My Experience of the Xchange

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)

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

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

 

 

I was initially very curious to experience this Exchange thing, and I didn't know what to expect from this new activity of the 2nd semester. Fortunately, I had the occasion to talk always with Elena, and always the two of us. I don't think I can actually re-consider my own culture, but trying to explain to her different things about living in Italy as a 20-something girl made me aware of it in a different way. I had to reflect on my culture, in order to explain her things in the most objective way, and then to add my opinion. I've never felt uncomfortable. I was always glad to answer her questions and discuss the "topic of the week". I like the idea of comparing our two lifestyles, but sometimes I had to remind me that she's younger than me ( Elena's 18, while I'm 24), and probably we have different approach to life, I was a bit disappointed for example of knowing that she has decided to vote for Democrats, but she didn't know anything about Republicans. Then I understood that is due to the American whole system, because once you belong to a party you can vote only for them, and partly it was also due to her age, it is the first time this year she can actually vote.

I felt comfortable talking about things related to my culture, the only problem was that sometimes I didn' t have enough information to give her, for example when we talked about "lead years", I didn't study that particular period at school, and my family and I didn't experience it. But she understood it and we just went through it!

 

B. Knowledge

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

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

• 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).

 

I learnt a bit how their school life is organized, I understood they have College and University, and that these are two separate things. That their High school, which is somehow the same of our scuola superiore, ends a year before ours. I also learned that the idea of education is different. At a certain point in our life as students we start specializing in a particular subject matter, for example for us are the foreign languages we choose, and although we are still studying several subject matters, we study only what is somehow related to these. Just to be clear, Elena is studying biology, and she's also attending an Italian Language course, which would not possible in Italy. I'm not saying there is a better or a worse system, but they are based on different ideas of education.

 

One of the main things I have learnt about the country is surely their electoral system, which is the topic of our webpage. Anyway, We discussed a number of things, one that really surprised me was the death penalty. I understood that we have very different opinion, and living in Italy, were it was abolished many years ago, or living in U.S. where it is still in use make it different. We compared our opinion about the issue without feeling uncomfortable and that was, I reckon, the best result.

 

Calling each other with Skype was part of this new experience, and at the beginning it was a bit awkward. It is not the classical telephone call, and so... How do we start? I don't know if I really learnt the way to greet at the beginning, or how to end the conversation, it is something difficult even in my own language! I've never ended a conversation thinking “it is better to avoid that kind of question...”, and I hope it is the same for her.

 

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.

• 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)

 

I can't call it an incident, or a problem, the only moment in which I felt that our opinion were so different it was when we talked about death penalty. And I didn't have to explain anything because we were both ready to accept the difference.

 

When we talked about the electoral system I had to make a number of precise questions to understand what she was saying, for example. But probably with other topic, like immigration for example, what happens in U.S. is more similar to what happens in Italy. The attitude towards immigration that Elena described (“They're stealing our jobs...”, “They are criminals...”, “If they want to live here they should learn English...”) is really near to what I can see in Italy, so I didn't need clearer explanations.

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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. Example:

I'm really interested in knowing things that are not presented by media, and talking about their life at the University is exactly that kind of thing. But with other topic our discussion brought us a bit far from real life.

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

I think that our exchange was a bit particular from this point of view, because we were talking with guys that are children or grandchildren of immigrants in America, so their attitude sometimes is surely influenced by their family lives. And I really appreciated it when we talked about immigration, because it added something to our conversation, it was no longer just about being of different nationality (an Italian girl talking with an American girl), but a grandchildren of immigrants talking about immigration.

 

 

B. Ability to change perspective

• I have realised 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:

 

  The moment in which I really had to change perspective was when we talked about the death penalty, because it is something so far from my point of view that I had to remind that their culture was originated by very different experiences and that she is part of that culture as much as I am part of my own.

 

 

 

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:

 

To be honest I've never had to cope with particular reactions... The only thing is probably that when we talked in Italian, I could see that it was a bit difficult for her, and I tried to speak slowly with simple words, and sometimes I wrote what I said to help her understanding the whole conversation.

 

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:

Here again, probably the main thing I learnt is their electoral system, and the powers of President, thanks to the final project.

 

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

It is difficult to give an example, but probably the fact that at a certain point we saw that we spent more than an hour talking together reveals that we enjoyed the conversation.

 

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:

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

 

We have never had any misunderstanding, and so no need to find particular solution.

 

I made questions when I found something interesting, for example, the death penalty was not a topic to discuss, but came out from a question in the forum, and we spent time talking about it.

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Self-Assessment of my Language Learning

 

Please provide specific examples of the following:

 

• words, expressions I learned in English:

   

  ballot/scheda elettorale

  term /mandato

  stupro/rape

• improvements in my pronunciation of certain words or intonation:

  I'm still coping with the word EITHER; I'm not able to tell in what particular words my pronunciation improved...

• improvements in my listening:

Here again it is difficult to find a specific example, but I realized that I could understand well what she said.

• changes in the way I speak Italian to non-native speakers:

I paid attention, in order to speak slowly, and trying to choose simple words to explain concepts. I also managed to write what I was saying in order to give her time to catch words and meaning.

• words, expressions I learned doing the wiki project:

  ballot/scheda elettorale

  term /mandato

• improvements in my reading doing the wiki project:

I had to read specific texts, with technical words related to the particular field of politics/election.

• improvements in my writing doing the wiki project:

I still make loads of grammar mistakes, but probably I'm starting avoid that of the 3rd person -s ( I know, I feel ashamed...)

 

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