MN Little Italy 19

[Francasaysrelax]

Hello, welcome, benvenuti

BIG FAT VOMIT EMOTICON at De Carlo and all of his books (only read the one and it was enough)!!! (apologies to those who like him but for me is a real cazzone, and not even one that makes us ROFL like Accorsi ). And the worse thing of all is that I even remember the book!!!! Why oh why does it occupies valuable space in my brain...

MM are we forgetting Reality Bites???? I swear I must have watched that movie about a million times when 18ish. I wanted, and attempted it by myself various times - some succesfull some not so much, at Winona's haircut, I wanted that life and I wanted that boyfriend!

Off to watch The Reader soon.

Due di Due btw Bum! See it has been imprinted in my consciousness for ever . I can still see the cover, black and yellow - Blearg!

I just hope that tonight dh feels good enough to watch the wire, otherwise I'm going to get really, really cross

Pinco, let me know what the reader is like. I read very mixed reviews.

I heard The Reader was shit, but who knows? We are watching The thick of it when dd stops screaming, she is really doing my head in.

Oh, she stopped very suddenly, I wonder if dp strangled her....

OK, all this talk of Dead Poets society, Guns, Reality Bites Ethan Hawke and RPatz is making me feel really old - despite having a pretty ehm... interesting teenager period (including two yrs in a mixed very left wing boarding school where my roommate was having sex with boyfriend in the bed next to mine until he finally dumped her thank goodness). Frankly, I thought uni was very quaint in comparison with what we got up to in boarding school.
No broody boyfriend though, and DH cannot do sulky/broody. oh well I missed that particular boat.

So I am now very John Lewis too, I am afraid; DH was a girlie swot and has always been. I sometimes worry about his middle age crisis which will come one day I am sure...

ROFL at "Bum"!

at Minerva's interesting adolescence, nah, mine was exceedingly chaste (hence the identification with the whole Twilight thing) and full of almost overwhelmingly intense unrequited crushes. tbh i think the reason i wanted only boys is because i wouldn't wish girly teenagerdom to anyone... but of course now i have two dds and have been scaring dh about it since they day they were born! he claims it's just as hard for boys which is probably true.

Franca 10 things I hate about you is one of my favourite movies!!! i read a really wonderful obituary of Heath Ledger whcih said that the sweet scene where he serenades julia stiles to "you're just to good to be true" is what will stay in people's hearts. i think it's true although i was devastated by his acting in Brokeback Mountain, i think he was un-fucking-believable in it.

so how was the reader?

I'm now very interested to know where MI's boarding school was... were you in Italy? Is it the one nr TS (where I'd like to send my dc?) !

Masseuse, yes, I have to agree with you re Brokeback Mountain. I didn't really like the movie, overall. I think HL was excellent in the Dark Knight.

you didn't like Brokeback? I rate it as one of the most influential movies in my life, I absolutely love it.

[Masseuse reaises that everything she mentions a movie she describes it as her favourite ever and wonders whether she sounds a bit like Lola (of Charlie & fame)]

No, not that much. I don't know why.
It's weird because on paper it is a movie I'd love. There are some memorable scenes, beautifully shot, very commoventi etc. But I found the film as a whole a bit disappointing.
(you don't hate me now, do you? )

Franca,

yes, there is one in TS but I went to its sister school in Hong Kong - there are 10 of these colleges in various parts of the world but the admission process for Italians is the same, so you don't know when you'll end up when you start the selection process. One of my friends wanted to go TS and ended up in Swaziland (she loved it)...

Having sat on both sides of the fence, I can give you the lowdown on the admissions process when it's time :-)
For a start, if you want to increase your chances you have to move to Piemonte, Sardinia or FVG!

Why would I have to move to PIedmont? (no way)

I wouldn't cross Sardinia or FVG off though. Tell me more.

What school is this please? Only curious as I didn't know of any boarding italian schools.

I would love it if you moved to FVG of course!

Anyway, these 3 regions historically finance a small number of scholarships reserved for their own citizens - if you are from another region you have to compete for the other 15-20 scholarships with the rest of the country, whilst for instance FVG has 5(ish) reserved for own students. Of course, this changes depending on budgets etc...Gelmini was threatening to eliminate all funding and basically preclude entry to Italians to all colleges (there is a small number of non-country based scholarships, but they are generally reserved for students who are refugees or whose home countries are unable to finance scholarships, e.g. Somalia, Congo, East Timor, YKWIM).

Oh I see. here Pinco

And this is the one I went to (you can see my old bedroom window from that picture)...

www.uwc.org/our_colleges/li_po_chun_uwc_of_hong_kong/default.aspx

oh i know lots of people who went to that school (well, one or two actually)

I suppose I am number 3 then... Great school (for the right person), loved every minute of it. My best friends are still the ones I made there, even if they live on the other side of the world...

MI how would you describe 'the right person' in your opinion?

sorry haven't got time to look at the link or talk more as I'm going out but interested to know more.

I know 2 people who went to those college, one is one of my dearest friends.

Sounds interesting, would you send your kids then MI? It is for teens, no? And why is it considered left wing?

Oh, sorry all those questions, I should read the link.

It sounds like a great opportunity, no? The school in Hong Kong looks amazing!

"Right" in terms of:

• Maturity: being sent to a very academically competitive place, well away from parental control for long periods of time, in a very liberal place with fewer rules than at home could be a recipe for disaster for some 16-17 yrs olds.
• Practical attitude: I shared a room with 3 roommates from very different cultures/backgrounds (and cleaning habits) with no locks on doors and no privacy. All of a sudden I was also responsible for my own laundry, money matters, travel arrangements, sorting out visa/immigration issues, alongside my academic work and all the other activities necessary for gaining the the IB diploma (voluntary work, sport, art and on campus work). Italian was spoken by only other 2 people in the whole school, and my English was comparable to any other average Italian liceo student. Some students could not cope being thrown in at the deep end, and left after a couple of months.
• Personal Beliefs: it is a very liberal left wing place. Although the place is great for widening minds, if you are a BNP fan you are unlikely to get in .

I think the Italian selection committee is great in that it largely ignores your academic ability as long as you have a decent track record (no bocciature, crediti etc) - and focuses the selection process on your ability to cope under stress, how you work/relate with people etc. Other countries focus a lot more on academic ability, which is not sufficient IMO.

Funnily enough - when three female friends and I went back to college for the 10 year reunion, we brought with us our partners and made them live the college life for a couple of days, share a room amongst themselves, no privacy, sharing bathrooms etc. They were ready to kill each other after about 1 hour, despite knowing each other quite well... But had acquired a new respect for those of us who hacked it! It was VERY entertaining to watch...