Oasis in the Desert

Riots in London

2011-08-09T12:10:00.010+02:00

Stasera 16.000 poliziotti distribuiti fra Ealing, Croydon, Hockney e le strade di Londra. Senza poi contare gli episodi di rivolta che si stanno verificando a Liverpool, Bristol, Birmingham, Nottingham.
Come si vogliano definire, babygangs, ragazzi, minorenni e giovani hanno cominciato una rivolta che brucia, ruba, deturpa, secondo il governo inglese, in modo insensato e incontrollato. Le prime notizie parlano di black youth che senza limiti spaventano e derubano feriti, distruggono "poveri" negozi di vestiti usati, bruciano case e macchine. Un ragazzo di 26 anni è morto negli scontri con la polizia. Un proiettile l'ha ucciso su un auto mentre si allontanava dal focolaio riottoso.
"Questi ragazzi non temono la polizia", dicono in diretta BBC coloro che hanno assistito alle scene di rivolta. Altri cittadini che si trovavano sui luoghi di scontro, apparentemente non coinvolti nella lotta, hanno approfittato del caos, dell'assenza di controllo, per sottrarre prodotti dagli alimentari ed altri negozi.
Secondo i sociologi, la risposta violenta non è casuale: si tratta di un'esplosione alimentata da una pessima gestione dei problemi sociali da parte del governo. I giovani non hanno rispetto per l'autorità poichè, durante precedenti scontri con la polizia, l'atteggiamento esageratamente repressivo e ciecamente oppressivo, nonchè la mancanza di dialogo da parte delle istituzioni avrebbe portato alla chiusura di oggi.
Personalmente, ne ho piene le tasche della passività dei governi che non sono sufficientemente capaci di bloccare fenomeni come l'alcolismo e la droga tra i giovani e l'abbondono delle scuole...e poi basta con i film violenti, strafottenti, sanguinari che nascono come forme di "intrattenimento", ma in realtà diventano forme educative come risposte, percepite come efficaci, ai problemi sociali. Per molti esasperati la forza violenta diventa IL suggerimento su come affrontare una quotidianità di solitudine - di genitori assenti perchè afflitti da morse ecnomiche e sociali, L'ABBANDONO delle istituzioni - prima di tutto - di se stesse. Le istituzioni si sono spogliate delle loro funzioni ed hanno permesso che il potere potesse predicare bene e razzolare male. Inoltre non è da sottovalutare come la dimensione internet rappresenti per molti ragazzi/e lo spazio relazionale, attivo ed espressivo - videogiochi, forum, p2p, social networks, chat - in cui il controllo, non è qualcosa di effettivamente limitante, né percepito come efficace. In internet il controllo e quindi l'autorità sono concetti del tutto inesistenti. Solo nei film degli anni '80 il ragazzino che tentava di entrare nei database di banche o agenzie governative, si vedeva piombare in giardino l'elicottero dell'esercito...
Funzioni come il "parental control", le restrizioni, l'antipirateria sono scarsamente efficaci sui giovani che spesso sono maggiormente socializzati alle tecnologie rispetto ai genitori e che trovano il modo di "raggirare" le restrizioni della rete. L'assenza di autorità in rete può incidere concettualmente sulla percezione del pericolo nella realtà rinforzando l'idea dell'inefficacia reale delle istituzioni di controllo.
Anzi, vista la scarsa dimestichezza con i mezzi e le potenzialità teconologiche da parte di molti adulti "adetti" alla formazione, i giovani si sentono i veri leader della rete. Genitori, insegnanti, istituzioni - gli adulti non sanno come gestire la rete, un luogo importante di comunicazione giovanile.
Il primo ministro David Cameron condanna questi giovani dicendo che se sono grandi abbastanza per compiere queste azioni, sono grandi abbastanza per subirne le conseguenze...anche a costo della loro vita. I giovani utilizzano i blackberries e, protetti dalla privacy, si danno appuntamento nelle zone da devastare. L'Europa brucia, i capricci capitalisti delle borse di mercato crollano, e la risposta visiva dei tg italiani è la festa con ballerine brasiliane proprio di Rio, che oleate e impiumate, mostrano suderi e seni sodi e rigogliosi. Non può essere questa la risposta alle proteste di chi parla con il disagio, di chi forse non può nemmeno capire l'appello al senso di ordine civile e di salvaguardia della comunità a cui i democratici inglesi fanno appello. La rete si impone come il nuovo spazio socializzante dove "le regole le facciamo noi" e gli utenti seguono le regole divulgate in rete. Social networks che muovono rivolte, websites che "risvegliano" menti assopite, video su youtube che insegnano a fabbricare una molotov in casa, i dibattiti sui forum che non richiedono titoli (né nobiliari né di studio) per poter esprimere le proprie ragioni. La democrazia alla portata di tutti, una democrazia che si traduce nella pratica in scelte e stili di vita. I kids degli scontri di Londra hanno assorbito quanto espresso dalla rete. Il malcontento popolare, gli innumerevoli esempi di ingiustizia sociale, la corruzione delle istituzioni e la delusione dei cittadini, l'integrità calpestata, le credenze smontate per sempre dalla ragione e da scabrosi episodi di immoralità. Non c'è più niente in cui credere, è questo che ci stanno dicendo. Niente di umano. A causa di questo disincantamento eccessivo, la città si trasforma in uno spazio virtuale in cui, come in un videogioco, le conseguenze di azioni violente si disumanizzano e si assume il controllo del territorio. Ricordo che dieci anni fa con Rainbow 6, in un attimo, diventavi parte di un'unità speciale che svolgeva missioni in diverse parti del mondo con lo scopo di eliminare ribelli, agenti o corpi speciali avversari. In Raibow 6 mi piaceva assumere il ruolo del cecchino e girare la città armata per poi appostarmi in luoghi ameni ad aspettare il nemico. Nella realtà, la mia vittima poteva essere anche il mio vicino di pc. Si giocava a squadre ed era possibile confrontarsi con utenti di diverse parti del globo grazie alla rete. Probabilmente i 12enni di oggi avranno moderne versioni di videogiochi violenti e di gruppo, il cui scopo è "eliminare l'altro". Non riesco a non accostare il fatto che alcuni dei riottosi si sentiranno parte di un gruppo speciale con lo scopo di prendere possesso di un territorio con la violenza.

La disobbedienza avviene quendo non c'è educazione. Di chi è la responsabilità e quale può essere la soluzione? Se è vero che l'essere umano per sua caratteristica è adattivo e che apprende in larga parte per imitazione, bisogna domandarsi come chi ha preceduto queste nuove generazioni, ha impostato il piano educativo o se davvero si sia domandato cosa fosse meglio insegnare e cosa fosse meglio bandire. Bruciate tutte le tappe, una persona si potrebbe ritrovare arida dentro. E se è vero che la fenice insegna a rinascere dalle proprie ceneri, bisogna capire come ridare speranza a chi non ha altra soluzione se non una vita fatta di continua violenza dentro e fuori di sé.

C'è rabbia, montata e giustificata da esempi istituzionali che non sono voluti essere esempi di moralità, in cui la privacy, addobbata col diritto alla libertà personale, ha significato egoismo sfrenato a scapito del bene comune.

Le "primavere" rivoltose che in passato hanno visto giovani europei denunciare le ingiustizie sociali della politica, ora si fanno estate fredda. L'età che alimenta questi moti è bassissima, forse la più bassa della storia ribelle moderna. La ormai nota "coscienza di classe" monta in poco tempo la rabbia ed esplode in un'estate che non attende altri inverni, ma che anticipa provvedimenti senza sentimenti. I moti giovani del nord Africa, il crollo delle solidità del nord Europa con stragi compiute da giovani contro giovani, e ora i riot kids del Regno Unito. I giovani, target dei commerci più disparati, al centro di analisi psico-sentimentali di rubriche settimanali, film e telenovelas, approfondimenti dell'ora di pranzo. Gli omicidi fra giovani coppie, la pedofilia di preti e maestre che rovinano giovani menti e corpi. Il sesso come mezzo di riscatto sociale e il nudo in classe, la violenza dei film e il bullismo che avvelena tutta Europa dalla Russia alla Gran Bretagna.
Non ho timore a dire che è necessaria una politica sociale proibizionista, intesa a tracciare dei limiti a porre dei divieti. Le regole possono mancare solo quando il loro senso è stato interiorizzato. I ragazzini non possono capire da soli che cosa vada bene - per loro stessi e per la comunità intera in cui vivono - e cosa no.
Se non si va ai ripari, a questa fredda estate seguirà un lungo e decadente autunno.

