So.. As I've mentioned before, the government system in Italy is not the best. In recent years the government has cut the funding to public schools in all of Italy and the students and teachers didn't take it so lightly. Almost every single Friday of the month there's something called a Manifestazioni. This is basically a huge protest of students that gather together to protest against the government. I experienced my first one on Friday. IT WAS SO MUCH FUN! I met my friends outside of the school in the morning and then we walked to other schools nearby. At each new school we would pick up another big group of kids to join us. All teenagers are politically opinionated so one time we went by a school that was against the opinion of the protestors and there was only two people that joined our group. While our group got bigger, we walked in the streets and blocks the streets and the tram (streetcars). We all walked to the spot called Piramide (because there's an egyptian pyramid there) and met a giant bunch of students all dancing and going crazy. There was a truck that had a sound system built into it with big speakers and a DJ-type guy who would play different music and one time he even did a rapping solo for everyone. Some people were wearing underwear on their heads as well as other funny costumes. There were many big banners stating that students were anti fascist and lots of excitement. I felt a little bit like I was in the 70's because the Manifestazioni is a time where everyone is free to express themselves and their opinions. There was people with dreadlocks, jamaica hats on, french berets, people wearing purple pants, people with sparklers, people with red smoke makers, and all sorts of things. Everyone was jumping up and down and singing along to the songs while we walked along the streets towards the Minister of Education's building. There, we shouted things at the Minister of Education. There were many police officers everywhere but Manifestazioni's are either allowed to happen... or the police just don't care. We're not to sure. They're very laid back in Rome. I see lots of them talking to people on their cellphones probably about what's for dinner- who knows.. or texting or smoking cigarettes all the time. So the Manifestazioni was really fun and there was so much energy in the center of Rome it was like nothing I've seen before. They don't get violent when it's with students, all of the students are united together and just have a good time. I personally had a great time!
That Friday night I had some friends over for dinner. Their parents are friends with my host parents so everyone gathered in our house. Since it was Halloween that weekend Paula wanted to bring some halloween spirit into the house so she carved a pumpkin during the day and put a candle in it just like in Canada. The dinner was very fun. There was ten of us teenagers and they're all very funny.
On Halloween I attended a play in an inside garden of a building. A cloyster like we saw in Milan. The four exchange students from our club went with our councillor. Afterwards Me and Anna met up with my friends in the center of Rome and went to celebrate Halloween. It's a big event like in North America. They don't give out candy to anyone and it's not advertised or commercialized at all. Just a few disco's have special halloween themes and some bars were decorated for it. We went to a bar with friends. .. No worries: snack bars are all called bars. Anything that sells food or drinks is a bar. Not a pub. Just so we're clear.
On Monday morning at Six am Anna and me got up to go on the bus to the train station to meet her friends from school. We planned to go to a nearby town together to see it and for fun. We went downtown by bus and at 7 in the morning there was almost no one by the colesseum! I was shocked! Normally there's many tourists and its full of people but it was really weird to see it empty. We got to the train station, met Anna's friends (who she introduced to me at other gatherings together before) and took the train for an hour away to Orvietto. Then it started to pour rain! We stayed there for about five hours and we saw a very interesting duomo, half stripped and very decorated. Then we decided to come home early because we were all soaking wet. We went to one's house and spent time with everyone ther for the rest of the day. Monday and Tuesday we didn't have school because it's a national holiday called All Saints Day. We didn't do anything to celebrate it though. On Tuesday Amanda, Paula and I went to the gym to do two fitness classes. In the morning I drank this tea that Renato received from a friend in China and it gave me so much energy it was incredible. After the gym I rode a bike to Villa Pomphili and went running for another hour because I had so much energy!
Yesterday i went with a friend from class to her track and field lesson to see if i want to join the club. Tomorrow i'm going to try it out. I want to sign up to do a sport so I'm trying some out with people I know who do them. Next week im going to try a circus lesson!
As for the language, it's coming along fairly well. I can talk to people one on one and understand but when it's in a group I dont understand much. In class, I think the teachers may feel like they're talking to a wall. With my friends I always speak Italian and sometimes they speak to me in English but I answer in Italian. A few times when I've spoken to Paula in English she's corrected me on the things that I used to correct her about! I wouldn't say I'm fluent at all, but it's improved since I got here. Today I got perfect on my very first school test!!
It was in English class.
As for tomorrow, I'm going to another Manifestazioni.