In a City With Angles

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In A City with Angeles





When signing up for this trip to come and learn about the food, fashion, and family of Italy, I did not know that there would be an opportunity for volunteering for the community. In fact, I was unaware of all that the trip would involve. I have learned so much and the exposure to this place as a whole, has been most exciting. I am a did and family major , and the lecture today was very interesting, however, the issues with children and families that were talked about were surprisingly familiar to the ones we deal with in the United States. With that being said, I am going to talk about the unexpected volunteering experience.







Firenza , Italy is so rich and full of history and the people here have been so wonderful to me as an American. A foreigner who clearly is out of her place. I am not just talking about the teaching staff that has gone above and beyond, but every face of every citizen here that I and my friends have come in contact with. Though everything and everyone goes at such a fast pace, when I enter into a business or stop someone to ask a question, I have been greeted with such warming smiles and hospitality that it makes me so happy and comfortable to be here in this home that is not my own. The people here have such a sweet pride about their heritage and love sharing it with others. When I have asked a question about something, or had a problem with speaking in Italian the people have been so joyfully helpful as if they were angles. Let me just say that the blend of my very southern English American accent trying to pronounce words in Italian, and the addition of my crazy hand gestures trying to express what my brain connected to my mouth can not seem to do, probably is a bit confusing for them as well. But, they are willing to work with me, so I don’t give up.











While here I have learned that up until recent years this beautiful city had very little, if any, vandalism. The people here have passed down a great respect for the original and well preserved beautiful city that has lasted for centuries. The reason for this change is due to the changing of techniques in parenting that allow children have their way and do what they want. And with this comes the actions of individuals that do just that including vandalism. We have seen this kind of behavior in America for many generations.







In the 1960s, there was a great flood here in Italy that caused great damage to much of the city. People from all walks of life from all over the world came to help the people here for free. They volunteered their time and resources digging in mud and cleaning the town until it was back to its old self again. The people of Firenza called the volunteers their beautiful angels. They then started an organization called “Angelo Del Bello". This means angles the beautiful. This is a volunteer association that has contracted members that volunteer their time and abilities to keeping the city clean.



On our way to volunteer, we were taken to a part of the city that is across the river from the original Medici family wild game hunting reserve. This is a beautiful park today and is the only park in Firenza that has actual grass and trees. Young individuals tend to go to the outskirts of town where this park is located and paint graffiti. When we arrived to the job sight, we were greeted with three sight managers that had everything we would need to scrape and paint over the walls that were covered in graffiti.



It was my pleasure to get to be a part of giving something back to this wonderful place and people that have been so good to my friends and I during our stay here. What an honor it was to me to be part of helping preserve the beauty of this place. Though it is small, every little gesture is as spark of light to the darkness and my hope Is that mine has made some small difference foe the good.





I have every technique that I know to add my pictures, but because the internet is so slow, it is not happening.



My steps for Monday were=20451

My steps for today were =10829

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