A nice experience with Skype

Hi everybody!!!!

Yesterday I finally Skype with the peers in my group ad our America peer. Great!!! It was our first time in Skype with he American girl so we decided to participate altogether at a single Skype conference so to have the possibility to know each other. We discovered that our "American" peer is not American at all because she comes from Malaga and she is been studying at the Dickinson college and is going to remain there for a year, only.

After a brief presentation, we began to talk about "immigration": we found some diffculties because since Rocio was not American she could not explain us what's happening with immigrants in the US. Anyway, the intercultural exchange result positive as we gathered information from two different cultures, at the same time: Rocio tried to describe the immigration in the US from her point of view, based on what she could see over the period of her studies, then she also gave us a description of immigration in Spain.

I really enjoyed the exchange and I think that talking with people from a different country and with a different culture may be often more useful than reading a book about a foreign culture. If not more useful, certainly less boring and more exciting!!!!:-)

What about immigration???

I can't start talking about immigration without telling you something about my personal situation.
To use Sarah's words, I must say I'm not an extracomunitaria, anymore. How it all happens?
I was born in Istria, a region of Croatia which was under the Italian influence after World War I. Our history is too complicated to be explain in few words , but you need the piece of information I just gave you to know that my grandparents were Italian, as they were born in Istria when the region was Italian: their language was obviously Italian together with their costums and habits.

After World War II the region was occupied by the SFR Jugoslavia but my grandparents together with many other people were still there and they passed on their language and their habits to my parents. They did so not by chance but the truth was that they could not speak jugoslavene, it was a new language for them, too. The results was that my parents mother tongue was Italian, then they start, at school for example, to learn the jugoslavene. Differently from my grandparents, my parents did not own Italian documents, as when they born it was all under Jugoslavian control. But when I was born, only after 6 years, Yugoslavia broke up and Istria became under the control of a new nation, Croatia. This meant not only a new nation but obviously a new language, new customs and habits. Maybe I was not so clear in this brief description because many things would be there to say, but now it’s time to speak about the Italian autochthonous minority which is still very active in my native place. It embraces all the people who, like me, attend Italian schools, speak Italian as mother tongue language, etc.

This is why the Italian government decided, last year, to recognize us as Italian people (invaded by other populations) and gave off a law which states that we have the right to have an Italian passport thus, to have an Italian citizenship, although we are born and we live outside Italy. It was not so simple to obtain the citizenship because, as I mentioned before, my parents and me could only rely on my grandparents Italian documents to demonstrate our origins and justify our apply. But, you know, after three wars and three different nations, documents can easily disappear or get lost!!!!

So, this is my story!!! What about my opinions on immigration in Italy??? I read a number of articles and books on the matter and learn that over the years Italy has always faced the same kind of problems regarding immigration!!!!

I just feel free to say that the possibility to vote must be given to an immigrant who lives on the Italian territory for many years and at the same time the second generation of immigrants must own an Italian citizenship, without waiting for being 18.

That’s all for the moment! I hope to exchange some information about the topic with my American peers!!!!

Bye

My topic and reflections

Dear all,

it's been quite a long time since I wrote the last post on my blog. I would like to spend more time here with you all, but we are really bombard with a lot of work, in this uni!!!!! This time I would dedicate more to my private corner and let you know few reflections of mine, before starting with the point.
First of all, I should say I'm very curious to meet the American peers on Skype and to exchange ideas of any kind with them. I like the way Sarah has organized our lessons: it's the first time, after four years of University, that we have the chance to talk in the second language and especially with a native speaker. What 's more useful than practicing with a mother tongue, in order to learn a language???!! Moreover, I also like the idea of developing a wiki page. I've never thought about a wiki but, you know, if I think more about it, I'm an expert with wikipedia: with the huge amount of information around me, the wikipedia has become my 'best friend', by now. So , the idea of having a large quantity of information all on the same page , which can be edited by everyone who feels it, is wonderful!!!!
Ok, this was just a little vent; I hope I didn't annoy you:)!!! And now, more seriously, let me know you the topic I'm interested in.
Two years ago, we were supposed to write an essay in English with prof. Whigham on a topical subject. I, then chose to write about 'substance abuse'. It may sound a bit strange as I, myself, never reflect on healthcare and its implications. But, that time I was just talking with a friend returning from the US, after two years of studies, and among many other things, he confided me how he got upset seeing his peers taking a large quantity of pills of any kind during the time at the Academy. I got impressed, too, by his telling and asked him why were they taking all that staff and the answer was "for any sort of disease, including a brief headache, but above all because they were depressed!!!!". Here began my reflections for the topic to develop, but rather than talking about young people abuse I wrote about substance abuse in general, but remaining concentrated on the American situation.
This time I would like to, 'spread my first effort' and talk about substance abuse by young people. I think that it's not a simple issue to argue about, but I'm curious because nobody talks about it although, in my opinion, it's a big problem in our society. It's undoubtedly connected with the way we live and the way we are able to tackle problems in our everyday life. I think there is more than one reason for the substance abuse by young people, one can be, for example, the family context or more detailed the time parents have at their disposal to dedicate to their children rather than to their job, only.

As I said before, nobody talks about it, so I can’t say I know precisely what happens in Italy with the substance abuse. As for the Americans I found all the information on the Web, I would rely on it also for the Italians in order to learn more about it. Anyway, based on what I see and hear around me, I think that Italy is also facing the same problem with young people and it all derives from the way the society is perceived nowadays.

I personally try always to avoid taking aspirins, pills and all that staff just for a simple and brief headache or head cold and at the sae way I try to persuade my friends not to take them when it’s not extremely necessary. I prefer to rely on a hot tea and a spoon of honey, but people nowadays don’t have time for a rest: we are all in a hurry and need to overcome this kind of diseases as soon as possible, so a medicine is the best solution!!!!!!!