Description of my feelings, knowledge and actions during the Exchange

A. Feelings

Ways in which my curiosity and interest were aroused: (examples that made me re-consider my own culture)

1. forums: they gave me the possibility to discuss issues concerning both Italy and America. Moreover, the questions our American peers posed gave me a more detailed idea of how we, as Italians, are perceived abroad

2. the use of Skype: talking with my American peer I realized that they were all excited at the idea of knowing more about our country. I was really happy of that because I firmly believe that they were stimulated by real interest and not by the impositions of their school programs. 

3. when our peers tried to speak or write in Italian: it is not an easy language so I really appreciated their efforts. Their native language is a world language known by almost everybody. So, theoretically, they were not "obliged" to learn Italian. Nevertheless, most of them were really interested in our language and culture!

Moments in which I felt uncomfortable: (what made me feel like this, with particular examples if possible)

When we discussed the difference between the Italian and the American educational system with Chiara (she stayed in Padua for a few days and she came to class on one Monday). Of course, I didn’t feel uncomfortable because of her!!!She was really cute and down to earth. When she described the organization of her College (and that of other Colleges as well), I felt a bit uncomfortable because I realized that some aspects of our system are in some way inferior (see for instance the relationship with their teachers/professors).

Technical problems with Skype: I really hated those kind of problems because they always took precious time from our exchange

Moments when I felt comfortable:(what made me feel like this, with particular examples if possible)

Even if I usually prefer individual working, I liked to work in group for the wikipage and to have contacts with my peers also outside normal classes in order to support each other

B. Knowledge

The most important things I learnt about family life and/or life at school.

Young people learn to be more independent thanks to the experience of colleges. I think it is one of the most precious experiences in the life of an American student

The most important things I have learnt about the country, the nation, the state of the target language.

I learnt that Americans are not excessively patriotic as we may think. They do not consider their nation as the best nation in the world. They are keen to point out also the negative things and to talk about the well-known “American dream” as nothing more than having a decent house and job.

What I have learnt about customs and conventions of talking with people (topics which interest them, topics to avoid, how to greet people and take leave from them).

It seems to me that Americans are a bit more shy than Italians and that they do not feel comfortable when asked about private matters. When we had to discuss specific issues for our project, they usually preferred to get to the point rather than making long introductions or general statements

C. Actions

Incidents or problems which I resolved by explaining different cultures to people, helping them see the points of view of different cultures and how misunderstandings can happen.

I realized that they are all very impressed by the problem of garbage in Naples. They wonder why the government hasn’t worked it out yet. I explained that it was not something that happened out of the blue and that this problem will take us time to be solved because it is the result of very bad administration over the years.

Examples of times when I have had to ask questions and work out my own answers (from ask for clarification to understanding cultural customs and beliefs)

Sometimes, when our peers asked us precise questions on very general topics, for example on the economical situation in Italy, we had to take our time because we weren’t able to provide detailed explanations of certain issues.

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A self-assessment of my Intercultural Experience[3]

A. Interest in other people's way of life

I am interested in other people's experience of daily life, particularly those things not usually presented to outsiders through the media.

Examples:

the relationships with their professors

the things they do during their holidays

the relationship with their family (brothers/sisters/parents)

the education of children

I am also interested in the daily experience of a variety of social groups within a society and not only the dominant culture.

Example:

Italian communities living in America

confraternities in universities

B. Ability to change perspective

I have realized that I can understand other cultures by seeing things from a different point of view and by looking at my culture from their perspective.

Example:

Politics: I saw the Italian political campaign from their own perspective, so I had an idea of how our political parties and their leaders are perceived abroad

C. Ability to cope with communicating in a different language with a different culture

I am able to cope with a range of reactions people from different cultures may have to the way I express myself and what I say.

Example: when I tried to translate “culture-specific terms” in English such as “giornate ecologiche”. It was not easy because they do not have similar things in the States and I could not translate the term word for word

D. Knowledge about another country and culture

I know some important facts about the other culture and about the country, state and people that I did not know before.

Example: I learnt that even though America is considered the most powerful country in the world, they are now facing a bad economical recession with lots of jobs lost over the past years and that they are now struggling to get their economy back in line

I know how to engage in conversation with people of the other culture and maintain a conversation.

Example: I think I can do that but unfortunately I only have good results when I feel particularly involved in the topic under discussion (politics and immigration are instances of topic that really interest me). When I’m not well-informed on the topic I have difficulties in trying to maintain a meaningful conversation because I really don’t know what to say or because I’m afraid to give wrong information

E. Knowledge about intercultural communication

I know how to resolve misunderstandings which arise from people's lack of awareness of the view point of another culture.

Example of misunderstanding and solution: one of the things that impressed me most was the foreigner’s general attitude towards our immigration policies (for instance some of the measures taken up by the Lega). I’m sad when foreigners consider Italy as a xenophobic country. It is not true. I mean, everybody is free to express his/her own opinion but sometimes I think that they say such things because they are not really aware of our own experiences with immigrants. This is a case of lack of awareness but of course it is normal if someone does not live here or if she/he has just recently moved

I know how to discover new information and new aspects of the other culture for myself.

Example: The Web is a very powerful tool (and especially “youtube”). I managed to find lots of interesting materials for our project. Of course you have to be selective because you find a little bit of everything on the Web. Other interesting sources are television and American magazines 

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Self-Assessment of my Language Learning

Please provide specific examples of the following:

words, expressions I learned in English:

to get something back in line, heavy on your shoulders, to say something derogatory (in the sense of offending someone), watch your mouth

improvements in my pronunciation of certain words or intonation: I think that my intonation is now a bit more similar to American English than British English (or probably it has never bee truly British...). As for single words...I don’t know if it’s just a particular way to say it in America but I’ve always pronounced “towards” as /twordz/ (I don’t have phonetic symbols but I hope it is clear!) but I noticed that the way they pronounce it sounds more or less like  /tordz/ without any W.

improvements in my listening: yes, because it is more challenging to understand someone speaking through the phone

changes in the way I speak Italian to non-native speakers: undoubtedly I tried to go slowly and to translate as good as possible culture-specific terms

words, expressions I learned doing the wiki project: -

improvements in my reading doing the wiki project: intensive use of skimming and scanning in order to select materials

improvements in my writing doing the wiki project: I always tend to write in a very formal way because we have done nothing but that in the last three years. However, I think I made some efforts in order to write in a more informal way and to be more concise.