GL Blog #7

GL blog #7

Prompt: How has “The Rome Experience” prepared you to become a global citizen?

                In my first blog at the beginning of this trip I quoted, “With anything, you must start at the beginning.” It is hard to believe that I am at the end of this adventure here in Rome. Also in my first blog I spoke about how I decided to embark on this adventure because I needed more, and I wanted to see more. I had to get away from the constant routines of my regular life, and take on something new. Not until recently I discovered that I was trying to search for something perfect I suppose. I learned a lot on this trip, but most importantly I learned that nothing is truly perfect, even the magnificent Rome. Rome has a part of me that will always be here. I grew up a little during these eight weeks on these streets, and I will always remember Rome for that.

                In The Smiles of Rome, Alice Steinbach quotes, “Rome and I are not lovers. We are not even friends. I can only hope that Camus was right when he wrote that ‘what gives value to travel is fear.’ I suppose it’s possible that a little dash of fear gives value to more than just travel. For one thing, it can teach us to be brave.” Through these last few years out of high school I have not felt my age, I have always felt much younger. This trip has made me feel much older than I truly am, and I feel as though I have emotionally matured a lot. I realized years ago how short my life really is, and this trip has proved that even more. These eight weeks have flown by, almost like they didn’t even happen. I have more than the memories and the pictures though; I have the emotional attachment to Italy that will never be forgotten. I will always keep with me the way that I have grown here.  

                Globally, my perspective has changed with all that has changed inside of me. Nothing is perfect in America, Italy, Spain, or France. I am just taking a slight guess, nothing is perfect anywhere. Jesus even says, “There will always be the poor.” I have brought it up in many of my blogs, but the amount of poor people I have seen on this trip has been unbelievable. I actually started to not feel as bad for them as I did from the beginning of this trip, which really saddens me. It just became routine. Considering my days here are winding down, I decided to take a walk on my own in the grand Rome today. I stopped in my favorite church, visited a few shops, and ate at my favorite café (where the workers can now recognize me). As I was leaving the café I bought a few chocolates for the trip back to the metro. On my way, I saw the same young girl on the side of the street asking for food that I had seen multiple times in that exact same spot. I have not given anything to anyone on the streets on this trip just because I am a kid in a foreign country, who does not have any idea what they will do with what I give them. As I walked passed her I reached into my pocket and pulled out a chocolate and handed it to her. Thinking that she may be upset that it wasn’t more, she smiled at me with a look that I will never forget; a look of love and hope. Yes, from just a piece of chocolate that I eat every day, she was home. It is ironic, that is one of the moments I will never forget here in Rome. All over the world there are poor, homeless people. The best thing I can do for these people is love and care for them. This is only one of the many ways I have grown here globally.

                I have a bigger outlook globally, and I feel as though I understand the Italian culture much more than I ever thought I would. I will miss Italy more than I ever thought I would, but I am ready to go home. I have also learned there is much to cherish in life, and once you take a step away from it, you begin to realize how important it is to you. My life back home, my friends, and most importantly my family, have never felt so vital to me in my life. My life would truly be nothing without them, and I am ready to step away from my love for Italy. So long to Italy for now, but I will return.

                “Why do you go away? So that you can come back. So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colors. And the people there see you differently, too. Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving.” Terry Pratchett

Universal Health Care blog #6

Universal Health Care blog #6

Prompt: What can we learn from the Italians in terms of health?

            “Be in love with your life, every minute of it.” Health in Italy is much different than the health in America. In America, more than 2 out of 3 adults are considered to be overweight or obese and about one third of children from 6-19 are considered obese. Being in Italy for seven weeks I can only count on one hand the amount of Italians that I have seen that are overweight, and even then they have not been obese. It is hard to believe this considering the amount of food that Italians eat, and the amount of carbohydrates that they take in! I know that I eat a lot more here than I do back home, but I also walk everywhere just like the Italians do. I also believe that we can learn a lot from the universal health care system in Italy. The universal health care system is highly liked by most Italians, and there is much to be learned from their system.

