GL 350: How has the Rome Experience made you a global citzen?

This experience has changed us in many ways. There is much to say about how this experience has made us into global citizens. There is no better way to learn about a different culture and lifestyle than to study/live in another country.

The first thing that helped make us global citizens is the fact that right when we got here we were thrown into the culture. The first day we were in Rome and had only been on the metro once, we had to go alone to two different areas and explore on our own. This was good for us because in some job situations you are thrown into doing things you make have little or no experience with in an unfamiliar place. It was scary but once you did it right you felt so proud. There are many instances where we were put in situations like this whether it was ordering food or asking for directions in Italian, once you did it correctly you felt so relieved and happy. By experience this we will be able to do this in similar situations in different places with more confidence. Along with this we were also required to learn patience throughout Rome. Whether it be for the transportation or the people who can be quite rude at times. In "Coversations" Costanzo Costanini says "Are you aware that Rome has become more and more neurotic, chaotic, and jammed up?" all of which we experienced first hand here. While we all know where we would love to have a job, right out of college that place may not be available. Many of us will have to be placed within a bustling city which can be chaotic and annoying at times, but by being here we have been able to learn to practice, whether we want to or not, patience and calmness.

Second, we were emerged into the history throughout Rome. From the Colosseum with the real facts about gladiators and the Roman Forum to the catacombs and all of the stories behind most of the popes buried within the walls of Saint Peters basilica. This city has so much history to absorb and to be able to see how our country was able to help them and through that we may have lost many lives which we were able to see through the American Cemetery but it made connecting to our history more clear. Also we've learned about Roman history all throughout our lives and being able to be in he exact places of where it took places such as Julius Caesars murder as well as where some slaves were able to fight for their freedom in the Colosseum.

Another way we have learned to become a global citizen is through our home-stay experience.By living with an Italian family for a week, experiencing family meals and the day to day lives of an average everyday family. We had to use our minimal knowledge of the language to try to communicate with some of our host family members who knew little to no English. Also how the whole family has dinner together every night at nearly the same time everyday. I know many families at home who can barely sit together all together once a week especially when the kids are in high school and involved in different extra curricular activities. The children of our families also still live with their families although they are in the mid to late 20's which is very different from in America.

By being able to experience all of this and being able to understand why they do the things that they do it makes me feel like I can be put into different situations and as long as I keep an open mind, I can learn so many different types of cultural values and adapt accordingly. It has made me realize how appreciative of my high school art teacher for teaching me about all of the famous art works within Italy, and how none of the pictures will ever be able to show the true beauty of seeing them in real life.

Soc 490: Can we cure diseases with prayer?

Faith can be a very strong thing in everyday. It can have a big impact on your mind and body psychologically which can effect your health as well. But is it the prayers or the medications and your positive thinking that helps the sickness?

There are many people who believe that prayer is the only thing to keep you strong through tough times. In one of my favorite stories theres a line that says "medicine can only do so much and then comes God". The power of believing in something bigger than yourself can have tremendous change on your outlook on almost anything.

In class we talked about how even knowing someone is praying for you can make you feel stronger and have more hope. This works just the same when you are sick. You can take all the medicine they tell you to but if you don't have a positive attitude you'll never be able to fight off the sickness. Having a strong relationship with God is something I have seen throught the trip. So many times the people get lost within prayer and but all their trust in God which can be a scary thing, but an even more powerful thing than fear, is hope.

While there may be some things that must be cured by medicine such radiation and chemo for cancer there are things cured with the power of faith. While science seems to have an answer for almost everything, if our lives were based solely on science who would there still be all this fuss about religion. The miracles of the crippled and diseased being cured by Jesus along with other miraculous things not explain by science is something you must take into consideration when you think about these things. If science can't answer the questions there has to be another explanation

Sickness isn't something easily delt with. Whether you yourself is sick or someone you really love is, it is a hard thing to see. Sometimes you don't know what else to do other than pray because deep down you know theres something bigger out there. I do not think we will ever truly know if prayer will "cure" a disease, but I do know it gives us the faith to keep fighting for our life.

GL 350: How is the Catholic church Roman and universal?

Being in Rome and Italy in general, we are able to look more closely at Catholicism and determine if there are any similarities of differences between the way it works here and the way it works around the world in places such as our own home in America. You don't have to go very far to run into a church around here, to sit down at a mass and compare it to what we know about mass at home.

