1) One of the first things our program director told us is that the concept of privacy is almost nonexistent in Italian culture. I don't know if I quite agree, but the concept is definitely less stressed here than in the States. For example, my host brother walked into my room twice this morning just to hang out. I was sleeping both times in my bed. I guess knocking is not really a thing.
2) I have just noticed that every day on Italian calendar is designated to some Saint. It made me realize how intertwined Catholicism and the nation's culture are. Although not all Italians are Catholics, the calendar appears to be heavily influenced by the religion. Similarly, in Korea, every calendar has lunar dates as well because many holidays and people's birthdays still run on lunar calendar (an east Asian tradition). Things one calendar can tell us about the culture!
Now the following observations will be about the students from Cinque Giorni:
3) Every student is really into pencil cases! "Who has the coolest pencil case" seems to be quite a competition. Also, they have everything inside: scotch tape, ruler, scissors, compass, glue, you name it. I bet they also have band-aids if I ask for some.
4) People here write in all caps. If lowercase, they write it in cursive. Lowercase print seems to only appear in printed books and newspaper articles. I still have to figure out why that is, but meanwhile I found this little cultural aspect very cool, so I started writing everything in all caps. But it is rather hard and time consuming.
5) Perhaps the most important observation of this week: student government. So I shared what happened in my classroom to a teacher over the weekend (check out my post "Cinque Giorni: Quinto/Ultimo" for what happened). She told me that the student has a strong voice in administration. Apparently, a couple of years ago, the students from the public high school I attended for the past week participated in a demonstration and a sit-in, to the point where the school had to shut down for two days or so. I thought that was very impressive. I think this is a very relevant, global topic that also applies to the United States, where students of color and their allies in various colleges are protesting against insensitivity of their institutions.
Next week, I am back to SYA Italy school. I will definitely miss getting out of school at 1 PM!