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In Italy, there are many social problems. Two that I found particularly interesting is their extreme drought as well as their dealing with refugees.

On the conversation of refugees, I talked to people working at refugee camps, Refugees, and native Italians without any direct insight into the issue. Many people mentioned the peculiar situation of Italy going from a country with huge portions of the populations fleeing poverty and going to the US and Brazil to a country with millions of people trying to sneak into the country every year through dangerous, overpacked boats from Africa. Italy is also not a country with a flourishing economy as I originally imagined. Therefore, the idea of people going to Italy for better job opportunity is very unexpected.

One idea that I heard about during my Italian class in the fall and then researched more since being over here is the 1 Euro houses in southern Italy. These are attempts to protect small towns currently abandoned due to young Italians fleeing to big cities like Milan, Rome, or leaving Italy entirely in search of work. There has been a recent movement to try to integrate many of the incoming immigrants into these places to reduce the depopulation currently occurring there. While this is a good idea for depopulation, it doesn’t address the fact that these people are trying to get into Italy for economic opportunity not present in the South.

When I first arrived, I realized that the difference between vocabulary used in class and what is used on a day-to-day basis in real conversation don’t perfectly overlap. Needing to find the word for different cooking utensils, directions, etc. were vocabulary we covered but not practiced repeatedly was a struggle. Additionally, the imperative tense is used very infrequently in an academic setting but in daily conversations it is used every other sentence. 

Additionally, I had never realized that the phrases used by my professors weren’t just indirect translations, instead, they were active parts of native speaker’s day-to-day. For instance, “Dimmi!”, meaning “tell me,” is a staple of an Italian conversation. While the direct translation continues to sound demanding and rude to my ears, Italians use it in the same way as “yeah what’s up?” when someone addresses you by name. Every person I have met uses dimmi, and while I will need to intentionally think to use it, I will be trying to integrate this more and more into my Italian.

Furthermore, people use the word “Vabbé” constantly. Meaning something close to “oh well,” it is a slang from the phrase “Va bene” and has now turned into an active part of their vocabulary. This is something I have begun to say, even muttering to myself when alone. Knowing how the word was created makes me appreciate it, and using this and other small phrases repeatedly throughout the day helps keep me into an Italian mindset.

Rose here – due to one or two technical difficulties, I’m posting my blogs a bit later than expected. While it might have been better to relate my experience in real time, perhaps one advantage of my procrastination is my ability to recognize in hindsight what misconceptions I had about Cusco when I arrived. With the strong understanding of Peruvian history and culture that I have now, I can appreciate more fully everything that I’ve seen as I look back on the more than 20 full-day tours, hikes and experiences that I’ve done so far. I have more to say than I can possibly fit into a series of blog posts, but I’d like to relate my experience here as thoroughly as I can, starting with my arrival of Cusco.

In population, Cusco is about the size of my hometown, Buffalo, but in appearance it could not be more different. Nestled in a valley in the middle of the indescribably large Andes, Cusco is a mass of of brick and concrete buildings that all seem stacked precariously on top of one another. The streets are lined with hostels, small restaurants and cafés, and markets that sell everything from bike chains to underwear. The sidewalks are full of pedestrians, stray dogs, and women selling delicious picarones, kebabs, or fresh fruit juices from carts. Kids walk to school in school uniforms consisting of tracksuits and brightly colored traditional ponchos. Taxis, motorcyles and tour buses honk to get your attention as they whip around the streets without any respect for traffic laws. Massive cacti and desert flowers decorate the parks and doorsteps of the houses.

The center of the city is full of hotels, murals and statues celebrating the history of Cusco, and plenty of the buildings and streets were constructed by the Incas in their distinct, immaculately cut stone style. At the very center of the city is the beautiful Plaza de Armas, which is full of tourists, expensive restaurants and vendors advertising massages, shoe shines, and souvenirs. Colonial Catholic churches surround the Plaza, which the Spanish conquistadors intentionally built on top of each of the most important Inca palaces and temples in order to establish their religious dominance. This is one of the many sad truths that the city remembers about the Spanish conquest, but the Plaza de Armas makes sure to commemorate the native history of Cusco with a massive golden statue of Pachacuteq, the most famous and successful Inca emperor.

