Assignment 3

Perine, Sha

Writing Assignment #3

The exercise in the Piazza Vittorio was very uncomfortable. The language barrier made everything more difficult then what it had been if we were in America. Though the interviews were nerve racking, it was a rewarding feeling after each to feel accomplished in having a conversation with someone from a different country and who didn’t speak good English. The hardest part was approaching the people. We never wanted to make the interviewee feel uncomfortable by walking up to them or by anything we asked. It also was quite difficult to find an Italian. There didn’t seem to be many in the neighborhood and the people that we did see walking around didn’t have a sign on their neck that said “Hey I’m Italian.” So it took some courage to just walk up to someone who appeared to be Italian. Then asking personal questions like “Are you Italian?” “Do you live in this neighborhood?” “How long have you lived in this neighborhood?” “How comfortable are you with the immigrants in this neighborhood?” to strangers, there’s always a chance that someone could react in an unmanageable way.  Anyhow, we got over our fears and hesitations and managed to pull off four different interviews with 7 immigrants, three of the interviews had two people in each and the last immigrant interview had one immigrant. Then we interviewed an older Italian man. He appeared to be in his mid 50’s. Some were more helpful than others but overall it was an enlightening experience.

Three out of our four immigrant interviews were with men from Bangladesh, and all together there were six men. One of the men have been in Italy for eight years and brought his family with him. He said that the money brought him here and that it is a lot better then money in Bangladesh. Unfortunately his children don’t go to school and though his face turned down a little, he didn’t seem too upset or disappointed by that. His friend didn’t say much other than that he liked Italy, he put his thumb up indicating that he thinks highly of it. The next two sets of men from Bangladesh seemed a bit redundant; they also were brought here for the money and with their families. Only, their English wasn’t as good as the first one.

Robby, a man from India was our most helpful immigrant interviewee. His English was outstanding and he even told us about his free health care that he is provided. He was going to show us the health card they are given but he didn’t have it on him. He added Laura on facebook and said that he would help her with anything that he could. He’s 24 and moved to Italy when he was 10 and learned English in school. He was a pilot but after September 11^th he wasn’t able to keep it. He owns many of his own shops now instead. Right across from the market is where we found him, selling clothes from a few booths. His family moved from India when his father was “shifted” from Germany because of a transfer in his job.

While walking down the street we often struggled choosing whom to pick to interview and were very hesitant to approach just anyone. We walked around the neighborhood for maybe fifteen minutes, taking note of the many stores and stands that were owned by immigrants. We then began to get discouraged because every time we thought we would come across an Italian, the store would be run by an Asian or and African. Finally as we were coming close to our starting point, the mouth of the park, we seen an older man that we were pretty confident in being Italian and Laura with the brave soul that she is gave him our introduction. “Ciao! Parli inglese?” He responded with an uncertain nod and she went forth. Well, we are American students studying education and immigration in Rome. Are you okay with answering a few questions?” As the man agreed, we finally being able to find an Italian relieved me. We asked him questions like “Are you Italian?” “Do you live in this neighborhood” “How do you feel about the immigrants living in this neighborhood?” Well he does live in the area and feels that the immigration has increased over the course of the last decade. He doesn’t like immigrants because they come from the countries, which are primarily China, and Bangladesh, to name a couple, with a lot of money and buys out shops and settles in. He also shared that he thinks that they get the money from the Chinese mob. Which was interesting because in the movie about the Piazza Vitorrio Orchestra, someone mentioned a rumor of some immigrants getting money from the Chinese mob. After while he was repeating himself and making it clear that he is against the immigrants settling in and that they are making everything worse for Italians.

Though we found some pretty good information and made friends with Robby, if we had been a little less timid to begin with, there is chance that we could have made even more progress. After all of our interviews, we sat on a bench in the park. On the bench next to us was a man without teeth and little hair, enjoying himself and looked like chewing tobacco. There were three little boys who looked like they ranged from eight to ten kicking a soccer ball around. And over to the far left of us were a lot of different people, congregated and engaging in many different conversations. In spite of initially feeling overwhelmed and discouraged by the experience, I am glad that I at least took the time to look at my surroundings and take it all in. This neighborhood is a lot different than the Campo and it felt a little refreshing to see something different.