Wednesday May 27th- The Ghetto

After watching Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice, we had a Scholar some and speak to us at our apartment. His name was Shaul and was a Venetian Jew, one of the few left in the city. It was interesting having him here because of his cultural differences. Right off the bat he told us he needed to sit away from the air conditioning. What?? This was so strange to all of us because it was so hot inside and it's crazy to think that Italians hate the AC. This was not only him, Marina and other Venetians we've met have said the same thing. Anyway after Shaul spoke to us about Shakespeare we ventured off to the Jewish Ghetto of Venice. Not a Ghetto like we think of a Ghetto but it was basically a square that would be locked up where the Jews lives. This was oppression but some could think of it as protection as well. The square was diffrent than any others in the city. The most interesting thing I found about were the trees. There was actually nature there! There was also a lot of solitude about the place. It was quite peaceful. All of the buildings were taller than in the rest of the city as well. This was because the Jews were confined in that one area so they had to continue to build upwards. We went into the museum and got a tour of the few synagogues, it was very interesting to see how they differ from the churches. The Ghetto was both beautiful and quaint at the same time. I really enjoyed looking at Venice through a different religion. 

Monday May 25th-Piazza San Marco

monday as a class, we took a short walk over to Piazza San Marco, the biggest tourist area in Venice. The square was flooded with millions of people and pigeons. San Marco Square is beautiful. Always life music, and always full of life. It makes me happy to be alive. The Bell Tower is gorgeous and right next to St. Marc's Basilica. Now, being in Italy has been very interesting because of my heritage. My mother comes from an Italian Catholic Family with 8 brothers and sisters. My aunts and uncles all believe in the Christina Religion and all throughout my life I have been Baptized and given Sunday school lessons weekly. It has only occurred to me in the past 3 years of my life that I am actually not a Christian. Im' quite the Atheist. Being in the homeland of Christianity has done quite the opposite of restoring my faith in the religion. I've been finding it more and more harder to believe that a huge following is based upon something that has been illustrated by art and not real life. Going to the Basilica (which was amazing, don't get me wrong) was not only breathtaking but also unbelievable. It's hard to believe that so many people follow and believe in something that is by all means a myth. This religion is based on book, pictures, and stories, with no factual evidence. Its very hard for me to put my finger on why so many people are raised to believe in something that they cannot see. It is purely because of tradition or do they need the faith to get through their lives. Do people truly believe that they will spend eternity in hell if they don't follow the Christian Guidelines? Well whatever it is I am interested on finding out.

When we went into the Basilica we were able to see where San Marco was buried. I find it hard to sit and listen to the history of a Religion that I don't believe in. Te me personally, Religion just causes war and trouble between nations and groups of people. I am constantly offending my family by not going to church anymore and being in the Basilica made it harder. 

After we left the Church we went to the Doge's Palace, home to all the govern

ment officials in Venice. The art and architecture inside the building was amazing. There were huge murals and maps all over the walls. It was crazy to think that people actually lived in a place like that. We were able to go down into the basement of the palace and visit the jails. There were small spaces , wooden beds, bars everywhere, and this was where the worst criminals were held. I would be scared to live in the same place as them if I were the Doge! Being down there really scared me and made me feel uncomfortable. Fortunately that part of the tour did not last for very long. Everything about this city is amazingly beautiful. The architecture and art all around is breathtaking. I feel very fortunate to be here. Ciao for now :)

Italy Has Highest Illegal Download Activity, finds ESA

It's so interesting to relate things we do at home to things people our age are doing in italy. A big part of my interest in music has to do with copyright and how the world is changing with technology. In my opinion, as technology is changing faster and faster each day, the law needs to change too. Copyright law is so outdated that it is making children into criminals. Piracy and illegal downloading has become so easy and common to do among teens and young adults that is is now inevitable. To stop the downloading is out of the question. The government is now faced with a choice to change copyright law to all rights reserved to some rights reserved. To sum up my opinion of the situation is to simply pay for music like we pay for water, or cable, or our cell phones. Pay a monthly flat rate so that performing rights organizations can fairly shell out royalties to publishers, writers, and artists, and teens and young adults can stop being treated like criminals and thrown in jail for clicking buttons and listening to art. So simple it's unbelievable. Before I left for Italy I really only studied the copyright laws in the United States. It never crossed my mind that teens and young adults all across the world are doing the same thing everywhere. 

So, last night at Campo St Margarita I found myself in a conversation that blew my mind. As soon as we go there this boy started bothering us to buy us drinks, so finally we started talking to this group of 27-something year old Venetian boys. Anyway, to make a long story short one of them was in law school. We got into a copyright conversation and I had to ask them how they felt about piracy. Not surprisingly these boys who live on the other side of the world use limewire and bittorrents just like we do. I asked them if they were familiar with The Pirate Bay and the recent charges against 4 men who ran the web site. (If you don't know about this basically 4 sweedish guys are in jail for starting a website where you can find bittorrents). The guys told me that they were aware of what happened but it didn't matter. In italy they download for free always, without question or fear. For the rest of the night this subject was on my mind so I had to research it when I got home.

