GL350 Blog Week 7

In one week from today, I will be at my house in the U.S. It's a crazy thought, the time flew by so quickly and it was an experience of a life time. I am so excited to go home and see my friends and family and tell them all about my trip and the life long memories that I made. Everyone in our group is amazing and I am so glad that I really got to know them all.

This week, Katie Dodds and Katie Bell lead us on a tour of Esquiline Hill. It was very interesting and they both did a great job. We also learned how to make Tiramisu by Danilo that we had for dinner the next night and it was amazing! That is one recipe I'll for sure have to take home with me.

On Wednesday, we all woke up very early to go see the Pope. It was such an amazing experience to be able to sit as close as we did to go see him.  We got there a few hours early so Sydney and I went around the auditorium asking people to take our survey for our heritage project. We had the same nervousness when we went into the market, but once we got used to it, it became much easier. The main issue that we came about was that people were from all over the world, and we only had our survey in English and Italian. Once the clock hit 10 am, we decided to go back to our seats and get ready for the Pope. Although it was in many different languages and the English translation was pretty difficult to understand, I still had a wonderful time.

Then on Thursday, we went to Nettuno to visit the American Cemetery. I thought that was so cool because I went to the one in Washington D.C. and they both are so similar. After the cemetery, we had some free time to get lunch and wander the city a little. Danielle, Dave and I walked around and found the beach and it was beautiful. The weather that day was perfect and I had a great time. As we were walking, we saw that they had an out door slate of ice to skate on, so Danielle and I went ice skating. It was so much fun!

This week, we had to finish reading The Talented Mr. Ripley. I personally loved the book and the ending too. I thought it was crazy how easily the police and Marge was able to find Tom/Dickie even when he would travel from city to city and stay in different hotels and apartments. I know people have different opinions but all through out the story, I was rooting for Tom to not get caught. It amazed me how in less than a year, Tom went from a poor man in New York into a man who had a lot of money, had a house in the U.S. and in Europe. I enjoyed the book so much that Danielle and I watched the movie afterwards but I did not really like the movie that much, I didn't think the characters were portrait ed like the characters in the book.

Soc490 Week 6

Its crazy that this is the last blog for our Soc 490 class. The time here really went by so quickly. I think that it is more bittersweet because I love all my new friends that I've made on this journey but at the same time I cannot wait to go back to the states. Before this trip and this class, I never really cared for politics and especially health care. To this day it is still confusing to me as to how all the minor details work out. But because of this class, I am understanding more and more about health care and even making my own opinion about it.

Last week was a very fun week. For this class, we went to the market and asked Italians to take a quick survey. It was nerve racking at first because we had to speak in Italian in order to communicate. When I tried to talk to them, they would silently laugh at me, but I just got used to it. We asked basic questions such as their age, to rate their health, rate their physician, if they've been in the hospital, about the care they received in the hospital, and what hospital they thought had better doctors.

We each had to interview 10 people and then share our information with 3 others, that way we had a total of 40 results. I have not collected the results of my other partners but I did type mine up to read them better. I found it interesting that 6 out of the 10 people that I interviewed thought that health care was not a good system. That struck me because I do not have the same health care as them and I am against the universal health care and they have the universal health care and they do not think its good.

Our discussion question for this week asks us if the power of prayer can cure disease. We have not discussed this topic in class and my opinion about it is not very confident. I believe that God works in mysterious ways. Medicine works in mysterious ways as well though. If a person has a disease and they get treatment and prayer, it is hard to say which one worked. I have heard several stories of people who have rare cancers that do not have treatment but their friends and family prayed for them and like magic, was cancer free. On the other hand, our bodies are so complex that there is plenty that we do not know yet and for some reason, medically, the person who has disease can be healed with what people may think was prayer.

GL350 Blog Week 6

This was another eventful week in Rome! It's starting to get cold out but that doesn't stop us from heading out and going on tours. We spent two days in the Vatican City. The first day we took a hike up 550 steps to get to the top of the dome in St. Peter's. When we reached the top, the scenery of the city was beautiful. The long walk up was worth it. That same day we went into the Sistine Chapel. All the artwork that was amazing in it and it seemed too good to be true that we were there.

