My experience of the exchange

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) I've always been interested in different cultures, that's why since the beginning of the second semester I felt very curious and motivated... I wanted to know general things about American style of life, food habits, music, young activities, politics and now my expectations have been fulfilled! The surprising aspect is that my knowledge about Italian culture has improved too! When Allyson (my American peer) asked me about Italian politics, political elections or immigrants' situation I had to gather information because my knowledge was rather limited... so I could reconsider and know better also my own culture.

• Moments in which I felt uncomfortable: (what made me feel like this, with particular examples if possible) 'Uncomfortable' is not the right word to describe my feelings... I would say that at the beginning I felt a little bit nervous and embarrassed. I had to speak English with a native girl and not with my Italian mates! Sometimes I felt 'clumsy': when I didn't understand what the question was or when I tried to explain something (for example the Italian word 'raccomandato') and Allyson seemed not to understand... It’s so difficult to explain something that is obvious for you and your culture without finding the right translation for that word!

• Moments when I felt comfortable:(what made me feel like this, with particular examples if possible) I felt comfortable when I knew what to say about a topic (especially about daily life of young people or Italian food habits); I felt good when we didn't have any problem of understanding each other.

 

B. Knowledge

• The most important things I learnt about family life and/or life at school. I learned that American students are more independent than Italian students are; moreover, in America students pay very high rates to go to University but they have the possibility to practice a lot of different activities for free.
• The most important things I have learnt about the country, the nation, the state of the target language. I had the chance to learn more about many important things: students' everyday life; the organisation of educational system; terrorism; the role of immigrants in American society; how the health care system works in US.
• 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 found it rather easy to deal with different topics without any kind of problems... Both Allyson and Ugo have been very nice and (especially Allyson!) took part in the conversation with a lively interest in Italian culture. The topics we focused on most of the time were politics, the war in Iraq and terrorism.

 

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. Fortunately, I never experienced these kinds of misunderstandings or problems.

• 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 asked Allyson many questions about almost every topic: we talked a lot about politics, terrorism and war in Iraq. We focused on the attitude shown by Americans and Italians towards these topics and I realized for example that most of Americans are against and not proud of the war and of Bush government. 

 

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A self-assessment of my Intercultural Experience

 

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:
  Most of the times the media give us a distorted idea of life in US: we usually associated America only to politics, war, economy... there are many other things to know!!! Thanks to the exchange I could understand more about students' life and their organization inside the University, the role they can have, the activities (such as sports, music) they are involved in.

• 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'm really interested in the daily life of American sub-cultures! I wonder if the so-called model 'melting pot' really works and how the minor social groups take part in public life. Allyson and I dealt with immigration only once and I'd like to know more about it.

 

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: Actually I think to be an open-minded person... You shouldn't have any prejudice towards cultures different from yours. As I wrote on a blog post: "respect, empathy, flexibility, patience, interest, curiosity, openness, motivation, a sense of humour, tolerance for ambiguity and a willingness to suspend judgement are words to keep in mind when we come into contact with people of different culture".

   

 

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: Well, one of the most difficult thing when talking in English and people seem not to understand what I'm saying is to explain myself better, e.g. using different words or finding more useful examples. for example, possible misunderstandings can occur when you are making a joke and your interlocutor doesn't have any reaction!

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: There are many things I learned speaking with my American peers: we discussed about the health care system, politics and terrorism and I really enjoyed it.

• I know how to engage in conversation with people of the other culture and maintain a conversation. Example: I think the best way is to start the conversation with general questions. You should show interest in what the other is saying and share your own experience, always having polite behaviour.

 

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 don't remember any misunderstanding during the exchange... However, I think that the best way to solve a misunderstanding is to explain the different points of view to each other, without thinking to be always right but accepting and respecting the other's point of view.
• I know how to discover new information and new aspects of the other culture for myself. Example: I think that Internet can be considered a good tool to gather information (the Web has been the basic tool for our wikipage!); newspaper articles are another useful tool but the best thing to do if you want to learn a language and discover aspects of a different culture is to spend a period of time in that country. For example, my experience as an Erasmus student in Vienna was a great opportunity to understand many things about Austria and its cultural aspects.

 

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Self-Assessment of my Language Learning

 

Please provide specific examples of the following:

 

• words, expressions I learned in English: LOL, political platform, parking lot, to run for office, stay permit, to reckon, mind that

• improvements in my pronunciation of certain words or intonation: now I can say that I am more aware of the differences between Italian and English: while speaking with Allyson and Ugo I tried to carefully listen to their intonation and pronunciation in order to imitate them. I think I improved the pronunciation of short vowels.

• improvements in my listening: at the beginning I had some difficulties in understanding some words because of the American accent. Now I feel more familiar with it and my listening skill has improved.
• changes in the way I speak Italian to non-native speakers: I learned to express myself using simple words and short sentences. I learned to speak slowly and clearly, avoiding too colloquial or local expressions and metaphors.
• words, expressions I learned doing the wiki project: to trip, to get kicked out (in a soccer match), to recruit
• improvements in my reading doing the wiki project: I read a lot of stuff for my wikipage: many newspaper articles, essays… They helped me a lot enlarge my vocabulary and revise some grammar structures (punctuation, verb tenses…)
• improvements in my writing doing the wiki project: I think my written English has improved a lot. I feel more fluent and confident with some grammar structures and I learned many useful words.

 

 

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