 37. I believe the stresses and uncertainties of his immigrant status, his family, and his daily occupation have led to some premature aging which was foretelling by the look of exhaustion and fatigue on his face.

The second part to assignment was to engage in a conversation with a native Italian. This was particularly hard to accomplish because while is it a lot easier to differentiate a native Italian to an immigrant (based purely on skin color), Italians blend in with many other less obvious ethnicities like Ukrainian, Russian, Argentinian, Spanish, etc. In other words, most of these people are white. However, we finally managed to come by two youth university students at a local college (which we didn’t realize at that time). Their names are Alessandro, 20, who is a communications major, and Tomas, 21, who is studying several different languages including Chinese, Japanese & English (lucky for us!).

During our conversation both Minji and I directed all of our questions to both Tomas & Alessandro, however, Alessandro seemed more opinionated on the topics while Tomas (who was the one fluent in English) seemed to just agree with Alessandro’s answers and occasionally translate some Italian words to English when Alessandro couldn’t explain.

I asked them both their personal opinions about immigrants in Italy. Alessandro commented that he didn’t understand the native Italians’ hostility towards immigrants and they don’t particularly bother them. He feels they are marginalized as criminals and thieves which is a “stupid stereotype”, and that he (who obviously isn’t an immigrant) used to steal clothing from department stores and oddities from supermarkets too! They both agreed that neither feel threatened by immigrants because the jobs they will be pursuing when finished with college won’t be accessible to immigrants. Alessandro stated as an example that “they don’t give jobs like newspaper editors and firemen or policemen to immigrants. All the jobs that local and native Italians would want employers don’t hire immigrants for”. They feel confident that immigrants are only allowed specific jobs that native Italians don’t want anyways, and so “let them come here and work for us”.

I asked them why they were easily tolerant of immigrants other than their own personal sense of security in the job force. They agreed that though Italy may not be the immigrants’ native country they are still entitled to find a home anywhere they believe will provide them and their family with a better life because “we are all the same. We are all human, and we feel compassion [& empathy] for one another”.

Lastly, I asked both Tomas and Alessandro if they believed it was just their generation that was predominately accepting and tolerate of immigrants in Italy or if they opposed this notion. They both commented that their parents share the same views of immigrants as they do, and though the topic of immigration isn’t a particularly popular topic to discuss they believe that the majority of students at their college share believe in their same ideology.

However, based on my limited knowledge on the subject from readings and class discussions older generations are entirely opposed to immigration and intolerant of them. They feel there are distinct differences in family, religion, social-economic roles, and culture which they don’t want integrated into native Italian society. Therefore, no distinct conclusion can be made from these interviews.

Writing Assignment #2: Write about what do you think makes Roman and Italian Identity?

Roman and Italian Identity is a very complicated and difficult concept to explain because, like the USA, there isn’t an ideal image that illustrates and explains the “face” or image of their country.

I will begin by explaining how I define “native Italians” or locals whose families have been the descendants of their homeland, Italy, for several generations. There are several social, cultural, and physical forces that help shape this aspect of Italian identity including their religion, native tongue or language, ancestry, occupation, & their own ideology of what makes them a true Italian.

Roman Catholicism has been Italy’s dominant religion for hundreds (if not thousands) of years and is a critical part of Italy’s history. The Roman church (and Vatican City) is well respected, worshipped, and a powerful institution in all of Italy making it an important attribute of Italian identity.

The Italian language also plays a fundamental role of Italian identity because it’s the tongue of their homeland, ancestors, and countrymen. Knowing, understanding, and implementing the Italian language into their everyday lives separate native Italians from their immigrant counterpart whose own native language comes from a different region of the world, and therefore often creates a troublesome language barrier between them.

Ancestry plays a critical role in Italian identity because their ancestors are a part of world history that dates back to their ancient civilization; when Rome was founded by the mythological figures of Romulus & Remus. Furthermore, their ancestors were once the rulers of the Roman Empire who conquered and expanded their country and built temples, coliseums, and forums – world renowned architecture that rivalled the abilities and inspired other architects in that time period. Needless to say, native Italians are extremely proud of their country and their history. Their pride and confidence can be observed in the way in which they hold themselves as the ideal model or image of Italian identity.

The labour industry and job force is the main problematic issue that native Italians feel create the barrier between themselves and the immigrants. The native Italians believe that all of the “white & blue collar” job opportunities are solely for them - a right in which their native status reserves for them. However, this leaves all the low skill jobs, or, in other words, the jobs that the locals don’t want for the immigrants. Ironically, Italy’s economy heavily depends on the immigrant job force that helps sustains their fragile system. These businesses heavily rely on the immigrant work force that is willing to work for long hours and for low wages in order to get by. Otherwise, these industries wouldn’t be able to sustain a lot of the low to medium size factories that are prevalent in northern and central Italy along with several agricultural farms in southern Italy who also depend on many desperate immigrants.

