First week down...and still here.....

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So I have just about finished my first week of work here and I think I like it. It has been a bit slow this week for me because I am still getting used to things here and seeing how the office is run. But the nice thing is that Im not learning the entry-level job that most people in the office do. My boss is giving me things that he needs to do but doesn't have time to or just that he wants me to help out on, so that is nice because I am actually seeing what it would be like to do this as a job. I sit in on visa interviews with him also, the more interesting of which are in the afternoon, what we call the "not-so-easy-cases" because they are the ones that are not quite a shoe-in for a visa. Usually they are people who do not have a solid reason to go to the United States, have been denied visas there before, have been arrested in the United States, don't have a steady financial situation here in Italy etc, but it is always interesting to see what reason people claim to want to go there for and then what other circumstances that we see when we interview them. I have learned that the assumption of the U.S. government is that people applying for a visa are not planning on coming back. Now of course many of them do plan on coming back, so they must provide evidence that they have that intent, which is usually showing that they are enrolled in a limited-time school session, have work travel etc. Those people get visas easily. Its the ones that say they just want to go to New York for 3 weeks for tourism but they barely make enough money to live here that are suspectable. Because it seems strange that someone would want to spend $2000 to go to New York when their family is barely making it over here. So that is interesting and it is prompting me to start a research project of sorts (that I'm designing) about immigration to Italy and then the subsequent applications for visas to the United States that come from that. Its basically going to look at Latin American immigrants to Italy, from countries that are close to America, and see why, under what circumstances, they are ending up here, what their lives are like here, problems they run into, if they are thriving and moving up in society, ie being integrated, or if they are still on the outskirts of society (which most are because Italy is not a very open country to integrate into. They don't integrate their immigrants very well). Then I am going to look at the cases of these people who then want to go to the U.S., their reasons for it, how successful they are etc etc etc. So this is turning out to be a more interesting and much different job than I thought.
Also, there are a lot of Italian students who go to the U.S. to do short-term language programs to learn English. I've been looking at the prices for these programs and some of them are several thousand dollars for a month or two months of learning English! Which I think is outrageous when you think about the price of a plane ticket and housing and all, but apparently people would sometimes rather go to America to study English even though England is so much closer. Strange thing. But I guess I paid a fair amount of money to study in Italy, but that was because I couldn't study Italian anywhere but Italy for full immersion. So that's a bit different. Anyway, it is interesting. I was talking to one of the Italian women in the office today about the culture here and how different it is than America because the kids essentially stay at home and are completely supported by their parents until they graduate from COLLEGE, or get married, sometimes both! That's crazy. She was telling me that parents just pay for everything, kids never try to balance a job and school and many people live at home until they get married and move out with their spouse, but its like there is not inkling for that young independence that we crave in the United States. You have to understand that this is a cultural thing and that it is just what Italians are used to, as we are used to moving out, moving away for college at 18 and working to pay our own bills (some of us anyway) and all of that. But it just seems like the Italian culture is not preparing its younger generation to live in the real world at all. It is just taking care of them until they have to go live in it, which seems a bit unhealthy to me. But again that is my perspective as an American who has grown up in a different culture. Interesting though.
We had a party at my boss' house this week for networking and schmoozing purposes. It was nice, there were a bunch of older people the older people in the office knew but not us younger ones, but the food and drinks were good so we basically got to socialize with each other and eat good food. And my boss lives in the nicest part of Milan in this absolutely gorgeous flat....where I will soon be living in the sort of seperate but still nice maid's quarters. Anyway, the party was fun and I really like the girls I work with. Laura, who is our Italian intern, invited me to this club called the Rolling Stone tomorrow night because her brother's band is competing in some competition. SO that should be fun given that every night I go home by myself and am alone all the time that I'm not at work. Lucia is in Perugia with her family right now studying for her last test that is Wednesday, then I wanted to try and plan a trip to the lakes up here in the North (Como, Maggiore etc.) And Laura said that they have a house on Como so if they hadn't sold it yet we could stay there, which would be great because they it would be free and its on Lake Como!! How nice! I also talked to my host-dad, Andrea, last night. This is the family that I lived with when I studied in Florence a few years ago. He asked where I was and immediaitely said "When are you coming to Florence?! You can stay with us, just let us know when!" They are such dear people and I am really excited to see them again. So I think I may try to go there next weekend. It will be nice because I can just enjoy their company without the distraction of school, which was often the problem when I lived with them was that I was so stressed out with school all the time that I didn't go do stuff with them all that much. So I am excited about that!
I am also planning a trip to Switzerland to see my old roommate from Boulder, Laura, who is studying in Geneva for 6 weeks. That will be great because I miss her like crazy and I looove Switzerland! I'm also going to see if she wants to go to Ireland some weekend because I'd really like to go back there but have no one to go with and I've decided that traveling alone is really no fun at all (big surprise) and I don't want to do it if I can at all avoid it. So maybe she will go there with me. (Can you tell I am filling my weekends with travel both because it is so easy to travel over here and also because I'm a little LONELY all by myself???? Hint, hint...anyone who wants to come visit!! :P) So those are my travel plans, oh and I am really going to try to get to Sicily to see the towns my great-grandparents are from, but that may have to be alone because I can't think of anyone who might want to go there with me. I guess one trip alone is okay.
Not much else I can think of to report. I am learning the burden of bureaucracy and its a little overwhelming. I just can't understand why there is a need to argue and bicker over little stupid things 500 times over?? It just makes everything take FOREVER and is just tiring. But I guess it will probably be a part of any corporation I ever work in so I might as well understand it and learn how to navigate it. I am heading to Turin on Tuesday to meet with some people from the hotel industry there about the Olympics next year. So that should be interesting. We also have five Americans in prison in Venice on cocaine charges (bright ones they are) that need to be visited, so maybe I will get to go there. I've heard the Italian prisons are actually really nice compared to most countries, almost no prison violence whatsoever. So it may be kind of interesting to see but who knows. Could be a little depressing too.
I am enjoying it here, but am missing home and everybody there (that means YOU!) so hello from Italy. I wish you were here but soon I will be back to enjoy my real home. I don't know if I could ever really just live abroad forever. Its something I've been contemplating for a few years now and evaluating whenever I travel/live abraod, but as of yet I don't think this is it for me. I will certainly travel but it sure is a lot of work and I am NOT a fan of living out of a suitcase, which is exactly what I am doing here! SO we'll see what the verdict is at the end of the summer. As for now, I'm going to get myself a pizza and head home to clean my small living space that just gets dirty so easily.
Has everyone been able to view the pictures I put up? I know some have, but let me know where you went to to see them because I couldn't figure out how, but I know they're there. I can see them and you should be able to also.

Ciao a tutti!!!! Bacci!!! (kisses!)

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Comments

[anonymous]

lak sdfjalsdkfnm
hope you're having fun, sis. Love you<3 - allyyyyy<3