For the Butler IFSA program in Peru it is mandatory to work with an NGO. The program normally sets students up with a hand-on activity working with women who do domestic work. You can also find other more internship-style opportunities on your own. I wanted to learn about indigenous rights and culture so I found an NGO myself that focused on these issue. I got really valuable experience working in their office and speaking/writing in Spanish. I also got to travel with them to one of their film festival conferences in another city, which was one of the highlights of my experience.
Monthly Archives: December 2010
Being a woman in Peru
In Peru it was very common for me as a girl to hear “piropos” or cat calls on the street. Normally these are harmless but they can feel quite unsettling at first, and I liked to dress a little more conservatively than in the US to avoid uncomfortable stares. The tradition of “machismo” continues to exist, in the home and outside. The women usually are expected to cook and clean up and the men to be aggressive. As a girl I had the problem that when I tried to meet new students it was only boys who were interested to be my ‘friend’ because it is considered very cool to date or be friends with Americans. Though homophobia is a problem, I encountered an active gay scene in Lima and some of the LGBT clubs are the most popular. There is an effort to change perceptions about LGBTs in Peru.
Interning in Italy
It is pretty easy to incorporate something like teaching English into your experience, especially in Bologna. The Brown program is well-established and is often approached by language schools looking for students to help teach English and I had some friends who did that.
Finding another kind of internship can be pretty difficult. Things run more really slowly with Italian companies and they are not used to a system of students interning part-time during the school year. Many students spend over a month just trying to establish contact with the correct person in a company or museum etc. If you are really sure you want to find an internship, come at least a month early to start setting things up. Be aware that companies operate on a stand-still in August and most people are on vacation – – it would be very unlikely to find a job during that month.
Money matters in Italy
Italy was a lot more expensive than a normal semester, especially since I wanted to travel and experience a lot of things.
For food, at least it is normally possible to take advantage of a communal kitchen and fresh produce is generally a lot cheaper in Italy than in the US. This can help put down your general food costs.
Hostels are pretty cheap, you can stay for a night for $15-$30 in most cities. Trains can be quite expensive depending where you are going. Make sure to check different rates because they can vary quite a bit.
Learning in Italy
The Italian university system is incredibly bureaucratic and confusing and can be a complete mess to deal with for an American trying to spend only a semester. I had to let go of my pre-conceived ideas of what an academic system and experience should look like and try my best to find classes that were interesting and where it seems like I would have the chance to meet people. The best thing I did was contact some past students and ask what professors or classes they thought were a good fit. It’s not a good idea to overburden yourself with a class that is out of your range of understanding so I ended up taking classes that would be considered easier at Columbia. I still got a lot out of it and had more time to do personal exploring and form my educations my own way.
In managing my time, I tried not to take a typical Columbia student mentality that schoolwork comes first and looked for opportunities to educate myself in other ways and not feel guilty about it. If you miss your Art History class because you are sleeping, that is not useful. But if you miss it to go to Rome and visit all the sites, you are getting an extremely rich experience and learning at the same time which is much more valuable.
Because most classes do not have a set syllabus and do not expect students to turn in homework every week or take quizzes and tests, I started to feel like I had a lot of free time on my hands and was surprised at first not knowing what to do. In the end I found that as long as you go to most lectures and keep reading information pertaining to the class on the side you will probably be fine.
The way the system works for Italians is that they take the lecture and don’t do much reading. Then they have about a month before the typically oral exam to do all the reading and study intensely. If you go in the Fall semester you won’t have that month because you will go back before Christmas and the exams are after the New Year. You’ll take the oral exam right after the class ends. Most teachers are pretty understanding about this and will take it into account that you haven’t had adequate time to prepare. Do as much reading as possible but don’t kill yourself.
A word about oral exams – they sound really scary, but as I said above most teachers understand that you are an international student just learning the language and will help you along. This is why it’s useful to try to find a professor that other students have liked in the past and will not punish you for being less on top of the material than an Italian student.
Italian students are also friendlier in class than American students are. This can really help to your advantage if you start friendships with people in your classes and start study groups with them. I had a lot of people approach me in class and when they found out I was from New York were really excited!