#learningtheories

Here I am, on the island of Kos, enjoying the last hot day before going back to the rainy Denmark. I had a walk at the port and in town, curious to see for myself the damage of the earthquake happened on the 21st of July. The sight left me goose bumps…impressive! Now, I am ironically reflecting about my experience in Lipsi and writing, sitting next to the Tree of Hippocrates (one of the area most seriously affected), place in which he was writing himself and teaching mathematics to his pupils.

On the left: Earthquake damage to the church in town and the crack separating the main port from the main land.  On the right: a minaret damaged of the mosque.

 Hippocrates Tree before the earthquake...

...and after

Before leaving for my internship, I fixed 5 learning objectives…:

I.       Gain a better insight of Greek traditions, customs, food culture and social practices of the local community.

II.     Improve Intercultural Communication Competencies (ICC) in relation to health promotion and increase cultural sensitivity.

III.   Improve cooking skills and put in practice teaching methods in the area of nutrition and physical activity (PA)

IV.  Gain a broader insight of the dynamics of community development projects and health strategies in specific settings (e.g. targeting individuals during vacation, practicing responsible tourism and/or sustainable living) and how can the project be beneficial for individuals’ health and lifestyle choices

V.    Reflect on how a similar project could be implemented in a different setting or environment (e.g.  at the Danish Island of Bornholm)

 ...And what about the learning outcome?

Well, I feel that all the points mentioned above had been fulfilled and that I have learnt even more of what I expected. In details, point by point:

I.       I have learnt what Greek food culture is based on, the importance of food as a social practice, able to gather people together not only for the material act of eating, but also for sharing the daily experiences within family and friends. In other words, a moment in which adults transmit knowledge, traditions, values and customs to the younger once. Certain kind of food are seen like something “holy” and used as an homage during the Holy Mass. For coming to those final considerations, I had to reach the locals and not let them perceive me as a tourist or an outsider. So, learning the native language was fundamental to gain their trust and come closer, till feeling myself fully integrated. This gave me the opportunity to participate to some family dinners and while eating at restaurants in the area, I noticed that portions and alcohol (overall OUZO, the traditional liqueur) are a concern, no matter the Mediterranean diet is considered between the healthiest in the world. Almost everything is organic and still made by hands in a traditional way (e.g. cheese) and had the opportunity to assist and experience myself, how to use the most known and natural way of preservation (e. g. sun-dried figs and tomatoes, olives in sea water & dried tomatoes under oil).

 II.     Milton Bennett explains that intercultural understanding is an individual process and defines it as continuum of different levels of personal development in the recognition and acceptance of cultural differences. Developing intercultural sensitivity means to develop capability to recognize and to accept differences between cultures’ perception of the world. For me, it was particularly meaningful to conclude my internship in Greece for improving my ICC and pass from an initial stage of minimization, in which the existence of the others is tolerated, by minimizing the differences between groups, to an Ethno relativist stage of acceptance and adaptation. Learning Greek language, eating local food, wear Greek style clothing and attend festivals and ceremonies, not only helped me to gain a better understanding of who they are and reach better the target, but I can say that made me (partially) one of them. As a matter of fact, I absorbed and integrated some aspects of Greek behavior into my culture, such as cross myself every time I hear the sound of a church bell or eating lunch at 3 pm even now that I am back to Denmark!! :D. The activities at the farm were all run in an informal way and I had to take in consideration (overall during PA and coaching sessions) the multicultural environment and cultural differences. During the water-gym sessions, I could conclude on Katsadia beach, I dealt generally with people coming from European countries, though in 2 of the PA sessions 1 Muslim girl participated. Here is where, I realized that some kind of expressions and jokes used previously as a form of incitement would have not been appropriate or even may resulted offensive for her. I also thought to review my “energetic” tone of voice and body language, changing it in a more quiet and smooth one to result less aggressive. Moreover, I decided in those specific occasions to run the entire session wearing my shirt and avoid the bikini. So, as Fred Jandt explain in “An introduction to intercultural communication: Identities in a Global Community”, modifying proxemics (personal space), kinesics (body movement, gestures and facial expression), paralanguage (modulation of sounds and voice) and clothing & appearance permits to avoid nonverbal misinterpretation, that are a barriers to communication between different cultures.

 III.   Before starting my experience as an intern at the Dimitri’s farm, I organised and planned a couple of session of PA and had an idea on how to run food workshops, with the aim of spread knowledge about a healthy diet to follow and beneficial impact of organic and “slow food” on individuals’ lifestyle. Though, once there, I had to review my previous idea of “academic session” because it would have never had a high response or success in this special setting. People in vacation are not willing to sit indoor, in a closed space watching some slides and listening explanations, that might be considered boring, perceived as useless and time consuming. Individuals wants to have fun, relax, enjoy nature, learn and experience something new without feeling overwhelmed. That is why, I had the idea (in cooperation with my supervisor) to combine his Greek cuisine and culinary class with nutritional advise, of which I would have been the responsible. This solution gave the expected results, facilitating participation and attention of the guests in a very relaxed and friendly environment. The informal approach, in which nutritional knowledge and cooking skills were spread in the form of “tips” more than long explanations, resulted to be the most effective methods. Thus, leaving to the guest, not only an enjoyable and unique experience, but also the curiosity to ask me further details after class about the topics addressed, showing a genuine interest for them. During the workshops, the use of senses (e.g. taste, touch, smell) was the protagonist in this process of experiential learning. As Jarvis suggests, individuals learn as a “whole”, in which senses, feelings and emotions play a crucial role for the learning process itself and help not only to gather information from the world as receptors. In fact, taste is not only able to determine the taste in our mouth, but (combined to the other senses, feelings and the knowledge acquired during the workshop) is also valuable in the decision-making, such as liking or disliking a certain food in relation to a health-related purpose. In addition, we expect the appealing and enjoyable experience to facilitate endurable changes because people learn best when the topic is related to their own health and when feeling comfortable or having fun. Therefore, the expectation is for the guest to associate learning with “feeling good”, so that an affective outcome may be learnt combined to a cognitive one. The most amazing thing about this “combined” type of food workshops was “learning while teaching”, operating side by side with my supervisor to which I want to extend warm thanks for all the time, he dedicated to me and for all the knowledge, that he shared with us interns: “EFHARISTO’ POLI’ KOSTAS!!!” :).