Le migrazioni virtuali

2011-08-06T14:59:00.006+02:00

Bene, è finito un periodo, ma non lo dico io lo dice Msn che oggi ho (ri)scoperto ha cancellato il mio blog. Foto, pensierini, commenti da amici, puf, volatilizzati!...e devo dire che mi fa piacere scoprirlo. In fondo era da un po' di tempo che volevo eliminare tutte quelle personali informazioni sedimentate in un remoto luogo della rete, inaccessibili ai più e da me quasi dimenticate.
Avevo letto della migrazione di Windows Live Spaces, ma avevo completamente rimosso la considerazione delle conseguenze dai miei processi in coda...
Ed ecco che effettivamente tra esseri umani che si descrivono adottando immagini dell'area virtuale e spazi virtuali che causano migrazioni di pensieri umani, mi sovvien della volatilità che accomuna esseri umani e informazioni via rete...e devo dire meno male.
Il 16 marzo 2010 due anni di esperienze della mia gioventù sono state cancellate...:) Fa sorridere come appaia drammatica la frase! La verità è che anche se non avessi scritto nulla, non avrei "ritenuto", come si dice in gergo psicologico, molti contenuti di quelli espressi in quel blog. Eppure, ci avevo "registrato" un anno di vita in Spagna, foto e viaggi di due anni...la vita a Zaragoza, i viaggi a Teruel, Pamplona, Sallent sui Pirenei, Saint Tropez, Valencia, Barcellona, Madrid e molte altre città...
Nulla di grave comunque. Ciò che c'era da ritenere ha già sedimentato e fruttato, ma soprattutto ciò che c'era da escludere da occhi sconosciuti è stato cancellato irrimediabilmente.
In un'epoca di transizione dal reale al virtuale di massa i fatti personali, come si sa, sono stati svenduti nel nome di una facile ed illusoria notorietà. Ancora oggi accade e per molto accadrà. Solo successivamente il peso, il significato e il "ciclo vitale" dei contenuti informativi della rete sono stati ridimensionati e resi facilmente traducibili per la maggior parte degli utenti della rete. Comunque è interessante notare che, come accade per gruppi di persone, le informazioni migrino in "movimenti" in cui le storie di vita dei singoli si perdono e solo la massa fa storia. Vuol dire che anche in un'epoca come la nostra, in cui ogni singolo avvenimento terrestre (e non!) può essere registrato, il singolo, come persona, rimane fuori dalle grandi cronologie della storia umana.
La migrazione è davvero un fenomeno universale che riguarda tutte le epoche storiche e tutti i componenti vivi dei 5 regni naturali (piante, animali, funghi, monere e protisti...inclusi i virus alieni!), nondimeno gli spazi virtuali.
Ci sono poi le migrazioni delle macchine virtuali, ben altra cosa, di cui so poco al momento, ma il cui significato è più vicino alla clonazione che a spostamenti di una raccolta di dati. Inoltre ci sono migrazioni a quanto ho capito temporanee (poichè virtuali e non fisiche) a server virtuali. Ad un livello più semplice, anche un "trasferimento di file" rappresenta una clonazione poichè dal momento in cui un file viene scaricato esso ha una vita indipendente rispetto alla sua fonte originaria, ma è da essa che è stato generato. Certo, ad un livello speculativo si potrebbe continuare per delle ore... Sta di fatto che le migrazioni virtuali o cybernetiche potrebbero essere un interessante argomento di approfondimento, specie se al tema si accostano esempi di tecnologie e procedure informatiche.
Simpatico che googleando "virtual migrations" ho trovato un libro pubblicato proprio ieri su questi temi. Il contenuto del testo è così riassunto:
"Workers in India program software applications, transcribe medical dictation online, chase credit card debtors, and sell mobile phones, diet pills, and mortgages for companies based in other countries around the world. While their skills and labor migrate abroad, these workers remain Indian citizens, living and working in India. A. Aneesh calls this phenomenon “virtual migration,” and in this groundbreaking study he examines the emerging “transnational virtual space” where labor and vast quantities of code and data cross national boundaries, but the workers themselves do not. Through an analysis of the work of computer programmers in India working for the American software industry, Aneesh argues that the programming code connecting globally dispersed workers through data servers and computer screens is the key organizing structure behind the growing phenomenon of virtual migration. This “rule of code,” he contends, is a crucial and underexplored aspect of globalization."

Language 18th October

2010-10-18T16:30:00.004+02:00

How funny!

Winter's approaching and clothes become an important matter in my everyday experience abroad.

Yes, you enter a shop, you look for a good new sweater that makes you walk normally without shaking at any step (here in the Netherlands) and you acknowledge the black holes in your vocabulary…words you don’t know, you didn’t care about in your whole foreign language learner experience….

What is the name for those small woolly balls that make your clothes seem like a carpet? In Italian they are called “pelucchi”, a word I though was a regionalism. I googled "pelucchi" but it seems that online dictionaries don’t bother them. At least, Zingarelli doesn’t mention them. So why should I? Because I needed one of those woolly balls remover! All dark clothes are dotted in white and it looks like I suffer from dandruff!!

Finally, combing through websites of clothes and winter collections, I found out the LINTS!

The result of this search is that the English for TOGLI PELUCCHI is LINT REMOVER or/and LINT ROLLER depending on the different shapes it takes and how it works. Actually, it can be either a sticky roller which takes the lints away from your clothes, or it can have a rough surface (like velvet) filled with very little brushes. Moving the brushes in the opposite direction of the clothes fabrics, you remove the lints entrapping them within the brushes.

2010-05-03T15:28:00.004+02:00

primo di una serie...
la dedico a tutti quelli che iniziano un amore con inconsapevolezza, come tutti, ma che poi si ostinano a non voler vedere i propri sentimenti e quelli degli altri.

Blue Monday e la ripresa del blog

2010-05-03T15:17:00.003+02:00

Anche oggi mi sono svegliata dopo 4 ore di sonno. Ormai credo di star subendo una mutazione genetica.
E dopo aver caricato 4 video su facebook e aver scritto due posts mi sono sentita di abbandonare la postazione pubblica e rifugiarmi qui nel mio blog sconosciuto. Dove posso scrivere consapevole che nessuno di coloro che vedo ogni giorno mi dirà, "Ma perchè dedichi a fb tutto quel tempo?". E pensi che non ci ho pensato?
La fasulla notorietà che ti da fb è un qualcosa di accattivante, ma ne vedo i limiti e la grande bocca divoratrice del tempo.
Vedo che fb è il moderno signor grigio di Michael Ende...divora il tuo tempo, senza promettertelo pubblicamente, ma suggerendoti che se continui a stare al loro gioco, un giorno sarai qualcuno...
Ho pensato anche che sarebbe meglio scrivere tutti i miei pensieri su un pezzo di carta, un diario solo mio. Ma la verità è che scrivo nella speranza che qualcuno legga, che qualcuno abbia voglia di scontrarsi o confrontarsi con me....
E allora mi tocca venire qui, un po' più isolata, meno esposta, ma confortata dall'idea di essere visibile.

Era da un po' che pensavo di riprendere sotto le dita il moi blog. Facebook è buono come mail cumulativa e per condividere musica ed eventi.
MA i pensieri no, i pensieri sono troppo intimi, per darli a quella boccaccia pubblica là. Anzi, le mie note, così sofferte le trasferisco qui...

Il mercato di Peschiera del Garda

2009-09-30T13:06:00.007+02:00

Al ritorno da Sofia mi sono fermata a dormire a Peschiera che non sapevo fosse in provincia di Verona. Il giorno dopo mi sono fatta un giretto per la cittadina che distesa sul lago mi ha regalato una bella mattina di sole e shopping...infatti ogni lunedì c'è un carinissimo mercato in cui si può trovare un po' di tutto. Ho avuto la possibilità di comprarmi un portafoglio in vera pella, un marsupio e due cinture in pelle a 30 euro - non made in china -. Carina poi la bigiotteria che si può trovare, le borse e il pesce fritto che di fatto ho comprato. Un fritto misto di gamberoni, gamberi, polpetta di polpa di granchio e calamari a 5 euro, una bottiglietta d'acqua a 1 euro da consumarsi sul pontile soleggato e rilassante che si trova all'inizio della passeggiata dei cappuccini...bella mattinata!

Politkovskaja - i gialli sono realtà

2009-02-10T17:04:00.007+01:00

Dopo l'incontro con Francesca Sforza e Rita Pennarola lo scorso 19 gennaio a Padova, Anna Politkovskaja si ripresenta agli occhi, alle orecchie e al cuore. Letter to Anna, documentario realistico multitematico di Eric Bergkraut non è sicuramente la sola fonte da consultare. Per formarsi un'idea personale sulla condizione democratica in Russia, sulla situazione cecena e, in generale, sulle forza e il coraggio ispirati da alti ideali morali si può leggere testimonianze riportate da perosone che fanno del giornalismo la propria missione di vita, proprio come Politkovskaja. Libertà d'espressione, poteri in conflitto, sistemi di coercizione attuali, ultimi baluardi di principi costituzionali che non conoscono confini territoriali, democrazia, filantropia, e volendo, significato esistenziale non sono gli ingredienti di un appassionante giallo, ma temi chiamati a personale esame coscienzioso di chi si interessa non solo alla Russia di oggi, ma alla società. In Proibito parlare. Cecenia, beslan, teatro di Dubrovka: le verità scomode della Russia di Putin.

Da leggere:
Tregubova Elena, I mutanti del Cremlino.
Vaksberg Arkadi, I veleni del Cremlino.
Nemtson Boris, L'ineffarrabile Russia. Confessione di un ribelle.

Nuove prospettive

2008-11-22T21:00:00.002+01:00

Da un po' non scrivevo sul blog...e ora tornando leggo il post sulla natura che non può cambiare. Da quell'ultimo post la mia forza è tornata a scorrere nelle vene. E la mia forza non può lasciare inosservata una cosa: MAI MAI MAI chi ti ama ti chiede di cambiare. Che senso ha? Non si può stare con qualcuno chiedendole di cambiare...semplicemente non sarebbe più lei! E io mi sento bellissima come sono, mi sento un cuore più bianco che nero, mi sento dolce, simpatica e allegra con chi sa ricevere i miei doni più preziosi! E semplicemente, non può lasciarti chi ti ama, mai. Nella mia vita voglio crescere, sorridere ancora un miliardo di milioni di volte, cercando la verità negli altri e nel mondo, dando la mia fiducia a chi la sa meritare...selettiva come sento di voler essere io, aperta come voglio essere...semplicemente voglio essere IO COME SONO! E la famiglia è un valore molto importante per me, come anche la fiducia e la sincerità. Continuerò a seguire i miei sogni. E al mio fianco non ci sarà chi mi aspettavo ci fosse, ma ci sarò io e l'amore che porto dentro per la vita accenderà il mio fuoco ogni giorno! E se lungo la mia strada incontrerò qualcuno con cui sarà facile ridere e creare felicità, so che non esiteremo a prenderci la mano per camminare insieme fianco a fianco e condividere questo dono meraviglioso che è la vita! Fino ad allora comunque, IO SONO IO E SONO FELICE Così! ...e ai palloni gonfiati: attenzione a riempirvi troppo d'aria, potreste scoppiare...umiltààààà!!!

