Day 9: Bologna

We started our Tuesday back at Liceo Malpighi. After a much longer day than what we were used to yesterday, we were all a little bit sleepy for the first portion of our day at school. This was unfortunate as it was up to us to teach some classes all about diverse aspects of school and life in Australia. We visited some English classes at Liceo Malpighi and explained all kinds of things from our schooling system to available subjects, sports, music, foods, and wildlife in Australia. The Italian students could hardly believe how relaxed Australian teachers sounded compared to their own. One huge difference is the number of oral examinations required of Italian students in which they are randomly tested on the previous day's content by being asked questions by their prof. (teacher) and having to speak about the topic at length. This style of assessment does not exist at our school. Italian students were similarly intrigued by our own students' wide range of subject choices from various faculties, as their curriculum is determined by the liceo they choose when they are just 14 years old, for example scientifico (scientific) or classico (classical). Being at a liceo linguistico (linguistic/languages), these students were blown away by the Performing Arts and sports programs offered at THS as these are both subjects they simply do not have access to during the school day and can only participate in them as extracurricular activities, on top of the large quantities of homework assigned.

However, Australia was not all sunshine and roses to our Italian audience as they were well aware of the many perilous creatures we have to offer and looked on in fear as we showed them images of redbacks and brown snakes and described the infamous drop bear. They were also far from impressed by our unique cuisine as they didn't fully understand why we would eat white bread slathered in butter and topped with hundreds and thousands or enjoy an overly salty black spread. Of course, even in these more controversial topics there were aspects that did appeal to the Italian teenagers such as koalas, kangaroos, and Tim Tams. 

As a break in between our own nerve-wracking presentations, we were treated to a lesson on bolognese slang from local English teacher Edoardo. Edoardo clarified our understanding of the Italian school system compared to Australian before testing us on some typical bolognese vocab, most of which we had never heard before. Of course, some of our students had been prepared by their host siblings who hhad already taught them some typical phrases and gestures. Nonetheless, we were all challenged by the local way of speaking and enjoyed opening our minds to the beautiful and strange bolognese dialect and accent.

After another round of presentations, which went better the second time because we had rehearsed and were also now fully awake, it was time for a tour of the city of Bologna. We met up with Erica, another teacher here at Malpighi, and our hosting class to explore the nearby city streets and share what we had learned about some local landmarks through our group research yesterday. Some highlights of our tour included a spot where you could speak into one corner of the portico and listen, hearing clearly, from the opposite side; some very beautiful and very old churches; the portici themselves which were constructed for people to avoid paying more taxes; and seeing the impressive statue of Neptune in the fountain. The majority of the landmarks we visited were in the vicinity of Piazza Maggiore where we used the nearby Fontana di Nettuno (fountain of Neptune) as a meeting point after lunch. 

It was a shorter day, as is typical for the students of Bologna, as we finished at 1:45pm and dismissed the students to enjoy various activities with their host families. Upon sharing our stories, we discovered the range of experiences available in the area including discovering Little Venice, going for an afternoon stroll and gelato, and even bowling! While it is quite spectacular to behold, the sun setting over Bologna is bitter-sweet, as with every passing day we come closer to leaving behind our wonderful host families with whom we have really started to bond already.