As a PA session, I prior planned hiking/brisk walking combined with a final swim. Though, once in loco, I realized (also asking feedback to my supervisor and guests) that a session of water-gym would have been more appealing, appropriate during the hottest days (hiking under the sun could have caused a heat-stroke). Furthermore, it is convenient for involving everyone and diminish the risk of injuries: e.g. movements in water result more smooth and push less stress on the joints.  In addition, group activities facilitate motivation and adherence to the program or activity. All the sessions started with 5 minutes warm up on the beach, followed by exercise (aerobic & cardio) in the water, to end with a couple of games, with the hope for the session to result funny, engaging and motivate people to participate again. Through feedback from the guests I could adjust the duration (the first session resulted to be too short- 25 min) and always made sure to change the type of exercises and sequence not to bore the participants.

 IV.  For 6 weeks, I have lived at the farm in a community of 7 people of different nationalities and coming from different backgrounds. The amazing thing about it was, that differences between us have been an advantage instead of a barrier and that we could cooperate in the multiple daily tasks with no conflicts. Credit for that goes also to Kostas, able to coordinate the interns in relation of their study program, needs and specialization. This way every one of us could give their personal contribution during the activities, making it a special experience, in which the exchange of knowledge between us was as much valuable as it was the one offered to the guests. For instance, during food workshops, Kostas explained recipes and Greek food culture, I was teaching cooking skills and nutritional facts, Cristiana from Arkansas culinary arts and food composition, while Fanny from Brittany informed us on how to grow crops and integrate them sustainably into the landscape or on your own garden and balcony. Furthermore, the decisions approach of the community was “bottom up” giving every intern the freedom and responsibility to express their opinion and agree on the most beneficial solutions for all of us, supporting this way individuals’ positive mood and a harmonious coexistence.

At the farm, several guests & tourists were participating to the activities, some because aware of the existence from the website, others got caught up in the moment, while buying products at the shop and inspired to join us. Once again communication was the key to try to understand the reason of their participation and if/what a certain kind of experience or vacation would have an impact on their life once back in their homeland. I realized, that my previous education and tour leader skills, combined with the intercultural communication program included in the GNH curricula, enhanced my communication skills. Due to my previous job in tourism industry, I had to be able to deal with diverse people in different situations. Thus, I have always had good social skills (empathy and identity maintenance) and behavioral flexibility (ability to select an appropriate behavior in diverse contexts). Nevertheless, I feel I have improved my interaction management (ability of handling the procedural aspects of a conversation, such as attentiveness and responsiveness). As mentioned in previous posts, I understood from this experience, that when targeting individuals during vacation or a small, close community as the local in Lipsi, often a formal approach would not work. A list of questions, as the one that are specified on an interview guide, would bother the quiet and relaxation state those individuals are in. On the contrary, it was more effective to show a friendly and informal approach, as could be a chat with a person already met, an acquaintance. This sets people at ease and give them the autonomy to choose, what point to develop more and open up about. The challenge in this case was too keep the interlocutor “on the right track” for obtaining the information more relevant to my research, while being a good listener and demonstrating empathy and genuine interest.

My findings depicted, that individuals enjoy this type of vacation because reconnecting to nature, can have new experiences and because interested in farming, organic food/wine production, nutrition and healthy-sustainable living. They are generally prone to an active lifestyle, all seemed enthusiastic to meet new people and be involved in workshops and farm life. Every single tourist, I have talked to, seemed to be happy, seemed to “feel good”. But what will it happen when the vacation get to the end? When people will go back in their homeland and/or to their own routine? Will the Dimitri’s farm and the Nikita’s village experience and the knowledge acquired there, leave a mark in individuals’ life, so that would facilitate endurable, meaningful health-related choices? As I got to understand, THEY WILL. Though, the focus is not set on a physical state, but more on a psychological one for a complete sense of well-being. In fact, some admitted to have a sedentary life style at home for a lack of time, accessibility and motivation. Nevertheless, many of them mentioned to have changed their perspective on food ways and be more conscious/aware, while shopping and cooking (e.g. prefer organic products and start cooking themselves to reduce at minimum the consume of fast food). Although, what it was more meaningful to me, were declarations made, such as:” I feel regenerated when I go home because here, I can fully relax…” or “It is so peaceful here!”, in addition to other expressions, like: “Mental detox”, “No stress here”, “Time flies here…” or “Love those people!”. They all emphasize the fundamental role, that the mind, feelings and emotions play, for reaching a healthy condition. Thus, the psychological state is the first element to flourish for achieving a complete state of well-being.

V.  This internship made me understand, that a similar project can be implemented successful in a different setting. I say similar because some variable has to be taken in consideration, such as: climate conditions, conformation of the territory and access to resources, culture, religion, way of promoting health, population’s health-related issues, etc. I will write a report once back in Copenhagen to compare the experience and research done in Lipsi to Bornholm’s reality. The aim is to evaluate how to implement and adapt the project to the conditions and resources that the Danish island offers, underling pro and cons, limitations and barriers to it.