Homosexuality

2008-09-16T18:26:00.004+02:00

When I wondered about this issue, I always thought that we might observe nature to know wether homosexuality was "natural" and acceptable by the creational point of view. Well, I am areally sure that such sexual preferences are as natural as this whole world is. I'll read Bruce Bagemihl's Biological Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity. In it the Ph researcher demonstrates not only that animals have sex also for other purposes beyond mere reproduction, but also that homosexuality, masturbation and other sexual activities are as normal as they are in the human society. In this period I'm reading a lot about nature, evolution theories, antropology issues and the sense of creation. I think that this discover actually adds a piece in the puzzle of my theory on the issue of Existence.

Libertà

2008-09-06T12:46:00.004+02:00

Ma cos'è la libertà? Mi guardo in giro e non posso credere a quanti casi di restrizione morale ci sono. Le idee delle persone sono spesso gettate al suolo. Anche le idee più belle sono ostacolate, derise, minimizzate. Secondo me la libertà è un concetto ancora inesplorato da molti. I casi reali della vita mi mettono difronte alla praticità di un concetto così grande. Io non mi sento libera e questo mi basta. La maggior parte del tempo i dubbi mi impediscono di essere leggera e sento che la mia mente è come una prigione che rinchiude la parte più vera di me. e nei pochi momenti in cui riesco a trovare la chiave della mia cella, io sono davvero felice, e mi sento libera. Sono momenti non calcolati, improvvisi, in cui decido di lasciarmi andare, di seguire il flusso dei pensieri e di trasformarli in azione. Mi ricordo di una serata a padova con i miei amici... all'improvviso tutto aveva più colore, non c'era nessun ostacolo tra i miei pensieri, le mie parole e le mie azioni, non mi sentivo intimorita da nessuno e nessuno per me costituiva una minaccia mentale nè fisica. Mi sentivo libera, potevo essere me stessa. E qui la prima osservazione che ne faccio è che spesso mi aspetto che siano gli altri a donarmi la libertà...c'era un tempo in cui stando da sola mi sentivo libera. C'è stato un tempo in cui ero talmente legata agli altri da non sapere più chi fossi. Ora la vita mi sta presentando un altro momento per riconquistare la mia libertà. Durante quella serata di due anni fa stavo bene perchè ero insieme ad altre persone, non ero sola, ero con i miei amici che non costituivano un pericolo per me. Ero così felice che non avevo problemi e parlavo con tutti, sapevo sempre cosa dire e non avevo timori, non pensavo di offendere nessuno, volevo solo trasmettere questa sensazione meravigliosa di felicità. Non ero sotto l'influenza di nessuna droga o alcol. Ero felice! E mi sentivo forte e potente per questa mia grande felicità che cacciava la paura, tanto da non sapere più cosa fosse. Altre volte mi sono sentita così e possibilmente il mio scopo è di sentirmi se non sempre, la maggior parte del mio tempo così.

Per farlo però, per inseguire il mio sogno di libertà, inevitabilmente si crea un controsenso:

Credo che anche le persone che ci stanno vicine ci possono aiutare nel raggiungere una condizione di libertà, ma al tempo stesso, reputo che sia schiavitù evitare delle persone perchè non ci fanno stare bene. credo infatti che la vera libertà possa essere conservata al di là dei limiti imposti dagli altri. vorrei prima di tutto essere capace di affrontare gli altri, per essere più forte e poter difendere così la mia libertà conquistata. L'inevitabile circolo vizioso che si crea è questo: nella realtà, evitare chi non ci piace è pratica comune. Altri pensieri mi portano a credere che la mia vita, breve, meravigliosa occasione non può essere sprecata a fianco di chi non mi fa stare bene. Inoltre un altro fatto mi porta a rinchiudermi nella prigione dei circoli viziosi. L'amore per l'altro. Non ci sono molte cose che mi rendano più felice dell'armonia, della felicità di gruppo, del vedere che le persone sono contente e stanno bene, anche a discapito della mia propria felicità. Perchè se vedo che gli altri sono felici, la mia infelicità se ne va grazie alla forza degli altri, riesco a dimenticarmi il motivo per cui ho perso il sorriso. Ma anche qui il circolo vizioso entra: per fare felici gli altri, cerco di accontentarli e spesso questo richiede la privazione della libertà e delle scelte che farei se fossi sola a decidere. E mi chiedo se per essere libera non dovrei stare sola...

Il compromesso

Ma esiste un compromesso? Aldilà delle frasi ideali e utopistiche, esiste un modo per essere liberi, felici, dare felicità senza fare soffrire gli altri? Possiamo essere tutti felici e liberi?

Lo vorrei tanto.

E mentre aspetto di vedere come la mia mente e il mio cuore mi stupiranno, facendomi cambiare ancora in direzione libertà, spero tanto di conoscere delle persone libere che possano insegnarmi il loro modo di essere libere nella quotidianità, nel loro modo di agire con gli altri e se stessi.

Perchè purtroppo, anche se mi è parso di conoscere qualcuno libero. ho scoperto che la loro libertà non coincide con il mio senso di giustizia. Altro circolo vizioso è capire l'unione tra libertà e giustizia. Può la libertà essere ingiusta? Sento che la risposta è: anche se la libertà fosse ingiusta, una persona libera non se ne accorgerebbe o non ci perderebbe dietro troppo tempo. Sarebbe altrimenti uno schiavo della giustizia.

E rispondedomi da sola, mi dico anche che la libertà è necessariamente amore e perdono, Perchè se subiamo un'ingiustizia e non ci facciamo schiavizzare da essa, l'unico modo per superarla è perdonare, attraverso la forza dell'amore, chi ci ha fatto soffrire. E' difficile, è difficile, sfuggire ai sentimenti, alle emozioni...prima bisogna veramente conoscere a fondo il senso dell'uomo, della vita, dell'esistenza per essere capaci di rispettare gli altri. Cammino verso questa direzione e spero di migliorare, di essere più forte e di riuscire un giorno ad essere abbastanza libera da poter condividere la mia libertà con gli altri.

I poteri straordinari della mente

2008-09-05T15:18:00.004+02:00

Kim Peek ha una memoria formidabile. é un uomo autistico di 54 anni ed è un genio. Ma chi mi ha colpito moltissimo è l'inglese Daniel Tammet che ha scritto Born on a Blue Day. Tammet é un autistico al quadrato, ovvero un autistico fuori dalla norma, perchè riesce ad avere social skills molto sviluppate e senza problemi comunicativi riesce a descrivere la mente di un uomo autistico.

Guardando questo video mi è venuta in mente una persona che sapeva dirti subito a che giorno della settimana corrispondeva un dato giorno, così, subito, senza farti aspettare... é autismo anche questo? Ho trovato un sistema per fare dei calcoli a mente rapidi e saper dire che giorno sarà in breve tempo, ma rimangono calcoli abbastanza complessi. Mi studierò quanto suggerito da Flavio Cimolin e vedremo se anche io riuscirò a lasciare tutti a bocca aperta...

Le Olimpiadi

2008-09-05T13:13:00.007+02:00

Facciamo un riassunto di come è andata! E dai, occasione anche per ascoltare il nostro inno di cui quasi nessuno conosce la seconda parte!!!
Anzi sai che faccio? è meglio leggersi TUTTO il testo qui.
Cmq proprio belle le Olimpiadi! Quest'anno le ho potute seguire bene!

Promemoria:

L''inno è stato scritto da Goffredo Mameli, ma la musica è di Michele Novaro ed esordì al santuario di Oregina (Santuario di N.S. di Loreto Salita Oregina, 48 Tel. 010 212024) a Genova per la prima volta nel 1847. Chissà se riuscirò a celebrare il duecentenario dell'inno...

Se dovessi tornare a Genova, devo ricordarmi di vedere il santuario. Poi se capito a tiro, ci sono proprio delle giornate di festa organizzate in ricordo dei fatti italiani:

La Festa: Ogni anno, tra il 5 e il 10 Dicembre, si celebrano le "Giornate Mameliane", organizzate dall'Istituto Mazziniano; in questi giorni si susseguono varie iniziative dalle visite a tema al Museo del Risorgimento, alle conferenze, ai concerti tematici. Punti focali di queste manifestazioni sono: la cerimonia ufficiale del 5 Dicembre alla statua del Balilla (inizio della rivolta antiaustriaca del 1746); lo Scioglimento del Voto del 10 Dicembre a Oregina (anniversario dell'inno nazionale, eseguito per la prima volta proprio il 10 dicembre 1847 durante una manifestazione per ricordare i 101 anni della liberazione di Genova dagli austriaci).

Omaggio a Gassman

2008-08-31T09:44:00.002+02:00

Dal basso dei miei 25 anni e avendo scoperto, da me, alcune cose un po' troppo in ritardo rispetto ai tempi, dico che Gassman è stato un grandissimo attore. La sua capacità d'espressione, la voce tremula ma piena di forza degli anni maturi, la sua capacità di plasmare in uscita le emozioni di un testo scritto... Probabilmente Carmelo Bene lo definirebbe un grande cabarettista, ma credo che il teatro non debba e non possa essere pedante, sempre e ovunque! Non si tratta di riverenza al testo scritto, ma della funzione della poesia. La posizione dell'attore non è sminuita, anzi ne viene celebrata! La poesia è musica parlata, non una litania in via crucis, che perde di senso nella sua ripetitività. Perchè proprio come diceva Gassman, "L'attore è un bugiardo al quale si chiede la massima sincerità". Sono d'accordo con l'atteggiamento di Bene, non mi importa che l'attore necessiti di anni di studio per impostare tono e respiro perchè so che teatro è emozione, ma la differenza è palese! Gassman irraggiungiubile, grande, potente nella sua umanità ci insegna i sentimenti; Bene pedante, spesso incespicante nella parlata impostata, roccioso (volendo forse essere dogmatico-enigmatico-ermetico?) riesce solo a corrodere la poesia. L'intento di Bene è defraudare il testo della sua grandezza? Perchè uccidere un flusso magico di parole, combinazione di suoni che crea un metalinguaggio emozionale? Le parole e la loro espressione, è questa la meraviglia della poesia e del teatro e l'attore non è subordinato al testo, ma, come mago, ha in sè il potere di attivare l'incantesimo! Inoltre il testo non è pallida pietra incisa, ma vivo pensiero fissato sulla carta! L'intento di Bene ancora non lo capisco. Per ora vedo che bisogna essere intelligenti per essere attori, e Gassman è un genio....

