490 Blog 4

This past weekend has been very interesting to say the least. We interviewed Italians in the streets of Rome, saw an attempted burglary against Professor Mustafaga at Roma Termini, and witnessed teenagers using hard drugs on a train in Naples. And amidst all of this chaos, we had a great trip to Naples, Pompeii, and Sorrento. We ate pizza where pizza was invented and enjoyed great views of the ocean.
For this blog, I will focus on the experience of surveying Italians in the vicinity of a local Roman market. Our class was asked to survey Italians about their personal health and their health care system. In order to do this, we had to go into an area in Rome where the number of tourists is very limited. We travelled to a local market near the train station that we had never been to. We were given papers with questions written in Italian on them, and then set loose to interview anyone who was willing.
I was somewhat pessimistic about this challenge at first. After all, I am constantly turning down papers and opportunities from people in the streets of Rome. This is not to mention that Italians are naturally suspicious people, as Luigi Barzini explains in his book, "The Italians." Barzini explains that all Italians come to the realization that “life can be pitiless and ugly.” Because of this, Italians are likely to assume the worst when someone in the street approaches them with a pen and paper. However, I was surprised that I was only turned down a few times before I found someone who was willing to fill out the survey. From there on, it was smooth sailing. I quickly swept through a small piazza, getting about seven or eight people to cooperate.
I hit a slow point after that, and I learned that certain people were more liable to fill out the survey than others. Older men were the most difficult to question. One man thought about it, but when I told him I was an American student he laughed at me and walked away. Older people in general were more difficult to attract, but women were usually more keen to participate. There was one group of people that were very easy to get to cooperate, and that was the young female crowd. Hmm…
There were also mixed reactions to the questions on the survey. Many of the Italians I approached would look at the survey before making a choice. Most realized it was harmless and would then complete the survey, but some would look at it and immediately turn away, muttering things in Italian at me. The younger crowds would laugh at the survey as they answered. I am hoping that they were laughing because they were unsure of an answer, and not because they were making up goofy responses.
All in all, I was very happy with my results. I did not get all of the twenty surveys completed as I was supposed to, but it was a great experience. I was put in a position that made me feel insecure, and I was forced to overcome that feeling to complete the task. By doing this, I realized that I had no need to worry. I quickly rose above the fear of failure. Even if I was turned down, the people were usually nice about it. It is always refreshing to be reminded that most people in the world are friendly, or at least act like it.