If I say Italy, what is the first word that comes to your mind?

That was the way we greeted the over 500 participants at G-Fest – the annual festival of the Global Language Network. The answers were varied: from Pasta and Pizza, to Rome and Love, to even Leonardo Da Vinci and    Michelangelo.

Our desk was full of Italian paraphernalia: Sicilian ceramics, books about the natural beauty of Italy’s regions, a soccer ball to remind us of our past successes, a huge Italian flag as backdrop and videos of Italy on our laptop. When we arrived (a little bit late, just to keep perfect Italian style) we found our “neighbors” already set up: the Japanese table on our right, and the Uruguayans on our left.

Then, at 3:00pm on the dot, the doors opened and people began arriving! I have never seen a more international crowd. With patience, they waited in line to visit the stands of each country and, of course, when they arrived at our Italian desk we entertained them with explanations, questions, info, and games! It was great to hear so many opinions about Italy and Italians, and I was personally pleased to see how many people were genuinely interested in learning more about our culture and life—of which they probably knew only the stereotypes. Our most popular game was the quiz! People had to guess the locations of the “capoluoghi”, written on a blank map of Italy. If they guessed 5 of them correctly, they got a free ticket for our Aperitivo Mensile! Not bad!!!

Read the rest of Daniela’s post here, and keep you eyes peeled for our post coming out later this week on G-Fest!