My Experience of the Exchange

 

 

 

A. Feelings

 

 

·         Ways in which my curiosity and interest were aroused: (examples that made me re-consider my own culture) Basically, everything aroused my curiosity. I wanted to know something more about their culture, their life-style and ideas. Unfortunately, I couldn't skype a lot with the Americans because I was supposed to do the Poznan exchange which was a failure :-( However, during these months I could meet Jessie, my tandem partner. I must admit, I've been very lucky: both Chiara and Jessie are wonderful girls!

 

 

 

·         Moments in which I felt uncomfortable: (what made me feel like this, with particular examples if possible) Chiara is very pretty... She made me feel at ease. I really felt relaxed when I spoke to her! To be true, I prefer face-to-face conversation so I thought I might feel nervous talking with a girl I had never met without even seeing her face. That's so weird! Anyway, Chiara had the ability to put people at their ease.

 

 

 

·         Moments when I felt comfortable:(what made me feel like this, with particular examples if possible) As I wrote before, I always felt comfortable! Talking with Chiara about our family, we discovered that our fathers attended the same University during the same years! That's incredible! They attended the same courses. That's a surprising coincidence!

 

 

B. Knowledge

 

 

·         The most important things I learnt about family life and/or life at school. We didn't speak a lot about family life and school. Since we started doing the exchange later, we only focused our attention on issues such as politics, immigration and death penalty; then, we started working on our wiki project. What’s positive is that I still have Chiara’s  contact on Skype so that I can call her whenever I want!

 

 

 

·         The most important things I have learnt about the country, the nation, the state of the target language. We spoke about politics and elections. Chiara gave us a general overview of these subjects. Now, I know something more about the American electoral system, the role and the power of the President, the political campaigns.

 

 

 

·         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). Chiara and Jessie are very concerned about these elections. As a matter of fact the result of these elections could represent a turning point in the American political history! Jessie told me about her family, traditions and we even spoke about religion. Basically, I could speak about everything with them. To be true, I found a bit strange that both Jessie and Chiara talked openly about their political views. I mean, many people in Italy don't like talking about their own political ideas when they speak for the first time to someone. Probably, the reason is that they fear to be judged. In Italy politics is a hot issue which causes a lot of disagreement with people. What I appreciated about my peers was that they were always ready to discuss, negotiate and reconsider their opinions about almost any topic!

 

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 didn't have any problems with Chiara. It seemed to me I was talking with an Italian girl. Maybe, the reason is that she has Italian origins. She had clear ideas not only about the American issues but also about the Italian ones.

   

·         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 didn’t have any problems with Chiara because we both knew a lot about the other culture. However, there are very little details which you discover only living in a foreign country.  For example, my tandem partner asked me what the bows in front of the doors meant. I realized that I always took them for granted. Unconsciously, I thought that in every country when a child comes to life, their parents put a bow in front of their door. This sign represents their happiness for having received a gift, a son or a daughter.  What I appreciated about this course is that it helped me to reflect not only on different cultures but also on my own culture.

 

  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: I like discovering new life-styles, seeing things from a different perspective. I'm really interested in the American educational system which seems to be working better than the Italian one. Speaking with Jessie and Chiara, I realized that living in a campus is a completely different experience. In the US, students spend entire months far away form home whereas in Italy the majority of students live with their parents or spend only a part of the week in the city where they study. This allowed me to think about the reasons of this difference. First of all, many students find quite hard to live with on the amount of money they get . Then, when Italian students decide the University to attend, they usually choose the one which is near their hometown.

 

·         I am also interested in the daily experience of a variety of social groups within a society and not only the dominant culture. Example: The US are a country of immigration. Different cultures and ethnic groups are melted together. That's why you can always learn something new! There are so many traditions coexisting together!

 

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: Thanks to the discussions in the forum, I could see things from a different point of view. This helped me to broaden my horizons and sometimes lead me to reconsider my original assumptions or opinions. Talking with my peers, I realized that stereotypes are very important when we develop our idea of a country. Before coming to Italy, Jessie thought that Italy was a sunny and warm country with smiling people and music everywhere. When she came to Padova, it kept on raining! Generally speaking, stereotypes are unfair and untrue but they can be a good starting point to reflect on our own culture. Steretypes represent how people coming from abroad depict our nation and they partly depend on the image we're giving them. Why on earth do American know only one Italian politician?

 

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: Thanks to the Skype exchange and face-to-face communication, I could cope with a range of reactions of foreign people to the way I expressed myself and what I said.  Sometimes, Chiara didn't understand what I was saying, so I had to reformulate sentences using different words.

 

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: Thanks to the wiki project,  I know some more important facts about the American history (concerning the right to vote and the feminist movement). Forum discussions and the creation of the wiki page about American and Italian elections gave me a general overview of the political situation in America. What surprised me was that women are still dramatically unrepresented in politics, not only in Italy but also in the US. Even though the US are considered to be ready to have a female president, only 87 women serve in the US congress.

   

·         I know how to engage in conversation with people of the other culture and maintain a conversation. Example: I love talking. That’s both my strong and my weak point. This exchange helped me to improve my conversational skills. I learnt how to maintain a conversation in a different language and to face with problems related with difference of cultures.

 

 

 

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 face this problem.

 

 

 

·         I know how to discover new information and new aspects of the other culture for myself. Example: New tools I discovered during this year:  blogs, wikis, forums, facebook…  Differently from academic texts, these tools help you to see how people live and experience their culture. What I loved about this course was that it put stress on the need for cooperation. Using del.icio.us, you can search for the information you need and share your sources. 

 

Self-Assessment of my Language Learning

 

 

·         words, expressions I learned in English:  These are some words and expressions I learnt from Chiara and Jessie: ballots, scrutinize, auction, darn it, good heavens, to have a crush on, daylight robbery, lose the train of thoughts (I love it). Words I learned in class: caucus, super delegate, delegate.

 

·         improvements in my pronunciation of certain words or intonation:  First of all, I could increase the range of my intonation. Speaking with American students, I realized that intonation is fundamental to convey the meaning of what you want to say.  Although my English was quite easy to understand, I seemed to be not very interested in what I was saying and the problem was my intonation!! To a native speaker, my way of speaking seemed a little bit boring. As a matter of fact, the Italian intonation pattern is very different from the English one. I listened carefully to the way Chiara and Jessie spoke and then I tried to imitate them in order to improve my intonation... and it worked!   

 

·         improvements in my listening: Focusing my attention on intonation I could perceive what attitude the speaker was trying to convey. Sometimes they spoke too fast and I asked them to repeat. Certainly, I've made big improvements so far. Now, I'm more familiar with the American accent! I really love it!

 

·         changes in the way I speak Italian to non-native speakers: To be true, Chiara didn't have any problems in understanding Italian. So, I didn't change my way of speaking! As I said before, sometimes I only had to reformulate my sentences and explain difficult words. Speaking about politics, we came across on the word "quote rosa". Since there's no equivalent in English, I had to explain it in my own words. To be true, it was not that easy!

 

·         words, expressions I learned doing the wiki project: I've read a lot when it came to do the wiki project. I was really interested in my topic so I spent a lot of time surfing on the net to learn something more. Some words/expressions I learnt: ratification, be on a ballot, run for President.

 

·         improvements in my reading doing the wiki project:  I could read many articles coming from different sources. I learnt how to interpret and summarize statistics written in  different languages.

 

 

 

·         improvements in my writing doing the wiki project:On the one hand, I improved my English writing skills. I tried to be short and concise, even though there was too much to say about Women in Politics. On the other hand, I tested my Italian!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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