The next day, we went back but this time we went under the church. My favorite part of that day was being able to see the remains of St. Peter. It was such a good opportunity and that we were all lucky enough to go down and see it because they only let about 100 people down. Its considered the most holy and sacred place and it was an honor going to see it. I think the story of St. Peter is so fascinating and that he was crucified up side down.

Over the weekend, we went on our last group trip. It is very sad that our trip is coming to an end but this weekend was still a blast. We went to Sorrento and on Saturday we visited Pompeii. The scenery in Sorrento was beautiful. The way the houses were built on the side of the mountains looked just like a picture on a post card. Pompeii was also very interesting, although it was pouring down rain, we still got to see a lot of the city.

This week we started to read The Talented Mr. Ripley. It was funny because he had mentioned that he got on a bus and he was standing next to a slim man who smelt bad and on the other side of him was a woman who smelt worse. It reminded me of when we got on the 64 bus because we were all so crammed on the bus and it smelt like the people didn't shower in about a week. We ended up making a list on the board of what we thought about Tom Ripley. I am at chapter 13 so in my opinion I think Tom is mentally disturbed because when he was younger his aunt verbally abused him and Tom already thinks of himself as a failure. I think he is also very lonely and he doesn't know who he is and because of that, he tried to take other people's personalities. I thought it was rather iron that Mr. Greenleaf told Tom that Dickie was easily influenced by his friends when in reality its more of Tom that is influenced by his "friends".  

Soc490 Week 5

As the weeks go on, our discussion of health care gets more and more in depth. It's a very difficult topic because there are just so many pros and cons. As we read, my personal opinion tends to go back and fourth as the semester continues. I started out thinking that health care is a privilege and I am still thinking it is. However, I am understanding more of the opposing side and there are a few points made that I can agree with.

In the readings from this week, I thought it was interesting that Robert Helms mentioned, "These frugal payment policies [Medicaid/Medicare] save some money but force many patients to seek care in hospital emergency rooms because they cannot find a physician that will accept Medicaid patients." His argument is that if we have universal health care, we have to deal with people taking advantage of the system. This is a good example of that because these people do not necessarily need to go to the emergency room but they do anyways. 

On the other hand, Malcolm Gladwell has the opposite opinion and does not think that people will abuse the system. He makes a good point by saying, "People who are very well insured, who are very rich,do you see them check into the hospital because it's free?" However, this is just directed towards people who have insurance. I feel as though when the people who do not have insurance receive it, they will take advantage of it since they did not have it before. 

We also discussed a lot about our control over our health. One point that was brought up in class is what exactly is the definition of 'health' and being 'healthy.' Everyone has a different definition so it cannot be directly answered as to if we have control over it. Health and being healthy in my opinion is being able to live day to day without having physical difficulties or pain. Someone can still live with cancer and still be considered healthy by my definition. There are ways to prevent becoming unhealthy such as obesity. There aren't nearly as many fast food restaurants in Italy than in the U.S. Also, it is more common for people to have cars and drive everywhere when in Italy they use public transportation more and walk. Overall, the Italians have a more healthy lifestyle.

GL350 Blog Week 5

Week five came and went very quickly. On Monday we went to the Museum of Medical Arts which was interesting to see how the technology has changed over centuries of time. On Tuesday, Gabby and I lead the class to two churches, Via Vineto, and ended in the Borghese Gardens. From there, we went into the gallery which was full of pieces of art. It was pretty interesting to see everything but on the other hand, I am not a big fan of art. I was so excited when Thursday came around! We started off the Thanksgiving Day by going to Mass at Santa Susanna, which was a church that spoke English. Afterwards, I took a long nap to kill the three hours we had before dinner. When it came time to eat, we all were so excited! The food was amazing!

This past weekend, Danielle, Dave, Rachel, Sydney and I stayed in Rome. It was so beautiful being able to see the Colosseum and the Trevi Fountain all lit up at night. The night life was more fun than I had expected it to be. Our hotel was located on the opposite side of Termini that we were used to going so during the day when we walked around, it was weird being in the familiar city of Rome but at the same time it was almost like we were in a different city.

