Genki Gold

Monday was an exciting day. My boss sent me out with a journalist to interview people myself. They wanted to do a story on tourists and it was up to me to interview them in English. We went into town and had an hour to interview as many people as possible. I struggled to differentiate between natives and tourists, but my fellow journalist was a native who guided me. We were able to interview about six people in that hour. What was hard for me was how different these public surveys are in Italy than America. Typically, I would take someone's full name, and make sure it was spelled correctly, to put in a caption on the show while they talk. Maybe it was laziness, but the lead journalist with me had no desire to take their names; it would have been up to him during the interview process to add the captions. It was interesting to me to see how many people rejected an interview. I could not help but think back to my mission and all the rejection I experienced in Tokyo. Some people

This was the first week without the Italian high school interns. This meant that I was all my boss had; an outgoing, loud, American girl with stumbling Italian. It was my chance to shine. And shine I did when I approached my boss and proposed projects I could do for the newsroom. I proposed four. I presented them all in under three minutes because I know he is very busy. He had something else to do immediately after my presentation, but as he was showing me out of his office he said: "I like those last two you talked about-do those." That is how I ended up picking up two projects for the station. But it is a good thing I did because otherwise, I would not have much to do outside of teaching English on the radio every day. My lessons have still seen improvement this week; I started basing my lessons off of popular songs. Since I am teaching live on the radio, I smartened up and starting using all of my resources. Now, we listen to a song in English, and I teach them

For my history class this last winter semester, I had an assignment to interview someone who had lived through a historical event, and ask them what it was like to live through it. As soon as I learned of the assignment, a widow in my ward came to mind. I thought it would be nice to interview her, but I was a little disappointed. The woman was eighty years old. She had lived through the near impeachment of a president, the resignation of another, two international wars, a cold war with Russia, a missile crisis, the sending of LDS missionaries to South America, the relinquishment of the priesthood and temple blessings to black members, Civil Right movements, abortion movements, and so much more. I could not wait to pick her brain. I let her pick the topic. She decided she wanted to talk about 9/11. Now, granted I was six, but even I  lived through 9/11. She had so much more exposure to historical events, but only picked the one that everyone already loves to talk about. I could not

The nightmare I'd dreaded for an entire week became my reality my first day at work: I arrived earlier than my boss, and nobody else knew who I was. At this point, let's laugh at the irony of an American student who studies Communications suddenly becoming an intern at an Italian radio and TV station without the ability to communicate perfectly in Italian. I had no ideas what my duties would be, but I was happy to be in a field that I love, even if I am in a foreign land, speaking a foreign language. This city is a small one, but its crew of broadcast journalists and disc jockeys is even smaller. Everybody is stretched really thin here. So I don't hold anything against my boss for forgetting about my first day. Luckily, the disc jockey on shift that morning was very welcoming. She didn't have any other guests on for the morning so she brought me on as one. Day one, and I am live on the air speaking Italian. It was a whirlwind already, and then she asked me what I

Today, June 3, 2018, I was a witness to two religious ordinances. Thanks to video messaging, I was able to see my friend in Tokyo, Japan get baptized in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. After that, I went to Mass here in Sienna where eighteen children had their first communion. Naturally, there are some doctrinal differences between an LDS baptism and a Catholic communion, but the two have the same purpose: helping people feel like they belong to something. I recognized how my own religious rites gave me my sense of belonging. My testimony of my Church influences the way I dress everyday, the way I talk, and the food I eat. My Church attendance gave me friends, confidants, and role models. This week was the fortieth anniversary of the 1978 Revelation; those of African descent were extended the blessings of the temple and Priesthood. It was appropriately titled: "Be One." In the April 2018 General Conference session, this was said: "You are a

How to Eat in Italy I could have used this blog post before I left for Italy. It is one thing to eat as a tourist in Italy, but it is an entirely different thing to eat food prepared by an Italian. The first thing you have to know is that what you see is not always what you get. The kitchen and the dining room are totally separate rooms in most Italian homes. You will likely never see the food that has been prepared until it is right in front of you. Italian tables are small, you see. In America, for dinner the food is all out on the table. This is not the Italian way. They will keep food in the kitchen until the next course. Some people have enough dishes for the world and will set out individual plates for every course. This is a pretty clear clue to Americans that there will be several rounds of food. But not everybody has that kind of dishware. Know that even if there are not several plates in front of you that there will be several courses.  Yes, that's right: &q