I miei omaggi quindi ad un Attore che si innalza a punto di riferimento su questo caos attuale che pare aver perso la strada verso l'Arte.

Simone Weil

2008-08-19T18:18:00.003+02:00

A female writer who discusses themes of great interest in her Riflessioni sulle cause della libertà e dell'oppressione sociale. She was 25 just like me when she wrote it. Is it possible freedom from hard work conditions? What is the meaning of oppression? Somewhere I read she belonged to a rich (bourgeois?) family, but decided to work in a factory for a while to understand what labour means and how work is sometimes close to the concept of slavery.

Wind of Changes

2008-08-15T15:27:00.006+02:00

This blog was born for my last English course at University. Now classes are over, but I decided to keep up with my corner. However, since I won't receive grades for my blog anymore, I'll be able to post with no strict criteria on it. There will be chages in the administration of Zarascorner! According to my wishes and whims, I'll write in Spanish and in Italian as well, I'll deal with more chatty and free topics, I'll be less formal in the layout... definitely, I'll spin Zarasconer into my own personal blog, with no regards for its beginnings! I want it to be my e-journal...wait and see the differences!

I'm back!

2008-08-15T15:16:00.005+02:00

It's been long long time since last post, however my dear freinds, I'm here back again to write you about my discoveries.
Today's news is about a word I've been learning two minutes ago: BLACKGUARD. it's a noun though it defines a person who is rude, unscrupulous, worthless, viciuos, someone who uses foul or abusive language. an example of sentence can be: "I hope my son won't be one of those young blackguards who live here in the neighborhood."

Found this word not so classy? Maybe. However it can be useful to describe some of the people I unfortunately know...!

My ICC self-assessment

2008-05-20T12:02:00.004+02:00

Hi everybody!
This is the last post of our English course!
Last week we had to answer some questions about our ICC competences, how these developed through the last semester thanks to the Exchange with Dickinson students and how these practically took place, providing examples of them. Through the Exchange my peers and I had the possibility to really keep the contact with the culture whose language we are still studying. Sarah's created for us personal wiki pages on which we answered the questions on ICC.

Summarizing the ICC questionaire contents, I had a great experience throughout the Exchange with Dickinson students. In general we spent a good time together, I didn't have any problems at all with Artem - the America/Ukrainian peer, my group worked good together and we've achieved in building a good relation among us.

I learned a lot from this experience upon American culture. I learnt how students live there, how the system surrounding them works - even though in general -. Through the work we made in class, I had the possibility to focus on some aspects: immigration, discrimination, political system, politicians and elections. With the wiki project I really get informed on how death penalty works in US. However, the thing I appreciated the most is that I used English to work with other people, I had to use it to overcome problems or misunderstandings, I used it to cope with the different situation took place during these last months. At the end of all my university career, finally, we had the honour and used English porperly, to comunicate with native speakers outside our class!

What's more I've been learning vocabulary, expressions, and improved my accent. Here you can find the answers to my ICC.

Bye,

Zara

4th Skype exchange

2008-04-09T14:48:00.009+02:00

Hello everybody!
Today Alex, Artem and I discussed on politics and discrimination in US and Italy. There was Elena, a peer of us, as well. Comparing the two societies is important to understand an aspect of cultural background. Even though Arti is Ukrainian he has been clear enough to let us understand how things are in the US. As for discrimination in Italy, we told Arti that eastern Europeans are considered very dangerous people, more than other immigrants. However there are other forms of discrimination in our country, as well. Southern Italians are considered lazy, artful, thieves and so on. They are obviously considered to be all involved with mafia. Strange, but the same things are said about many Southern Americans. Arti told us discriminations are against people from the South who receive money from the governmental social aid. These people are blacks, and Hispanics. The points to support the discriminatory thesis is that because some people receives social help they don’t care about finding a work and make a position. Since the 1970s, people from the South are more discriminatory while in the North people are more open-minded about foreign cultures. In cities like NY the melting pot makes residents more tolerant. However Arti added that many people don’t feel comfortable to talk about discrimination. Somehow people feel guilty for what happened to immigrants or other social groups discriminated and badly treated in the past. In the college where Arti studies, there is no discrimination at all.
As far as politics are concerned, women are more integrated, and, even though there is, like Arti called it, a patriarchal discrimination, they are getting up there.
Due to some questions Sarah asked us to post on Interculture wiki, I somehow forced Arti to answer to the following: “I read in Obama's program that he wants to ensure 'every citizen to vote'. Actually, to whom this achievement would benefit?” I didn’t understand the purpose of this aim in Obama’s electoral program. Arti told me that the point refers to those citizens who are not well informed on politics and politicians, and don’t find themselves in the true position to vote autonomously. Thus Obama’s purpose is to enlarge the ways through which information can be spread, and grow the interest people can have in politics. This should bring everybody to be proud, wishing and willing to cast their vote in the elections.

We’ll work on death penalty and the difference of such issue in America and Italy. About that, I made some question may be useful for develop our wiki. I'll post them here because there is no appropriate wiki page yet. We might focus on:

Historical differences US/IT: Had DP been applied in Italy in the past? When and why did it stop? When has DP been introduced in America? (link to technical aspects: see below) How and in which states does DP work currently? (link to moral issue: see below) Why hasn't DP, as a form of extreme sanction, been removed from American penal code?
Technical aspects in US: In which ways DP is applied (gas, injection, electric chair)? For which crimes is DP applied? Are there any states which do not apply DP? If so, why
Technical aspects in IT: Which sanctions are applied in IT for the same crimes punished with DP in US?
Moral differences US/IT: Would it be possible for Italy to introduce DP in its penal system? (if so/no) Why? Are there any social groups in America who are against DP? Which is the dominant -public- opinion about DP in US? As a form of extreme sanction towards a person, doesn’t DP represent an abuse of central power against a human being? On the contrary, can the jail really solve the problem of criminality in IT? Can life sentence represent an effective alternative to DP? Can life sentence prevent people from committing penal crimes such as homicide?

See you on Mon! Have a great week-end!

3rd Skype Exchange

2008-04-02T15:42:00.004+02:00

Today we were in three for our weekly Skype exchange: Alessandra, Artem and I. We mainly discussed about politics and next elections both in Italy and in America. If in Italy we have two main leaders, Veltroni and Berlusconi -sigh!-, of the two main coalitions, in America things are different. Actually many Italians don't know who to vote because we feel forced to choose between only two people who neither of them have a strong positive impact on citizens. As far as politics is concerned, Italian system is very different to the American one. First: in Italy the role of the Prime minister is foundamental, while in America the main leader is the President of the US. Second: in Italy voters elect the leader of a party or of a coalition of parties who will become the Prime minister. In America, voters elect the Presidential electors who will cast their vote for the President and Vice-President of US. Due to this different systems, in America there can be people belonging to the same party who compete for the same office, as in the case of Hilary Clinton and Barak Obama who are both democrats.
We talked about the Italian book 'La Casta' by di G.Antonio Stella. In Ucrania, where Artem comes from, there is corruption as well as in Italy. Corruption is not a serious problem in US. I don't know wether this issue doesn't worry American society, or simply Americans are not aware of it.
Finally we talked about music and told Artem some good Italian songs to listen to.
As far as my final project is concerned, I’d like to focus on a cultural topic I find very interesting. The way how information is treated in Italy and USA, that is the role of journalism in the two societies. The importance of cultural knowledge in American schools. America is a big country where many different cultures share the same spaces (schools. work, istitutions of different kind) during many aspects of the daily life. Are American students taught about what is culture? Do they need to study cultural aspects within their educational paths? What do they know about foreign culture and how do they know more about other cultures? Do American students think that a deeper knowledge about cultures is necessary? Moreover I'm interested in discrimination in America: does discrimination affect America? In which ways? Which social groups worry about fighting the discrimination?

These questions may be a starting point. However I'd like to see someone else's idea and then definitely decide.

How to: Pranke Someone on 1st April

2008-04-01T17:51:00.004+02:00

Hi! Today remember to enjoy pranking someone with some joke...and be careful not to be pranked!

YOGA form and my intercultural competence

2008-03-30T21:28:00.009+02:00

I read Alvino Fantini's essay, "A Central Concern: Developing Intercultural Competence", preceeding the YOGA form, and I found some interesting things, I'll summarize subsequently:

ICC is "the ability to develop and maintain relationships, the ability to communicate effectively and appropriately with minimal loss or distortion, and the ability to attain compliance and obtain cooperation with others";
Language influences our way to describe, "perceive, interpret, think about, and express one's view of the world";
ICC "include respect, empathy, flexibility, patience, interest, curiosity, opennes, motivation, a sense of humor, tolerance for ambiguity, and a willingness to suspend judgement, among others";
"Those who have never experienced another culture nor struggled to communicate through another language, like the goldfish, are generally unaware of the milieu in whic they have always existed."

I alwasy thought that life is filled with relativism. When I went in Spain, when I try to speak in class in English, when I meet my frind Karim and try to speack in Arabics with him, I notice our different mental processes go on and influence our perception of the outside. I dare say that I strongly belevieve in relativism. However it's not easy to cope with this belief that becaomes a value through which you consider every aspect of life. You often try to consider the different aspects and pov of the same issue, and actually you're pushed to think that everything is wrong and everything is right. Sometimes I find myself really cofused because I do not know to what I should believe. I wonder, where is the true? What is right/wrong? Am I right or not?...

Growing your cultural competence, within your own culture and within a foreign one, is not easy because it represents a process which weaken your previous strong values and beliefs and pushes you towards an area where many different values and ideas surround you, without really touching you at your deep self. Trying to be culturally tollerant and open-minded makes you surely confuse because you try to accept averybody's pov, traditions and beleifs. Through the objects that characterize and make a culture, you potentially should explain some behaviours you weren't agree with when you started studying foreign cultures. In my case, the increase in my knowledge of other cultures has being matching an increase of my ability in being empathic. Developing a great degree of empathy mines your own identity and beliefs as well, because sometimes you seem to be able to understand even what is, according to your home society, considered evil. However, I'm confident that one day I'll find a way to judge things through an inner compromise of my own with the cultural experience lived.

