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)
         
The exchange with the Dickinson college was very important to me and because it stimulated my curiosity and interest towards the US. I’ve always been fascinated by the US and last February I decided to apply for an exchange program with the Boston University. I was asked to provide a long list of application papers and to do an interview in English. Finally, despite the huge number of students from every faculty of the University of Padova competing, I was accepted for the exchange.
Therefore I started looking on the web for information about the BU and I asked also to my tandem learning Abby and my peer Allyson to give me suggestions. Both Abby and Allyson explained me the basic differences between the Italian and the American educational systems. We discussed about some Italian habits that sound quite odd to them, and we talked about some prejudices about Italians which aren’t completely groundless.
In particular, I learnt a new word from Abby: jingoism. Jingoism is a strong and unreasonable belief in the superiority of your own country. In my opinion, Italians are sometimes so proud of their origins and traditions that seem to be affected by some sort of jingoism or, as we say in Italy, ‘campanilismo’.
These issues made me reconsider my own culture and I reflect upon the way American perceives Italians. I think it’s fundamental to criticise our behaviour and reflect upon our defaults or weaknesses because it helps people to become more open and tolerant towards foreign cultures.
 
  • Moments in which I felt uncomfortable: (what made me feel like this, with particular examples if possible) 
 
Actually I never felt uncomfortable when working with my American peers or Italian peers. Maybe some topics we discussed about were quite delicate. When we talked about elections everyone in the group expressed freely his or her own opinion. Even though I strongly state my opinions I tried not to offend people who have opposite political views.
As regards the final project, I experienced the problems connected with working as a group. In my opinion, the most important thing while working in group is to respect other opinions, to be responsible with my own work and to respect deadlines.
I think that in my group Allyson gave us important contributions. I think it was difficult for her to interact with us, because not only she met us on skype only once a week but also because she wasn’t very stimulated. I think that Italian students were very prepared and interested in the project. Our American peers weren’t much interested in working with us but I’m not sure about the reasons of this low interest. Maybe it’s due to the fact that the Italian culture isn’t as attractive as the American culture, or maybe we couldn’t stimulate their interest enough, or they weren’t expect to participate very actively in the work. Maybe they simply are younger than us and so they are less trained and motivated to work in group. Allyson told us that she had much work to do in other classes and so she couldn't send us her part, at the beginning. Anyway, a few days ago she sent us a brilliant report on her film and she actively contributed to build up our page and revise all the work done.
Overall, I think this experience was really satisfying and to me it was very important to work with Allyson and the other American peers because I honestly think they tried to do their best and I hope they found this experience very helpful, as well. 
 
  • Moments when I felt comfortable:(what made me feel like this, with particular examples if possible)
     
Most of the time. While, working on the final project, while speaking on skype, while discussing in class about our topics. One of the best experiences was our meeting with Chiara Olivi. She is very  nice and out-going and we enjoyed a relaxing and interesting conversation. Maybe we asked her too many questions and it seems we were doing an interview. Anyway, I think we clearly displayed our interests towards her culture and her country.
 
 
B. Knowledge
 
  • The most important things I learnt about family life and/or life at school.
American students live mainly at the university campus, the campus life is great! They have a very independent lifestyle, they discuss with their parents about political and social matters. They are scarcely influenced by their parents’ opinions. Sometimes there is a generational clash.
 
  • The most important things I have learnt about the country, the nation, the state of the target language.
 
The US is a huge multicultural state and it is difficult to interpret all the clashes and the differences among Americans. In addition, I cannot acquire a perfect intercultural dimension because cultures (especially American culture) are constantly changing. For this reason, I need to adjust and to accept this learning process, never completed. In my opinion, there isn’t a perfect model of American. Americans are the Wasps, the Yankees, the immigrants, the latinoos, the Afro-Americans etc.
 
  • 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 that Americans are very open-minded. I could talk about everything with Allyson, she was particularly interested in Italy and holidays.
 
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.
 
Well, I cannot think of incidents or problems we came across, except the fact that sometimes I found it hard to work in group. Every participant in the group must collaborate and stimulate his/her peers. 
 
