490 Week 4

Today for our class excursion, we had to pass out surveys on the Italian national health care system. This was a very interesting experience. I really had a better understanding of what Barzini is talking about in his book. In chapter 10 Barzini talks about how the day an Italian is "truly born" is when he figures out that things are seldom what they seem, words not always what they sound like, and most of what he has learned throughout his life is complete nonsense. He claims that an Italian will "surely come to grief if he carelessly tries to live according to the rules he has been taught." He talks about how the rules may work in some countries, where the people are "well ordered" but it is different in Italy.

Many of the people who I interviewed last Thursday definitely shared some of the same sentiments and Barzini. The first four people I asked to do the survey were people selling things in the square. I approached them, and in my horribly broken Italian asked them if they had a moment to fill out a sonjado (survey) for me, a studente Americano. There first reaction me asking them was the same. No. No matter what I tried to say in Italian or English could get them to fill out this survey. After these first four failures, I decided to switch my attention from middle aged vendors, to people my age. After I made this change, I was much more successful. I believe that I was much more successful with people my age for two reasons. The first being I had much more in common with them, compared to the middle aged men selling fruit. The second I think comes from the fact they may not have had their "true birth" and were not as paranoid as the older, more seasoned vendors. The vendors have had more experience than the younger people with the darker side of Italy. This darker side consists of the pickpockets, beggars and the all the other people who have nothing to lose. They will use innocent looking schemes to try and scam you. I believe that these street vendors have more experience with these elements of Italian society than the younger students, and that is reflected in their attitudes and trust levels.