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First On My Bucket List, Why Rome? 1I  had always wanted to go to Italy so when our sister Sara’s plans to travel to Greece with a friend fell through we conjured up an Italian adventure for the three of us. Our travel plans included seeing sights from Rome to Nova Siri, way south, and then back North as far as Florence. A lot of ground to cover on our 3 week visit.

Our trip began in Rome

We had 1 day to spend there before traveling by car to check in for our reservation in Nova Siri. The one thing we had to see in Rome, for me, was the Sistine Chapel. I had done a presentation on Michelangelo in Junior High and fell in love with his art and the art that is Italy. At 13 I started my list of things I must see before I leave this world with The Sistine Chapel. The first day was dedicated to crossing it off.

We arrived in Rome late in the day. We had missed our connecting flight in Germany and Air Canada had lost one of our bags as a result, so by the time we sorted all of that out and left the airport the sun had already began to set. We caught a cab to our hotel for the evening.

Traffic in Rome is busy and fast, very fast. We were all very quiet in the cab as it hurtled toward our hotel, swerving through traffic at lightening speed. This is common driving behavior in Italy. It was a quite unsettling (terrifying) as we were going to…to continue reading the blog click here

Source: Expat experiment

5 Steps to Adapting to Life as an Expatriate 25 Steps to Adapting to Life as an Expatriate

Everyone Goes Through the Five-Stage Cycle of Cross Cultural Adjustment

Expatriate Amy Hart, a North Carolina native who has lived and worked for 11 months in Munich, Germany, helps us to differentiate among the five different stages of the adjustment cycle.Everyone who moves to another country goes through a cultural adjustment cycle. Some take longer to go through the cycle than others.

1. Honeymoon Stage

At first stage everything in Hart’s her new surroundings was profoundly exciting and interesting. She had the feeling of a dream finally coming true and being in the middle of a great adventure. Just like a honeymoon, the bliss of beginning a new life can be rose-colored, happy, and hopeful for most expatriates.

2. Culture Shock

After six to eight weeks Hart moved into the culture shock stage. “Overall, I hated the feeling of not being independent. It’s as if you are a child again. Your personal freedom is suddenly taken away from you,” said Hart. It’s typical at this stage to physically feel that something is not right.

Hart often complained about headaches and stomach upsets. She felt tired and couldn’t concentrate on her work. Her sleeping patterns changed as well. She felt homesick and as if she was living with one foot in her American culture. This stage lasted for about another eight weeks.

3. Initial Adjustment Stage

After the culture shock period Hart went into what we call initial adjustment stage and became able to connect with local people in social and business situations. Though she was still missing her home, she gained self-reliance. Being needed in her company helped her feel better.

It was hard for her to realize that she then had to go through another stage of negative feelings.

Pennsylvania expatriate Kelly Payne lived and worked in Germany and Japan. She found it easier to enter this stage of initial adjustment when she learned how the ways of relaxing in her new host country differed from her own.

North Americans are active and try to crowd as many activities into an hour as possible. Wasting time is wasting money. In cultures where there is less emphasis on competition, people are able to let time “fill itself.” They place more emphasis on quality of actions than quantity of actions.

During the initial 40-minute subway rides to work in Germany, Payne felt the urge “to be doing something.”

“When I forgot to take my book or my walkman with me, I felt so useless just sitting in the subway. It took a while until I learned not to feel guilty when I just enjoyed watching people or letting my mind wander,” said Payne.

4. Mental Isolation

The initial adjustment stage is followed by another wave of integration ups and downs.

During this stage Hart really needed support and help from her friends and co-workers. She felt anger toward the host culture and doubt about her decision to live in Europe. “Maybe the people back home are forgetting about me,” said Hart.

She complained about the fact that everything is “verboten” (forbidden) in Germany and that the food was different. People were staring at her in a way she was not used to. “I sometimes felt as if I had an imaginary American flag on my forehead. People just knew even before I spoke. “I got the ‘you’re different’ type of look,” said Hart. She lost motivation to continue learning German, and you could tell a difference in her personality. The sparkles in her eyes were dimming but her mind was expanding as she transitioned.