North of the Plaza, as the narrow streets start to climb the steep mountains surrounding Cusco, are the picturesque areas of San Blas and San Cristobal. These areas are characterized by original Inca streets lined by white colonial-style houses with clay tiled roofs. I get my coffee at the Café Siete Borreguitos (Seven Lambs Cafe) in this area. A cappuccino, some ice cream and a picturesque view of the city comes out to just 10 soles, or about $2.75.

To finish out my first week of classes, I went with my private professor, Angela, to a viewpoint in San Blas that overlooks the whole city. From here you can see the Plaza, the futbal stadium, and my Spanish school, Maximo Nivel. Here I have private Spanish classes for four hours a day. Coming here, I thought I knew a good amount of Spanish, but it turns out that I’ve forgotten a lot of my Spanish in the semesters since I’ve taken language classes. Maximo Nivel started me in the most basic level, but I’m learning so quickly that it seems my Spanish skills double every day.

That’s all for now, but stay tuned so I can introduce my host family and more of my experiences in Cusco!

How do the French view Americans: our culture and our country?

I heard more than once within my first two weeks from French counterparts, “We work to live while Americans live to work.” That definitely caught my attention. What I have gathered is that the French see Americans as overly preoccupied by money, success, and material goods. According to the French culture, at least according to the French individuals that I interacted with, the American obsession with work takes away from our appreciation of the other enjoyable aspects of living. This is actually represented in various social rules. For example, the French that I met were not worried about being exactly on time to class, events, or meals, whether that was 5 minutes or 30 minutes late, and they saw the American goal of being incredibly structured and on time as representative of our overly rigid cultural mindset ‘time is money’.

I particularly understand why the French may put a negative connotation toward the American value of work and success after better understanding the French culture. Within the French government and society, they place much importance on leisure. For example, offices in France typically close during lunch so that all workers can leave and enjoy a 1 and a half hour lunch either by themselves or with friends at a local cafe or bistro. There is a 35-hour full-time work week compared to the 40-hour week in the states. Wine is a staple at both lunches and dinners, and France is actually one of the leading producers of wine in the world. Governments both locally and nationally prioritize cultural identity and leisure by organizing festivals of music and arts as well as cultural centers. Walking or biking from place to place is common, especially in bigger cities. Every day and night, I walk through the city and see the value of the casual, slower pace of life. I see countless outdoor terraces filled with people, live music, glasses of wine, and both young and old French citizens enjoying delicious food and the company of their friends. In Tours particularly, most everyone at one point of another ventures out to the Ginguette, an outdoor venue right by the river which has dancing, concerts, and restaurants (and even a ferris wheel).

In terms of behaviors, I realize that the French often see Americans as being rather loud and outgoing, both in positive and negative ways. In a positive way, this means kind and agreeable, but in a negative way, this means obnoxious, entitled, or naive. Generally, this comes from the differences in cultural gestures, mannerisms, and rules of engaging. The French more generally put emphasis on being polite, respectful, not overly imposing; therefore, they are more familiar with reserved natures and are a bit taken aback by the perceived imposing personalities of Americans.

Politically, I was surprised to hear some of the opinions of my counterparts. They saw the USA as being more restricted in freedom than we believe, and more restricted in freedom relative to France. This makes sense when taking into account the French belief of the power of the people, as it holds more protests than any other country in Europe and holds some of the most large-scale protests of any country in the world. Further, my counterparts could not fathom the ubiquitous presence of arms and guns, as well as gun violence, within the US population, as guns are not widely desired or possessed by French citizens with the exception of those who hunt. However, with that being said, many French hold a respect for the United States and our influence within the world. They respect our economic power which drives parts of the world economy as well as sectors of our entertainment business, like Hollywood which is a hub of world-renowned music and cinema.

Just like any culture to another, there are certainly negative and positive regards held by the French culture towards Americans. And of course, there are widely ranging differences of beliefs between the French citizens towards Americans as well. Overall, I benefitted greatly from seeing my country from a new perspective and how cultural values bleed into society through the various social rules and opinions towards other cultures.

One thing I have noticed is a type of slang called verlan that I have only heard used by young French speakers. It comes from the word “envers” which means inverse. The word itself is inverted to create ‘verlan’. Essentially, this type of familiar language inverts syllables of words to create the new words. Some of the most popular examples are meuf, the inverse of the word “femme” which means woman as well as vénère which is the inverse of  “énérvé” and means angry. The verlan words always carry roughly the same significance as the original words but can have different connotations. In particular, I would never use verlan in writing or in any sort of professional or formal contexts. Typically it is only spoken and remains between ‘les jeunes’ (youth), although middle-aged and potentially more aged French speakers may be familiar with some verlan. It is considered not “la langue soutenu” or higher level language, and in a classroom setting, my professor would critique this type of speech. 

