To go to a country and experience so many new things that you never expected is one thing, to experience something that you never saw imaginable is something else. Coming to Italy, I didn't know what to expect when it came to culture and how certain aspects were expressed but was open to many new things. Italy is known to have many traditions that can capture the eyes of so many people. With this being said, Italy throws what is known as "Carnivale" all over the country. This is one day that everyone in the country can go crazy, drink whatever they would like, and act and perform however they feel without judgement. My class had the opportunity to go and experience carnivale in Viareggio, Italy. Here, we experienced things such as a ginormous whale with trash all around it or many different displays of Donald Trump in order to spread some type of message, whatever it may be. There were displays of very large women that were such a representation of grotesque and burlesque that although we weren't exactly sure what they represented, we could see that it spread such a large message. The constant builds of Trump figures showed how a burlesque technique could be used to represent and define the common comedy that comes from Donald Trump such as a large neck and moving eyebrows. These types of humor and so many more represented the whole idea of carnivale and how people are able to make fun of others while spreading a message without being shamed by them in any way. I will forever be grateful that my professor, Dr. Tarvin dragged us across the country to experience something so incredible. It was something that I, myself, have never experienced before in my life and opened my eyes up to so many different types of communication than I ever thought possible. I had such the time of my life there and just being able to be myself in such a large place where nobody could care less is truly incredible.
