Servas Young Language Experience

Hello, my name is Youn-ji Gil from KOREA and I’m university
student. My major is advertisement and my double major is
visual design. I am very interested in art and culture. I love
painting. when I was a teenager I read some book about
roman history and it was really interesting for me. So when I
heard the information about SYLE in Italy I didn’t hesitate to
sign up for it, and now, after finishing all program I think it was
nice really choice to do that. Through this document I will
present and share what I experienced and what I felt during
SYLE program by 4 category. I hope my report could be a
small help to servas family in the world who are considering
SYLE program

During the SYLE program, I was staying with seven
servas families; Anna’s, Raffaella’s, Margherita’s,
Nives’, Marina’s, Nicholas’, and Laura’s. it was really
interesting to stay with diverse families because each
family has their own style and atmosphere. For
example, raffealla’s family has very energetic
atmosphere, while marina’s was calm and relaxed.
Each family schedule was mixed properly, so I could
spend both exciting and relaxed time timely. The
common ground among seven families was that they
are very friendly and very similar with feature of
transitional Korean family. They like to gather together.
Having a meal together is one of important indicator
for both personal relationship with their friend and
social community. As per this cultural phenomenon I
also had a opportunity to be invited to another family
who was not my host and it was really nice experience
for me. Thanks to this kind of feature, I could get used
to the now condition easily and feel confortable.
Language was not a matter at all to be a friend each
other! What the important thing is mind! Even after I
came back to Korea I keep in touch some of my friend
in Italy

During the SYLE program, I traveled many regions of
Italy. Some of trip were with host family and some of
were my alone. Based on Bergamo province, I went
Verona, Venice, Rome, and so on. What was
impressive for me was that each region of Italy has
their own style for culture, architecture, and people
even they are all in Italy. Atmosphere of Bergamo was
very different from that of Venice and also that of
Venice was different from that of Rome. I think it can
be an advantage for Italy from a touristic point of view
because tourist can feel as if they travel more than one
country, that gives them rich feeling. What I liked and
thanked was when I traveled with servas family they
tried to explain for me kindly so I can understand about
things more deeply and vividly. For example when I
traveled Venice I had a dinner with Nives and her
nephew. In the diner he explain a lot of thing of Venice
that I hadn’t know before. As a result of these things, I
could see that how they are proud of their culture and
love their lives

Staying with servas family I could permeate deeply
Italian lifestyle. I could not only see what they are
eating, and doing and so on but also do these. These
experiences were really meaningful to improve
international mindset. Through these experiences we
can understand each other more, learn from each
other , accept difference and it is a little step for a
world peace. Staying with Laura's family I found that
most of Italian people have participated in “scout”
regardless of age. Children in family participate in scout
and their parent also have a experience and memory
of scout. “scout thing” can be a common issue in the
family and than they can have conversation more I
think it is really good thing for family relationship
because they can share similar experience. As I
became a part of Laura's family they give me a totem
used in scout! It was really nice and I feel more closer.
In raffaella’s house we have ‘all together dinner” very
often what is having a dinner with many friends of her
family. We introduced each other, shared a nice food,
had a lots of conversations. I really enjoyed that
moments!

If you ask me what nice thing of SYLE is, I would
answer my whole daily life in SYLE! Leaving my
complicated and routine days, going to a now world,
meeting new friends sharing new life style were all
refreshing for me. With Nicholas, I did a kayak for the
first time in my life which is his normal hobby. I also
tried to swim in the wonderful lake and watched
twinkle stars in lovely house in forest. These things
were all unforgettable and precious moment for me. In
Anna's home, I looked around the downtown with
riding a bicycle with Anna, it was quite long time age
that I had ride a bicycle so to try it again remind me my
childhood. It was very emotional. I also did a cook with
Laura who is daughter of Anna. Because I wrote in my
LOI that I like to cook, Anna wanted to make me a
opportunity to cook Italian food. She was really friendly
and considerate for me. Cooking was very fun, and it is
still on my mind as a nice memory

It was my first time to participate in SYLE program. I experienced a lots of things , shared their daily life ,
discuss about world issue, speak my opinion, listen people's thinking and finally become a friend. Of course
there happened some problems during the long travel but now even that problems have changed kind of
reminiscences that make my life more plentiful. I want to go back again someday Thank you for all my host
families , thank you for Raffaella, who organized everything for me I hope many young people in the world can
have this wonderful opportunity and experience like me!