The counterpart to the first aspect of Italian identity is comprised of Immigrant Italians, refugees, second + generation Italians, or, otherwise, all other Italians who they themselves or their families are not native to Italy.

This is a serious issue amongst native Italians who some (or, disputably, even most) agree that “Italy [should be solely] for Italians”. From the limited information I have gained through readings, research, and a few interviews I believe that Italians feel that their culture, language, religion, and, ultimately, their “authentic Italian” identity is threatened by the immigrant masses.

These immigrants have emigrated from several countries including Tunisia, Bangladesh, Albania, Algeria, the Philippines, Romania, Peru, and several other nations from Northwest Africa as well as Southeast Asia. Many of these immigrants leave their native countries solely on their own free will, possibly looking for a better way of life, but some are forced to leave – resulting in their refugee status.

Native Italians perceive these social and cultural differences as threatening. The influences on Italian culture from the immigrant population is rapidly changing the “face of Italy” and transforming Italian identity.

The conflicts between religion, language, social-economic roles, and culture have created hostilities between the native Italians and the Italian immigrants to the point where no immediate solution can be seen in the near future. The Italian government has made it nearly impossible to successfully integrate immigrants into Italian societies, instead isolating them tens of miles outside major cities in several legal encampments.

Therefore, one can only conclude that an ideal image illustrating Italy, native Italians, Italian immigrants and Italian culture does not exist. There will be a continuous struggle defining the perfect representation of Italian identity for many years to come.

The ancient city & our weekend in Florence!

Hello everyone!

So it's been about a week or so since my last blog & many excursions have taken place! A small group of us went and toured a bit of the ancient city (where the Colosseum & Roman Forum are located) but didn't actually go into these sites until today. We had a guest speaker to teaches Classics and Latin at a local college here in Rome give our class a guided tour of the Roman Forum today and it was pretty spectacular. We were able to see temples that were built to worship Saturn (Cronus), Jupiter (Zues), Minerva (Athena), plus the spot where Julius Caesar's body was cremated after his murder (which actually wasn't the Senate house but was committed in the EXACT same building where the UW Rome Center is!!!). That's some crazy ish huh?!?

Anyways, last weekend we were able to chill a bit and walk around the ancient city where we took pictures at several locations like the Forum, Colosseum, the chariot racing track, & some famous piazza's. I'm thinking that we'll probably have a chance to actually tour the Colosseum and Palatine Hill this weekend before we go to the Italian Opera since we don't have any plans to leave town as of yet... :)

Last week we also had a chance to go to the Van Gogh exhibition which is taking place at a local Roman Museum near the Colosseum. That was pretty cool but this particular exhibition was missing a few keys pieces that makes Van Gogh such a world renowned artist...like his "Starry Night" for example. So that was a little disappointing but it was fun all the same.

This weekend a group of eight of us decided to go to Florence for the weekend! We had an absolutely AMAZING time!! Of course i took this opportunity to compose a crazy jam packed itinerary of all the famous Renaissance tourist sites and museums including Florence's most famous site: the Duomo cathedral, also, Piazza della Signoria (the heart of the historic center & a sculpture exhibit) & Piazza Vecchio near the world famous Ponte Vecchio (medieval bridge, built in 1345), Galleria degli Uffizi (the world's most important collection of Renaissance art), Galleria dell' Academia (Michelangelo's David), & the Boboli Garden's/ Pitti Palace!! We even managed to make an early afternoon day trip to Pisa to take pictures of it's famous leaning tower (though we didn't make in time to tour the inside and climb up to the top which i was NOT happy about). And yes, we managed to cram all that into just two freaking days. The eight of us also shared an 8 person room with just one shower & toilet...that was interesting. Nevertheless, it was an amazing time and i would do it again in a heart beat :)

We made of first trip to our internship location today at the Iqbal Masih school located on the outskirts of Rome. We're doing internships twice a week at a couple different locations depending on what our interests are. A couple of us are working with a gay rights activist group called Archigay. A couple are working with a non-profit organization, a refugee center, a local art gallery, and i am a part of a group that will be working with the Iqbal Masih school which is centered on educational opportunities for immigrants, impoverished, low income or just diverse multicultural families without discrimination or prejudice.

