Hello I'm Marco Menin. I'm 23 years old and I study the third year of Bioengineering. I live in a little town (4000 inhabitants) about 20 km from Padua.

 

I live with my family and I have one 16 year-old brother. I have many hobbies: reading books and newspapers, cycling, playing volleyball once a week, jogging and going out with my friends at weekends. I  am a volunteer for an association of blood doners.

 

I'm very happy to take part in this interculture wiki because I would like to get to know different cultures and points of view. Bye

 

 

Week 2: Famiglia e passatempi

               Tuesday 29/1/2008

 

It was a good experience because I practised the theory that I had learned in eight years of English courses.

At the beginning of the conversation we were very embarassed; in fact, we both laughed for a little. The section "Padova Questions" in pbwiki was very useful because I could start the conversation. I learned that "Martedì and Giovedì grasso" have the same meaning as Italian and in New Orleans they are written in French. In New Orleans there are Mexican people who speak Spanish.

 

Week 3: L'ambiente e il riciclaggio

               Tuesday  12/2/2008

 

The exchange was more relaxed than the first one, because we started to get to know each other. We talked about the environment, especially recycling and pollution.

I learnt that in California [because she lives in California but she studies in New Orleans - perfect!]  the degree of pollution is the same as in the north Italy. In order to deal with this problem, people were convinced that using public transportation would help and that at the same time it would reduce the traffic on the road. Unfortunately, pollution got worse following the last hurricane, which carried many toxic substances.

About recycling I learnt that the Californian sytem is the same as in Padua. They have specialized bins for paper, glass, plastic and compost.

Talking about the drinkable water, I discovered that it comes from under the earth and not from the mountains, like in Italy.

Carly was very kind because she explained the subjects in a good manner, but sometimes  she talked very fast. 

 

Week 4: Gli spettacoli, il cinema e il teatro

               Tuesday  19/2/2008

 

We started to talk about music. Carly said Jazz and Blues are the most popular type of music.In summer, like Festivalbar, America has organized concerts which involve radio stations as sponsors and different singers (e.g. Alanis Morissette). An important concert is organized for Christmas time; its name is "Jingle Bells concert". Disco dance music is also very popular (e.g. the 70s which are played by the B'52's ).

Carly didn't know any Italian music and singers. Her favourite Groups are: Metallica, the Offspring, and Sublime.

She also loves to play the film songs she likes on the clarinet.

We talked about the theatre. She saw "Tosca", a Puccini opera twice and on TV she watched "Trumphets and Rasberries" a comedy by  Dario Fo.She likes comedy and tragedy but she saw it depending on the texture. [???] She told me about the most important theatres in America: Metropolitan of New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. Then we talked about films. Her favourite film is "Casablanca" and her favorite actor is Johnny Deep. She has only seen one Italian film: "La vita è bella " directed  and interpreted by Roberto Benigni, a famous Italian artist. We both watch NCIS on Tv, which talks about investigation agency of the US Marines. 

 

Week 5: la politica / il governo / le elezioni

                Tuesday 26/2/2008

I learnt that Carly and the most of American people doesn't like politics and I discovered that that Italian problems are almost similar to American ones.For example in the great Ameraican cities there many people without work, Americans pay a lot of taxes and there are case of interest conflict between manager and politicians. She hopes to become an ambassador for representing USA  in Italy or in other country of Europe.I learnt that the secretary of State is our "Secretary of Council President".The Congress in Washington is composed by three parties: Democratic, Republican and Indipendent (that leans Democratic in case of winning). The members of Congress have unlimited mandate but the members of California State a twelve years mandate.Most of cases, like in Italy, there is an influence of religion into politic subjects, else if the law don't allow it, because America is a lay State.    

 

Week 6:La societá multiculturale

                Tuesday 04/03/2008

Carly says that America is borned like a multicultural society, it has a different story from Italy about this Subject. Some immigrants  create criminality problems (expecially microcriminality) in the large cities, above all New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.This people are associated as gangs,differently managed from organized criminality like Mafia.There many problems with Alchol and Drugs(like Italy) and US government uses the same strategies to defeat its.She says to get a job in America an immigrant must have a special permission (like "permesso di soggiorno"). Job refused by American people are the main occupation for the immigrants.For Example Middle East peole drives the taxi, Mexican people do the gardeners etc. If you are an irregular immigrants you mustn't work but you also get an unskill labour. Carly says, like Italy, there are racism events particularly against Mexican and Moslems.  

 

Week 7:Video Skype

                Tuesday 11/04/2008

It was a good experuience in my opinion because i like, when i talk with a person, to see each other. I noticed that only the person who talks stays in front of the camera not all the groups. I think the group in this occasion is more important to pass all emotion.I noticed that Americans, at the same level,  have better comprehension of Italian than us with English, that's fantastic. This experience has been very useful for the learning of American english pronounciation. Carly has been a good teacher and a nice girl for me and i discovered many things about America that i never wach on TV.  

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