Under the tuscan sun
The trip that we took as a class to Tuscany this weekend turned out to be a very educational trip for me both in the academic sense of the word but also the personal sense of the word. I learned a lot about what it means to be a citizen in a community from many of the museums we visited, and I also learned about citizenship by simply observing my surroundings. The topic of citizenship is one that is very broad and for this reason there are so many different ways to learn about it. We all define citizenship in different ways. Many of those definitions have overlapping elements; however, to truly understand what it means to be a citizen I believe that as individuals we must attempt to understand the nuances in the different ways in which each person defines and acts out citizenship. For this reason it is important to consider all the different ways and outlets from which we can learn about citizenship.
Citizenship can be carried out on many different levels. It can range anywhere from major political figures doing their jobs within the government to everyday citizens just carrying out their typical habits. When touring some of the museums and churches in the different towns that we visited, we learned a lot about the former level. I personally am not a person that is very interested in things related to politics, so when it comes to learning about the government I’m typically not as interested as I probably should be. However, over this weekend I really started to see why exactly an organized government is such an important aspect of citizenship. The people who run the government help to create structure and plans for particular communities so that they can thrive. For instance, in Pienza the city was actually very meticulously planned out in order to be the ideal city. The work that government officials put into creating structure in turn affects the way in which everyday citizens then carry out their lives. Without a structure it would be more difficult for there to be an actual community where citizens can feel as if they belong. Where there is an organization of people, it is basically necessary for there to be an organized government.
When trying to understand what citizenship really meant to the citizens in the towns of Tuscany that we visited, the best way that I found to gain perspective was simply by observing everything that was going on around me. I was also able to have a few meaningful interactions with some locals which were also very helpful in gaining perspective. For instance, in the small town of Montichiello when walking through the streets a few of the other girls and I had an encounter with an elderly woman who was sweeping her porch. She saw that we were exploring the streets and so she caught our attention and gave us a recommendation on a nice spot to go observe. She was very kind in her demeanor and she even offered us some grapes that she had growing nearby. I know that in many places tourists aren’t very welcome; however, this woman treated us so kindly even though she could clearly tell that we were tourists. This gave me insight into what it meant to her to be a good citizen. Just by living in Venice it is easy to see how tourists can be considered a nuisance. This woman easily could have ignored us or even tried to shoo us away, but the fact that she showed kindness indicated to me that she found it important to incorporate all people into the community that she called home.
My experiences in Tuscany not only helped me gain a better understanding of what citizenship means to other people, but it also helped me realize more of what it means to me. I’ve never spent much time thinking about what it means to be a good citizen of a community. I’ve always just gone about my life in the way that I want. I do volunteer and do things to give back to the community, but this made me realize that there was one thing that I was holding back from it: myself. I give the community my time, but I’ve never really done anything to become personally invested into any community that I’ve been a part of. After observing how open the people in Tuscany were to their surroundings and the people around them, it made me realize that it’s one thing to give my time to my community but an entirely other thing to give myself to my community. After this trip, I’ve come to realize that part of my idea of being a good citizen now includes being someone who can invest themself into their community and the people in that community.
Overall, this weekend really taught me a lot about citizenship and what it means to different people from different places. It also taught me how all of the different definitions of citizenship are all a part of what it means to be a citizen of a community. There really is no concrete definition because everyone’s definition is colored by their own personal situations and experiences. Citizenship means different things to different people, and the only real way to learn about these perceptions are to go out into the world and experience them.
Citizenship can be carried out on many different levels. It can range anywhere from major political figures doing their jobs within the government to everyday citizens just carrying out their typical habits. When touring some of the museums and churches in the different towns that we visited, we learned a lot about the former level. I personally am not a person that is very interested in things related to politics, so when it comes to learning about the government I’m typically not as interested as I probably should be. However, over this weekend I really started to see why exactly an organized government is such an important aspect of citizenship. The people who run the government help to create structure and plans for particular communities so that they can thrive. For instance, in Pienza the city was actually very meticulously planned out in order to be the ideal city. The work that government officials put into creating structure in turn affects the way in which everyday citizens then carry out their lives. Without a structure it would be more difficult for there to be an actual community where citizens can feel as if they belong. Where there is an organization of people, it is basically necessary for there to be an organized government.
When trying to understand what citizenship really meant to the citizens in the towns of Tuscany that we visited, the best way that I found to gain perspective was simply by observing everything that was going on around me. I was also able to have a few meaningful interactions with some locals which were also very helpful in gaining perspective. For instance, in the small town of Montichiello when walking through the streets a few of the other girls and I had an encounter with an elderly woman who was sweeping her porch. She saw that we were exploring the streets and so she caught our attention and gave us a recommendation on a nice spot to go observe. She was very kind in her demeanor and she even offered us some grapes that she had growing nearby. I know that in many places tourists aren’t very welcome; however, this woman treated us so kindly even though she could clearly tell that we were tourists. This gave me insight into what it meant to her to be a good citizen. Just by living in Venice it is easy to see how tourists can be considered a nuisance. This woman easily could have ignored us or even tried to shoo us away, but the fact that she showed kindness indicated to me that she found it important to incorporate all people into the community that she called home.
My experiences in Tuscany not only helped me gain a better understanding of what citizenship means to other people, but it also helped me realize more of what it means to me. I’ve never spent much time thinking about what it means to be a good citizen of a community. I’ve always just gone about my life in the way that I want. I do volunteer and do things to give back to the community, but this made me realize that there was one thing that I was holding back from it: myself. I give the community my time, but I’ve never really done anything to become personally invested into any community that I’ve been a part of. After observing how open the people in Tuscany were to their surroundings and the people around them, it made me realize that it’s one thing to give my time to my community but an entirely other thing to give myself to my community. After this trip, I’ve come to realize that part of my idea of being a good citizen now includes being someone who can invest themself into their community and the people in that community.
Overall, this weekend really taught me a lot about citizenship and what it means to different people from different places. It also taught me how all of the different definitions of citizenship are all a part of what it means to be a citizen of a community. There really is no concrete definition because everyone’s definition is colored by their own personal situations and experiences. Citizenship means different things to different people, and the only real way to learn about these perceptions are to go out into the world and experience them.