Big trouble in little Paderno

Our program coordinators announced at lunch that we had an emergency meeting at 12:45 with the Paderno mayor and Dr. Al Ringleb, the program director. Of our this was all we talked about at our "mess hall" type tables. What happened last night? Why are we in trouble?

Well...a bar in Crespano has Cowboy night on Wendesday and they also serve cheeseburgers (I hear they are incredible, which is quite a change from european's take on one of my favorite foods back home) and 1 euro beers. A good amount of students taxied there were to Crespano to enjoy the club. Apparently none of them knew about the strippers that were there (but that didn't stop them from partaking in the entertainment...)

The mayor (translated by Anna, our Italian office assistant who is amazing) said last night a park bench was moved into the middle of the street, bottles were broken, people urinated on gates, there were noise complaints. A couple weeks ago he found vomit in the bushes... basically tons of drunken college behavior that is unacceptable in Europe, Italy and this small town. In response to the CIU student's behavior, the mayor said he would like the guilty parties to admit they were involved, disclose where they drank and he will shut down all the bars that serve them.

After the mayor left, Al closed the door to the auditorium and apologized to the 99 percent of us not involved. However, in Italy you are guilty until proven innocent. He'd spent all morning on the phone with the consulate figuring out what to do. If the students come forward, and Al gets them out of the country, he thinks they will be able to avoid jail time. If they stick around Italy and it later arises they were involved, they'll get three years of jail time. Al said he was willing to work with the home institutions so these students can still get credit for class through independent study but it's important they go home. If this issue isn't resolved, the program could get shut down. Al had to stop talking because he was about to cry. To see him break down...it just intensified the severity of the situation even more. We feel bad for him because of the looming repercussion that this program could suffer as a result of a handful of students' poor choices.

I leave in a few hours for Interlaken, so we probably won't find out who did it or what's going to happen to them until after the extended weekend...when they possibly don't come back for good. I'm just thankful I had a midterm this morning so I stayed in last night to study!