5. Acceptance and Integration

Finally, Hart entered the last stage of the culture adaptation cycle: acceptance and integration. She stopped trying to change the host culture and stopped making constant comparisons to her own American way. She developed strategies for everyday life in Germany. She was willing to take German classes again, tried to speak German to everyone in the office, and seemed to be more content and less moody.

“My sense of time was mixed up in my first months here in Germany. At a restaurant with my German friends, I felt strange when they kept sitting at the table after finishing dinner. I felt the urge to pay for the meal and leave. I was ready to go to another bar or cafè. I learned not to be in such a rush and to have dinner for two hours or more instead of 45 minutes. I began to let go of the feeling that having a tight schedule was important and productive.”

The key to overcoming cultural difficulties is being willing to look behind the façade of appearances and learn to understand the basic human emotions we all share. For individuals from different cultural backgrounds, the possible ways of perceiving the same event can differ greatly.

“You can only see what you know.” Learning this is the key to understanding.

DANIELA MONTABAUR works with Trust in Business (TiB), an organization that provides international companies and individuals with support when relocating to Germany. 

Source: Transition abroad 

 

5 Steps to Adapting to Life as an Expatriate 3

Ciampino: New Bus 720 line is now up and running at the airport!

New Atac bus line 720 at Ciampino airport in Rome 4

 

Today, Monday, September 18, first run for Atac’s bus line 720. Ciampino Airport with a direct connection to metro B Laurentina to termini. Buses will run every 20 minutes.

A whole new service (and already subject to some controversy) in collaboration with Atac, Roma and the airport. Line 720 will stop at station 4 at the airport exit, where an Atac stopper will be installed. The trade agreements with Zètema and co-marketing with Chef Express will also enable the promotion and sale of Atac travel tickets and tickets intended for tourists (24, 48 and 72 hours), in the Tourist Information Point (PIT ) and in the dining area at the airport.

Advantages of line 720

The bus will connect Piazzale Leonardo da Vinci, at Ciampino airport with the Metro station B Laurentina  via Vigna Murata, via Ardeatina and via Fioranello, with 22 stops on the way. With a simple BIT (Ticket Integrated at Time) of € 1.50, then you will be able to take advantage of transportation from the airport to the metro and possibly use the remaining minutes in the ticket (100 minutes in total) for a subway ride to the center city. This bus + metro combination is a simple and economical option to reach central Rome from Ciampino Airport.

Atac tourist directly at the airport

At the airport you will also be able to purchase Atac tourist travel tickets, ie 24, 48 and 72 hours tickets at 7, 12,50 and 18 euros, allowing you to use all Atac, Cotral and regional railways in the territory of Rome. Airport passengers will be able to purchase the securities using the automatic dispenser in the airport’s outdoor courtyard or, within the arrival area, at the Zètema Tourist Information Point or at the Chef Express Point of Sale.

Thanks to the agreement with Zètema and the Tourism Department of Rome, the Tourist Information Point at the airport will host the Atac campaign “Have a good time in Rome – Choose your public transport ticket”.

Ciampino’s PIT, as well as all PITs in Rome Capital, is the authorized retailer of Atac’s travel titles and RomePass’s official retailer, the integrated Mobility Mobility Card and Museums of Rome Capital. Thanks to line 720, tourists can use the Roma Pass 48 or 72 hours from their arrival to reach the city from the airport and begin their visit. The Atac and Chef Express partnership will enable ticket sales and the promotion of the Atac campaign even at the refreshment point in the arriving area.
Free custom line maps 720

For the launch of the new 720 Atac line will produce a personalized public transport map that will be distributed free of charge at the PIT of Ciampino and all PITs in Rome Capital, as well as at the Atac reception desk at Termini metro station and at all metro stations From Rome.

Original article here in  Italian

 

Spin Cycling Festival in Rome on 22-23-24 September 2017 5

The festival is entirely dedicated to the world of bicycling in Rome: meetings, presentations, exhibitions, concerts and shows. Fun with test tracks, with urban circuit on pavé and one with obstacles for MTB.

SPIN CYCLING FESTIVAL 
22-23-24 September 2017

EXHIBITION AREAVia Guido Reni 7, Rome – Opening hours h 10-19

 

CONCERTS AND THEATER AUDITORIUM PARK OF MUSIC Via Pietro de Coubertin, 30, Rome

Spin Cycling Festival in Rome on 22-23-24 September 2017 6

From September 22 to September 24 Italy’s capital will hold their first festival dedicated entirely to worldwide bicycles.From famous national and international brands, designers, start-ups, associations and associations will present to the public new products, innovations ideas and reflections on cycling.

