We finally made it to the classroom with 5 minutes to spare. Kathie introduced what we were going to be doing at St. Paul's church and led a discussion on the lives of refugees. Sitting in my seat, I was already anxious to see the place because I will be volunteering there along with 10 other students from our program. One interesting thing that stood out to me was our topic of the difference between immigrants and refugees because Eric added a great comment, "It's the difference between running to something rather than running away from something."
All of us crowded at the bus stop as we waited for bus 60 or 40 to arrive. The sun was blaring at this time and it felt great on my face. I was hoping to get a tan, but when I turned around people were filing into bus 60 so I got in line to enter. As I was standing at the bottom stair of the bus, with still 5 or more students behind me, the door surprised me as it hit me from the side and shut in Shurui's face. I guess he's taking the next bus. Riding down Nazionale, I noticed the stores became much larger and resembled more of the ones from downtown Seattle. Torino was our stop so we all made our way to exit the door, but there were so many people pushing their way in that I thought I was going to get trapped on the bus. Thankfully, with the help of some friends, we all pulled through and began to head toward the church.
Father Michael gave the class an orientation in the church that was informative, inspiring, and humorous. I noticed he was very enthusiastic during his talk about the refugees and knew how to appeal to his audience. He talked about how the refugees are all males that may look much older than they really are because of stress. Some in their early 20s may even have gray hair.
After his talk, we went down into the basement, where the refugee camp was located.
Most of the refugees are in there 20s, with some younger and some in their late 40s. I walk around and see some watching an old film playing at the end of the room, some playing ping pong, and some sleeping on benches. I can only imagine how stressful life must be as a refugee. Just being able to sleep in a safe place and on a dry surface must be a huge pleasure after having spent the night either wandering in the streets, or finding a place beneath a bridge to sleep.
The important thing that Father Michael mentioned was that they value anybody's help there. It would be enough as a volunteer to just play a little ping pong with them. Simply listening to their stories will give them a way to express their feelings and possibly provide some sort of relief for them. I know that many of them have had traumatic experiences that will make it difficult for them to share their thoughts. But, I will be thankful for their stories if I get the chance to hear them because I know that they will also teach me something important in life.
After returning to the UW Rome Center, everyone had just enough time to get some lunch and head over to Resat's class. There was an interesting discussion about what is appropriate for the economy in the 21st century. There was a question that Resat asked to the class: "Is what we see in Italy going to be maintained or will it diminish over time?" Unfortunately, there was no real answer to the question, making the class even more curious. Overall, it was an interesting class consisting of debates and comments that added deeper thought into the topic of how Italy survives.
It was Emily's 20th birthday and we all decided to get gelato near the Pantheon. We sang her "Happy Birthday"and someone standing near us even joined in! Afterwards, we had a small celebration at our apartment. We led everyone to Via Dandolo and all had a festive night of excited conversations and laughs.
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