Regards the YOGA form I used it in order to check out my cultural competence within different cultural/linguage areas, that are the Romanian, the Spanish and the English contexts. I value my ICC in these 3 cultural areas because I studied English since I was (more or less) 9, Romanian for 4 years and Spanish during last year, when I went to Zaragoza for 10 month with the Erasmus programme. I think I'll be able to use it in order to check my ICC in the Arabian culture, since I studied arabics for a year and I know and often meet people who can speak it. Actually I'm really interested in improving my ICC in this cultural area. However, I must say that I found the YOGA form slightly difficult to fill in, especially beacuse of its terms which sometimes were hard to interpret in an objective way. The absence of previous definitions to the form about the terms used, makes you sometimes wonder whether you interpret the sentence right or wrong, or how you should interpret it. For example, in a sentence like this:

KNOWLEDGE
Level IV: Intercultural/Multicultural Specialist - I am able
to
provide a range of alternative models for conducting education or
training processes that address diverse learning styles, relevant to training
and advising in intercultural and multicultural settings.

I don't know what to answer...and maybe I don't know the answer because I have no competence in this thing at all. However I think that the terms used are so general and so wide-comprehensive that can be greately interpreted subjectly.Moreover, as Fantini says:

The term intercultural competence in now widely used in the field of
intercultural communication; it is still not widely understood, nor do
interculturalists agree upon a common definition, What most do agree is the
"double-edged" nature of the intercultural experience.

So, within the Intercultural issues, definitions are to be considered as important starting matters before checking the own ICC. Fantini precises that "the notion of [...] ICC is fairly new" and researchers still need to clarify the branches related to its meaning and field.

In general, filling the YOGA in, I noticed that some of my ICC is well developed while there are areas in which I need to improve.

2nd Skype exchange

2008-03-27T18:18:00.005+01:00

During our last exchange Artem and I were alone...unfortunately Alessandra couldn't talk with us because she was to have an exchange with another peer. However we'll be happy to join the exchange with her next time.
Artem and I discussed about politics in particular. I asked him who he thinks is going to win American elections and why. As a foreigner he can see things differently because he can compare European and American point of view. He know that the two situations are really different. In particular he says that Europe and America are organized differently from a geo-political point of view. European countries apply their systems quite independently and are characterized differently due to their historical traditions. Each European state elects its own government and president. America, on the contrary, is, under this point of view, homogeneous. He thinks is going to win Obama, because Mc Cain is too old and Clinton is sort of compromised by her husband’s previous mandate.
As Artem is Ucranian, I was interested in the political situation of his country as well. However we skipped this issue, and talked about Russian situation. We discussed about the Nashi movement. Nashi are young people who strongly support Putin’s party. the Nashi organization uses rap music and sorts of celebrations to attract new members.
We talked about political situation in Italy as well. I told Artem I really don’t’ know who I’m going to vote. I don’t like neither of the leaders of the two great parties, that is PD and PDL.
We hadn’t time to talk longer. Finally Artem and Alessandra spent some time to talk in Russian, so I cannot report what they said...unfortunately I cannot speak Russian!

Photo above by ph0t0 {love and peace}

Fango by Jovanotti

2008-03-19T13:24:00.006+01:00

Before sleeping I like listening to some radio. I listened to this song and I found that, while it was going on, its words were translating my very feelings of that moment. It really worths!

If you want to follow the lyrics, open another window clicking here.

My mid-term paper

2008-03-17T15:43:00.006+01:00

Last week Sarah handed us our mid term paper. Here I'd like to discuss about the mistakes I made in my mid term paper, in order to understand where I was wrong and eventually keep in mind useful good advice. I noticed I made some silly mistake I wouldn't make if I'd be more careful.
I was more relaxed in writing this paper comparing to the essay I wrote in the 3rd year because we were asked to write it with an informal language, similar to that used in blogs.

I'd like to sum up some interesting things that came up in my essay:
- 'Make something last in time': a good expression that cannot be simply substitute with the verb ‘to last’.
- It’s better to use the expression ‘control (my) feelings’, instead of ‘take control over my feelings’.
- When ‘I’ is the exclusive subject of the sentence, it’s better not to repeat it too many times (i.e. I went in Spain and will go back there in the future.)
- When the object of comparison is a verb the phrase ‘as well as’ is substituted with ‘as does’ (i.e. ‘Receiving good feedback requires hard work as does writing a good post.) Notice that feedback is singular and not plural.
- To explain to someone…
- The position of ‘often': subject + auxiliary verb + often + verb + object.
- Awareness needed, instead of awareness necessary!
- Participate in the conversations held in class, instead of participate to…
- When using ‘thus’ as a connector it must be preceded by a comma and an ‘and’ (i.e. we are older, and thus more responsible.)
- Correct writing: world-wide.
- Position of ‘now’: subject + now + verb.
- Updated ON various issues.
- Correct sentence: I can learn the informal language I’d only otherwise hear living abroad.

The more frequent mistake I made concerns prepositions. In fact, I tend to choose the place of these important chunks of language translating the expression from Italian to English. In most of the cases, this is an unsuccessful way of sentence-building as a EFL.

I dare say I was a bit surprised about the incorrectness of the expression ‘to make the point of the situation’ which in English doesn’t mean anything, while in Italian, if literally translated, means sorts of ‘to evaluate the situation developed so far’. I wrongly thought it to be correct because I read the wordreference.com forum, and one of the native speaker members told that it’d be said in English ‘to make a point about a topic/situation’. However, reading throughout all the posts I defenitely think that this expression can be translated with 'To take stock of the situation'.

Finally, I think it's important to me to understand the difference between within/in and worth/worthwhile.

America's got talent

2008-03-06T17:59:00.010+01:00

I was youtubing (I use this word to say, "I was going around the site and looking for interesting vids...") and I found out this great singer. This is a vid taken from an American tv programme similar to our "Saranno famosi". I think both American and Italian versions are part of an international tv format. However I was really impressed by this guy who has a wonderful voice! Unfortunately, after watchers' comments, I guess he didn't win the final competition. Maybe, our American peers can tell me something more...

1st Skype Exchange

2008-03-06T15:19:00.013+01:00

Photo by My destination's beautiful.

Yesterday Artem, Alessandra and I had our first Skype exchange. I think we all three enjoyed and found this activity very useful. In fact we'd like to hold this group on for next Skype exchanges:)

At the beginning we were a bit shy and didn't know how to start...but soon we became more confident and talked a lot. In fact, we (Alessandra and I) and Artem were the last to leave the labs! It's amazing how interesting can be an experience like that! We had the opportunity to make an exchange without losing time in e-mails for example, and found ourselves in the US in a moment. We could compare sayings in Italian, English, Russian (since Alessandra and Artem can speak it!) and Romanian (since I can speak it!)

After we introduced ourselves, we dealt with different issues: American/Italian educational systems, American/Italian lifestyle, political situation in Italy and primaries in the US.

Alessandra and I were interested in the educational system in the US. Artem explained us that he is not an American native and he comes from Ucraina, but lives in PA for three years. He can speak English very good and has a strong American accent. While he was speaking, I didn't noticed him to be a foreign student. I asked Artem about the costs sustained by Dickinson student to follow the courses. 45,000 dollars per year. I told him it's very expansive since our university fees are about 1,500 euros per year. However in the US, foreign students like Arti have financial aids that allow them to pay the college. These financial aids are very beneficial since, in the case of Dickinson, they can cover 40,000 dollars of university fees per year. I think that's amazing and represents a true help for students.

I was very interested in Artem's opinions about elections in US: he told us that probably Obama is going to win because McCain is too old and Clinton's reputation is a bit compromised for her husband's previous mandate. However we decided to discuss more about this on our next exchange.

We talked about Italian lifestyle as well. Artem is a very soccer addicted and I think is going to make a lot of friends next year when he'll live in Bologna for a year.

I had a very good impression about Artem and this activity in general. I really like it!

Candido by Sciascia

2008-03-03T16:08:00.005+01:00

I just finished the book Candido ovvero un sogno fatto in Sicilia ed.Einaudi, Torino:1977 by Leonardo Sciascia. Based upon the example of Voltaire's Candido, this is the story of an unloved guy who naively preserves his personality against unlucky accidents and people's hate. I think everybody should be like Candido. Read it, if you can. Except for a little boring political paranthesis, it's engaging and consitutes an example on how we can save our best even against in adversities.

Just for laughs!

2008-02-27T14:54:00.007+01:00

Hi everybody!
Today is our fist lesson together and I think that starts are always better with some relaxing laughs..so, watch this! It's a video recalling Judd Lynn's Power Rangers... do you remember them? Those japan-american shining rangers of the late 90s?:))

Comma preceding that

2008-01-29T17:43:00.002+01:00

From Penguin Guide to Punctuation by R. L. Trask:

"...the word that can only introduce a restrictive clause, and
so a relative clause with that can never take bracketing commas."

Just to let you know!

Starting on reflections

2008-01-29T14:53:00.003+01:00

Hi everybody!

Sorry if you haven't heard from me since ages, but after Christmas holidays I have been studying a lot for the exams of this semester - think like anyone of us:)

You came to my mind many times because I often wanted to tell you how many wonderful and interesting things I did, read about and came up with during this time. Unfortunately I hadn't always internet service available.

Today, just a little time to let you reflect on an accident that strucks me strongly: Kenia internal fights between kikuyu and kalenjin. After what happened in Rwanda in 1995, once more the economic interests of the politic lobbies and the local people's poverty bring the mass to start cruel fights one against the other. To have yourself an idea of what is the situation in Kenia right now, watch the film Hotel Rwanda (2004).

