Ah, interesting article on the financial times!
Enjoy;)

Alessandra

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/f61dd64a-cdad-11da-afcd-0000779e2340.html

Alright, time for a new post! So many things have happened!
First of all, ELECTIONS IN ITALY! Oh my god, it was tough! Prodi now has the majority in both the Camera and the Senato, but Berlusconi had the majority at the Senato for a whole day basically! We were expecting a divided Italy, very hard to govern, or other elections, or a provisory governemnt or something like that. Luckly, the last 6 senators were elected by the Italians abroad. 4 senators are affiliated with the Unione (Prodi's party), one with Berlusconi and the other an independent. Right now we're just waiting another month for the elections of the new President of the Republic, who will give the "redini del paese" (reins of government I believe is in English) most likely to Prodi. And then? Well, good luck cher Romano Prodi! Good luck governing a country where you have won by 25 000 votes! Good luck governing with Berlusconi still owning Mediaset, Publitalia, Mondadori etc and with still such a large support. Good luck!

I'm not sure how it's going to work, expecially cause he's political campaing wasn't that specific...and that was his largest mistake! He did a whole political campaign against Berlusconi, and didn't present any major innovations...the only thing that people were looking for in him (other than he's NOT Berlusconi) is that he was the president of the EU for two years, but even there he didn't do much...oh well, we'll see how he'll manage this Italy!

But yeah, this whole election thing made me really stressed...I spent a whole day in front of the computer screen in the AIESEC office, than the computer there didn't let me see the percentage from a website so I went in A&S lab like a zombie...I couldn't talk to anybody, Stephanie had to drag me out of it! Luckly there was an African night in Memorial Union, so Steph and I went and it was so good! I felt so much good energy! There was this group of drummers from KC, with some dancers and WOW, was it powerful!!!!!! I absolutely loved the show (they had a little fashion show at the end, and it was BEAUTIFUL!)...Davide was there too, so during a little break we ended up talking about....the Italian elections! both of us were astonished, almost in tears...not really because we were scared of Berlusconi governing for other 5 years (oh god, that would be a nightmare, but we're used to it, right?) but mostly because we didn't understand how Italians could still vote for him...how!?!? Didn't they see what he was doing? Didn't they see the huge power he had? Didn't they see how he made laws for himself, how he made Italian econony the worse in the EU?

I need to stop writing about it cause I'm getting nervous again...anyways! Other news!
AIESEC invitied another speaker! We worked with MSO (Muslim Students Organization) and the speaker was Alison Weir, the executive director of "If Americans Knew", an organization that focuses on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. She showed really well what the media have covered about the conflict...she actually spent some time there (mostly in Gaza and in the West Bank, but in Israel as well) and talked to people, saw the bullets in the walls, saw what was going on, took tons of pictures and brought them to us...really impressive! The downside of the discussion was that it wasn't controversial. I believe that if we had another speaker talking on the Israeli side it would have been much more interesting. I'm always skeptical when somebody who knows so much more than I do explains her/his side, cause then I'm attracted to that side because I haven't heard what the opposite side has to say! It would have also been much more interesting if we had some Israelians in the audience...I really tried to market the event to the synagogue, to the Jewish Students Organization, but what happened (I think) is that when they saw who Alison Weir was and what she believes in, they weren't interested in coming because they wouldn't have believed in what she said! That's really sad, I like when people are open minded and want to hear things even if they are against them and their beliefs...but I guess I cannot really understand cause I'm not emotionally involved in the conflict, and that can play a big part...but I restate my point, it would have been so much more interesting....

last thing for the day (then I'm going to a BBQ at Davide's;)....who reads this blog? I would really really like people who read it to post a comment or something, so that I know who "visited me"...but I know that in order to post a comment you have to create your own account and that's a pain in the butt...oh, well, I guess I'll be alright without knowing! And I know there is a little "guilty pleasure" in reading about other people's lives (and there is probably also a little guilty pleasure on my side, writing on a public blog!) and people don't always want to admit they do that!
I'm still not sure why, but when I hear people have read this blog I get really embarassed and suddently shy...why? mmm, not sure yet! maybe it's because my guilty pleasure is discovered!!!
But seriously, I created this blog because I want people to keep track of where I am and what I'm doing. Right now my life is boring cause I'm in Columbia, I have been here for a while, and there is nothing really interesting to say. But if I go on an internship in India for the summer, then to France next semester, then who knows where, I think it will be nice to have a public journal, so that people who care about what I'm doing (or are just curious stalkers;) know what's going in my life! It will also save me time on emails in the long run!

Anyways, what do you think about it? What's the purpose of an online journal? Why do people like to write about their lives online? POST A COMMENT! let me know!

Odabo everyone! (that's goodbye in Yoruba, a Nigerian language;)