For this blog, I wanted to gather some opinions of Americans (both the country’s culture and the tourists we provide to cities like Siena) according to both native Italians and fellow students from countries such as Switzerland, Germany, and Spain. For this survey, I was certain to ask for their honest opinions excluding study abroad students like myself, since there would likely be some positive bias when accounting for Americans who come to Europe with the sincere intention of learning a foreign language and culture.
I first turned to my cultural professor for his thoughts, as dozens of Americans were chatting outside the Galleria dell’Accademia (the museum containing Michelangelo’s David). He remarked most prominently that it’s a shame that so many people come to grand cities like Florence to see the art and take pictures, but not to fully absorb its significance. Indeed, as I saw, it can be hard to find sincere, invested American tourists who aren’t only there for photo ops; however, my professor assured me that this is not at all exclusive to Americans or even all other Europeans. He explained, some cities just “become” fully tourist cities over time, and some of Italy’s grandest towns are great examples of this. As a result, even native Italians will see them as a site for their own tourism, much like how we Americans may spend vacations in hot cities like New York, Miami, or San Francisco. So, while it was comforting to know that this isn’t exclusively an American phenomenon, it’s rather unbelievable to consider that Italy probably has a much larger ratio of touristy cities to total landmass than the U.S.!
I spoke to my peers in Italian class more about how they view American culture. Did they feel like they knew a lot about it, and was it because of how easy it is to share media internationally these days? And how would they define the stereotypical American?
To answer the second question first, the response was fairly unanimous: loud and outgoing! I found that pretty fair, and added myself that American tourists like to see everything, but they often don’t take the time to understand it all. I think it says a lot when Italian business employees are impressed with a young American speaking their language as best they can, but it’s always a good sign that language schools like the one I’m attending have a steady influx of American students!
According to these students, they feel they’re inundated with plenty of American cultural references in online spaces, especially through mediums like music and fashion which can be found very easily on social media. The fact that they knew about the Fourth of July last week really demonstrates how much our country permeates the Internet! Entertainment, however, is generally the most reach American culture has for European teenagers, as they all have their own values and beliefs as influenced by their upbringing in their own home countries. I think this interview in particular was really great for having an extremely casual conversation to compare customs and interests across nationalities, especially among my peers.