Rome's secret #2

After a lot of months in Rome, some people talked about "The secret of Rome", a place that is very close to the Metro Station Circo Massimo and is actually a door with a hole that you look through.

In piazza dei Cavalieri di Malta

https://maps.google.it/maps?q=piazza+dei+cavalieri+di+malta&oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&hnear=Piazza+dei+Cavalieri+di+Malta,+Roma,+Lazio&gl=it&t=m&z=16

it is located the door that a lot of tourists make a line in order to have a glance through the hole. Or "Il buco di Roma", in italian.

So what is seen through the hole?

Well, everybody keeps the secret and try not to say until you look through, therefore I am not going to reveal the secret either!!

Trip to Napoli and Pompei

On a cold weekend in February , I decided with a friend to visit Napoli and Pompei. Napoli is very close to Rome, around 2h by train and the ticket cost around 12euros.

Napoli is considered to be "dangerous" city by many, as the presence of Camorra, the famous mafia is very intense. Additionally, we have heard a lot of stories about pickpockets, murders and other horror stories that happened  in Napoli to people that went to visit, exactly like us. Overacting 100%! Being always careful with your personal staff and not choose dark small alleys to walk in the midnight kept us alive and safe. The only bad thing that happened is maybe to gain a little bit weight of all these delicious food that the city has to offer!

 

With around 15 euros, we stayed to hostel Mancini (http://www.hostelpensionemancini.com/) a youth hostel in the center, close to the train station. The rooms weren't the cleanest ever, but the stuff were helpful enough and provide us with a lot info and tips! 

 

Worth to visit: Pompei

 

Very close to Napoli and cheap enough to go by train is the ancient site of Pompei, a city that was destroyed and buried under the ash by of the Vesuvius.

The magnificent with the visit to this archeological site, (apart the 11 euros entrance), is that you walk across the village and with the help of the audio guides and the very well preserved houses you can understand exactly how life was back then.

 

The Gym (if I remember correct)

Ancient fast-food (down from these holes there was fire that was preparing the food. In front is the main street, that citizens used to pass by)

 

Tip: Allow at least 4-5 hours to visit and take the audio guides! Without them you cannot understand the story of the city and what your are seeing!

 

Rome's secret #1 "Nasone"

Soon after I arrived in Rome, I noticed all these small fountains around Rome that provide water for free to Rome visitors and citizens.

In italian they are called "Nasone",  meaning big nose as the metallic form that provides the water a lot of times looks like a big nose..!

You can find online also a map of the nasone in Rome (but normally you don't have a problem to find them they around almost around every corner). The water is very fresh and is said to be one of the cleanest in Rome!

Mid-term training, Rimini

Shortly after the on-arrival training (1 month later!) I was called again by the Italian national agency to participate to the mid-term training of my EVS. The mid-term training is the second and last, obligatory training that the volunteers have to attend and it is only for the long-term evs.

The objectives of the 2,5 day long Mid-Term Training are :

• The volunteers should reflect upon their personal project by far (what they learnt, difficulties etc)
• Share experience and network with other volunteers
• Lean about the Youthpass
• Prepare for the reintegration to the home country

The location of my Mid-Term Meeting was again in Rimini , in the same hotel, (even my room was the same!). The trainers though and the participants were not (all) the same!

The activities were concentrated to "brake the ice" in the beginning between the people : getting to know where are the participants from, what is their project about etc.

After, the activities were more about to help the participants to think, reflect and evaluate their projects until now.

The bad points : the number of people. 35 participants isn’t definitely an ideal number to work with, but I think thanks to the experience and skills that the trainers had we managed very well. Plus the location and the food

But I felt very satisfied that I met these participants because even if they came from different parts of the world, we had different ages , we were all in Italy for different reasons in the end we had a lot in common and I enjoy it very much!

On-arrival training, Rimini

So, what is the on-arrival training?  According the Program guide of European Commission,  

On-arrival training takes place upon arrival in the host country. It introduces volunteers to their host country and their host environment, helps them to get to know each other and supports them to create an environment that support learning and realising own project ideas. Duration is on average seven days.

But, as we are in Italy and things are always a little bit more complicated, my on-arrival training happened 6 months after my arrival. Due to bureaucratic issues, the Italian National Agency calls the volunteers to participate to the training a little bit late and well, sometimes never (as far as I heard!).

So, me and 29 other volunteers from different countries that are doing an EVS project in Italy were called to participate for 7 days in the training.  As it is centralised, the volunteers travelled to Rimini from different parts of Italy ( Sicelia, Piemonte, Naples..) but the tickets were  paid and as well the hotel and the food.

After a test in the Italian language, the group was divided in 2 classes (beginners and advanced) and we followed a quite intensive Italian course for the next days. As it is quite impossible to teach all the important things in language in 7 days, the course was mainly focused in speaking and listening. I practised a lot my Italian and I can say that in the end I felt more secure and I was speaking a little bit more fluently! The way that the course was (interactive) was keeping the interest of the students and because we were working in groups, nobody felt alone or outside.

Apart from the language course, plenty other activities took place.  Two of them were outdoor, involving the city of Rimini (taking specific theme pictures and interviewing people) , while other were inside like for example the workshop on Italian cinema and Italian history.  I felt that the main purpose of the activities was to build the group, brake the ice between people and help the individuals to develop self-awareness, towards their project but also their lives. In my opinion, the trainers succeed in this!

But as well, nothing can be perfect, there were some things that I didn't like so much. The the location of the hotel was on the beach, in an quite touristic area during the summer months but completely deserted in winter. ( I would prefer maybe a lower category hotel but in the city centre- personal opinion!) Another thing ws the few time, that was given to problems and solutions of the EVS. I learnt that in the past there was one whole day dedicated to this but now it is left only an afternoon for this activity. Almost all the volunteers had problems ( some they didn’t receive the reimbursement of their travel tickets, some they were working on a completely different thing from the once that was assigned in the beginning and some they didn’t-t even had a real! project) and they really wanted to discuss about it.

Things learned….

The training helped a lot,  in a professional level but also in a personal. I met people really open and positive,  with a lot of energy  and I reflected a lot of important things in my project. 

Late post #1

 Greeks are always late. Wanted to verify this saying, I start my blog , a little bit late, only 7 months after my arrival in Rome. Better late than never, no?