 
  
 
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. Examples:
 
Families deal with financial problems and health-care issues. How immigrants live in the US. Some of them are integrated in the society, others live in ghettos.
 
 
  • I am also interested in the daily experience of a variety of social groups within a society and not only the dominant culture. Example:
 
Immigrants, latinos, afro-americans.
 
  • 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: 
 
When I starter talking with Allyson about Mafia and mobsters, I could realize how Italian Americans are sometimes perceived in the US. Allyson helped me to understand that a film about Italian American, such as The Godfather, has strongly affected the way Americans perceive Italian Americans.
 
 
 
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 we talked about delicate issues, such as politics, I managed to express my opinions using ‘diplomacy’ and to negotiate some decisions we have to take in our group.
 
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:
 
Our final project was about stereotypes, so I learnt to see the different perspectives of Italian Americans stereotypes. What is more, I learnt some important facts about immigration, politics and healthcare in the US. Before doing this project, I didn’t know how the American electoral system works.
 
  • I know how to engage in conversation with people of the other culture and maintain a conversation. Example:
 
I usually started by salutations and greeting, then I moved the conversation towards the topic we were dealing with that day, in the end I tried to encourage my friends to keep on with the good work and I said them to keep in contact.
 
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 didn’t have to resolve misunderstandings.
 
  • I know how to discover new information and new aspects of the other culture for myself. Example: 
 
For example, I can find much information on the internet or I can read what my American peers wrote in their forum.
 
 
 
 
 
Self-Assessment of my Language Learning
 
 
Please provide specific examples of the following:
 
 
  • words, expressions I learned in English:
 
I learnt many words, mainly about politics, abilities and feelings.
  1. Jingoism: is a strong and unreasonable belief in the superiority of your own country.
  2. Warmonger: someone who encourage people to start or to join a war (I leant this word while speaking about Bush).
  3. Stutter: to have difficulty in speaking.
  4. Tycoon: a tycoon is a person who is successful in business and so has become rich or powerful.
  5. Grumpy: irritable.
  6. Laid-back: someone who never worries about anything.
  7. Fussy: someone who keeps everything in the correct space.
  8. Neat: tidy and smart.
  9. To sulk: if you sulk you are silent and bad-tempered for a while because you are annoyed about something.
  10. To creep round the boss: to be pleasant with someone and criticise him behind his back.
  11. Driven: ambitious, determined.
  12. To nag: keep asking to do something.
 
 
  • improvements in my pronunciation of certain words or intonation:
 
I tried to abandon the typical flat intonation of Italians and assume an American-like intonation.
 
  • improvements in my listening:
 
      I manage to understand most of the words my teacher and my peer Allyson say. If I don’t know a word a try to work out its meaning from the context or I ask them for an explanation.
 
  • changes in the way I speak Italian to non-native speakers:
 
      I speak slowly and spell words clearly. I try to use an accurate range of words but I try to express myself with short and well-built sentences. I prefer short clauses to long sentences.
 
  • words, expressions I learned doing the wiki project:
 
  1. close-knit: closely linked
  2. padded cheeks: fairly thick cheeks
  3. raspy: a voice which makes rough sounds
  4. to stroke: move your hands slowly and gently over a pet (in this case)
  5. stiffly: it does not bend easily
  6. to wield: to have powers and to be able to use them.
  7. to shrug: if someone shrugs, he raises his shoulders to show that he is not interested in something
  8. boor: rough, uneducated and rude.
  9. buffoon: foolish
  10. bigot: fanatic, racist
  11. bimbo: although he is pretty, he is rather stupid.
 
  • improvements in my reading doing the wiki project:
 
I manage to scan and skim information easily. I don’t read all the articles but I focus on the parts that interest me most.
 
 
  • improvements in my writing doing the wiki project:
 
I learnt to melt together the information I found on the web and my own reflections on a specific subject. I remember to quote everything I copy from another source and I quote also the words which I paraphrase. I learnt to write smoothly and to express myself in a clear, concise, and effective way.
 


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