The idea origin
Robi and Manu
At the back, in the background, Lake Garda, the biggest in Europe, few kilometers away from Verona.
"We have always tried to teach our children the importance of assessing situations from different points of view, from the others’ one, too: something that we take for granted others might not. The encounter of different cultures allows us to improve our open-mindedness and understanding of the world we live in"
As a parent I highly value the holidays I spend with my family.
You have more time together than you have on workdays, you can have fun and make new friends.
In my opinion the best holidays are those you spend abroad hosted by a family who can explain the distinctiveness of places, food, way of life..
For example by getting to know a French family with a structure similar to ours we, parents and children, learnt a lot about their culture and are now more aware about the real situation in that country.
By talking about the school of one of their children we got to know about their school system and when they told us about their other son’s first job, we understood that their apprenticeship system is quite the opposite of banal.
Now we know much more about wine, cheese and local food. Thanks to this friendly relationship the knowledge about their culture is not confined to gossip on the “première dame” and her partner.
To get to the point, my eldest son attends the second year in a technical school in Verona and we are aware of the important role English plays in his education, we also wish to widen our horizons by getting to know an English speaking family. All this has led me to imagine the project “Exchange Holidays in Italian Families”.
I shared my thoughts with a group of parents I am friendly with and together we created a web-site. Please read it, enjoy the reading and have a good holiday!
Negrar, May 2nd, 2012
(Robi)