In class this week, we talked a lot about how Italians view other countries. They get the idea that there is an ulterior motive behind everything. If they are offered help, they think it back fire on them. There was in interesting quote that Barzini mentioned, "never kick a man when he is down" then later goes on to say, "but why not when he is down? When else, if you please, should one kick a man more advantageously? When more safely and effectively?" This was odd to me because I personally do not think this way. I don't think it would be right to 'kick a man while he's down.'

We also talked about how they do not show emotion, Barzini says, "They cannot afford to be carried away by emotions. They keep them under control. This does not mean that they are cold people. When it is safe to do so, they enjoy genuine and unrestrained emotions as well as anybody." I thought it was interesting because this same topic came up with a few other classmates before we even talked about it in class.  I noticed that even when they take pictures, they do not smile and when you pass by they don't smile either. It almost seems weird to me because in the U.S. I am used to being around people who smile all the time.

Soc490 Week 4

Last week, we went and visited the Museum of the Mind. It was much more interesting than I thought it would be. The first test that we saw was the idea of perspective. Each of us one at a time looked into a small hole into a room and I was surprised at what I saw. The illusion made two people about the same size appear drastically different in size just by using different size door ways and using slanted tiling. I was so fascinated by the technology that they used to show us videos of people back who were patience and nurses. I loved how they had the stories, although they were in Italian, we were fortunate enough to have Danilo there with us to translate.

This week we went to the National History Museum of the Medical Arts. It was interesting to see all the instruments that they used back then. Its crazy to think how much technology has changed. Looking at the instruments that they used back then seem so barbaric and inhumane. I would be afraid to be a patient or a doctor back then.

In our Sociology class, we have two discussion questions. The first one asks if we have control over our health. I think that we do have control because we have the choice to exercise or not. We also have the choice to eat healthy or go to McDonalds four times a week. Not only that, but the U.S. has good hospitals and technology that can help cure illness and diseases. Goodman states, "patients in the United States are screened more frequently for diseases such as prostate cancer and breast cancer, and therefore have better access to preventive care." With that in mind, we can control the health of many people.

Another question that is brought up was what can we take from the Roman approach to improve our health? I think the most obvious answer would their diet. They do not eat as much fatty and unhealthy food as we do. Even when we eat what they consider "junk food" it still means healthy. The life expectancy rate is much higher in Italy than in the United States and I am sure their diet plays a big role in that.

GL350 Blog Week 4

It's crazy to think that we are a little more than a month into our trip. Time really does fly when you're having fun. This week, we went on two student lead tours and everyone did a wonderful job! Gabby and I have ours tomorrow and I'm actually pretty excited to share with the class what we found.

My favorite spot that we went to this week was the Pantheon. The size of the building amazed me, then we went inside. It was crazy how they do not have any lighting and that all the light comes from a giant hole in the ceiling. There were drains directly below it for when it rains. In the Smiles of Rome, Muriel Spark says, "but, if I can get, say, a glimpse of the Pantheon-- even passing in a taxi on my way to fulfill some banal commission-- I find the journey worthwhile." I found our trip that day worthwhile because I have seen so many pictures of the Pantheon and it was amazing finally being able to see it in person.

Finally Friday came around and we were all excited to be heading off to Florence! We have heard nothing but great things from other students who came on the same trip. Florence was a small city and the entire time I was there, my sense of direction was off, but, as Alice Steinbach said in the Smiles of Rome, "to avoid corners altogether is, after all, to refuse to live." So my friends and I went off and wandered the streets.There was a lot of shopping and I bought good leather products for my family and myself. The Italians in Florence I thought were much nicer than the ones on Rome. We made several new friends from the shops and they were able to recognize us when we went out shopping the next day.

The night life was more than I expected it to be. We all wandered around town to experience the night life and I think it's safe to say we all had a blast! I feel as though this was the big trip that made everyone closer together. In my opinion, I think we are all starting to feel like a real family. Florence so far has been one of my favorite trips.

GL350 Blog Week 3

Another week has gone by here in Rome and it was great! We went on a few student lead tours and had a free weekend as well to travel. For those who read my GL350 blog last week, I'll let you know that I had better luck this week with the public transportation (mainly the train.)

Last week we all went on a tour to the Catacombs which was my favorite so far. I thought it was different than what we usually see which I found interesting. I enjoyed the part when we walked through the catacombs and seeing the tombs because people were so much smaller back then compared to now a days. However I was a little disappointed that we weren't allowed to take pictures.