Here in Italy 81.2% of its population is Catholic, becoming its main religion throughout the country. We are able to see this by the thousands of churches that we see around Rome and other Italian cities we've visited. Here in Rome it is something that most people are passionate about within their own lives but they are able to share it with many other people in their communities.  While in the United States only 23.9% of our population is Catholic but that doesn't take away from the closeness one feels by having the bond with other Catholics whether it is American Catholics or Roman Catholics.

One way I have noticed it being universal is the mass from my perspective is almost, if not completely, the same as a mass at home. While at Papal mass on Sunday as well as the Papal audience on Wednesday, they translate the message in so many different languages that Catholicism has obviously reached. The order of every mass is fairly easy to follow even if it is in a different language. This makes coming to Rome knowing some of the Catholic traditions easier because you already know process and "schedule" of how mass is ran. It seems crazy to me how this religion can pick up every detail of its origin and bring it to another place.

Another way in which it is different is within the history of many of the churches here. While at home the Catholic churches are dedicated to certain saints, many of them do not have the history that the Roman churches do. For example when we went to visit the shrine of Santa Maria Goretti, her body was buried within that church. It is one thing to pray to a saint but to be able to pray to a saint in the presence of her body is something unreal. For me not being Catholic has made some parts of this trip confusing and I have questions about everything. Some of the stories I do not understand while this one helped me to understand some of the traditions which Catholics follow. Another example of the history being the within Roman Catholic churches versus the churches at home is there are many famous artists that helped create many of the works within the churches. In smiles, Michelangelo writes poems regarding his time he worked on the paintings within the Sistine chapel while many other churches within Rome were designed by artists such as him, Bernini, Donatello, and many others while at home we do not have the availability of that kind of history within our own chapels’ walls.

Being in Rome has taught me much about Catholicism that I would never have learned in a classroom. Being able to see the artwork and history first hand helps distinguish, in my mind, the differences, while it also helps be remember the universality of the religion itself.

GL 350: what is the difference vetween leisure for italians versus americans?

Many different things come to mind when you think of the word leisure. Relaxing and free time takes different forms in any country yet they all have their similarities. You can see things about culture through the main leisure activities.

We are similar in the fact that we both love sports, but are passionate about different sports. For example Italians love soccer they bleed soccer and most live for soccer. When we went to the Roma soccer game I was able to make so many connects by comparing it to the Browns games i go to with my dad. The energy in the stautium was incredible.  Americans love football, basketball and baseball and most families love and/or play all three. Being able to come together to support our local teams is something we have in common with Itaians. 

One thing i noticed that even thoigh it hasnt been consistently warm in Rome i haven't seen anyone having outside picnics or barbecues. For Americans things like that are so important to bond when we have a holiday or just a warmer day to invite people over and spend time together enjoying nature. I've notices Italians gather for meals but it is always in a resturant because of the small size of their houses.

Also there are many daily rituals which Itaians take as leisure everyday that most Americans don't do. For example stopping for an espresso four times a day or having shops close in all the small towns for four hours at a time for a siesta. While i know other spanish speaking countries take siesta as well during the day, there are many things that could also contribute to their overly leisure lifestyle. Barzini states "Those men conduct their affairs well who keep in front of their eyes their own private interest and measure all their actions according to its neccessities," to me this seems that they only want to do what is best and neccessary for them. For example cramming people father and father into a bus to go one stop after the one you just got on.

While I have learned many things from their culture, you can see a definate difference between the two through leisure. By being able to live their lifesyle it has given me the ability to see it firat hand.

Soc 490: Can we control our health?

When looking at any person, you could say "oh they got sick because they didn't take care of themselves," but many times you have to look deeper into their story. Many of us really don't have full control of our health.

First sometimes you have no choice when you encounter a disease. For example when you are born with a disease and they diagnose it at birth such as cystic fibrosis. The children and many times the parents don't know until the child is born that they will encounter this lifelong disease. Similar to down syndrome where you are born with it and there isn't anything you could do to change the outcome.

There are also other diseases in which some encounter at different points in their life such as breast cancer and juvenile diabetes. These are also diseases which are not caused by any certain lifestyle, just born into your genes that some people in the family get and others do not.

Goodman states "These differences are thought to reflect such lifestyle choices such as diet, exercise, and smoking."While there are some arguments that one could use for the lifestyle people choose such as smoking and drinking which can cause different cancers and diseases within the organs. But there are also people who are very healthy, exercise regularly and have a healthy diet who can have a deadly heart attack.

