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.