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.