Encouraged by enthusiasts, families and all those who want a more livable city, the initiative will cover issues such as cycling, design, technology and safety, with particular emphasis on electric bicycles and freight transport.  Social, food, wine, concerts, shows at Studio Theater nearby Auditorium Parco della Musica.


Over 40 major exhibitors will present the latest developments in the industry, featured by some thematic encounters: inside the Pavilion C,  full fun calendar moderated by Federico Del Prete (vice president of CycloPride Italia APS), which will also offer the public to interact by bringing their own experiences and the more stringent questions for the different speakers. Among them will be Gianluca Santilli, president of Granfondo Campagnolo Roma, Alberto Fiorillo, Metropolitan Area Legambiente Manager, GRAB project spokesman; Anna Becchi, vice president Salvaiciclisti Roma and referent of the Bike To School Rome project; Lamberto Mancini, General Manager of the Italian Touring Club; the writer and musician Andrea Satta and many other stakeholders.

The meeting will be a journey report – seasoned with nonsense and surreal about the experience – ranging from videos produced for the occasion. Another important contribution will be to Dario Pegoretti interviewed by the television journalist Riccardo Iacona, famous for his steel and aluminum handicrafts that have links not only with top-level cycling sports but also with art and technological innovation , praising hundreds of enthusiasts around the world including Marco Pantani and Robin Williams.

 

Art will be the subject of two exhibitions: a group of well-established international illustrators, designed to enhance the values ​​and beauty of this extraordinary means of transport with a selection of the most prominent works of Taku Bannai (Japan), Emilio Rubione (Argentina) Gregory Baldwin and Sam Peet (England), Teresa Bellon (Spain), and Italians Toni Demuro, Riccardo Guasco and Roberta.

Mistretta (Lazio); and GRAB +, 13 ideas for changing Rome, curated by Legambiente, on new mobility projects and urban regeneration promoted by associations and citizens.

Also featured is the prototype of an improvised bike PulsaR speed record (126.90 kmh) designed by the Policumbent team of Politecnico di Torino and the Minimal Bike, a compact carbon fiber bicycle designed by the famous Dutch designer Bram Moens.

Interaction and fun in the front line with test tracks, with urban circuit on pavé and one with obstacles for MTB, where people can test the bicycle models presented by exhibitors.

BMX and Free style, disciplines that do not count the speed but the evolutions that will be made will be illustrated by the masters of MyFlyZone, a strong reality and reference point in the capital whose goal is to pass the passion for the bike through a team of enthusiastic and motivated athletes who will demonstrate in the various street trial, bmx-flat, mtb-street specialties, basically based on the principles of balance, dexterity and coordination.

For children from 4 to 7 years old, there will be equipped “La Scuola del Traffico”, a cycle path with a road map with all the signage elements connected to the spaces of a hypothetical miniature city.  A real road education project, organized by the Linaria cultural association, aimed at encouraging children to acquire appropriate and safe behaviors in the street. Small ones can access you by taking your own bicycle home.
For older boys, from 7 to 12 years old, Mountain Bike Cycling School is planned, organized by Bikeshop Rome with qualified masters to learn how to deal with dirt paths.

Two interesting initiatives will be made in the world of childhood, both at the Auditorium Parco della Musica: on 23 and 24 September will be held the show of the Bianco Teatro company on the circus life of Alfonsina Strada, the only woman who participated in the Giro d’Italy of men in 1924 (Saturday, 16, Sunday, 11 am); to follow the “Bicycles like Butterflies” workshop, edited by Fernanda Pessolano / Lucos Cozza Bicycle Library, which will see the small participants build a small paper theater with simple folding techniques to stage a story of animation.

The music will continue to be the protagonist at the Teatro Studio of the Auditorium Parco della Musica with concerts THE REPUBLIC OF BICYCLES by Guido Foddis and the Pedals of Ferrara, a concept performance with excerpts dedicated to the heroes of the Giro d’Italia (September 23, 21st) and TÊTES DE BOIS, who in their rock-folk-poetic show will give a special tribute to Alfonsina and the world of cyclists (September 24, at 9 pm).

