Skewl is Kewl

So, school is a thing that I do here. The past few weeks it has been pretty much the only thing I do here (I mean sort of).There are the classes that I take at the University of Bologna (taught totally in Italian by Italian professors, with Italian classmates) and those that I take through my program (taught totally in Italian but with other Americans). Additionally I go to this middle/elementary school twice a week to teach English (once a week to a middle school class and once a week to an elementary school class) which is at least moderately relevant. Let’s’ break these down.

UNIBO

Would you like some history on the oh-so fabulous University of Bologna? Of course you would. It was founded in 1088 and is regarded as one of the very first universities in the world. They call it alma mater studiorum (the nourishing mother of studies) as in the nourishing mother as in the original. They aren’t very humble about their status over here. It was founded by i glossatori, which were basically just renowned scholars who made texts of all their knowledge. Then they decided to share all of this knowledge and thus founded the university (first as a law school). And now, almost 1000 years later, the University of Bologna has something like 23 campuses and thousands and thousands of students.

So the class I am taking at the University of Bologna is called Psicologia della comunicazione (psychology of communication). I thought about taking some sort of Italian literature or art history course because, hey, there isn’t really a better place to take that sort of class than at the oldest university in Italy. However, the university system here is a lot different. They don’t really have “introductory” level classes because you start specializing during high school. By the time you get to university you already have a fairly good foundation in what you choose to study. Therefore, our program directors recommended to us that we take classes in subjects that we are familiar with and are related to what we study at home. In the end I am glad I chose the way I did. While the University of Bologna is not exactly known for it’s psychology department it is interesting and super meta for me to be taking a class on communicating and miscommunicating during a time in my life when that subject is very, very relevant. It’s also interesting because we talk a lot about how so many aspects are culturally determined, so I learn a lot about the modern Italian culture. The professors are also aware that I am American. There are a few others in the class buuuut I sit in the second row everyday so I am usually the one who gets called out to compare Italian to American cultures. One particular occasion occurred a few weeks ago. We do a lot of conversation analyses during class in which we listen to/ read transcriptions of conversations and analyze them. Since a lot of the research for this subject is done in America some of the ones we look at are originally written in English. This day we were looking at one that was originally in English so we had both the English version and the Italian translation up on the screen. A girl from my program also in the class and I started giggling at it  because the English version was written phonetically and the English was terrrrrible so it was giggle-worthy. This caught the professor’s attention so she asked us what was so funny and we told her. Obviously then she decided that the whole class needed an insight into our humor so she asked me to read the English out loud. I tried to make it sound normal but reading it how it was written it came out in the most ridiculous/offensive southern accent. The Italians loved it. I received a round of applause and all hopes of hiding my American-ness in that class flew out the window with my dignity.

Anyways the class is manageable and interesting. I obviously don’t understand everything but I do what I can and follow along pretty well. I even have a few “friends” in the class (aka people who let me look at their notes when I miss something). We were warned ahead of time that the professors all have god complexes and never had any time or interest to hear what any lowly student had to say. In some senses the warnings were just. The whole University is set up a lot differently than Northwestern and all in ways in which things are much harder for students. Professors have office hours like a few hours a month and you have to go online to find out when they will occur because they change all of the time. There is pretty much no form of advising. My professors show up anywhere from 10-45 minutes late to class everyday but the students all show up on time because lots of times there are not enough chairs for all of the kids in the class. The list goes on. Overall, I am very happy to be experiencing this university for a semester, but soooo glad that I don’t actually have to attend/graduate from it.

BCSP

I am also taking two classes through my program. The first is just a required “advanced language and grammar” class in which we (surprise, surprise) learn grammar and do a lot of practicing via reading newspaper articles. It’s fine. I definitely wouldn’t take it if I had known I didn’t really need to. The upside is that the professor is the same one that I had in presession. Did I ever talk about her? Christine Dodd. I love that woman. She is incredibly sweet and sooo full of passion for the Italian language and culture- especially from a Bolognese perspective. She could talk about Bolognese food, wine, films, music or people for hours on end . She also has a very childlike energy and a light, easy laugh.

I am also in an Italian cinema class taught by the director of my program, the one and only Director Ricci, who constantly belongs on the cover of Italian GQ. Italian films never cease to be really weird with unsatisfying endings but the interesting thing is that in order to enjoy them you have to know something about the history and the director- so taking a class on it is the best way to watch Italian films! We focus on films from the ‘40s to the ‘60s, as Italy transitioned from its status right after WWII through its economic boom in the 50s. It is very interesting to see how the films are so reflective of the country at different times and we are becoming quite the experts on this very specific subject. If you want my two cents on the formal aspects Fellini uses to create his character-based narratives, I would be happy to share. Do I pull off being pretentious? I don’t think I do.

Middle/Elementary School

Okay so the other form of school I have experienced in Italy is a glimpse into middle school and elementary school here via my “internship”. I don’t really know what to call it. I go there to teach English to 4^th graders and to 7^th graders (something like that… they organize things differently here) and I just love it. Mainly because they love me. Like, just by default of me being twenty years old and from America. Or so I thought. Last week I arrived a little early to the elementary school class and realized that the reason they always cheer when I walk in the room probably has less to do with me and more to do with the fact that they have English grammar lessons right before I come which they absolutely hate. So since I save them from that I am basically the best person in the world. Instead of doing grammar they get to listen to me ramble about hamburgers and football (AMERICA!). Whatever I think they like me for me too. It’s so funny because they think about America pretty much the same way I think about Italy. They always ask me how beautiful it is and I am like psshhh what you guys have the beautiful country! There is just so much magic in the unknown and unfamiliar I guess. Overall it’s just a bunch of adorableness. The first day of my elementary school gig I had to like introduce myself and they asked me all these questions using words they knew. So basically they asked me if I had any brothers or sisters like 100 times. It was so cute though because they were just asking like “do you have any uncles” and then I would answer and their teacher told them to take notes so they were like trying to write down my whole family tree. It was ridiculous and cute. I am definitely going to be testing them on the middle names of my second cousins next week. The middle schoolers are actually a lot easier because they understand more English so I feel like my lessons are a little more effective. They also have to stand whenever I enter the room, which is legit. They also love asking me about American pop culture and sports teams. I even have a Spurs fan in my middle school class, which is so random! But the boys all gave me their respect when I told them I go to school in Chicago and like the Bulls. One day a girl asked me if I knew who Brad Pitt was and I was like duhhh and she freaked out because she thought I knew Brad Pitt. Like we were friends. I tried to correct her but not that hard. They also ask me at least once a day if I know Gangam style and then ask me to do the dance. Sorry, children. Not this time. I also had my first embarrassing language-barrier moment (okay...maybe not my first) in which I used the Italian word for "to sweep" which apparently has two different meanings, one of which I was completely oblivious to. Middle schoolers are just as immature here as they are in America. Good to know.