Without traying to make a comparison, as far as internal disorders are concerned, here in Italy we have a lot of news to discuss about. I'm sorry to see how foreign journalists describe our current situation. I don't appreciate the superficial tone used. The failure didn't start few months ago, when the government changed. Corruption, injustice and economic crisis need time to root in a country.

I'm very angry. In particular when I watch Mastella on tv. He's treated like the guest star of all political talk shows, as his words still should dare our attention; quite probably, he earns money to go there and tell us about his and other politicians' crimes. This way, he's found another way to spend citiziens' money, after he (and other politicians) deceived Italians. Some of us really trusted them, but their personal interests were more important than the public welfare. Sad, very sad.

Tell me what you think and how you are. Hope and wait for better news,
hugs

A very Merry Christmas!

2007-12-24T22:26:00.003+01:00

In half an hour it'll be Christmas! I wish to you all and your family a very good time full of happyness, serenity and peace! A very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

p.s. I'll pass my holidays in Austria! I'm learning to ski so I upload here this beautiful photo by Hard-Rain. I'll tell you how about my snowed experience! Hope you'll have a great time too! Kisses!!

E-tivity 9: PLE with FreeMind

2007-12-07T18:40:00.000+01:00

My dear peers,
here I am to post to you again. E-tivity 9 is apparently the most easygoing. We are asked to sum up our learning&traning path so far in English, through the means of a mindmap made with FreeMind software. I wrote 'apparently' because of 2 different and main issues:

Mindmapping requires to be thorougly thought;
Upload PLE (with .mm extension) on Wiki is catchy.

As far as the first point is concerned, a good mindmap needs you to thorougly think about what you've done in order to learn and improve English, and outline all this material in a few lines. I've been learning English since I was 14 and I must admit I had to cut out something (e.g. reading tasks...however I'm not completely sure I should take these things. What do you think?) so to create an effective PLE which actually shows my current hows to learn&improve as an ESL learner. I find difficult to put up general categories as well; life experiences are hard to enter in a few concepts. So to help myself and arrange a good mindmap I had a look at some Google entries.
As I found very tricky to achieve in uploading my PLE on Personal Learning Entertainment Map Gallery, I'd like to give you some how-tos. In order to achieve in this task you'll have to manage with html language and have an account on wiki. The steps are:

Open this page, enter your account and then upload your .mm file;
Once your file is uploaded and saved in Wiki you have to choose the page in which you want your file to be published within the Mind Map Gallery, e.g. the Personal Learning Environment Map Gallery.
Click the edit button on the right side, located at the same level of the title of the page you chose and you'll open the edit page written with html language.
Don't get scared and follow me!
Look at the last line of the edit page. You'll see something like: * [[:zaraple.mmZara's PLE]]. Put the cursor at the end of this html sentence and click the OK button twice (in order to take the right distance from my link.)
Write *[[:(the name of your file.mm)(The name you want your file to be known)]].
Save changes and check them.

Remember that:
- you'll have * typing Shift++:
- you'll have [ or ] typing AltGr+ è/+;
- you'll have typing shift+\.

Hope it helps. Of course, would you need help or advice don't hesitate and write me a comment! Finally here you have my PLE.
See you all on Monday:))

Documentari 2007: Thursday 13/12

2007-12-04T23:59:00.000+01:00

Thursday 13/12 the shawing of "Tradurre"(dur.70') a film by the padovan director Pier Paolo Giarolo about the travel of the words from a language to another. Multisala Pio X, 9pm for only 1,5 €!

About revising peers' posts and works.

2007-12-04T16:30:00.001+01:00

Yesterday in class we were given some peers' works and we had to revise them. We did this in order to see if we are able to recognize and correct mistakes. After Marta and I revised Stefania's work, we handed it to Sarah and got aware that correcting other people's work is difficult because:

The meaning of the text can be clear to the author while tricky to the reader;
When correcting someone else's work you should find a kind way to do it. This does not mean that sometimes you'd better shut up on your peer's mistakes, of course. Actually, I think you should underline ALL the mistakes you meet within the text, and eventually put the word or the sentence you think is right. If you do not correct your peer, you don't help him/her and just let him live in an happy ignorance which BELIEVE ME is worse than letting him be aware of his level of English. We are here to learn and we can do it sharing our knowledge, as well. If you possibly can do something for you peer, please do it!!!
Remarks are not always easy to take. Especially if you worked hard on that post your collegues found full of mistakes. Last year when I was at the University of Zaragoza, almost every week I had to write an essay in English for a film arts course. We were given marks for those works and I failed the early essays I handed. I was sad because I thought I had done a good job and couldn't possibly understand what was wrong with me. I was angry with the professor who I thought didn't understand anything:( However I wanted to pass that exam (which on the other hand, I found very interesting) and decided to see what the problemwas and how to solve it. After I read my essays lots of times I realized that what I wrote was unclear and unstructured. The ideas were good but the form was bad. There lacked good conceptual links between sentences and it was hard to follow the whole text without asking yourself "Whaaat?!?"In order to write well, I understood that after you finish your work you should try to read your text as it'd be the first time you see it. This way, you'll be more critical of what you read.

Corrections are difficult both to make and to receive, but we should bear in mind that they really help us to cope with our lacks in language skills. To a greater extent accepting remarks and doing them help us to improve ourselves. We should serenely discuss about our wicknesses and work to overwelm our difficulties in order to become as more open-minded as possible.

After yesterday's lesson, I read my last post and I noticed I made the same mistake I did in Spain. I'll correct in the next days and try to make it smoother for you to read.
See you tomorrow my dear peers!

E-tivity 8: Reflections on e-sources

2007-11-30T15:46:00.000+01:00

I already wrote a thesis on my 3^rd University year and one of the problems I came up with was how to search for good resources to read and then cite them in my work. The professor who followed me during those months, used to suggest me books to read and authors to keep in consideration for my in-depth study. After his tips then, I went to different libraries of the University and looked for materials. It was the first time I was writing an academic thesis and I thought it was important to choose carefully the authors who were going to teach me something about the topic I was investigating, thus my bibliography. First times I went to the library I was completely new to how an academic research was to be done, and how to search for useful books. I started using the library database – this new tools ease research process, don't they? Think about writing a good thesis in the 50s…I guess you spent ages to find what you needed -. I used to tag some key words in the search box which then provided me with a list of works related to that topic or to an author’s. However when I went to libraries there wasn’t a considerable problem which is quite common on the web nowadays: doubtfulness about the trustworthiness of sources. Actually, an increase in the disposal of quick and huge information equals to a greater carefulness when choosing resources. In fact, when I surf the net I do consider:

The look. This point might seem quite superficial but when you open a page, the first thing that strikes your eye is the way it looks and if it is well organized and pleasantly coloured. In our society appearance is more important than contents and even if really sad we have to face it, be as honest as possible and admit that if something is visually more appealing we get more interested in it. At least, at first sight;) Moreover if a webpage is smart, well structured and neat we think that the person who wrote it is well intentioned because he/she spent much time to build it and potentially he/she cares that the web sites contents are as good and accurate as its visual style. Anyway, as said above, we have to be careful because some people use exactly this psychological trick to attract readers, even though the website or the e-source contents are insufficient or - worse - fake. To get aware of this by yourself, please have a look at this...
The author. Of course, if the author of the e-source is well known, we are quite sure the contents of the website are reliable and we can use and cite them in our work. On the other hand, when we look for the authorship within the e-document it can easily happen either not to find it, or not to know the author. Moreover everyone is allowed to publish texts and materials of any kind on the net, and due to the fact that www is a phenomena growing since ’90s, the attention to legal applications which in general would make internet more secure have increased only in the last years. Limit some people on how they should use Internet resources and force them to follow the law is not easy, since the most appealing and the most dangerous characteristic of the web is that one can enter it, interact with it and its tools under false name or anonimously. Nor the url or the IP become essential to know the e-publisher's identity. Keep control over what is published and spreaded is difficult. Authorship is one of the greatest problems on e-sources. The page of the San Diego State University tells us to look if there is any e-mail address of the author at the bottom of the page. If so, the e-source is likely to be trustworthy. Anyway, being realistic, to create an e-mail account with false credentials is easy, and if you tell the author that would be preferable him/her to leave its street address (as the San Diego State University suggests into brackets) he/she might prefer not to give it to the large internet audience. A tricky dog who bites its

The content. First, I skip through the text in search of words that may catch my attention. If I find them I stop and read more carefully. I think that a serious source is ALWAYS grammatically correct and written with a formal style. However, when we read forum messages or blogs, posts can be written with an informal style but that does not always mean their contents are fake. When I was writing my theses though, I took in consideration only the former type of texts. Actually, it depends on what we are investigating with our theses because if we are writing on e-language on forums we'll focus exactly on that. Generally I rely on pdf fortmats because they are copyrighted – that is, protected from any further change - and documents coming from universities, institutions and well-known online magazines.
The URL. I sometimes check it. More or less all the three web sites we were to read tell us that, when a reader wonders which website to choose among those retrieved he/she should notice and take into account the url because it suggests us approximatively where we are going. Does it end with .org, .com, .net, .it/.uk?... However I distrust from considering it so relevant: actually, I’m not very able to recognize reliable urls and I think we can be misleaded by it partially because even if the chunk of words of the url might let us think to a serious good thing it doesn't necessarely reflect website contents. Anyway, I think this skill can grow with time only after a large number of accesses.
Other readers’ comments. This does not happen but when I read a forum, or I'm interested in other people's rating on the document. For example, after an article I like to read comments (if any) because I want to see if what is written finds any discredit and which is people's reaction. The contents of the e-documents can be either contrasted or substained through superficial or thorough remarks by readers. In Youtube viewers (after a video) can both leave a comment and upload another video as a response; thus express themselves with their own way if they are pro or cont the contents of the former e-source. Gramatical revises and advice are possible as well. This is a fantastic aspect of internet which is always due to the fact that everyone can access e-sources. I consider most valuable those comments which use external links, quotations and references to substain the ideas told. At the end, however, we are alone in front of the screen to decide if we agree or not with the comments&responds previously expressed.

After I read the webpages Sarah suggested us, I'd like to list some tips I particularly found interesting and had not considered before. It can be a reminder for me and for you, my dear peers!