What I also noticed but did not expect is the amount of English words adopted into the French language as slang. These anglicismes are also used by young people informally in a manner similar to that of verlan. Notably, the majority of French young people have in the least an intermediate level of English due to their schooling but also a substantial colloquial understanding of English due to the popular consumption of American (and British English) media. Because of this, it is common for young French speakers to adopt various English words like crush (infatuation), date (go out with someone), and cool (impressive), which all carry the same significance as they do in English. There’s also other examples like ‘dead ça’ which means ‘killed it’ or ‘crushed it’ in French. My host mom, who is in retirement, has never used language like this, and I would not use any of this informal language with her because in the worst case scenario, she would find it rather offensive, and in the least, she would not be able to quite understand or relate. In fact, my host mentioned that she did not understand much English at all, which is different from the average French young person.

One of the main phrases I have picked up on that my host mom uses is “ça va te faire du bien/ça va te faire du mal”, which literally translates to ‘that will do you well, do you bad’. It is a versatile phrase which just essentially means that something will be helpful/good to you or not good/helpful to you. I picked up on how often she uses this phrase, and I gather that it is only used with people who one knows fairly well, as it is somewhat informal and not a phrase that I would use in the classroom or a social setting where higher professional language is required. 

A heartwarming example is that my host mom uses pet names for my roommate and I. She refers to me as ‘ma fille’ and refers to him as ‘mon grand’ which literally translates to ‘my girl’ and ‘my big’ but intuitively acts as terms of endearment. I find it sweet, and it makes me feel more comfortable in her home.

Based on my prior stereotypical expectations of the French diet, I expected to encounter a fair amount of bread, as baguettes are often the symbol of French cuisine in American media, yet what I have come to quickly realize is that bread is truly a significant, foundational part of the French diet. In fact, à mon avis (in my opinion), the French have perfected the art of bread-making after over more than a couple centuries of practice. 

Thus far, one of my favorite ways of exploring the city has been venturing with friends to a different boulangerie, or bread shop, each day for lunch. In the city of Tours, you can’t travel more than a block without coming across a boulangerie, each attracting the eye and the nose as much as the next. Peaking through the boulangerie windows, you’ll typically find an array of beautiful pastries to draw in customers. There’s the mille-feuille, a layered dessert of puff-pastry and custard, chocolate eclairs, macarons, fruit and custard tarts, and more. You also can’t ignore the other pastry staples like the pain au chocolat, a croissant with a chocolate filling. Above all, on the wall behind, you find the wall of breads, a variety of artisanal loaves which send the nutty aroma that lingers all throughout the shops. Most notably, there is the baguette, which directly translates to ‘stick’ or ‘baton’ in English, as well as the brioche, a softer, sweeter loaf made with eggs and butter, and the pain de campagne, the ‘country bread’ that is a type of sourdough and typically shaped round. The bread is then accompanied by a plethora of sandwich options, usually with a type of fresh cheese, cured meat (such as ham), tomato, or added sauce. My personal favorite right now has been a sandwich called ‘le végé brie’. The base is a whole grain sourdough bread with pesto, fresh sliced brie cheese, tomatoes, and leafy greens. If I’m being honest, it is probably the best sandwich I have ever had in my life (especially compared to the peanut-butter and jelly sandwiches I was used to eating for school lunches from grade school into college).

Yesterday, my professor took our class on a field trip to a local institution centered around cuisine education. We dove into cookbooks and guidebooks which particularly opened my eyes to the aspect of precision involved in the baguette-making process. The bread’s final quality is of the utmost importance, so french bakers make sure first and foremost to pay close attention to where they source the flour. During the process, bakers measure, mix (to develop the gluten), divide, proof, mold, proof again, score (create thin slices on the top), steam bake, and then bake the bread normally. In the end, it is critical that the bread be crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside, as well as 60 to 70 centimeters long. In terms of ingredients, there is actually a French law, created in 1993, that states the traditional baguette must be baked at the location where it is sold and only consist of wheat flour, water, yeast, and salt.

