Hi everybody!
Here I am again to discuss about my second Skype meeting.
As I had already talked to Sharon two weeks before, this time I did not feel ‘embarrassed’ at all and I suppose it was the same for her. In fact, we both started talking very spontaneously right from the very beginning.
Here I am again to discuss about my second Skype meeting.
As I had already talked to Sharon two weeks before, this time I did not feel ‘embarrassed’ at all and I suppose it was the same for her. In fact, we both started talking very spontaneously right from the very beginning.
First of all, she told me about what she did during her spring break and she asked me questions about my week (in Italian).
Then we shifted the focus to the main topic of this week: terrorism. We had a brief discussion about the film Buongiorno, notte! and the so-called ‘years of lead’. I tried to explain her what was going on between the Communist Party and the DC and why these upheavals led to Aldo Moro’s murder. I stressed the relation between what happened in those years and some of the main problems of today Italy; for example, I told her about the big scandal of “Mani Pulite”, in which many politicians, entrepreneurs and judges were involved. The huge debt we have now partially comes from that long period of corruption, although many Italians seem not to realize that.
From here we moved to the present situation: Sharon asked me about the elections (how many parties we have, who the candidates are) and who in my opinion is going to win ;-)
We drew a comparison between Italy and the US, since they are also having elections soon. We tried to figure out what the most important issues are (for the new Government/President): economic growth, health care (mainly in America), immigration (mainly in Italy) and, once again, terrorism.
From here we moved to the present situation: Sharon asked me about the elections (how many parties we have, who the candidates are) and who in my opinion is going to win ;-)
We drew a comparison between Italy and the US, since they are also having elections soon. We tried to figure out what the most important issues are (for the new Government/President): economic growth, health care (mainly in America), immigration (mainly in Italy) and, once again, terrorism.
Afterwards, we switched to English and talked about terrorism in the US and American politics in general.
As is well known, after the terrible events of 9/11th the American government tried to do whatever possible in order to ‘defeat’ terrorism and prevent other attacks to happen. This was President Bush’s main goal when he was reelected for the second time.
Unfortunately, most Americans think that Bush failed in his duty and would like the new President to pull all the troops out of the Iraq. That would probably help American economy bounce back since huge investments have been made in a war which is actually leading to nothing. In addition, people would feel safer and not constantly under threat of terrorist attacks.
As is well known, after the terrible events of 9/11th the American government tried to do whatever possible in order to ‘defeat’ terrorism and prevent other attacks to happen. This was President Bush’s main goal when he was reelected for the second time.
Unfortunately, most Americans think that Bush failed in his duty and would like the new President to pull all the troops out of the Iraq. That would probably help American economy bounce back since huge investments have been made in a war which is actually leading to nothing. In addition, people would feel safer and not constantly under threat of terrorist attacks.
As you may notice, in our conversation we did not strictly concentrate on the topic we were supposed to develop.
Last time we were to talk about university life, and so we did. This time it was much more difficult because we felt more confident and at ease; the conversation was very spontaneous so it was harder to stick to one single issue. We started talking about terrorism but then we digressed and talked more about politics and social problems in our countries. I hope the task can be considered fulfilled the same :-) After all, we talked ½ hour in Italian and ½ an hour in English and we learnt something new from each other…This is what counts, isn’t it? :-P
Last time we were to talk about university life, and so we did. This time it was much more difficult because we felt more confident and at ease; the conversation was very spontaneous so it was harder to stick to one single issue. We started talking about terrorism but then we digressed and talked more about politics and social problems in our countries. I hope the task can be considered fulfilled the same :-) After all, we talked ½ hour in Italian and ½ an hour in English and we learnt something new from each other…This is what counts, isn’t it? :-P
I am really satisfied about how this exchange is going on. We are just at the beginning but I feel we are on the right way. Contributing to the forum is a great chance to get to know something about life overseas and to find out things we do not know about our own country. In fact, when Sarah told us that this week topic would be the ‘years of lead’ and the Red Brigades, I was kind of puzzled. I realized I just had a faint idea of what was going on in those years; unfortunately, we do not usually study this period at school. So it was a great opportunity for me to learn something new about Italian history…I really appreciated it! :-)
See you!!!!
See you!!!!
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