Today's guest speaker was Ben Scholte. Ben has just returned from a ten month stay in Italy, where he had an amazing time! His informative talk was illustrated by a photo presentation that told us that Ben spent alot of time on his bicycle and a fair bit of time on the railroad tracks -- glad you made it home safely, Ben!
Ben stayed with different host families but was in the general area north east of Milan, with beautiful mountains in the distance and fog instead of snow in the winter. Although on Christmas day it did snow and Ben and another Canadian dude went swimming - just to show their "Canadian-ness". Good for you, keep the colours red and white!
And speaking of the red and white, one of the things Bens' fellow international students liked to do was "photo bomb" the Stars & Bars when Ben was taking a pic of our flag.
Ben found school in Italy a little challenging, not only because of the language barriers but because secondary schools in Italy are graded by difficulty level and he was allocated the most difficult level of education available in the system. Double whammy! He mentioned that the Italian students had to study alot and the International students didn't so he and a couple of buddies had time to explore the country, taking a train or bike to do daytrips to hike, sightsee and explore (and get lost, which is part of every adventurous tourist experience!).
Suprisingly, what interested Ben the most in the course of his European travels was the different architectural design of cathedrals in different countries. He showed us through photos how cathedrals in Italy had "pointy" spires and those in France (Notre Dame, par example) are blunted, or flat on top.
It sounds like Ben had the trip of a lifetime, made new friends (notably the Asian girl who followed him EVERYWHERE), and learned alot about other cultures, people and probably himself.
Thanks for the interesting talk, Ben. Good luck to you. Glad you made it home safely....
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