Ramil Blog

As you may already know, here at NYU in Florence, I am a part of the community service housing program called Vivere il Volontariato. In addition to planning charity events and holding fundraisers, I also have to fill a community service requirement. So, every Wednesday, I teach English at a school here in Florence.

At first, I was a bit skeptical about my ability to teach a classroom full of Italian teenagers because I can't speak Italian. But as time went on, I picked up more Italian, and I got to know the kids a lot better. Luckily, it's a pretty fun job. I don't get paid for it, and I have to get up early once a week, but I really enjoy it. The kids are cool, and I get to run the class however I want.

Today, we played English Pictionary. The kids picked their own words, and then drew and guessed for points. Other weeks, we use flashcards, talk about our families, or talk about American culture. Although I am the teacher in the classroom, I feel like I learn as much from them as they learn from me. For example, in our discussion about American culture, I learned that Italian people think that all Americans own guns, are overweight, and get divorced. I quickly corrected them: only most Americans are fat, gun-toting divorcees. I also learned that Italian kids begin smoking and drinking at an extremely young age (around 12-13), and that it is very common to frequently skip school.

However, don't think that my Italian school children are complete delinquints. They're actually quite talented. The class that I teach wrote their own play and they're planning to perform it at a theater here in Florence in May. The play illustrates the cultural diversity of their classroom community, and how their languages and racial backgrounds affect their interactions at school. Unfortunately, I will be gone for the performance, but hopefully by then, they'll at least know a little bit more English.

So, right now I'm in my hostel in Barcelona. It´s almost exactly the same as the hostels as the movie you saw about backpacking in Europe - except for maybe 'Hostel.' I am in a communal room with 12 bunk beds, the showers and bathrooms are gross, and everyone is generally very shady. But it was cheap, and it´s pretty legit, so I am perfectly happy here.

I´ve been in Barcelona for about 2 days, and I´m starting to get a feel for the city. So far, I´ve been to Museu Picasso, Parc de la Ciutadella, Las Ramblas, and the Catedral. The Museu Picasso was by far the best - it contained tons of Picasso´s early art and showed his development as an artist. The Parc de la Ciutadella was cool, too. We played frisbee, listened to street musicians, and sat around with the circus artists. While we walked through the Barri Gotic, by the Catedral, we caught a Sardana festival going on. Sardana is a traditional Catalonian dance where large groups of old people dance around in circles. It sounds kind of lame, but it was actually very cool, and the band was great, too.

I´m really glad that I chose to come here to Barcelona, because it´s such an amazing city. All of the architecture is amazing, and the culture is strong. Catalonian people have so much pride in their culture, language, and traditions, and they´ve managed to retain their integrity while still being able to modernize and accommodate to tourism. There´s so much to do and see in this city, and I don´t think that I´ll be able to accomplish it all in the few days I´m here. Tomorrow, I´m going to try to check out the Jewish section of town, Montjuic, and some of Gaudi´s architecture, but I´ll still be leaving stuff out. I´m glad that I planned to come back during Europoloza 2008, so I can see the rest of the town. Now, I´m going to the waterfront to see Barcelona at night.

Today, I went all over Barcelona. First, I went to Montjuïc, literally ``Mountain of the Jews.´´ We took a cable car to get there, which took us right over the harbor. In Montjuïc, we saw the many remnants of the 1992 Summer Olympics, gardens, and the fort that was used to protect Barcelona. We also saw the Palau Nacional (now the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya) and the La Fuente Mágica, but both were closed.

After we left Montjuïc, we went to La Sagrada Familia, Antoni Gaudi´s most famous building-in-progress. It was enormous, and unlike any church I´ve ever seen before. La Sagrada Familia has the layout and feel of a Gothic cathedral, but it looks more like something from a Dr. Suess book than Notre Dame. Gaudi started the building in 1882, and the building is still under (quite heavy) construction today. Architects were still working as tourists walked around inside the huge, white building. La Sagrada Familia won´t be completed until at least 2020.

For another dosage of Gaudi, we went to Guell Park. Guell Park was originally supposed to be an upscale housing development, but was converted into a public park when the project failed. Although it was incomplete, Guell Park had great views of the city, and was covered with beautiful mosaic artwork.

Barcelona´s art nouveau makes for a good change of scenery from the Renaissance artworks of Florence. The streets of Florence are very beautiful, don´t get me wrong, but after living there for 2 months, it can start to feel musky and tired. Barcelona´s streets feel alive and energized by the artwork, and their modern style is bold without losing taste. I´m disappointed that I´m leaving tomorrow, but I´m comforted knowing that I´ll be back here soon.

UPDATE: Here is a video I made while in Barcelona, cleverly named, "Ramil Goes To Barcelona:"

So, it's taken me a while to swim through all the footage from spring break, but I've finally completed both video for Fes and Barcelona. I had a great time in both places, but I really enjoyed my time in Fes. Of all the places I've been to, Fes is one of my favorites. Everything seemed so mysterious, but without the feeling of anxiety that I usually get when things aren't thoroughly planned out.