I found an article in GameDaily titled "Italy Has Highest Illegal Download Activity, Finds ESA". The article explains that Italy and Spain were found to be the two biggest offenders for illegal downloads and eastern Europe has always been thought of as a haven for piracy. This is a total shock for me. I had no idea that piracy was so popular in Europe. This just makes me more and more frustrated with the way our government deals with copyright laws. If it isn't already obvious in the United States that the laws need to be changed it is also obvious everywhere else in the world, and I am experiencing it first hand. James Brightman (the author of this article) states that "Data from studies conducted in December 2008 revealed "alarmingly high" volumes of illegal downloads across the leading P2P networks, BitTorrent and eDonkey. Italy led the pack with the heaviest illegal download activity (17%). News to me!

Check it out for yourselves.

http://www.gamedaily.com/articles/news/italy-has-highest-illegal-download-activity-finds-esa/?biz=1

More Venice!

I'm getting to be so bad at this journal entries! (BTW I'm using these Journals for class so just ignore some things) Anyway since the last time I wrote, I've been to the Lido twice, which is the beach. It's so nice. Free to get on the beach, you can drink anywhere, and people are friendly as hell. We played frisbee with some venetians and went swimming. Going to the beach in Italy is quite different from going in New Jersey. There are cultural differences like girls being Topless or men being in little speedos. That never happens in Jersey. The down side about Wednesday was after drinking coronas and being in the sun all day I got pretty seasick on the Vaporetto. I mean pale, sweaty, nausea, had to get off the boat at one point and vomit in a pizzeria, yum. So after that we got back to the apartment and I completely passed out. I woke up to some pasta and we watched Summertime with Kathryn Hepburn. Pretty good movie and it gave a good view of Venice. I could relate to the main character because she comes to this city completely clueless but in the end finds herself and learns the city eventually. I feel like I can finally get around by myself with no problem. I've learned the Vaporetto and how to get to the grocery store and necessary things like that. I like feeling like I actually live here rather than that I'm just visiting.

After a long day of class on Thursday we decided to go out, but while getting ready our power went out! This was around 10pm so everything was pitch black. My hair was half straitened and no one could see a thing. Thank god some of us had flashlights but no one could figure out the fusebox! Mike's exercise with the blindfolds and senses was applying to our real life. We finally decided to just leave it till the morning because no one had a phone and none of us could figure out how to put the power back on. So far this trip has been a culture shock for sure. Not knowing how to do simple things like fix a fuse box we take for granted at home. Ciao for now bellas! 

Venezia!

So, for the next month this blog will no longer be based upon the music industry but rather by month-long trip to Italy. For the next four weeks I will be living in Venice with 11 other students and studying Environmental Psychology and the Art and Myth in Venice. So far, I have dealt with a 14 hour travel trip, flying to London and then actually getting to Venice, waiting hours in line for boat passes, and worst of all, my allergies. The second I got to Venice I fell in love, but since our arrival on Sunday I have been feeling quite different and strange. My eating habits have become terrible and my patience is getting less and less easy to control. I've also gotten multiple bug bites all over me. It's been difficult adjusting to living with 11 other people and traveling in groups, especially when no one knows where they are going. But aside from everything I just said, the trip has been life-changing already. Just being able to be away from home for a while has changed my perception of myself. I'm a lot more weak than I had thought before. In the Film we watched Summertime, the girl talks about a woman she say on the boat. This woman had come to Venice to find something that In the back of her head she had been looking for, something that has been missing all her life. I presume that's what I shall do myself this month.

The first night we went out in Venice we went to Campo Santa Margherita. We decided to go out and just find somewhere to hang out, but we ended up seeing a couple girls who looks like they were going out, so we asked where they were going. They said to follow them to the square, so we did. It's amazing the type of people you meet. These girls were from Switzerland and Cyprus, Both studying in Venice. We got there, had a couple drinks and met a whole bunch of kids our age. It was great being able to get the hang of how things work here. On the way home, we were more lost than I thought we would be. It took us about an hour to walk home! Getting lost in a strange city can be scary but quite rewarding. It's odd when you're somewhere and you don't know the language at all. I'm happy to say my Italian is getting better just from talking to Venetians. I also feel like I have made incredible friendships with the other students on the trip. I had no idea that I would get along so well with them.

My surroundings have been making it difficult to adjust. For example, today we visited the Lido which was beautiful! It couldn't have been a better beach day. Unfortunately on the way back I came down with some terrible seasickness. My head was spinning out of control and I felt more nauseous than I ever have before. I had to get off at a random stop and use a pizzeria bathroom to throw up. Lucky for my Chelsea and Lucero helped me through it and we finally got back. For now I'm going to try and sleep it off, and hopefully I'll be feeling better in the morning. As for living in Venice, adjusting has been the most difficult part. Being stripped from your daily normal life and being put in a different environment is extremely strange, but rewarding.