I am just getting home from a weekend trip to the Cinque Terre as I write this blog post. It was one of the coolest places I have ever been. Our Airbnb was in La Spezia, the port city near the Cinque Terre. We then took the train everyday to the 5 cities which was super easy. We met up with other Notre Dame students there who are currently studying in Rome. We went kayaking, hiking, swimming, cliff jumping, and we tried a bunch of different foods. On Sunday, we went to the train station to go back to Siena, and we learned that there was a train strike going on. All trains and buses to Siena were canceled that night, so we were forced to spend another night in La Spezia. We got a quick Airbnb and ended up having a super fun night, getting all you can eat Sushi and then going to a salsa dancing party. We are just now finally making it back to Siena.
For this blog post, I would like to write about something my class discussed last week. We discussed the vaccine and how Covid has impacted the different countries around the world. We all shared our opinions and I explained how there has been a divide in the United States about getting the vaccine. We discussed the various reasons why people do not get the vaccine and what we believe is right. We also talked about whether it should be allowed to mandate the vaccine at schools and companies. I shared how I was personally thankful for the vaccine mandate at Notre Dame, as it allowed us to return to a more normal learning environment.
Italy was hit extremely hard by Covid and was one of the first countries to go into lockdown. Because of this, the general public attitude is very positive towards the vaccine. The vaccination rate is higher in Italy than it is in the United States, with almost 81% of the entire Italian population being fully vaccinated, whereas only 67% of all Americans are vaccinated. The discussions I had with different Italians across the country reflected these numbers. Italy has a partial mask mandate on public transportation, which will end in September.
Discussions about controversial topics such as the vaccine are conversations I have honestly tried to avoid in the past. I often find it difficult to voice my opinion in a way that is not offensive. Finding the perfect words to say is hard in English, and much, much harder in Italian. I am glad I did have these hard conversions though, because I learned a lot about Italian culture and it was a great way to practice voicing my opinions in another language.