            It is not very common for Italians that live in Rome to own a car, they walk everywhere, not to mention at a very fast pace. I cannot even imagine walking everywhere at home. Italians leave hours early for their jobs or school in order to walk to their work area. Americans usually roll out of bed close to the time they work or have class and start up the car just in time to show up at their destination with a minute to spare. I don’t see Americans changing our ways and walking everywhere, but I do think it is interesting to look at the facts that make Italians have the health they do and then try to apply this to our lives as best as possible. On average we walk about 5 miles a day here, and eat so much more. Most of us maintained our weight, or even lost weight. If we would have eaten like this in America there is no doubt that we would have gained a lot of weight. Another large difference when it comes to food and exercise here in Italy is the slow food movement. In America, fast food is quick and the easiest. The Italians love having slow food, such as sitting down to dinner for three hours and enjoying a three course meal while conversing. This is better for their digestive system, and it is better quality food than our fast food in America.

            According to Barzini, Italy is hard to live in due to nothing ever quite going their way. I believe that the Italians do a great job of doing the most with what they have. Barzini quotes, “A few individuals manage to prosper in a decaying world.” I think that the universal health care system that has been applied in Italy is one of these factors that pull them out of the dark. If there was not universal health care here, I believe there would be even more people on the streets asking for money and searching for food. As said in our Universal Health Care book, individuals that have universal health care tend to get their health issues and problems checked out earlier, which would prevent long term health issues costing the government even more money. Some may disagree with this, but I believe that it is a valid statement being made. America can learn a lot from the Italian universal health care system, and the Italian health over all.

            Its funny, one of the things that I am ready to get back home to is exercising. Yes, I could do it here if I really needed to but we are so busy, and there is so much we needed to get done in these 8 weeks. I have learned a lot from the Italians, and I couldn’t be more thankful for my time spent here. “Learn to travel. Travel to learn.”

Universal Health Care blog #5

Universal Health Care blog #5

Prompt: Can one be cured through the power of prayer?

                “Sometimes my plans fail, but God always gives me better options.” –Unknown. When I was fifteen years old I got into a four-wheeling accident that threatened my life. I went through barb wire and had to receive 300 stitches in my neck, leaving me with a lifelong scar from jaw line to jaw line. The barb wire cut into my neck two millimeters away from my carotid artery, which is about the width of a nickel. Yes, I came the width of a nickel from dying at the age of fifteen. On some days I will keep a nickel in my pocket, and every time I feel it I thank God for the life that I have been given.

            This experience taught me many things, but most of all that God has a plan for me, and that plan was not ready to end at that point in my life. I pray every day that I am alive. Unlike many other individuals, I rarely pray for something that I need or that I want. I don’t ask God to grant me blessings or to protect my family. I thank him for his blessings, and for always protecting my family. Praying, I believe, does not cure. At least from my experiences and all that I have seen in my twenty years of life, I have come to this conclusion. That is why I tend to never pray for something to happen in my life or the lives around me. Yes, there have been moments in my life where I can’t help but pray as hard as I can for someone to heal from an illness or any other type of cure, but I also know that God has a plan for everyone and everything happens for a reason, meaning my prayers may not heal the way I ask them to.

            Too many bad things happen to good people in this world for me to believe in the reality that we can cure through prayer. I often tell God that I trust him when I pray, because I do truly believe that whatever comes my way has a reason behind it and a path ahead. Bad experiences in my life can not alter my faith if I conclude with the idea that prayer cannot cure what I ask for. If I spend my life praying for a family member’s illness to be cured and they pass away, what am I to do? Believe that my prayers just didn’t work this time? No one can be in the middle answering this question, they must take a side. God does not sometimes grant prayers and the others He forgets about, I cannot believe in something like that. God loves all, and he has a plan for every single one of us. If this plan has obstacles and moments that I don’t understand His ways, I will endure because I trust the path that God has set out for me. I was not meant to have my life end at the age of fifteen, His story wasn’t over yet.