Over the weekend, some friends and I went to Paris, France for the day on Friday then to Dublin, Ireland Friday night until Sunday. It was such an amazing experience and everything went perfect! We arrived in Paris about 9 am and we got bus tickets that took us into Paris. From there, we wandered the streets and we eventually found Chipolte for lunch. After, we got tickets for the metro and we were able to navigate our way to the Eiffel Tower where we got on the hop on hop off bus. We're pretty much professionals when it comes to the metro. Everything that we saw was SO much larger than I imagined. We were running short on time and a few of us wanted to go to the Louvre Museum and we were determined to see the Mona Lisa and Venus de Milo. Luckily, we were able to get to the Louvre with no issues and there were no lines for tickets. It was meant to be for us to go visit. We were able to go in and out in 20 minutes. From there, we were off to Ireland! Now how many people can say they've been to three different countries in 1 day?

Ireland was nothing like we expected. We thought it was going to be all grassy fields and lambs roaming everywhere. It was so busy yet it felt like we were back home in the states. Everyone was so friendly, not only in Dublin but in France too. The best part about being in Ireland was the Traditional Irish Restaurant that we went to for lunch on Saturday. It was a little pricey but it was worth it. Saturday was the day that kicked all of our butts! We weren't expecting to spend much money on shopping because we thought it was all farm land but we were all wrong. The shopping was amazing and none of us left empty handed.

Barzini talked so highly of Italy and how the Italian people don't like to travel out of their country because its not as beautiful anywhere else. I would have to disagree with him because Italy is my temporary home now and when I traveled out the of country, I thought it was more beautiful than Rome. I took French for a few years so my opinion may seem bias, but Paris is by far my favorite place and I did not want to leave at all.

Its crazy that we already have midterms this week. It doesn't feel like we've hit that half way point just yet. But, this weekend we are off to Florence and I'm glad that we are taking the train this time. I'm ready for a weekend with no flying.

SOC490 Week 2

This week, we continued on with our discussion of Universal Healthcare and if we thought it was a privilege or a right. I personally believe that it is a privilege but there are also many reasons why people would think it was a right.

In class, one of the reasons we discussed was dealing with children. If parents of a child did not have healthcare then their child wouldn't have healthcare either. Therefore, if anything were to happen to that child, it would cost the family a lot of money in order to care for the child properly. In this case, I do understand why healthcare should be a right because the child should not have to suffer the consequences of the parents not having healthcare.

This same reason can apply to those with diseases that they cannot control, such as genetic diseases or just one that you were born with. For example, if a person was born with cystic fibrosis, then they would need help to be well. In that case, having healthcare would be a necessity. On the other hand, if someone chooses to smoke 2 packs of cigarettes a day and develops lung cancer, then that's their own fault and they should not get healthcare. If they need help then they should have to pay for their treatment out of pocket.

There was also a discussion about the Cleveland Clinic. It rose the question of: why is it that the Cleveland Clinic is rated the best hospital in the US, yet not everyone in Cuyahoga County is healthy? At first when we were asked this, I had no idea. But then I thought about it some more and I realized that the County is just being stereotyped because it has this hospital. Harvard University is a great college, yet not everyone in that area is the next Einstein. Its the same idea to me. Just because the Cleveland Clinic is the best hospital, that doesn't mean people in Cutahoga County have to be the healthiest of people.

GL350 Blog Week 2

Its been two weeks now and let me tell ya, this past week has been all over the place. I had two not so great experiences with riding the train. Its hard adjusting to not being able to drive my own car and relying on public transportation. On Tuesday, we had a free day where we could go out and work on our walking tours. So Gabby and I headed out to our spot and wandered around for a while. It was getting cold so we went back to Termini and we were looking at the sign for what train we had to take back to campus. It was weird because we had planned to take the 14:23 train but all the signs had 8 am times. We kept standing there waiting for the times to change but it never did. I looked over to my right and saw another board with the times on it and it said that our train was bin 18, one that is 400 meters away. I looked at my watch and it said 2:23, which was the time it was suppose to be leaving so we sprinted to the train, just to see it pull away. We were heartbroken mostly because it was cold out and when we walked back to the station, it started to rain. ): 

Then two days later, Gabby, Katie Dodds and I decided to go to Termini to buy a few things and we took the 14:23 train back to campus. It broke down about 5 minutes from the Campino stop and we were stuck there for about 45 minutes. They kept saying announcements over the intercom but it was all in Italian and we didn't understand what they were saying so we were able to figure out that we were all getting off at Campino and another train was going to come get us. We waited at the station there for another 20 minutes before the train finally came. Once we got off the train, it started to pour on our walk back and by the time we got back, we were all soaking wet and we missed carving pumpkins.

