Author: jwilde2

It’s not everyday that you get a grant to travel overseas and immerse yourself completely in another culture. Although it is very hard to organize and honestly pretty stressful to execute, it has the possibility to be one of the most important things you do in your life. I found this out on my trip to Italy this summer. 

Living with a host family was probably the best decision I made beforehand. Every night I would be eating the freshest food and having amazing conversations all in Italian every single night. I probably looked forward to dinner more than anything else during the day which sounds weird but it was just that good. I learned so much about Italian culture from those conversations which is insane to me. Only five weeks!

Another thing that was amazing was being able to appreciate the ancient nature of Italy. As a kid, it’s hard to grasp how long one thousand years is but as a young adult it enhances the experience so much more. I wasn’t just looking at an old church. I was looking at an old church that had been built by Romans or one that had taken 500 years to build. Truly eye opening in that respect. 

My main takeaway about Italian culture is the feeling of togetherness that is so important for them. Dinner and lunch are always eaten as a family. Mom and dad come home from work and the kids sometimes even come home from school just to be together. You stay near where you live for university and huge family gatherings are commonplace and almost seen as necessary. There is an important idea of hospitality that dates back to the ancient Greeks that makes everyone welcoming. Italians are quick to crack a joke but then will work tirelessly to help you, completely going out of their way to do so. I really wish this feeling of unity could become commonplace in the United States as well. 

Overall, an amazing and eye opening experience. I cannot wait to go back. 

While Italy and the United States are very similar in many aspects, this trip has opened my eyes more fully to the cultural differences that exist between these two countries.

One of the largest cultural differences that I noticed during my time here in Italy was that although there is this large stereotype of “la dolce vita” here in Italy, the Italian people are very hardworking. Their idea idea of leisure also differs heavily from the idea of leisure in the US. While in the US there is a strong inclination to always travel at least out of state and lots of times out of the country, many Italians prefer to stay close to home while on vacation, venturing only to other parts of the European Union at the most.

When going out, say, on a Friday night, they are completely focused on being with others. There are not many places where music is playing so loud that you can’t hear yourself think. Everybody is with their friends to drink a little, smoke a little, but not go too far. Alcohol is not the goal, connection is. While there is indulgence, strong societal norms instilled through familial tradition and religion are very strong in regulating the lives of young people. There is a self-respect and many people are not out only to forget the week but rather to enjoy their social time.

These ideas also tie in heavily to the ideas that Italians are not comfortable in ambiguous or uncertain situations. They are okay with the status quo most of the time, even if it is inefficient, even if it is costly. There is want of permanence and for good reason in my opinion. While what we do in the US by always seeking to improve and make more efficient is important, there is something to be said for accepting some inefficiency for the sake of peace of mind. There is a very relaxed and comfortable atmosphere in almost all of Italy. While this can be dangerous, overall, it leads to a very enjoyable lifestyle.

My second critical incident occurred when I was trying to buy a gift of candy for my host family. Obviously wanting to speak Italian to checkout, I went to cashier fully prepared to speak to him. Instead, I was only responded to in English. 

My initial response was being taken aback. Having my mind fully prepared in another mode of thinking leaves you very vulnerable to a shock like this and I was not prepared for it. This reveals the cultural expectation of mine that I was expecting most people in stores in a country to only speak the language of said country when in reality, if there is any doubt of speaking the language, the default language is English. 

At first I was frustrated because just based off of appearance the store worker had assumed that I only spoke English but then I realized that I needed to look deeper than just the appearance. 

I had interpreted the situation poorly. Although I was frustrated, I needed to make sure that I was also seeing the situation from the workers point of view as well. 

Maybe he was just trying to be efficient and avoid the awkward phase where a tourist might try to speak broken Italian. Maybe he was trying to default straight to English as he knows that most English tourists want to speak only English and those who don’t speak Italian use English as a common language anyways. 

All in all, it is easy to be sucked into a situation and begin to assume rather than be mindful of what the other person may be experiencing, especially in a foreign country. 

It is really interesting and also a little sad to see how American culture has spread across the globe through globalization and the prominence of English as the lingua franca. This became very clear to me with how many signs are written in both Italian and English. Most Italian people have stereotypes or actual concrete renditions of what tourists, especially American tourists, look and sound like. Even if I am ready to speak Italian at a restaurant, if I don’t engage first by speaking Italian I will usually be spoken to in English because of my appearance. These stereotypes are omnipresent across the globe and are constantly influencing how everyone views each other.

Although it has been interesting to see these stereotypes in action around town in Siena, the most prominent place that these ideas get spoken about is at the dinner table with my host family. Except for a few dinners, the topic of how things work in America has always come up in discussion. Even the first night that I was eating with the family, after we got through the basics of where I lived and what I studied, they began asking me if we actually eat burgers, if we actually pay a lot for school, if cowboys still exist. At first, their idea was mainly influenced by these stereotypes but as we got to know each other better, they began to show that they were actually interested in learning about our culture as much as we were excited to learn about theirs. We began to find common ground in our beliefs when we discussed our education systems and our political systems among other things.

Beautifully, even though we began at stereotypes and slight prejudice, these usually silly ideas led to a place where we made genuine human connection over deep topics. Though these preconceptions, we were able to find our shared humanity.