Refugees and Economics

Second first day of classes today. After navigating a quick trip on the Roman bus system, we paid a visit to the Joel Nafuma Refugee Center - the only location in Rome which provides food, clothing, and a safe haven for refugees in Italy. Father Michael explained to our class how the center came to be, and what types of services they offer. The volume of immigrants and refugees entering Italy is quite large, due to the country's porous and inconsistent entry laws. Most refugees entering the center have little more than the clothes on their backs when they arrive. It is inspirational that the center connects with other local churches as well as universities such as ours to provide a safe place for these refugees. We saw the refugees at the center, but didn't really interact with them. Some of us will be returning to the center at later times to volunteer and document their experiences for our Migration and Markets class.

For lunch I had pizza with tomato, mozzerella, and spinach. All of the pizzerias serve rectangular slices of long band-shaped pizzas. A full slice is approximately six inches by twelve inches, and the sellers usually cut it in half, fold it over, and wrap it in paper like a sandwich. For €3,00, it's an affordable and tasty meal.

We met again in the afternoon for our Islam and Italian Cities class. Today we primarily discussed the social, political, and economic foundations of Italy, examining the relationships between the leisurely pace of life and Italy's economic decline. The discussion was stimulating, and it was particularly interesting to pick apart the merits of various economic policies in a variety of contexts. I'm excitied to learn from and hear the perspectives of my professors and fellow classmates during the discussions we'll be having over the next few weeks.

In the evening we watched a film called Facing Windows. I'll spare you the details since synopses of the film are readily available, but it was enjoyable and unpredictable. The two primary characters had excellent depth, and the plot was well-crafted.

Afterward, we all went to this large gelato shop called Giolitti, where everyone got cones with multiple flavors of gelato in celebration of Emily's birthday. After everyone had received their delectable treat, we sang "Happy Birthday" to her in the street (unfortuantely we couldn't figure out how to sing it in Italian, so we most certainly stood out as Americans at that point). But it was fun, and we even got a few passers-by to join in on the singing.