Italian Girls´ memories!

The Intensive Program“Memory of the past hope in the future” has been an experience rich in emotions, even conflicting.

We left from Lecce at 10:30 am; waiting for the train and the connecting bus and flight, we arrived at the hostel at about 8:30 pm, enthusiastic and curious, but tired as well after carrying luggage the whole day long. Once arrived in the hostel, we saw human traces. We kept walking but… nobody came to meet us. The thinking balloon “Where are we?!”didn’t have the time to become a text balloon, because the music started and they started dancing. We stopped, puzzled… we waited… and, once the dance had finished, at last they told us “This dance is for you Italian girls”, or something like that. Happy and thankful, we clapped our hands. Finally someone came towards us, he introduced himself and started to talk to us in a quick and fluent English. We understood we had to follow him and imagined he was taking us to our rooms, but he stopped at the entrance of the hostel, he invited us to leave our luggage there and go with him to a room, where Irene and the others were, for a first meeting, during which we’ve been given the IP program.

Breakfast at 9:00 am at the Casale with the group, and departure at 9:30 to Valencia; arrival at the Faculty one hour after and beginning of the everyday different activities, but each of them interesting and stimulating: from visiting old people in Centres and houses, in the city and the villages; the considerating, sharing and class activities, to the creation of a short film about the intergenerational relationship and the starting up of blogs and web sites. The activities lasted all day long with a quick lunch break, at the canteen or in the park. In the afternoon we had free time to share with the rest of the group, and we went back to the hostel at 9:00 pm for dinner.

Besides the academic activities, we’ve been involved in cultural activities, like visiting the Museum of the artist Fallero and the exposition of the Ninot and the concert at the Music Palace.

We like remembering this experience with some adjectives:

Human

Human, because, in spite of the strict organization, the organizing people themselves showed they human side in several occasions; human for all the good relationships established, despite the linguistic differences. The other foreign professors, who at the end became a bit our own professors, have been human as well.

Bitter

Bitter, because the Salento University could have asserted itself, as the IP subject is one the professor Colazzo and his collaborators have been considering and working with for three years or more; but it didn’t. Bitterness for the negative aspect of Italy showed, and above all for concurring to show that aspect.

Hard

Hard not only for the hostel conditions, because for that a little adaptability is enough; nor for the intensive rhythm, but for having to communicate in English, that even compromised the relations in the first days.

Rich

Rich in many things. Rich in emotions, the bad ones of the first days and the good ones of the end, when, once finished the IP, we visited the city, went dancing with our colleagues and some of the professors, played and chatted with everybody during a whole night. Mute emotion expressed by the eyes and read in the eyes, without speaking, without English, and still the emotional moments of the last goodbye at the gate.

Formative

Formative, because to pit ourselves against our limits always helps us to grow. Formative because it taught us a lot and made us understand more.

And... Memorable.... “Memory of the past… hope in the future!!!”