Between arriving in Italy, in a continent I have never visited before, moving into an apartment with new people to meet, and beginning classes, learning about devastating events that have occurred within innocent populations and countries, I have learned that adjusting to this new life is going to be, and has been, difficult. Knowing that I won’t be seeing my family for this extended period of time, being away from home for longer than I have ever been, has also been a tough pill to swallow. Though I continue to remind myself that this, exploring Italy, its food, language, people, and customs, is a blessing. A once in a lifetime experience. In addition, I get to gain an education based in the Refugee Crisis, an incredibly relevant and important topic I am very interested in. I get to take a break from the stem classes I usually have to take and jump into this topic, even learning from real refugees in honors 233. This time is for me to grow and experience so much that life has to offer, and I don’t want my home sickness to cast a shadow over these next months, though I assume it must be a natural reaction for these first couple weeks. These are just a few of things I have been trying to tell myself since I’ve arrived. The routine of school has been very helpful in the process of settling in, it is something I can be passionate about and focus on.
We started classes on the 4th of January, and immediately I understood that the topics we were going to be covering were going to get dark and graphic. In Honors 284, we began with readings about slavery as well as a general background on Roman history. In addition, we took our first tour to Pantheon!
The architecture was truly incredible. I stood in the middle of the structure and just found myself confused to how it was built. The dome structure specifically had me staring at it for probably ten minutes just trying to wrap my mind around how real people thousands of years ago managed to create such a beautiful building. As I began doing the homework for 284 (Colonization, assimilation, and slavery in ancient and medieval Rome), the topic I found myself most compelled by was the concept of the slavery system in ancient Rome vs. in America. The idea that people had defended slavery in the United States because of other slave systems in the world, which did not involve race as the sole determinant for being enslaved, but horrible as well, is nerve-racking. It worries me that for the most part, the education system in America really does not go that into detail about slavery, that people may excuse the atrocities that have occurred and that have determined social systems today as just another part of history, as it if was a normal part of the worlds history. Yes, it is acknowledged and taught about, but its significance and the horror of slavery in America I feel does not come across that powerfully.
Starting Honors 381 (Global Refugee Crisis: from devastation to diaspora) is when it did start getting uncomfortable for me. We touched on political and religious revolution as well as ethnic cleansing and genocide. Even just writing that down seems surreal. We are learning about real lives and stories, millions of individuals and families who have truly suffered the worst that a person can imagine. And here I am behind the screen just typing out the word genocide. Behind that word hundreds of thousands of people have been slaughtered, many children and women included. It has caused me to experience some guilt. It hurts to see these images, it makes my stomach feel weak and unsettled, but that is nothing compared to the actual experience. I am only watching it, again behind a screen, in bits in pieces, and that is a privilege. I remind myself of this constantly throughout the week and especially this week on Thursday morning as I watched the film Shake Hands with the Devil, documenting the events that occurred during the Rwandan genocide.
Something I was quite nervous for at first, was my shift for service learning in 233. I wasn’t sure what to expect and according to other students who had already completed their first shift, it could be a very intimidating experience if those around you only speak Italian. While this is somewhat expected since we are visiting another country that should not have to accommodate for our foreignness, we got very lucky and the woman who supervised us, Laura, spoke really great English. I work on Wednesdays at 3pm at Sant'Egidio. This is when homeless populations in Rome come in to register with the program, take showers, and to receive new clothes or other items they may need such as linens. My job, along with my peers Lorena and Pablo, was to get together a package of clothing based on a ticket we received listing what type of clothing they needed and in what size. Many of the volunteers and are supervisors have known those coming in, understating their preferences in fashion. Often, we would receive specific requests such as color or style and even get items sent back. This honestly made me kind of happy. Displaced from their home country and with no actual living space, these individuals have lost so much including control over their own lives. There was a time refugees would be able to come in and pick their own clothing from the selection provided, but after COVID, even that was taken away from them. They have a right to want to like what they’re wearing and how they are presenting themselves in front of society. It gave me hope that people were sticking to that. It was also interesting to see what was in high demand. Items such as backpacks, pajamas, shoes, and athletic wear for men were a hit, but unfortunately, we had a really small supply of them. I felt guilty I was able to pack a good sized, normal looking backpack for one person, but a vibrant colored spiderman backpack for another, which in my opinion and I think there’s as well is not entirely suitable for a grown man. Or no backpack at all. It was things like that, that stuck with me and continue to stay on my mind. Overall, I really did enjoy my time there.
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