Reggio Emilia Sandra Svensson op2a
MY TRIP TO ITALY! I have been in Italy for three weeks as an exchange. We went to Italy the 14 th of April and returned to Sweden the 4 th of May. We have visited some cities during our time in Italy, for ex. Venice, Parma, Modena and we should have visited Milano but we didn t. It has been an experience to go to another country, both good and bad. The culture in Italy is different from the culture here in Sweden. The trip was very fun and I can recommend other to do it. In this text I m going to explain some of the things we did during our trip. The 14 th of April we took the airplane from Skavsta to Bergamo. From Bergamo we took the bus to Reggio Emilia. There we met our host families who drove us to their houses. It was Laura s father who picked me and Laura up and droved us to their house. Laura doesn t live in Reggio Emilia, She lives outside the city, in a place called San Polo, so it took 30 minutes before we were in her house. When we got home she showed me around in her house, and then we went to bed because the time was very late. I slept in Laura s room during my stay and she slept in The Alps, picture from the airplane. her brother s room or on the sofa. They don t live in a big house, they have four rooms and a kitchen and two toilets, but it is very beautiful. In the garden they had their two dogs, Kelly and Cherry, and they are very cute. Next day we got up nine o clock and I got to meet the rest of the family. Her father couldn t say a word in English, so it was a little bit difficult to talk to him. Her mother understands some words of English, but it was kind of hard to talk to her anyway, but her brother could talk English so we understood each other. Laura and he translated what I wanted to say to her parents and what they wanted to say to me. This is me and Maria with the family. From left: Her father, her mother, her brother, Maria and me. (Laura is the one taking the picture). And this is Laura.
On Monday the 16 th I followed Laura to her school. The school looked very nice from the outside, but not on the inside. The school was very different from our school. They didn t have anything at all on the walls. The walls were of stone and every time someone talked it echoed. The students don t have respect for the teachers at all. They screamed, and laughed, and when the teachers got angry at them and told them to stop they just ignored them. And now I can understand why the students in Italy don t speak English very well, because the teachers only speak Italian whit them on their English lesson. I think that s very strange, because you don t learn the language very well if the teacher doesn t speak English on their English lessons. The school from outside In school they don t get school lunch because they stopped school at one pm everyday and they even went to school on Saturday! And everyday the started at eight o clock and they had only one break of ten minutes. To be in the school wasn t so fun, because some of the teachers didn t even notice that we were there, so they said nothing to us, and we only sat on a chair in six hours and did nothing. Boring! The corridor in the school. The classroom. Thursday 19 th we visited our work placement. The personal was very kind to us, and seemed to be happy that we were going to work there for three weeks. We worked at two places, Villa le Magnolie, a home for elderly people and Cocchinella, a daily centre. I liked it best on Villa le magnolie, because I liked the personal better there than the personal at Cocchinella. And there were more things to do there. Because at Cocchinella we started at eight o clock and there was nothing to do until half past nine. We just sat there and didn t do anything. And when the old people get there they just sat there. So the only thing we did was to help the old people to get food, and help some of them to eat. And then we stooped. Cocchinella, the daily centre.
