Getting acquainted

The passing week was really nice. Once again, let me thank sincerely to those who try to make me feel at home here. I must confess they are rather successful at it.

On Thursday after school my mentor has invited me to join her and some other pupils for lunch. It was an invitation I could not refuse ;) And so we went. The restaurant that they chose was a vegetarian one. And so me as the only member of the vegetarian clan felt really special and honoured ;)
It was also intriguing for me to see the relations that the pupils and the teachers have. They were very personal, meaning that during lunch, we spoke about private matters as well. I guess that the division between the teacher and the pupils here is not as sharp as it is in Slovenia. I do agree that there has to be a limit (in order to be able to educate someone, you need to establish a sort of authority), but I find their system which provides for closer contacts, as productive as ours. It must be nice to talk to the professor in a sort of way that you would speak to a friend (well, leaving out the juicy, inappropriate parts, that is ;). To see the other person as a human being and not solely as the ultimate authority that you should obey.

This week I was also taken to two offices which deal with foreign exchanges and other programmes that are organised by the EU. I am now a whole lot smarter than before and armed with an uncountable amount of brochures of all sorts. If there's something you're interested in, just ask ;)

I did notice that, contrary to what many have said, the Italians love to help. Young, old, male, female, black, white- it doesn't matter. If I ask for direction or if I'm lost in any other way, I get a positive response from most of them. Maybe that has a little something to do with the fact that I look very much distracted and that they kind of feel it's their human responsibility to help. But I like to think it's simply because of- me ;)