The Norman Transcript

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May 3, 2009

Officials from Arezzo, Italy, coming to Norman

For The Transcript

Two representatives of Arezzo, Italy's municipal government will be honored guests in Norman Thursday through May 11.

Vice Mayor Giuseppe Marconi of Arezzo, Italy, and Alessandro Caporali, assessor to international communications policy, also from Arezzo's municipal government, will be the guests of the University of Oklahoma's European Union Center and the City of Norman for an opportunity to "get to know" our community.

PASSPORTS -- Norman's International and Sister City Organization will take them to a variety of sights and scenes of Norman. They will visit the Thursday noon Norman Rotary Club, look in on a Norman public school and meet with City of Norman Mayor Cindy Rosenthal and officials. PASSPORTS has also arranged tours of the Sooner Theatre, the Crucible Foundry and the Bergey Wind Energy Company in addition to shopping and just looking around Norman.

PASSPORTS members will honor the Italian visitors with a reception and barbecue dinner Thursday night. Friday evening Vice-Mayor Marconi and Mr. Caporali will join the photographers of the Sister City Photo Contest and Exhibit at the Native Roots Market for a reception to kick off the "Second Friday Art Walk."

"Our organization, PASSPORTS, serves as hosts to official International visitors and exchanges. Norman's three Sister Cities, Clermont-Ferrand, France, Colima, Mexico, and Seika, Japan, stay involved with Norman through invitations for children's art exhibits, photos of community beautification projects, paired school pen pals, and both educational and cultural visits," said President Marles Bradley. "Within our organization, we have a variety of international interests. We are now updating our pool of host families for homestay settings for international guests. This doesn't happen often, but those who participate are always enriched by that simple gift of global hospitality and the new friendships that result. We invite Norman families who would like to join our list, to contact our organization through the e-mail normansistercities@yahoo.com.

"We also have committees for special events like our Sister City Photo Contest and Exhibit May 8," Bradley continued. "Students and adults interested in this can find the contest information on the Web ite www.passports.pbworks.com. The international photos can be from anywhere outside the United States. Our goal is to send the student photos from the contest representing the sights and scenes of their 'Hometown Norman' as a visiting exhibit to our Sister Cities."

PASSPORTS interacts with other Norman and state international groups like the Friends of the International Students at OU and the Ritsumeikan Exchange program of study for Japanese students as well as contacts through Norman's businesses and industries with international connections.

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