A Russian Abroad: Aung San Suu Kyi

Time is going by quicker and quicker. I can't believe it's November already and I've been here for nearly two months! I have set myself a target that from the 1st of December I will speak only italian until I go home for christmas (including text messages) so I have one month to study as hard as I can! Then I will have January to cement my italian before I go off to France (as I'm so worried about losing my italian while I'm there...).

Last Wednesday (30th October) I played in a university ceremony accompanying a horn, clarinetist and a small choir. What I didn't realise when agreeing to play was the importance and scale of the ceremony. Security was tight - including sniffer dogs - and the press was plentiful. I discovered two days before that it was going to be broadcast live and my face would be projected onto a large screen making it about ten times the size. Even more important was the guest, of whom the ceremony was in honour. Aung San Suu Kyi is a Burmese politician who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991. She was detained under house arrest for 15 years and was only recently released in 2010. I found her speech very moving and among other things she mentioned how although her father was assassinated by his rival politicians when she was just two years old, she doesn't hold a grudge and understands that they too wanted independence for her country but were just going about it in the wrong way. In Burma, she explained, there is a focus on finding culprits and on condmanation. They seem to think that condamnation is essential for the solution of problems. Aung San Suu Kyi described how it actually just fuels fires of fear which then develop into hatred. What people really need is understanding and compassion. She is an incredible women and actually studied PPE at Oxford, married an englishman and had two kids before going back to Burma.

To see her speech, have a look at this link (google translate if you want to read more info there as well):

http://www.magazine.unibo.it/Magazine/Attualita/2013/10/16/Laurea_d_Aung_San_Suu_Kyi.htm

One point of the ceremony which I found a bit ridiculous was a young burmese pianist who played after the speech as a tribute to Aung San Suu Kyi. She played an awful arrangement of Pachebel's canon...I don't need to say anymore.

On Friday 25th October, I went to milan for a quick trip with ESN (erasmus student network). My first visit back to the city where I was born! It was hideously embarrassing going around with ESN leaders who are so keen to have big group photos and carry massive flags around everywhere we go but I loved the city. It doesn't feel like a typical italian city as it feels much more metropolitan but it still carries an essence of italian culture. I have felt that other italian cities I have visited have are beautiful and full of culture and history, however, they feel like they are stuck in the past whereas as Milan was very much in the present. We went for aperitivo and then went to a club called Alcatraz - which apparently is very famous - and was absolutely huge and exactly what I expected from a big european club which cheesy music but it was great.

I wanted to comment on how often I hear english words with an italian accent used as part of the italian language as a translation simply doesn't exist. 'Flash back/forward,' 'in versione low cost,' 'babysitter,' 'sexy,' 'slot machine,' all are common examples and I find more and more all the time!

I went to giardini margherita which is a lovely park quite close to my house and I love it. It's not absolutely massive but has a really nice feel and a couple friends brought their guitars so we had a nice play and sing-along. I then made them sunday roast. They had never had it before but they absolutely LOVED it - even the vegetarian who couldn't get over how good gravy is!

On the weekend I went to watch La vita di Adele (La vie d'Adele) which won the Palme d'Or at Cannes this year and it's a long film but absolutely amazing. I don't want to give anything away however the main actress is younger than me (which is a bit depressing) and she is incredible and unbelievably convincing. I highly recommend watching it - though a couple scenes may feel a bit uncomfortable...

In other news, I am now officially a student at the Conservatory of Bologna and my course starts this week. My piano was tuned (finally!) and I started my italian language course so I have lots to do...