NDC, Viterbo and Gelato: my last weeks in Rome

As my time in Rome is quickly coming to an end, I am spending my last few weeks making sure I connect with all the great people I have met. It is always hard to close a cycle, this is specially the case for me because I find it very hard to say goodbye to people.
Even so, this past week has been very special as I have had the opportunity to interact with many of the course members and the staff at the NDC in a more personal way. I have gone to dinner with three of the course members (from Belgium, Turkey and the US) and through our conversations I have not only learned more about them and their experiences, but they have also shared a lot of valuable life lessons with me. It is truly inspiring to hear what they have to say and to see all the things they have done that have led them to where they are today.

With some of the Course Members at "Jolie Jeudi" (social event in the evening)

I also took a day trip to Viterbo with one of the women that works at the college. Viterbo is a medieval city an hour away from Rome. It was founded by the Etruscans and later taken over by the Romans. Through its history, it developed into an important medieval center, and in the 13th century became the seat of the popes. During WWII it was bombed heavily in WWII, but a lot of its historic areas survived and today it is a great place to visit. Instead of boring you will all the details, here are some pictures. This particular day, there was a flower market all around the city which made it even prettier and a wonderful place to walk around.

 

The gelato festival also took place this weekend. I joined my roommate and her friend and together we went to check it out. I have never eaten so much ice cream in my life! The festival was a competition and visitors were invited to taste all the flavors and vote for their favorites. I don´t think we even made it through half of them but it was pretty amazing. Among my favorites there was a pistachio gelato, a strawberry red pepper sorbet and a dark chocolate rum gelato.

Strawberry red pepper sorbet

Me in a coma after so much gelato!

Finally this weekend I also organized a group tour as part of the Arts and History program at the College. The tour was about Caravaggio in the Churches and although I have been helping with this program throughout my time at the NDC, this time I was pretty much the one responsible for the logistics and the staff in charge during the event. What is nice about having this responsibility is knowing they trust me and that I am a reliable part of the team. The tour was really interesting and it was wonderful to get to see Caravaggio´s work in the settings and environment they were meant to be seen.

One of Caravaggio´s works

After the tour, the Course Members that attended insisted I join them for a drink. During these couple of hours I got into some very interesting conversations. Among them I began discussing feminism with one of the officers. The truth is I have never really considered myself a feminist in the way many of my peers do. I think that for me, in order to deal with inequality I have always tried to prepare myself as much as I can to be able to get the jobs that I wish to attain. However, during my time in Rome, I have felt that my role as a women is sometimes predefined, and my reasons for being here have sometimes been questioned. Even so, I have felt as though I have been able to prove that I am as capable as a guy and that I have a reason for wanting to be at NATO and for being there as well.
Even so, during this particular conversation, I was a little surprised to hear the course member tell me that is was undeniable that women and men have different aspirations. I believe that our aspirations are determined by our interests and what we want from life and not by particular societal norms, which is what I told him.
Without getting into much more detail, our conversation touched on aspects of being attracted to somebody in a professional environment. It seemed to me that in his view a man had to act on these emotions, however, this completely overlooked the fact that women may be attracted to somebody as well. In the end all I can say is that there are assumptions in place that really do make female/male interactions in the workplace difficult and sometimes even uncomfortable. This may be even more noticeable because of the military environment I have been working in. However, I do think that these conversations need to be had, but more than that, as individuals, we should not let society determine what we can, cannot, should or shouldn´t do. Our limitations are set by ourselves and only we are capable of achieving our own goals through hard work.