Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Final Fulbright Seminar in Matera






              Taralli!!!!!!                                      The pool of our hotel

 The final Fulbright seminar took place over the course of three days in Matera (one of the Fulbrighters was placed down there). Matera is located in the southern region of Basilicata and it is where Mel Gibson filmed The Passion. One word to describe it: breathtaking. It’s a place where pictures don’t do it an ounce of justice. It was a lot of fun being united again with the other ETAs and with some other members of the Fulbright Commission and the American Embassy. We had a great time over lunches, dinners, and in the hotel spa. Yes, we did work, but in Italy there is a lot of play time. The meals were spectacular. For my taste, the further down in Italy I go, the better the food gets. Thank God I wasn’t placed in Matera because I would have come home 50 pounds heavier. The lunches and dinners were so extravagant and the food did not stop coming. It was surreal talking about our experiences throughout this past academic year. At the initial Fulbright orientation we had no idea what to expect, and there we were all sharing our stories and coming out with both similar and unique experiences.     
Cultural Notes: 1. Matera is the oldest continually inhabited settlement in all of Europe. 
                        2. Taralli are native to the southern regions of Puglia and Basilicata, but can be bought throughout Italy. They’re this bread, cracker thing and I don’t really know how to explain them, but what I can say is that I am completely obsessed with them, and have stopped buying them because once I start eating them I finish the entire bag. I found out that all us Fulbrighters have become obsessed with them this past year. We were laughing talking about how we love the big ones, the small ones, the ones with fennel seeds, and most of all, the broken ones...taralli pieces are so good!!! 
                        3. The future of the Fulbright ETA program was briefly discussed in one of the meetings. Southern Italy (southern Italy constitutes south of Rome) is a lot poorer than northern Italy, and they don’t have the access or the money for many intercultural opportunities. For this reason, the placement of future ETAs will be primarily in the south.      
Highlights: 1. Receiving letters from my boyfriend. 
                    2. Sitting at the lunch table one of the days in Matera and thinking how crazy it was that my dream had actually come true: my dream of living in Rome, of teaching in a public school, of making contacts and forming relationships with Italians, of having the honor of calling myself a Fulbrighter, it had all actually happened. I had gotten almost everything I wanted to get out of this experience. 
Impara con me!  scarafaggi- cockroaches