Giving Back in Firenze

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On Monday, when I found out that we were doing community service I was truly interested to see how we were going to be able to contribute to the beautiful city of Firenze. I wasn’t sure if we would be picking up trash, or helping in a soup kitchen or at a homeless shelter of some sort. I was eager to help volunteer and do something since I don’t do much volunteering back home anyway. So, when we got to the park that we would be doing our volunteer work at, I was surprised to learn that we would be covering up graffiti on a brick park bench. I understand why covering up the graffiti would be a task that a volunteer would do. Keeping the city beautiful and in it’s original form is important to residents and the government as well. It was awesome to be able to restore some of the things that had graffiti on them.



The opportunity to give back is a helpful reminder to us American students that help is needed any and everywhere. Also, I think it’s important to give back because it shows your appreciation for the city and volunteering can increase that appreciation even more. The city has already given us so much by it’s beautiful and original architecture, the food, to it’s rich history within every building you see. Everyday living in this city is like a free history lesson within itself. There’s so much pride that comes with being a Florentine, that you can just sense the pride in their everyday lives. Living here the past eleven days has made me want to be apart of this great culture as well, so volunteering felt great to me. I felt even more attached to the city because I had helped in restoring something that was originally ruined. Being able to volunteer here in Italy has encouraged me to volunteer more when I get back home in America. This showed me that there is a need everywhere, even if it is just painting over graffiti, it is benefitting a greater good.





I learned some valuable points on Dr. Sarti’s presentation on family. It was awesome to learn and hear from someone that has been a pediatrician for more than 40 years. He first started off saying that there has been a decline in childbirth and that people were waiting until they were older to have children. I think this is the same in the U.S. because a lot of people in their 20’s wants to wait until they’re at least in their 30’s or so before they even have kids. In Italian culture, he then began to talk about how the perception of pregnancy and breastfeeding has changed over the years, back in the 60’s being pregnant was more of a private thing and more about the bond between the mother and child. As time progressed, it was easy to tell that pregnancy was seen as a beautiful and natural bond between the mother and father. He talked about different parental techniques that would not be good outcomes for the child, when it became older. The cellphone slide of his presentation, I thought I remember him mentioning that it is normal for a child in Italy to receive their first phone at the age of 8. In the U.S., when I was growing up this wasn’t as common. I received my first cellphone around the age of 9 or 10 and that was only because my cousin gave me her old phone. I had to use a minute card to be able to do anything on it. My mom told me if she let me have this phone at the age of 10 then she wouldn’t pay for the minutes, so it would be all of my responsibility. I was in the 6^th grade when my mom was willing to put me on her phone plan and pay for my phone. So, hearing in Italy that a child could receive their first phone at the age of 8 was crazy to me. In the U.S., now it is more common to have a phone at a younger age. In his slide presentation, where the mom could listen in to the child’s conversation, he said he would not recommend. It is okay to know where your child is and who they are with. The parents shouldn’t hover or begin a habit of spying on the child just because the parents will continue to do it as the child gets older and it will become problematic. Thinking about this, I’m glad that my mom let me have my own form of privacy without being too invasive. Dr. Sarti also mentioned how there are many behavior changes in children as the time has progressed. More children are willing to throw a tantrum to try and get what they want than accept the “no” from their parents. This is the same in the U.S., temper tantrums are pretty common. To me, I think the Italian family dynamics are more family centered, in the U.S., the family dynamic isn’t as emphasized as much just because there’s so many single parents or families where the grandparents are taking care of the grandchildren. It is not your traditional mother, father and child family atmosphere like it used to be.





STEPS:

January 15th- 10,995 steps

January 16th- 10,691 steps

TOTAL: 21,686 steps

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