            “Dear Lord, I want to take a minute, not to ask for anything from you but simply to say thank you, for all I have.”

(Hope the trip home went well professor, thank you for everything you have done for me during our time here in Rome. You had a way of teaching me how to love it and accept its imperfections all in one. Have a great summer, and thank you again.)

GL 350 Blog #6

Global Learning Blog #6

Prompt: In what ways is the Catholic Church both Roman and Global?

            The Roman Catholic Church is universal in a way that one can travel all the way across the world and attend a mass that has the exact structure as ones home town church, or better yet any Catholic Church found in the world. There are many religions that are not like this, making it hard to practice your religion if you are traveling. Here in Italy I have been able to experience the same Catholic masses that I attend at home, and this has helped me include my religion and God in this trip as well. Church is one of the few similarities I see here compared to my home town, so every time I am missing home I might as well attend a mass. To have a religion that is as global as the Catholic Church has been very heartfelt on this trip.

            Our first day here in Rome we had the choice to walk up to our towns church and attended a Catholic mass, and of course it was in Italian considering we had found ourselves in Italy hours before! The mass was probably one of my most memorable moments on this trip even though it was a very simple one. I could not understand one word of what the priest was saying, but I knew when to stand, when to kneel, when the parish would respond to the priest, and every little piece of how the mass would unroll. I enjoyed it because it was different, and it was just as good as any mass I have ever attended. I honestly feel as though only the Catholic religion can really make someone feel this way from half way across the world. Other than the physical similarities during mass, there is also the same sense of emotional attachment when you walk into Catholic churches. Even the students in our group that are not Catholic can admit there is a feeling of spiritual attachment when you enter these churches. During class a couple weeks ago Keegan Hall quoted, “It is hard to walk into these churches and not feel something overwhelming.” There is just something about the Catholic churches that speaks to anyone who enters.

            There are minor differences here, what we might call “Roman” when it comes to the Catholic masses. A couple weeks ago one of our readings in Barzini talked about how the Roman life is much like a show. He quotes, “It is, first of all, almost always entertaining, moving, unreservedly picturesque, self-explanatory, animated, and engaging, as all good shows are.” Some masses that I have attended here do seem as though they are more worried about the ‘performance’ in the mass. They want to make sure everyone is engaged. In one mass there was an alter server that had the job of moving around the microphone for the readers, and another that would move different objects throughout the mass. The massive churches in general put on a show. Visiting Saint Peters this week proved that to the largest extent. It is beautiful, one of the most beautiful sights I will ever see. It was made to worship Saint Peter, but it also puts on a religious show as people walk with amazement through it. Rome: always looking to please. Another difference here is the interaction with the Pope. In the Papel Audience this week everything seemed as though it was a show. People were chanting for Pope Francis, waving flags, and chasing after him as he circled the audience in his pope car. At home we do not have this uproar approach to our religion.  Being a small town girl from Ohio, I have never known too much about the Pope or affiliated him with my faith. Here people cannot wait to go to mass on Easter just to see him, or go to one of his weekly blessings. This is a part of the Catholic faith here that I do not get at home, and it is a very faithful experience for Romans.

            We visited S. Maria Gorettis’s church last week, a moment of this trip that was very heartfelt for everyone. She was very strong in her Catholic faith and had strong values on her inner life. She was killed at the age of fourteen by a man who pushed to take advantage of her. Later in this man’s life, after jail and suffering from the thought of what he had done, her angel appeared to him and forgave him. The forgiveness was granted to the killer with the promise to have him next to her in Heaven. This is the kind of story that reminds me of what the Catholic Church can do to those globally. Walking into the church was something special, and we all knew it. The Catholic Church is both Roman and global, and it has been very beneficial to my faith to see that in my experience here in Rome.