From the page of the University of Essex:

Check if there is a "a reference list or bibliography of corroborative evidence". This way you both are sure that the author respected citing and you can look for some resources cited ;
See when last update was made. If it happened some years ago, you should look for newer webpages in order to provide your thesis, paper or whatever, with last information and researches.

From Online Writing Lab:

First of all "decide what kind of sources you need". Do you need 'normal' sources or e-s? Do you need an article, an essay, a book, a video, an audio file, a dictionary, a forum, a blog, an author's website,...?

From the page of San Diego State University:

"What are the credentials and affiliation or sponsorship of any named individuals or organizations?". Get informed on author's career or previous works. Then feel free to decide whether you trust on this e-source or not.
"Why was the information provided by the source published?[...] to inform, to persuade, to sell, to present a viewpoint, and to create or change an attitude or belief". Asking youself this means, to have a critical approach on what you read and grow less GUILLIABLE!

Photo above published by brilliantdandy.

E-tivity 7: Youtube and its learning applications

2007-11-23T22:59:00.000+01:00

Hello there! The video that follows is taken from 'Tales of Mere Existence' whose illustrator is Levni Yilmaz. It sums up the way I feel these days. I try to do my best to accomplish the tasks I mean to but cannot achieve in completing them all. Since ever time slips away but I find it happens quicker now. At least, I got Yilmez's funny way to play down this unquiet condition...

Of course I came across Yilmez's animations in Youtube.com. I knew youtube last year when I had been living in Spain and it has been an happy discovery. I visit it often searching for clips (among which those I put here on the right bar), as well as episodes of tv series (who didn't already tagged Family Guy in the tag tab?!) or simply videos related to topics I wonder about. When I have free time, -that's very rarely!- I go to How to&Style category because I can really learn something: have a look at this!

I often search for videos spoken in English or other foreign languages since I want to hear native speakers both to refresh my pronounciation and to get aware if my level has been improving or not. I really appreciate this e-tool because there are thousands of video - some of which very popular - which are allowed to be shawn in other e-resources. This way we can put a video on our blogs without being accused of plagiarism.

If you are searching videos from a particular country I suggest you to change language clicking on the globe icon on the upper right side of youtube home page.

It happened to me right tonight to watch a reportage on ItaliaUno on baby-girls who strip and upload the videos on youtube. Of course this is a bad usage of this e-tool. When something like this happens, that is when someone crosses the line, we can flag their video as inappropriate so that Youtube administrators will examine video contents. They will take the video down, if nedeed.

As students of foreign languages, we may translate and dub a video in English and later post it on youtube as a response to the former. For example we could take an episode in English of The Simpson translate it in Italian and dub it with our voices. We could then compare it with the official and well-known Italian version to see differences in translation. Hopefully other youtube members would start to responde to our video and we could have other opinions to consider. It would be funny and useful... What do you think about it?

E-tivity 6: Podcasts for English learning

2007-11-16T10:25:00.000+01:00

Goodmorning my dear peers!
This week we're supposed to find three podcasts in English on different topics. This may help us to improve our English since we can listen to English conversations done with a different language register. These are the podcasts I chose:
#Podcast.net which I also added to my bloglines feeds in order to be always updated. Podcasts are divided in 18 sections which are subdivid. in other ones. Have a look at its 'Cookies & Recipes' section. There you can watch programs - and eventually download them- dealling with anglo-saxon food habits. However you should download QuickTime on your computer before opening these files.
#podOmatic. Just enter the website and click on podcasts tab; you'll see 16 categories in which podcasts on the website are divided. Unfortunately it has a little problem: you cannot read the complete name of the podcasts neither if you go on them with your cursor. Moreover its feeds concern only forum posts, while podcast updates have no feeds.
The last I found is: #Open culture which I really like especially for the audiobooks you can find on it. Some of the mp3 format audiobooks you can find are: Jane Austin's Pride and Prejudice, Emma, Sense and Sensibility; Caroll's Alice in Wonderland. To listen to some audiobooks you should download iTunes7.5.

I chose podcasts which were not only supposed for ESL learners but for people from anglo-saxon countries because I think that - to really improve our ESL skills - we have to become confident with native speakers' fluency. However in podOmatic there are some pages focusing on ESL topics such as Splendid speaking.

I spent hours to complete this e-ctivity since I didn't know what a podcast was, how to manage it or the programs needed to listen to it. Now I can say that podcasts are worth to be considered in ELS learning becasue you can listen to foreign native speakers (English as well as Romanian, Spanish or whatever language you are learning.) Some say that the fact you need devices such mp3 and iPods to listen to podcasts is a dud but I think that we have to face reality: we all live in tech-era and we have to get familiar with tech! Moreover such devices are not expansive: have a look at this page!

Photo above by Earl - What I Saw 2.0

E-tivity 5: Del.icio.us.

2007-11-09T01:06:00.000+01:00

Fan.ta.stic:)
Here I am once more with another interesting e-tool: Del.icio.us. It's an on-line bookmark where you can put and add your favourite websites and weblogs. This way, you don't have to necessarily use your personal computer to see the bookmark you have in your browse. You just need to be online (through whichever computer) and go and log in your page on Del.icio.us.
At the end of the register process, you can install on your FireFox browse two buttons:

#Post to del.icio.us. Click on it and you can immediately save the link you're interested in, add some notes on website contents and write tags in order to find it easily among your bookmark links.

#My del.icio.us. Switch it and your del.icio.us page -with your bookmark list- will open.

(Actually Del.icio.us buttons are four, but their functions are those explained above. The fact is that the ones you find at the left-hand of the URL box are represented by icons, while those put below the formers are just writings.) Moreover you can create a network with other people registered in del.icio.us. After you've created your network you can see your peers' bookmarks and pick out something you find interesting to add to your bookmarks. Moreover your peers can see websites you add. This is a useful exchange of e-information:)
Then, if you're allowed, you can add your peers' network members to your list and enlarge your network and, eventually, your bookmark list. For example, thanks to Giada I added a 'cyber listening laboratory' which is useful for improving listening and pronunciation skills in English. On it there is an interesting section in which you can hear native speakers' pronunciation about different topics; I like it for being well organized since you can find the words you want to listen to very easily.
Through Letizia I discovered About.com which helps you to organize lessons for ELS - English as a Second Language- learners. Supposing to become a teacher, I think it helps at the beginning. BTW it helps even if you're still a student because there are quizzes for advanced learners. moreover it can be a tool if, in your spare time, you give lessons to beginners of ESL.
I picked The Phrase Finder from Elena's bookmarks. I find it interesting for its forum section since you can discuss with native speakers about ELS doubts you have.
Covington M.A.'s website is something I get known through Silvia's bookmarks. It deals with drafting, revising, editing texts and information, in general. On it there are different pages dedicated to how to organize knowledge and information in order to make it easier to learn and clearer to be read by other people. Finally, as I noticed everybody had it I added our e-tool to learn English: Bloggingenglish1!

About the use of tags I think that for each link it's better not to use as so many tags as you can : it would create a looong list of tags and it might cause you troubles when searching for that website you've in mind. I think that to organize your bookmark the best, you should think about some main categories then enter there or not the websites or blogs you progressively save. For example, I tagged all new bookmarks about English or ESL websites I've saved so far with Bloggingenglish, ESL. Eventually I tagged them with listening, writing, reading or vocabulary or other key words which help me to understand what is the website about.

If you want, you can add me in your Del. icio.us.: go into 'your network' tab and put 'Zara_araS' in the adding tab...just a few seconds and you'll be able to see my bookmarks!

Image published by Noqadin

Notification!

2007-11-04T20:54:00.000+01:00

I just communicate to you all I posted all the e-activities, even those which we weren't asked to put on our personal blogs. For this reason you'll see past activities posted with a more recent date :)

Halloween: Witches, pumpunkins and parties

2007-11-04T16:17:00.000+01:00

'Should Halloween be imported to and celebrated in Italy or not?'
Well, I looked for information about Halloween and I found out something interesting: it is not only an anglo-saxon tradition, but somehow an Italian one as Halloween's roots belong to a very ancient and pagan world not only Celtic but also Roman. Actually, in the same period in which people celebrate now Halloween (31st of October), the Romans celebrated Pomona - a Roman goddess symbolized by an apple- and Feralia, that was believed to be the day for the passing of deads from the netherworld to earth.

Those who think that Halloween is just an occasion to disguise themselves as ghosts, withches and monsters are wrong. Halloween is linked to the Christian tradition that celebrates All Saints' Day on the 1 of November. Actually, the word 'Halloween' has its own origins in the 'All-hallow-event' which 'was a day of religious festivities in various northern European Pagan traditions' (Wikipedia). The Catholic tradition of the 1 of November borne in order to weaken and substitute the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain. In this case, both Celtic and Christian Catholic holidays had as their aim the cult of deads.

The adoption of Halloween in the Italian society means not only an increase in economic exchanges but also a beginning to the acceptance of foreign elements. Globalization pushes towards a multicultural sociaty, thus a society in which new cultural elements become part of the host culture. Therefore an accepting attitude, at least for what does not imply violent and aggressive practices, seems to be the former step towards a peaceful and integrating society. If we think better we can see that Italians have been immigrants so they've imported their habits and their holidays abroad... All the 'Little Italies' around the world are an example of it! So, why shouldn’t we accept others' holidays and traditions?
And the same is for Catholicism which sometimes has spread against the will of the local population.

Those sceptic Catholics, like the Bishop of Como, who think we should be careful about this holiday which may keep us away from our true traditions because it represents the evil, forget that Christian-Cathilic religion often tells us about devils, bad spirits, exorcisms that deal with the evil side of the creation. Moreover I think that people can understand the meaning of their beliefs even if they have fun.

Finally, if Halloween is a way to stay and celebrate with your friends and family, why should we say it's a bad thing? Let’s accept Halloween so to have fun and stay good!

