AFS Tuscany Camp

After weeks and weeks of counting the days until the AFS October Survival Skills Camp, the day arrived. I left around 10:30 for the station, where I met Giuditta, my advisor. We then bustled our way to the bus station and I was reunited with fellow AFSer Magali from Belgium. We had a rather uneventful trip to Colle Val D'Elsa. After getting off the bus we were picked up by some volunteers are driven to a villa outside of the city. (The picture left is all of us in the backyard of the villa by the well) The weather was nice and warm and for the first time in too long I got to breathe fresh air. It is amazing, the little things that we take for granted are often some of the things we miss the most, in my case one of the things is the fresh Newport air that I'm accustomed to. 

There were 11 of us total: Oregon, California, Texas, Honduras, Hong Kong, Thailand, Poland, Turkey, Greenland, Belgium, Chile. It was not like an ordinary camp. Instead of being read to from an ominous looking rules and guidelines book, we played games, talked, and laughed. During the scheduled time we played group games, talked about out concerns, and joked that the circle of chairs we sat in made us look like members of an AA meeting. In our spare time we hung out in the garden, talked, laughed, sang really loudly, and played some "Calcho" (a name for soccer.)

Most people ask me if I'm eating amazing food, and still the reply is yes. Even at camp. I was shocked. It was quite an upgrade from what I'm used to. Three course meals, and a waiter. The only thing that I really did not care for came as quite a surprise one morning. I went to pour myself a cup of coffee and though it looked like coffee, it smelled atrocious. I added a little extra milk and sugar and sat at my table to enjoy a pastry breakfast. Here in Italy, I drink coffee every morning. It is really superb, but not this stuff. This is because it was not coffee, but cafe d'orzo. It is a cheep form of coffee that I was informed that most hotels serve. It has trace amounts of coffee in it, but it really is barley water. Why people drink barley water instead of coffee will always remain a mystery to me. So if ever in a cafe in Italy, stick to cafe, stay away from options with "orzo."

The second day there, we got to take an outing to Siena. What a beautiful city it is. (I'm 

really proud of the picture I took at the right.) We just got to wander around the tiny steep roads of Siena, and took "pranzo" (lunch) at a pizzeria. There are so many tiny roads in Siena. And there is also the Duomo di Siena. An incredible church. (Pictured left is Ruyam from Turkey and I at the lower part of the duomo.)

The weekend passed too quickly and soon we found ourselves trying to make the last night last as long as we could. Among the events for the evening was a talent show. We split into three groups and were greatly entertained by a variety of acts including: cultural dancing from Turkey, Thailand, and China, a dance we all learned that is from Belgium and popular in Poland, a skit involving a lot of jam, and some group games. After the talent show we played this game called "werewolf" and had a lot of fun with that and the accusations that you're supposed to make while playing. It got late and the counselors went to bed, while we tried to stay of as late as we could. I don't even remember how late it was. 

The next day we played a game called "manifestazione." We had to sit onto the ground and huddle into a ball while the "police" had to try and pull us apart. It cause a lot of bruises, but we had fun. After lunch things became a little somber as the realization of returning to our new normal sank it. Most of us talked about how we wished the camp could go on for a month. Time rushed by and suddenly it came that time to leave for the bus. We said very loud goodbyes and I had to rush off for the bus. Again, the bus ride was uneventful. When I arrived home, my melancholy was immediately squashed when I saw a package from home sitting on my desk. A big thank you to mom for that!

Political Rebels

I can imagine for an Italian exchange student attending school in America, assemblies might just be the most humorous part of school. The simple definition of assembly is: a group of people gathered together in one place for a common purpose. That, I guess, is the only similarity between high school assemblies in Italy and the States... on second thought, I'd change common purpose to half and half (half care, half like to skip class.)

An assembly in the States can get noisy, but for the most part, it is a planned event regulated by staff, and with a school spirit, sport, or community theme. Assemblies in Italy are ran by students, are total chaos, and basically an open mike event. When the students feel there needs to be change, they skip class for the day, hold an assembly, and take turns passionately giving speeches with anarchist undertones. It is quite funny, actually. 

Today I arrived at school in Santa Croce, planning on attending class. I was immediately informed that the previous day's anti-system spirit(we had a manifestazione, which I will describe after the assembly) was to be carried on again today, in an assembly. So instead of going to class, hoards of students made the march from Santa Croce to San Gallo. 

There is an outside basketball court at the school in San Gallo, which is where we held the assembly. It was cold. We sat, and then for two hours heard students take turns with the microphone bantering back and forth about the Reforma Gelmini. The Gelmini reform, from what I understand, is a series of changes involving schools and includes a switch from five to four years of high school, but also eliminates public universities. Most students are against it, they fear that they will not be able to attend a college because private ones are too expensive. 

After the speeches, students went off to find food and some mingled in the court. I stayed until about 12:30, when my friends left. Some students are staying the night at the school, they are holding an occupation of the school. There are other schools in the city doing the same. 

The previous day we had a manifestazione, which is a political 

protest. The protest, like the assembly was against the Gelmini Reform, and against the current system. I attended the event with my classmates. It was pretty incredible, a whole piazza filled with students(pictured is the commencement of the protest in piazza San Marco.) We gathered for about an hour and then a van started blasting some Damian Marley and the like, so naturally we all started to follow the music. Some friends and I got up pretty close to the van and we all followed as it started down the normally very busy road that connects piazza San Marco and the famed Duomo. Piazza San Marco is normally very busy because it is a center where many buses stop. There was no room for buses, so they shut down for a couple hours. We made a very long trek along the road to the Duomo all the while dancing, moshing, shouting, making speeches, and trying our best not to get trampled.   We turned at the Duomo and made a loop back to the piazza adjacent to San Marco. In the piazza where we ended up is a university, and we were greeted by college students also holding signs. The signs said things such as "students against the Gelmini reform" or more extreme students preferred things such as "the government is fascist, and we want communism", the signs varied, as did the people. There were people from all walks of life, and all different schools in Florence. There were everywhere from well dressed kids in sweaters and ironed jeans to the more artistic type in inventive ensembles. The amount of dreadlocks rivaled those in attendance of a reggae concert, I was impressed. 

All in all it was a very interesting and good experience. Even if I don't agree with everything the protest stood for, I do like that students try to make changes. I have witnessed students in action, standing up for something that they believe in, just not at the level that the Italians do. I hear that they are also on strike in the south (I have a friend who attends school in the south) and that strikes are quite common. I'm not going to make a statement on which I think is better: the more passive ways of American students, or the revolution-esque ways of the Italians, but it is really eye-opening to have a view of both.