For those of you who are wondering about the name of the school, Iqbal Masih was the name of a young immigrant boy from Pakistan who was sold by his family at 4 years old into child labor. He became an international figure head for the Bonded Labor Liberation Front at the age of 10 when he escaped. However, he was brutally murdered in 1995 at the age of 12 when he was assassinated in his hometown in Pakistan. It is believed that the "carpet mafia" are the ones responsible for his assassination because of his famous fight against the child labor industry.

That being said, the Iqbal Masih school in Rome is named after this young champion for child rights and is incredibly dedicated to the education of under privileged and immigrant youths from all over Rome. Our group was greeted by an incredibly friendly and outgoing faculty and very excited and curious 1st graders today. I will definitely keep you all updated with my internship!

Sorry for the ridiculously long blog. Lot's have been going on and i don't have an opportunity to write personal blogs very often. I have two blog assignments that i will be posting by the end of the week (Sunday). So if you have any interest in reading them, by all means - feel free. Otherwise, you'll be able to identify my personal blogs strictly by the title.

Miss & love you all lots!!!

Ciao <3

p.s. My other half of post cards will be sent of shortly. Thank you for your patience :)

Assignment #1 First Impressions on Rome/ Italian Youth

     From what i can gather from my first observations on Roman youths is that they are very family oriented and are completely enveloped around the traditions and cultural norms surrounding Roma and Italy.
     I have visited the Piazza Navona a couple of times since being in Rome and they were hosting a carnival both times. There were many children with their families enjoying the decorative and lively atmosphere and taking part in the celebrations of the upcoming Italian holiday. Obviously these types of interactive familial activities will have a huge impact on their cultural identities as they grow into active participants of Roman/Italian society.
     In comparison with the youths of the US, it's very similiar if not the exact same situation of exposing youths at a very young age to cultural traditions (and maybe even the expectations) of your surrounding society. When you expose youths at an early age to certain types of food, religion, and societal norms you are having a direct impact on that youth's identity and social structure that will impact them for the rest of their lives; because it's a projection of their culture and society - rather it be American or Italian.

All settled in :)

I have been officially moved in into our new apartment for 2 days now and it's really fantastic. I consider our neighborhood as the "Brooklyn" of Rome because we have to walk across the Ponte Sisto Bridge into Trastevere (where Vatican City is located). It's seriously is less than a 5min walk back into downtown\central Rome so it's actually really convenient.

I have 3 really great roommates: Natalie, Sarah & Sha (Shaquella), and i couldn't have asked for more friendly and outgoing girls! Our apartment is surprisingly really large, and we share 2 girls to 2 bedrooms so we aren't cramped at all. I'll have to take some pictures to show you how modern and nice our place is! I wasn't at all expecting this and had prepared myself for the worse...haha!

Everyone else in my program is really nice and we all like to spend a lot of time socializing with the whole group! The other night i organized a night tour from the Campo de Fiori to the Piazza di Spagna (because i had already done this walking tour by myself during the day), and 8 of us ended up touring these sites for over 3 hours... It was a lot of fun but really hard on our feet.

We've only had 2 short orientations so far because everyone is still kinda out of it, and still transitioning to Italian time, but the group is going to the local flea market this Sunday and some of us are planning on exploring the historic district (where the Colosseum is) and Vatican City this weekend since we have it off :)

I'm sending out some post cards today so keep an eye out for them! Luvs!!!

1st day in Rome!

After mulling around the hostel this morning and trying to avoid doing anything productive (since i was severely jet-legged and lazy), I finally decided to go out and explore my surroundings. For any of you who are familiar with the downtown Rome area, the hostel i am staying at is right near the Stazione Termini which is a fairly short subway trip outside of central Rome. When i left my hostel, it took me exactly two blocks walking in the opposite direction of the train station before i got lost for approximately 20mins and was finally able to find my way back, without accomplishing anything, and frustrating myself with my directional amnesia and stupidity. Anyways, when i got back, the guys at the reception desk told me to go right instead of left outside the door and the train station was only 2 blocks away...

A short walk later, I was on my finally on my way and took the subway to the Piazza di Stagna (where the Spanish Steps are located). As soon as i got out of the subway i knew i was in the right place because there was a million tourists walking around, and the Piazza is absolutely beautiful. The spanish steps have a more picturesque look of grandeur in all the post cards but they seemed smaller in person....or maybe that was because of all the people on them?? Who knows... I will go back some evening for a different perspective.

Then it was a short walk to the Trevi Fountain, and that also seemed very different in person. The facade was gorgeous, and the statues breathtaking, but the fountain is self seemed bigger in the movies...or maybe i just expected the piazza itself to be bigger. Then again, there was too a million tourists walking around and taking pictures like myself... So a different perspective is also needed.