E-tivity 2: Blogs

2007-11-03T16:57:00.001+01:00

What is a weblog? How should it be organized? How should I use it and its contents? In order to understand these things I went to blog search engine Technorati to seek and check few blogs. I used tags like travel, comic, humour, news, books, life, music and movie. I've come across different types of blogs that sometimes surprised me for the way they were structured. Before then, I thought blogs had a proper layout in which posts and comments alternate and links and photos were added if needed. The Things We Think but Do Not Say is the easiest example of what I mean. In this blog people write short stories – according to the rules of flash fiction style –. For this reason, the words of posts are the very important thing. Within the texts photos and links are not put because they are not necessary. Of course, if you like reading, you should visit this blog and eventually leave your comment.

More complex is Treehugger. It is an on-line magazine in which posts seem to be articles on different topics such as cars+transportation, culture+celebrities, travel+nature, business+politics and others. Posts are centrally set. As a rule, links within the text of the posts have to do with other web sites, blogs, articles, photos and word meanings.

Many blogs are concerned with web marketing strategies, new technologies, people’s thoughts or news. However, typing gift in Technorati, I’ve found Gift Rap whose self-definition tells us it is 'a shopping blog of cool gift ideas[...]'. Depending on the occasion, the person and the category of the object you’ve in mind, Gift Rap suggests you what you should buy to give to someone the best present. Here, posts consist in blog masters’ tips and blog rules allows you to ask more. About secrets I've found two completely different but both very interesting blogs. The first one is Whisperasecret.com where people posts about their secret feelings and thoughts. Posts have no links and language is informal with abbreviations and emoticons. I'd like you to visit Post Secret because it shows us a very peculiar way to set a blog. Posts are not properly written but represented by hand-made postcards on which people puts a message. It's an artlog (see link above 'weblog'). lolcats 'n' funny pictures - I Can Has Cheezburger? is another artlog where members put mostly funny photos with cats and these images are filled with short writings. Here the language style is the most informal so far because grammar rules are not respected and people use slang to express themselves. (Click here to see Commonly-Used American Slang).

Summing up my observations I can say that in a blog:

- You should write with a formal language if your blog deals about news and short stories. The same if you want to give your blog a more elegant touch. In order to have a more effective and direct approach to the blog reader, news can also be written with the style used for newspaper headlines, especially if your posts are short and frequently updated.

- You can write with an informal language if your blog deals with your thoughts, ideas, photos. Also use it if your target is youth and you want to be more funny and confidential.

- If the whole text is written black on white background words shouldn’t be coloured and underlined unless they are links. Posts should have links in order to make the text and its meaning clearer.

- Within blog texts photos are usually small. In case, they can be enlarged by clicking on them.

- People do not sign when posting (because the name appears automatically) and use avatars or small images to represent themselves. Click here to create an avatar from a photo of yours!

Photo above by Cayusa.

E-tivity 4: Feeds and feed aggregators

2007-11-03T16:18:00.000+01:00

Great! An A for free feed aggregators! Through websites like bloglines.com you can create a personal list in which you put the links of those blogs or website whose updates you want to get informed. I think feed aggregators represent an useful nternet tool as they prevent you from losing time to search for last comments or news. A part from those who want to read last remarks of their favourite blogs and websites, feed aggregators are e-helpers for blog owners: if you add your personal blog in your list – called ‘playlist’ in bloglines.com – you can manage comments recently added without going to your blog page and jump through posts in search for something new. Moreover bloglines.com offers subscribers other utilities:

you can create a blogroll on your blog so that people can see your favourite websites. (You can find this utility under 'Additional Features' by clicking on the 'share' button);
you can subscribe to different websites that bloglines.com indicates under the 'directory' section. Among all I've found (and subscribed to) doubletongued.org 'a lexicon of fringe English, focusing on slang, jargon and new words'(website) and other websites about animals, music, news and arts;
you can create a blog;
you can clip those posts you want to review later or read carefully in another moment. For more info go to the FAQ bloglines.com section.

Moreover, as Bloglines.com tells us, feed aggregators have other advantages:

feeds stay on the web and you can free your e-mail box from all e-mails sent by websites you subscribed to and save space (for other e-mails);
avoid to annoy yourself unsubscribing your account by those websites whose feeds you don't want to receive anymore.

Personally I think that my feed revolution's get started!

E-tivity 3: Blogging in English

2007-10-27T01:26:00.000+02:00

This is our last university year and for about a month we are working with blogs in order to improve our colloquial written English. Studying English this way is very peculiar because past years we used to translate and correct texts in class, and talk and discuss about different topics. For the third year course we used computers to do tasks and learn what is an essay and how to write it. Eventually we developed one by ourselves and it has been very useful. However posting in blogs is something more delightful to me because I feel freer to express myself, my thoughts and my opinions. In particular I enjoy writing with a more colloquial English, use colours and photos to render my posts more interesting to the readers and put links. I like going to my peers’ blogs and see how they've organized their posts.

Posting in blogs can really improve my English for many reasons:

Having to update my blog I have to write in English…

…a good English, because it has to be comprehended by my peers and other readers;

I can correct and being corrected by readers through comments;

Somehow I am pushed to read English because I have to visit and read English web pages;

Reading colloquial English helps me to be closer to the English written everyday by native speakers. In particular to the everyday language. Before now, we used to read English books, essays, articles written with a formal language. Now we are ‘allowed’ to read and write with an informal language.

This way we complete our knowledge about English as we keep more in consideration language style before not considered, used and analyzed.

Image above by francescopozzi

Me, myself and I

2007-10-17T16:04:00.000+02:00

Rucksacks on shoulders, hand bags and wheeled luggage carried up and down busses, cars, trains or airplanes… These are travel tools which strongly characterize youth’s society. When I was 19 I decided to study at University and moved to Padua, 180 kilometres far from my city, Udine.
From that time on travelling became a need, a duty and a true school of life in which positive aspects go beyond feeling free to do what you want or filling your spare time with much more dizzy tasks, such as spending an entire evening to look for an issue of your comic books collection, drinking a spritz in Piazza delle Erbe (which is the dizziest, I guess...), taking some photos of the city, walking alone or with someone else without a precise destination... Everything done with no need to apologize for being late.
As you start being a traveller the most of your time you can count only on yourself and you are out of the caring and relieving mood of your family. When you have a problem you may receive some help by friends you’ve met in the new city, but this is not always possible because you bacome an adult, the true protagonist of your life, the one who acts for him/herself. Even if at the beginning of my new life in Padua I felt alone and lost due to the weight of such a change in life style, shortly I appreciated the possibility to take decisions on my own, to meet a lot of people coming from very different cities and countries, and to feel free to go farther in places I’ve never been before. In particular, living in university dormitories and sharing a kitchen with other 150 other students I’ve known a people from every part of

Italy

and from different countries of Europe, Asia and North America. So, carrying my luggage and my rucksack I went and saw friends to Genova, Savona, Firenze, Bari, Cosenza, Bologna, Verona, Venezia, Torino, Paris, Sevilla, Madrid and other places. In the next future, I’m expected to go and call on some people in Dresden, Berlin and Gottingen in Germany. I was asked to go to Teheran, but I think this is not the right moment to go there…
Travelling, travelling, travelling… And last year, when I went in

Spain

to live in Zaragoza for 10 months I’ve done it even more often. One of my best journeys in

Spain

was in July when, a Lithuanian friend of mine and I went alone on Pyrenees’ mountains. We slept wrapped in sleeping bags 'into', as my friend used to say, “An hostel of 1 hundred stars!” that was the wonderful sky the nature offered us.
Of course, travelling gives you a collection of memories, smells, faces, voices, views, sensations and emotions that no money can buy.
However this life style does not only fill your life with wonderful gifts as there is always the other side of the medal. After I came back from Spain I felt like I was everywhere but in the same time nowhere; I mean that if you move from one house to another and change room-mates every year you meet a lot of people and you learn to feel good regardless of the place where you are and you become sort of a world citizen, but at the same time it is difficult for you to share memories and build your identity within the same group of people. Somewhat you feel you have lost your roots somewhere in the past, especially when you go back to see your parents and see that lots of things have changed and the friends you had since you were 12 are out of sight.
However during these last 5 years I’ve collected some stories I hope I’ll have the chance to tell you all. I’d like to know which is your personal experience of these last 4/5 years and what you think about what I told you above. Before going, I show you three web sites I visit the most:

http://www.imdb.com/
The Internet Movie Database. An English/American web site (also translated in German, Italian and Spanish) where you can find news, information and photos about movies, TV series, actor/actresses. I think this is the best web site where you can find info about cinema productions. There are sections dedicated to goofs and best quotes of the movies as well! E.g.: If you put as a tag “Robert Redford” you’ll have his biography, his photos and his filmography as an actor, a director or a producer. Moreover the page is enriched with numerous links to technical data, plot synopsis and credit cast.

http://www.musica.com/
Musica.com. It is a Spanish web site in which you can find more than 330.000 song lyrics, videos, ringing tones and wallpapers. There is a quiz section in which you can answer to questions about songs, and a chat opened to the registered visitors. E.g.: If you put “Queen” as a tag, the new page will show you a list of artists whose names contain the word “queen”. Than you click on the one you are interested in (e.g. “Queen” the greatest group with Freddy Mercury) and you’ll have another page with a list of songs whose lyrics are in the site. If you want you can register to the web site and add other lyrics to the page of your favourite singers or groups.

http://saralabellafriulana.spaces.live.com/
Le Conchiglie del Mare. This is my blog which is written in Italian, Spanish and English! Through MSN.Messenger I had the possibility to build -absolutely free- my own blog. Here you can see my photos, read my posts, leave any comments if you want and, of course, know me better! Hope you’ll have fun!

Photo by To Marinaki

Welcome, welcome, welcome!

2007-10-17T15:33:00.000+02:00

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Zara's corner the nicest, the oddest, the most amusing and coloured place where you can find photos, jokes, stories of ordinary life, everyday tips and conversations to fill your life with fun, pleasure and laughs!

After a bad day choose this palce to take confort; after a good one come to my corner and tell us how great you feel!

Life is short so live it the best!

Image above by Kristydd