Rotary - First Meeting

So yesterday started off pretty normal, except that I had to wake up an hour earlier than usual to walk down the hill and catch the bus to school since my host father could not take Osvaldo and me. School was good, as usual, and afterwards I rode the bus back home with Osvaldo. I did a little bit of homework (Yup, my first real homework assignment in Italy, but it was in French). Then Osvaldo and I went outside to mow the lawn. Well, lawn is an understatement. I think “large amount of land around the house” is a better description of it. Anyhow, Osvaldo started using the large lawnmower cart (the kind you sit in and drive around), but I got to use a traditional push lawnmower. They did have another one like Osvaldo’s that I would have been able to use, but one of the conditions of my exchange is that I not allowed to drive any motor vehicle whatsoever. So I did it the harder way. After about almost an hour of mowing, Oscar came out of the house telling me that there was a change of plans and that I should hurry inside and change as fast as I could because we had to be at the Rotary meeting in Vicenza in twenty-five minutes. It takes almost fifteen to get there. I asked him what kind of clothes I should wear, expecting him to just want me to change from my t-shirt and ragged jeans into a collared shirt and my nicer jeans. He told me to dress with as nice of clothes as I had. I ran up to my room, and got all dressed up. Well that’s the first major difference between the Rotary club in Italy and the Summit County one. Here we are apparently expected to be very nicely dressed for dinner, while in Colorado it is a very casual breakfast event.


When we arrived at the restaurant, I was sporting my blue Rotary Youth Exchange blazer with various pins from other exchange students. Oscar and I met Lorenzo, my Rotary counselor and also my host mother’s uncle, in the parking lot. We walked in the gate to the restaurant’s garden and into the main indoor dining area. I saw the room where the meeting was to be held, and I noticed the main difference number two. The Summit County Rotary Club meets at the Community and Senior Center in Frisco, a large facility with more than enough room for the 150-ish Rotarians that attend. This room was about one-fourth of the size and had seats for only about 45 people, at the most. I met some of the Rotarians, and most of them seemed to be more or less like my counselor. Lorenzo, an older man probably in his late 70’s, is a prominent lawyer and one of the foremost politicians in Vicenza. I would be willing to say that the youngest Rotarian there was probably in his late 50’s or early 60’s. This is very different than the Summit club, which has a handful of member’s in their 30’s. Part of the reason for this, I believe, is that Rotary here is more of a social status organization than a service club, as it is in Colorado. During the part of the meeting in which the President goes over the weekly business, he only mentioned a lunch that they would be having this weekend and introduced me as well as a visiting Rotarian and the guest speaker. He summoned me to the podium to introduce me to the club, and I presented him a banner from the Summit County Rotary Club, but it does not quite have a place to go, as it would in Colorado. At the Senior Center, the Rotary Club has about a dozen massive banners draped on the walls and showing all of the small banners from around the world that the club has accumulated over the years. Back at my table, I asked the lady sitting next to me, what kind of service projects the club did, to which she replied that she does not think they have done one in quite a few years. That is definitely very different. Shortly after, our first course of rice with wild mushrooms arrived. I would not say that mushrooms are exactly my favorite vegetable. I can deal with them, but it is not what I would choose to eat every day if you know what I mean. I ate the rice, and then the second course came – polenta with wild mushrooms in the middle and a few little bits of meat in a wild mushroom sauce. I then eyed the menu that read, “Da Remo: specializzato in funghi da Colli Berici” or “Da Remo (the name of the restaurant): specialized in mushrooms from the Colli Berici (the nearby mountain group). After that, dessert came, and I have never had such good grape gelato. I guess I never really have had grape gelato, but it was heaven on earth. After that, a guest speaker spoke about the situation of water level in the Veneto region and the Vicenza province. After this was done, the meeting had gone over three hours long, while in Frisco it is usually limited to about an hour and a half since many people need to get to work afterwards.

All things considered, it was a great experience, and I might be going back next Thursday. It was nice to see a different approach to the Rotary system then what I am accustomed to. My counselor seemed apologetic that I had to go, for he thought that I would not like being around all these old people. After he saw that I do, indeed, like the presence of older folks, he invited me to go back sometime.

Today was nice because I got to start school an hour later and sleep in a little bit after a long day yesterday. I believe I will go to soccer practice tonight with Osvaldo.