Then i found the Pantheon. The outside architecture is absolutely amazing!!! It is obvious that this monument of Historic Rome is the real deal since the circumference of the building is bordered off with a moat like structure to preserve it. They are currently doing maintanence to the front of the Pantheon so i have a bunch of pictures with ugly ass staffolding ladders in them...bummer. The inside was nice. I expected it to be a little bigger because all the postcards make it seem absolutely gi-normous. I mean, it was big and everything, and the floors were nicely decorated and made of marble with the big ass whole in the middle of the ceiling directly above. The surrounding piazza was also nice. I might as well make another trip in the near future.

The Piazza Navona was probably my favorite "touristy" sight today. The piazza itself is huge and is actually the shape of a square unlike the Piazza di Spagna which is kinda just an open area....or maybe i just couldnt tell its shape becuase of all the freaking people. Anyways, there was a carnival type event going on and there were a bunch of children walking around with their parents so that was really cute and charming. I loved the three very large fountains in the middle and their very different decorative themes, especially :)

A short walk north is the Piazza Campo de  Fiori which is the Roman market area. This is a lot smaller and quant than the Navona but just as charming, and really had the authentic Italian atmosphere. The UW Rome center is located just on the northeast wing of the market in the nearby piazza de Biscione. This was the reason for my venture out today, so i could find this place in the morning when i have my big ass bulky suitcase to lug around the cobble stone... :p

Afterwards, I made my way back to the Stazione Termini without trouble, and grabbed some take out (I LOVE TAKE OUT) which was the Italian dish of Catelloni de Carne! It was muy delicioso (yeah, i dont know any Italian so Spanish can suffice)!

However, shortly after making it back to my room, i was somewhat alarmed by someone knocking on my door. I assumed that one of the 4 other girls sharing the same room was locked out... So imagine my surprise when i found a young girl standing outside asking for me and greeting me with a smile only to start sobbing when i confirmed that she had found the right person. Her name is Sharice (i think), and she is another girl in the same UW study abroad program. We had sent a few emails back and forth with our travel itinerary but i had no idea she was staying here. Anways, she was crying because she was very overwhelmed with her first experience traveling solo outside of the US and had encountered a some unforseen obstacles. She too had a weird experience with her "cab ride" (though it wasnt a marked/licensed taxi car), and the "cab driver" freaked her out. So she was already unnerved when she got in and then she had trouble figuring out the door/room light situation, like myself. Her laptop was also dying and she has the wrong converter so she cant charge it, etc. She was just not having a very good day and had only just got in a few hours prior; plus she isnt used to being on her own so she just needed to vent and be reassured that she is okay, and i will make sure she gets to where we both need to be tomorrow.

Other than that i took a two hour nap and am ready to finish my dinner, have a couple of drinks, and enjoy the last night of my first Roman hostel experience. Sorry for the overload of information. There was a lot going on today. I promise i wont post again till the end of the week :) Ciao luvs!!

What a crazy couple of days...

Travels got off to a pretty rocky start. My flight from Dallas to Madrid was delayed 5 hours which resulted in me missing my Madrid to Rome connection. When i finally made it into Rome last night i was 7hrs behind schedule and my luggage was still in Madrid :\ However, I luckily had my carry-on bag which provided me with at least some essentials...except for underwear, my cell phone charger, and my outlet converter. Go figure. But, nonetheless, within the last 24 hrs i made through 4 airports, 3 countries and 2 continents in one piece ;)

I was somewhat sexually harassed (though i am sure the Italians would consider it flirting) by my cab diver last night... I probably shouldnt go into detail, but lets just say that if this would have happened in the states i am certain he wouldve had a law suit filed against his ass.

I am staying at a local hostel until we can officially move into our Roman apartments tomorrow morning. The staff here are amazingly friendly and helpful. This one guy had to literally help me use my calling card cuz i didnt know how to call long distance and my cell phone wont be working until i get an Italian SIM card (on my to-do list). I wouldnt have even attempted, but knowing my dad...he probably wouldve contacted the US Embassy for missing persons abroad if he hadnt of heard from me like soon.

The nice Roman gentlemen also had to show me how to get into my room and turn on the lights... I can manage my way through foreign airports but i apparently i cant do anything else. He told me he would bring back some authentic Italian wine with him this evening and would share some with me. That is probably going to be the extent of my day cuz i dont feel like doing much else.

Uh... Other than the mayhem of the last 2 days, things have been pretty chill. I am debating if i should attempt to wonder around the historic district today and find the UW Rome Center but i havent made up my mind yet. I am feeling pretty lazy and comfortable with where i am at the moment.

I hope all is well back home and i will update you all again soon :) Ciao!