At the local train station in Tours, I actually found a baguette vending machine. While I let out a chuckle at first, it made me realize just how ubiquitous the baguette, and bread in general, are in France both throughout the country tangibly and also within its culture. I have noticed that my host mom has incorporated bread into nearly every meal she has served to me: baguette and a slice of brioche accompanied by jam and butter at breakfast, meat and salad with baguette slices at dinner. She also told me how she only gets her bread, as well as her vegetables, fruits, and meats, from the market, which is entirely locally sourced, so it is clear how quality of the products and the bread in particular are incredibly important to her. In fact, she even apologized to me when she felt that the bread was a tiny bit stale (which had gone completely unnoticed to me). 

I learned a bit of the history behind the French bread and the baguette. Bread was a staple of the French diet dating back to the 1700’s, requiring almost ¾ of the average household budget at the time. The color of the bread, based on the flour from which it was sourced, began to represent social class. The rich had access to the fine, white bread, whereas the poor and working class were left with the darker grain bread. After a period of economic struggle, the poor faced starvation and lacked quality bread, which of course had been the base of their diet. This essentially incited a national revolution, and after the fact, a legislation was passed that proclaimed there would be no difference between bread served to the rich and the poor, a “bread of equality”. The number of bread specialists and artisans began to increase. Eventually, a law was passed that prohibited workers and bakers from working before 4am, so the bakers created a baguette which did not require overnight preparation. As a result of this law and the invention of the steam oven at this time, the baguette quickly began its journey to becoming a staple in the French kitchen.

In general, it is clear just how valuable the baguette and artisan bread remain in the French identity. There are countless common colloquial expressions centered around bread such as ‘long comme un jour sans pain’ (long/difficult like a day without bread) and ‘partir comme des petites pains’ (selling like bread (quickly)). President Emmanual Macron sums up the value of bread perfectly in his comments, “The baguette is the envy of the whole world… This excellence and this savoir faire must be preserved.”

One dish I had quite a few times while studying abroad was “khachapuri,” which is extremely popular in Georgia. It is essentially bread and cheese, with the Adjarian version (Batumi is in the region of Adjara) throwing an egg, or just the yolk, on top at the end of the creation process. During my stay, my host family not only made the Adjarian version but also the Penovani version of khachapuri for me, and I had both versions in different restaurants during other outings. During my last stay in Tbilisi, the night before my flight home, I tried the Megruli version of khachapuri as well…all super delicious! In Batumi, the Adjarian version is very popular and instantly recognizable from the first time you are made familiar with the dish. While it is a part of everyday life, and acceptable to order at every meal, it is also used for celebrations and for treating guests. On my first Saturday in Batumi (when I didn’t have to be up as early for class), my host grandma, Nanuli made me my first khachapuri for breakfast! What is different about the Adjarian version is that it is shaped like a boat — to sail across the vast expanses of the Black Sea, and the egg yolk that lays on top of the cheese represents the gentle, yet bright, sun of Adjara and the coastal community from which the dish originated. 

While I often eat most of my food with a fork and knife (a habit I acquired from having braces), khachapuri should be eaten by tearing small chunks of the hot bread from the sides of the “boat” and dipping it into the middle with the melted cheese, butter, and flowing egg yolk. Megruli khachapuri is different as it is essentially like a double cheese pizza, and Penovani khachapuri is like a puff pastry with cheese flowing throughout the layers, which my host mom made me once for breakfast as well! While I only had three versions of khachapuri, there are many, many more, and I am sure if you ever get to try any you will not find a version that is not delicious and that you do not enjoy. I loved this dish so much that since I’ve been home I have practiced making it multiple times for my family, which has been fun to share with them. While I may be impartial to Adjarian khachapuri because of its presentation and the meaning behind it, and because I spent most of my time in Batumi, you will come across this amazing food at almost every step you take in Georgia, as khachapuri is the country’s national dish, and rightly so! Приятного аппетита!

During my summer abroad studying Spanish in Buenos Aires, Argentina, I realized that I have a passion for becoming proficient in new cultures. Learning about Argentine culture while simultaneously improving my Spanish for a month was an invaluable experience for me. My worldview has never felt more expansive because I was able to make real connections with Spanish speakers, speaking their language, and physically being there with them in their home country. I have become friends with Latinos in the United States, but meeting them in Argentina in their first language enabled me to form what I felt to be more meaningful connections. 