In life, our health is a game of chance. We can live very healthy lifestyles and still get sick. We can also not take care of ourselves and never get sick. Gaudium says "Citizens, on the other hand, should remember that it is their right and duty, which is also recognized by the civil authority, to contribute to the true progress of their own community according to their ability." It is all in the cards we are dealt and nothing is fair, that's why helping those who got dealt a bad hand would be helpful for the whole of our society.

GL 350: How does the piazza provide a lense into italian culture?

When wondering through the many streets of and Italian city, Rome especially, you can find almost anything in any of the piazzas you find. These piazzas provide more than fresh food, cappuccino, and selfie stick men. They provide a deep look into Italian culture.

First, the piazzas are known to be a place for meeting. Whether it be for a lunch in the open air or to listen to some live music or a common meeting groud before shopping, you can almost always find groups of people in the piazza. This could be due to the fact that their homes are very compact so meeting more than a couple people in their home may get crammed. They would rather enjoy lunch at an outdoor café.

Another way these piazzas show Italian culture is through the history behind the statues and fountains. If you go to almost any piazza there will be a statue, fountain, or both. If we take Piazza del Popelo for example, there is a large obelisk in the center that was taken from Egypt and placed there along with the two fountains on either side representing different gods of the time. And thats just one piazza, There a murder sites and chariot race sites all in a different piazza. In Barzini, he says "Fear is the fourth evil spirit. it is the offspring of the others, of poverty, ignorance and injustice." When you think about some of the reasons people where killed seems so confusing to us now, such as Bruno getting burned at the stake for believing that the world was not flat. Citizens were afraid of these types of answers and were too ignorant to think that anything else you told them was wrong because of pure ignorance. 

The last things that you can find in nearly all piazzas and that i can tell is very important for Italian culture is places of worship. There are so many churches from the twin churches in Piazza del Popelo to the Pantheon which used to be a church near Piazza Navona. Catholicism is such an important part of learning about this culture.

Soc 490: Why do people from other countries come to America for healthcare when we are so far behind in stats?

The statistics comparing the United states to other countries when it comes to things such as infant mortality rates are more than double in the U.S. than in Italy as of 2007. Statistically it shows that we are nearly the worst country when it comes to taking care of health problems, so why do citizens from other countries come to the United States come to get medical treatments? There are a few reasons this could be happening.

First reason I believe that people come to the U.S. for treatment is because we have some of the best medical schools in the world. Many of our Ivy League and private medical schools are nationally ranked and make some of the worlds best doctors, surgeons, nurses, etc. We are constantly making strides in improving our technology even if you look at the evolution of the different instruments in the medical museum we were at last week. I mean we've come from barbers and dentists doing surgery to having to graduate from medical school to do surgeries now. When having a big medical treatment done many people, if they can afford it, want the best of the best performing the treatment/surgery so it makes sense for them to want to come to the U.S.

The second reason that citizens from others countries come to the U.S. for medical treatment is that we get a lot of funding for disease research. We have hospitals like St. Jude that will help pay for the treatments and while I am unsure if people from other countries are able to receive that kind of help from those hospitals, it would make sense if they are to be able to come here to hospitals who are doing research and giving treatments that maybe their country doesn't have yet.  Gaudium says "A man is more precious for what he is than what he has" and i believe that is what those hospitals around America are trying to incorporate into their message by paying for treatments for people who cant afford it or to just help give back to society.

The third reason I believe people come to the U.S. is because the waiting lists in their countries to get a surgery/treatment could be months or even more than a years long of a wait because they do have universal health care so everyone has a right to get treatment and get assistance paying for it. Creech says "Instead of providing good health coverage for all, it will ultimately lessen the quality of care for all" which i do not agree with. Although more people will be trying to get treatment it will not change the training that the medical professionals have had to be able to give the treatments. And yes we will have to wait for treatment, in America we already have waiting lists but it may not take nearly as long to receive the treatment/surgery maybe because not everyone is getting treatment, but it will still help the overall health of America.

No country is perfect, they all have their flaws. And while Universal health care may cause more limitation and take more time, we also have to remember how much the statistics also show the help it has given to other countries with it. And while people from other countries are flocking to the U.S. to get treatments, I believe we should be trying to take care of as many people in our own country just as much as we help people from other countries get our grand treatments and surgeries.