In the pavilions of the Guidi Reni District will also be set up a “Cicloclub” (from 19 to free admission) inside which will be screened some shorts video and documentaries selected by magmatic material available on the net, ranging from urban cycling to Artistic Cycling, from extreme stunts to how to go shopping every day: stories and portraits from around the world for a bicycle culture all to watch, ranging from videoclips with hundreds of thousands of views to strange small masterpieces.

The Spin Cycling Festival will also award the Euromobility National “Pensieri & Pedali” Award for those (musicians, authors, writers, journalists, directors) who have, in various ways, promoted the “bicycle culture” in their artistic and professional work , already assigned the latest personalities such as Mogol, Enzo Iannacci, Bruno Gambarotta, Bruno Pizzul, Luca Carboni, Paolo Belli, Ficarra & Picone and Filippa Lagerbäck.

In collaboration with Granfondo Campagnolo Roma will be awarded the last 100 special price bets for participation in the “Granfondo Campagnolo Roma” and the cyclopedalata “In bici ai Castelli”.

The corollary of the event will be a “night lighted” pedal on the streets of the city (Saturday 24pm, departing from Guido Reni District), promoted by FIAB Roma Ruotalibera, to raise awareness of who uses the bicycle to be visible at night. Lights, reflectors, reflective jacket and everything – even if not explicitly mentioned in the Street Code – can help make the cyclist visible – a wonderful occasion to unleash your fantasy!

The corollary of the event will be a “night lighted” pedal on the streets of the city (Saturday 24pm, departing from Guido Reni District), promoted by FIAB Roma Ruotalibera, to raise awareness of who uses the bicycle to be visible at night. Lights, reflectors, reflective jacket and everything – even if not explicitly mentioned in the Street Code – can help make the cyclist visible – a wonderful opportunity to spin their fantasy with reflective dresses.

Spin Cycling Festival Rome is organized by the IMF Foundation with the support of Roma Capital – Cultural Growth Department, FCI’s sponsorship – Italian Cycling Federation, FIAB – Italian Bicycle Friendship Federation, Euromobility, Touring Club Italiano partnership, FIAB Roma Ruotalibera , Granfondo Campagnolo Roma, CycloPride Italia APS, the technical sponsorship of Ecopneus and Smaf Broker and the media partnership of Sound Size Roma and Urbancycling.

The initiative is part of the Roma Summer Program 2017 promoted by Rome Capital-Council for Cultural Growth in collaboration with Siae.

TICKETS

GUIDE FOR THE DISTRICT
Full € 10
Reduced € 8 partners and conventions
Subscription for three days € 20
from 0 to 12 years free admission

AUDITORIUM PARK OF MUSIC
Concerts and theater € 5
Workshops € 2

WHERE TO BUY
ticketone.it
ticket sales points
ticket office @ Guido Reni District
Ticket @ Auditorium

Official website: http://www.spinrome.com
Info: spinrome.office@gmail.com
Official FB Page: Spin Cycling Festival – Roma – Il Festival di chi ama la bicicletta

ALBA VOICE – High Quality Audio Systems For Tours Rome

 

 

An overview of the languages of our world and their development: Why do some languages disappear while others grow and become more important? And how can you prevent languages from dying out?

 

How Many Languages Are There In The World? 7

I can order my coffee in seven different languages!” Hearing this sentence sounds pretty impressive, doesn’t it? But if this same person were to say that he can order his coffee in 0.1% of all the languages in the world, then it no longer sounds so impressive. But the fact is that seven languages only make up about 0.1% of the linguistic diversity on our planet!

 

The rich diversity of the world’s languages

It’s hard to believe, right? Because I was so surprised, I began asking my friends how many languages they think there are in the world. I got different answers but they all had one thing in common: They were far off from the actual number. Some of my friends said 90 while others said 200 or “surely a few more”.

 

When I told them the answer, loads of them looked at me in disbelief: According to modern linguists , here are approximately 7000 languages and this does not include dialects!

Although I work with languages and I am aware of this diversity, I still find it difficult to imagine who speaks all of these languages and where they are spoken. If almost a billion people speak Mandarin, and there are half a billion Spanish native speakers and if you then think how many millions…to continue reading the blog click here

Source: Babbel Magazine

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