If I could give advice to future SLA grant recipients I would emphasize the importance of being patient with yourself as you learn and others as they get to know you more. It is extremely difficult to immerse yourself in a new country, culture, and language. It is ridiculous to expect to be at the level you want as soon as you arrive. Make sure you give yourself the time you need to adjust and absorb your surroundings, the conversations you’re having, the places you’re seeing, the food you’re eating, and everything else. Equally important is being patient and understanding with the new people you interact with. Chances are that the people in the country that you are visiting do things differently than what you are used to. It is easier said than done, but try your best to be understanding of these cultural differences and realize that it takes time for everyone to adjust. 

I had an insightful interaction with a Brazilian cashier at a tourist shop in La Boca. When I first started talking to her, she seemed somewhat relieved at my accent and jokingly expressed her embarrassment that her Castillian Spanish was not as good as mine. She told me that learning Spanish when Portuguese is your first language is not that difficult, but requires motivation and frequent practice. Due to the similarities between the two languages, it can be easy to lose motivation to speak the other language, since many native Portuguese speakers can understand Spanish with little difficulty and vice versa. She also explained to me that Argentine slang words are hard to pick up and apply to her everyday conversations. However, the same can be said about Brazilian slang. And, while she does love Argentina and the people she has interacted with since she started living here, she has a strong sense of national pride for her home country, Brazil. 

The second person I talked to was Juana, a young woman from Venezuela. She moved to Argentina a year ago to pursue an education in nursing. She also expressed frustration at the distinctness of Argentine slang and joked that people in Buenos Aires can tell that she is foreign almost instantly. She lives in Recoleta, a neighborhood in Buenos Aires known for attracting people from all around the world, so she admitted that she does not feel out of place in Argentina. However, she did say that outside of Recoleta and in other neighborhoods, she feels like more of an outsider. At one point she and her mother were walking in La Boca and were ridiculed by a group of Argentine teenagers for the way they looked. Aside from this disturbing experience, Juana felt very comfortable being Venezuelan in Argentina.

Hearing about what Argentines thought about the United States was fascinating. I was able to have conversations with two members of my host family: Lautaro, a 20 year old male, and Natalia, my host mother. With Natalia I discussed what it meant to be “American.” She expressed frustration with the divide between North and South America and, jokingly, refused to acknowledge that they were two separate continents. I noticed that many people in Natalia’s generation shared this sentiment. Her boyfriend, Alejandro, for example also held this view. 

Additionally, in this blog post is an image my friend and I captured of street graffiti saying, “Sabes que America es un continente? No es un país.” Translated, this means “Did you know that America is a continent and not a country?” This belief reveals that Americans can be perceived by the public as somewhat self-centered and closed-minded. It also could refer to the common error that many people who visit Argentina from the United States make in referring to themselves as “Americanos” rather than “Estadounidense.” This mistake is considered offensive because many Argentines also consider themselves Americans (referring to the continent), so it is correct for people from the United States to refer to themselves as being from the US.

It is important to note, however, that Natalia spoke very fondly of the United States and of the US people in general. She has had great experiences in New York City, since her ex-husband owned property there. She enjoys watching films that take place in New York and even purchases her silverware and cooking supplies from there when she visits. She does admit, though, that the people from Buenos Aires are generally speaking more friendly than New Yorkers.

In my conversation with Lautaro, we also discussed what it meant to be American, but he held more lighthearted views on people from the US referring to themselves as “Americans.” He was excited to hear my thoughts on the overturning of Roe v. Wade that had just happened a week into my trip. I was also able to have lengthy conversations about American political issues with three Argentinian women who were also 20 years old (Malena, Sol, and Catalina). The girls were appalled at the overturning of Roe v. Wade, but were not surprised considering the gun violence that has been present in world media in these past few months. They thought that many Americans are numb to the world around them and indifferent to the big political issues and the lives being lost. 

Throughout all of my conversations with Argentines about their opinions on the United States, they were respectful and kind to me. Most of the conversations I had included something along the lines of “Argentines will welcome you and treat you as equals, but when roles are reversed, and Argentines are in the US, they are not treated so kindly.” I will admit that I was blown away by the hospitality that the Argentine people showed me during my month in Buenos Aires.