From the moment we landed in Fes, we knew that this trip was going to be a bit of a bumpy ride. For one thing, Morocco is not one of the places where English is very commonly spoken. The majority of tourists in Fes are from Southern Europe, mostly from France and Spain. So not knowing either language, and obviously Arabic, put us at an extreme disadvantage. Also, Fes is notorious for its faux guides. They're pretty much harmless, but they'll take you on a tour of the medina and ask you for a ridiculous fee at the end of the tour. We tried our hardest to avoid faux guides, and we hired an official guide. However, while official guides charges you relatively little up front in fees, he makes most of his money on commissions. So, being the ignorant American tourists that we were, at one point or another, we fell into each of the traps. But, I still think that we came out of it relatively unscathed.

Before you start thinking that Morocco is one big phony, incomprehensible rip-off, let me tell you what I loved my trip to Fes so much. Despite the obvious effects that tourism has had on Fes, there was still a very vibrant, proud, authentic culture. Many of the people we met were so excited to show us how they lived, and wanted to genuinely be our friends. Hospitality is such an important aspect of Moroccan life, and there were so many times when I thought, "This is just like in Ibn Batutta!!" One night, we met this Moroccan guy walking down the street, and we ended up going with him to a shisha bar. We were having a good time, but the whole time we were hanging out, we were bracing ourselves for the sales pitch. It never came, and when it came time to leave, he insisted on paying for us. The next night, we hung out again, and he brought us into his home to meet his family and friends. They fed us, showed us pictures of their extended family, and gave us henna. They were so nice, and their kindness so simple that it seemed almost too good to be true. They seemed almost naive in their hospitality, but I guess that's just because I would never do something like that for complete strangers.

The video that goes along with this post shows everything else we did in Fes: walking through the medinas, our day trip to Meknes and Moulay Idriss, our "official" guided, etc. It was truly an unforgettable experience, and I do intend on returning to visit my new friends. Here is, "Ramil Goes To Morocco":

Easter, or Pasqua, is one of the biggest holidays in Florence, and this year, Easter just so happened to fall on another very important holiday: my birthday. Actually, I don't like birthdays, so I was very happy that I could hide in the shadow of Pasqua for the day.

Florentines are mostly Catholic, so the Pasqua holiday is a big deal. The days that lead up to Pasqua felt almost like Christmas because of all the decorations and sales. In every shop window, you can read 'Auguri di Bouna Pasqua!' And in every supermarket, they have 'uova di Pasqua.' It means Easter egg, but it's not what you think it is. It's not a chicken egg, but a big chocolate egg with a toy inside. It's like their version of a chocolate Easter bunny. Also, there are no Peeps.

So, to celebrate Pasqua and my birthday, we went to see the Scoppio del Carro, or 'the explosion of the cart.' It seemed like a strange tradition to me at first, because I don't usually associate ecclesiastical holidays with explosions, but it looks really cool, so it doesn't matter why. I think it has something to do with the tongues of fire that surrounded the apostles on Pentecost, but that seems a bit of a stretch.

Anyway, it seemed like the entire city came out to see the Scoppio del Carro, and it was a good thing we got there when we did because it got very crowded very quickly. I wasn't sure how an Italian pyrotechnical show was going to hold up American fireworks standards, but I was pleasantly surprised. See for yourself:

So, after months of anxious waiting and nervously continuing the housing process, I finally heard back from Res Ed... and I'm going to be an RA next year at Gramercy Green! I really have been waiting a long time, because I went through the whole RALI process back in like December, and it's been on my mind for a while. But now that I finally know, it's a big relief.

And I'm really excited to be at Gramercy Green! It's a new dorm with 21 floors for 900 students, and it's located on 23rd and 3rd. It is a bit of a way away, but there's a shuttle, and biking would be cool. The rooms look really sweet, as well.

But aside from all the obvious perks like having a single and free room and board, I am very much looking forward to the real aspects of being an RA. It will be cool to plan events, and with NYU's budget backing them, people might just actually come. I'm also excited to get to know my new residents. Since Gramercy is an upperclassmen dorm, I'll be better able to relate to my residents. I know there's only a couple years of difference between classes, but I feel like freshman problems are always so much more complicated. Also, I'm kind of looking forward to meeting all my fellow RA and staff members at Gramercy. I remember from Freshman year how much of a community the RAs had, and I was always a little bit jealous of them. They got to hang out and work with their friends all the time, and it was so much a part of their lives. So, there's a lot to look forward to, but at the same time, I know that it will be a lot of work, too.

Next semester is still a long way off, but getting selected to be an RA made me realize how much I miss NYC. But in the mean time, I guess all I can do is think about nametag designs and sort through my favorite icebreakers.