With my experiences from this past week, I would have to disagree in a way with Barzini when he says that Rome is the best place. In the Smiles book, Jane Alison talks about Ovid and how he gets exiled from Rome and he asks if he can take Rome with him. Ovid loves the city and thinks it's the end of the world that he has to leave. Overall, yes I love Rome but when we had issues with the train, I wanted to go back to the U.S. 

SOC490 Week 1

This week we had debates about the healthcare systems. We read several different point of views on whether or not healthcare is a right or a privilege. This topic really got me thinking and both sides have good points but I think that healthcare is a privilege.

In the U.S., we are a country where people are independent individuals and we are used to working for what we need and want. If someone wants healthcare, then they should have to work for it and not have it handed to them because if it was just handed to them, it would cost a lot for our government.

Not only would it cost the government money, we also have to worry about people taking advantage of the system. One of the authors compared the healthcare to food. They way they stated it seemed like a first come first serve. Whoever gets there first would probably take all the food before anyone else had a chance to get some for themselves. Its the same way with healthcare because other people would take more than others and use all the governments money before others get healthcare.

Lastly, the government need to know there limitations as to what they can tell us what we can and cannot do. For example we talked about in class about how it is a law that we have to wear seat belts when we drive. If we do not wear a seat belt, we are only harming ourselves and putting ourselves at risk. Its the same with healthcare, they can't require us to have it. I think overall that if you want healthcare you need to work for it. Although someone would argue about younger kids who don't have jobs but I think they should be on the same healthcare as their parents until they are old enough to work for themselves and get there own healthcare.

GL350 Blog Week 1

As of today, we have been in Italy for five days. I have never left the country before so coming here is a huge change. It really opened my eyes as to how other people live their every day lives. A change that I have slowly been adjusting to is the times that we eat meals here. In the U.S., I am used to eating all throughout the day then having dinner around 6 PM. In Italy, we eat breakfast at 8 AM, lunch around noon, and dinner at 8 PM. It's also different because we have to get water from a well outside instead of straight from the sink. 

In class, we are reading a book called The Italians by Luigi Barzini. He talks about how Italians love family time. When it comes to dinner, they all sit down together to share the meal. On campus, we all sit down together and mimic this tradition. Going along with the family time, in Italy the houses are also different than the U.S. because in Italy the bedrooms are very small because they spend most the their time in a huge common area with family. This is just how our campus is set up.

This week, we read the first two chapters and he made a few interesting points. In chapter one, he talks about the Italians and says how they are very attractive and today, they are considered more attractive than the Italians from the past and more beautiful than the previous art work of beautiful people. This really stood out to me because in my opinion, I do not think the Italian are all that great. I feel as though Barzini set the pedestal very high by his description that in reality, they are really nothing special. I also believe that beauty is in the eye of the beholder and that as an American, what I am exposed to compared to what Barzini was exposed to, we probably have a very different opinion on what is considered beautiful. 

Today, after we had our class tour of the Baths of Caracalla, we all went our separate ways to explore the city of Rome. My friends and I got our map out and managed to find our way to the Trevi Fountain. Afterwards, we did a lot of shopping on the main roads. One of my friends was looking for a store and we were running around everywhere and it was about time to start heading back. We were determined to find this store since we had been looking for so long. I saw a girl around our age carrying a bag from the store we were looking for. I approached her and asked where the store was, but she did not speak a word of English so I tried to ask her in Italian by saying "Dove!" then pointed to the bag. We ended up finding the store right away. My little story ties in with Barzini because he mentioned how Italians like it when you try to speak their language.

So far I think that this week has been successful and I am excited for our future adventures!