Learning Experience

Most of my posts here are about my trips, or museums, or places that I visit. This one is going to be a little different. It's about what I've learned, how I've changed, or at least some of my thoughts on the subject.

I've learned a lot here. Not really class stuff, honestly my classes here are interesting but not all that challenging or thought provoking. No, I've learned more from the people here and experiencing a different way of life. Some of it's deep and life changing, some of it's not.

Like how I've learned to feed myself in Italy, so basically every meal should consist of pasta. And the slow food mentality is rubbing off on me. I take more time preparing my food and don't mind sitting for two hours over a meal. Wine at dinner doesn't seem abnormal to me, talking about the different types is a casual conversation. And I know that there are things you pair with white, red and dessert wines and things that you don't. That there is such a thing as a dessert wine. And I don't like it.


Like how people think very differently. I always thought that I had an average way of looking at the world but I don't really. Americans have a very "can do" attitude. I've grown up my whole life knowing that if I wanted to do something I could do it. Over here (the parts of Europe I visited) it's different, not really that they have a "can't do" attitude but more that they view the struggles and challenges in a greater light. We focus on the victory, they focus more on what they have to accomplish on the path.

Or how Italians are very much just Italians. As my psychology professor said, "I am Italian and I can be nothing else". It's not that in America we don't want to be American, honestly I've yet to meet anyone who has as much pride in their country as an American, but that they view their roles differently. When I come home I'm going to have Italian aspects that have incorporated themselves into my life. Pasta as a primo corso might just be in every dinner I cook for people. I'm not afraid to say that I've incorporated other lifestyles or ways of thinking or food into my life, that Italian culture, while never going to be the one I grew up in, seems less alien and strange and more like I could fit in here. But for him, that would never happen. That is like turning his back on his culture, being an impostor. Honestly, I think this has to do with the unique way America was born and what it's culture has always been. We've always been the melting pot, the place where the tides of immigration from different countries can show our history like a clock. In America are major source of "Americanness" is our values. Over here it's so much more, it's where you were born, where you grew up, your family, your food, your Italian culture, and you can't change that. You are far less likely to move, you don't make "ethnic" food and you don't want to (Italians are snobs about Italian food :P Sometimes rightfully so.... but still ).

Like how I have become so much more confident in traveling by myself. Buses, trains, metro, planes, I can book it all! Those map reading skills have come in very handy but I know that I can do it by myself. Before I came over here I was terrified of traveling by myself or the entire booking process. Now I'm much less daunted by it. Before it could easily have stopped me from doing something that I wanted to do. Now, it's barely a consideration.

These thoughts are a little jumbled and may not make as much sense as I want them to but I thought I should give you a brief glimpse of things I'm starting to realize over here. I probably won't know just how much I've changed until I go back home but this is a start.