At villa le Magnolie we helped the old people with breakfast and gave them lunch. And every Thursday some of the elderly people from every floor get to the assembly hall to listening to music and dance. There was a guy who came there and played accordion and the personal danced whit the old people and the old people were very happy. And one Thursday there was a lady who sat in a wheelchair and she really wanted to dance, but she couldn t because their was something wrong whit her legs. But she was so unhappy that everybody else could dance but not her. The personal couldn t stand whit her being so unhappy so they took her up from her wheelchair, and danced whit her. The old lady stood up still and the personal took her hands and started to dance. It was amazing, because the old lady was so happy! I think that the personal in Italy shows the old people more love then here in Sweden. I mean they kiss the old people and hug them all the time. And another day we took some of the old people to the city and took a coup of coffee with them, it was very fun. In Italy when you work on a elderly home you have to wear whit clothes, like we wear on the hospital here in Sweden. So when Maria and I got there the first day they looked very strange on us because we had black trousers. And they think that I was strange, because I worked in slippers. Some f the personal at Villa le Magnolie From left: Anna, my supervisor Sandra, Maria s supervisor Sitting: Another personal. When it had gone 1 week and 3 days Maria moved to my house, because she couldn t live in Salvatore s house. I really don t know why she couldn t stay there, Salvatore had thousand reasons of why she couldn t. Maria and I shared the same room. From the beginning Salvatore said that Maria should move back and stay in his house again, but only the last three days. But she didn t want to move back, and pack all her things again. It was very hard for her but everything worked out in the end. So she could stay whit me and Laura and that was good. One day, Laura, Laura s mother and Maria and I went to the supermarket to buy some food. When we got in to the supermarket Maria and I were much chocked. There was a shelf full of bottles with alcohol. It was very strong alcohol, like vodka 48 %, in the supermarket! And you can buy it when you are 14 years, that s crazy! Because when you are 14 you are just a child! And the same age was for buying alcohol on the disco, and when you buy cigarettes. And when it s about the drugs it s not unusual that the young people have tested cannabis. And the people in Italy smoke marijuana like nothing, like we smoke cigarettes here in Sweden, it s madness.
One Saturday we have visit Venice. It was really fun. We went there by bus. It was other people on the bus who came from different countries. I like Venice very much, but it s very expensive there so I almost didn t buy anything, only masks on the market. Venice. The mask you could by on the markets. One day, Sunday, was planned that we were going to go to Milano but we didn t. Because they said that Milano was closed on a Sunday, so we stayed at home. The next day I talked whit Sofie, and she said that she and Francesca had been there yesterday. So she was the only one who had been there. And it s not fun because everybody really wanted to go to Milano. And at last I m going to write about the cultural difference between Sweden and Italy. I m going to start whit the food, which is very different from Sweden. In the morning for breakfast we ate cookies or some other sweets and drank milk that tasted cream. In the beginning I almost didn t eat breakfast, because I m not used to eat sweets in the morning. And when Maria moved to us she told Laura she wanted yogurt and other things we are used to here in Sweden. It was good to eat in the morning because I was so hungry on my work placement. And we didn t get food on our work placement so we ate when we came home at half past two, and than we ate past or rise, everyday. And we had dinner at eight or nine o clock. And guess what? It was past or rise again. I m so tired of pasta now! And after that we eat meat, only meat, and sometimes vegetables. And to be honest, I didn t like the Italian food that much, except the pizza, witch was very good. The pizza in Italy is very good. Another difference is that they are not in time. They could come half an hour or 45 minutes late without giving some excuse. They don t care if they are late. And we Swedish people were very angry and they were not. And the traffic! O my God! It was stupid. People drove like they had stolen the car. I was very scared every time I sat in a car. And the motorbikes drove even crazier. And now I can understand that it happens a lot of car accidents in Italy. Another thing I noticed was that people are more kind in Italy than people in Sweden. Here in Sweden if we meet someone we don t know very well we almost don t say hey. In Italy the give each other kisses and talks very much with each other. And everybody look very happy there. Here in Sweden everybody look very sullen. I like the Italian people more. And I can
understand why people from other countries think we are sullen because we are, comparing to other countries. And it has been a little hard to understand the language, because they aren t so good in English. But now I have learned that you can say a lot whit your body language. And that s how we communicated on the work placement, both with the elderly people and the personal. I have enjoyed the trip very much. It s fun to have new friends, and to have seen another country. I met one of Laura s best friends Mona, and it s very fun because sometimes I speak whit her on msn, she is a very nice girl. If I get the chance to do this trip again, I would do it without thinking. Laura and Mona eating ice cream.
Five special things from Italy It was lizards everywhere. The Italian people didn t like them and kicked on them all the time. There were wine yards everywhere. this wine yard is owned by Laura s grandparents. The toilet.this is how every public toilets. looked like this. Not fresh In Italy there is a lot of doves, specially in Venice The mountains in Italy are very beautiful.