PART IV: REFLECTION (Because I’m a Huge Nerd and I Can’t Help Myself)

Sorry this turned into a full fledged report. I don’t even know how to function when I’m not in school. Anyway, what an amazing fieldtrip. I learned so much on so many different levels. Aside from the amazing things I saw and did over the course of the past week and a half that brought to life what I’ve spent years learning in school, I have to say that going to Italy really put my study abroad experience in France into perspective. It was so refreshing to experience another culture and realize “Oh. Not all Europeans are the same.” I’ve spent the past two months really getting to know French culture, and having not experienced much else other that and my own culture, I started to lump Europeans into one big category. For being so geographically close to one another, it’s fascinating to me that the French and Italian cultures could be so incredibly different and not alike at all. Many of the Italians that we came across were such a lively, rowdy bunch that yelled and laughed heartily and were very warm and friendly to everyone. Almost everyone we did any kind of business with greeted us with a huge and jolly “Bonjourno!!” I half expected them to hug us or give us a giant slap on the back. On the other hand, we also observed lots of stubbornness, yelling, arguing and machoism. Not to mention the creepy guys that stared at us a little too long. Italians are very open with their emotions – all emotions – whereas in comparison, the French are so reserved and concerned about their personal privacy. A lot of them also really need to remove the stick from their lower-halves… I should stop here, but I think you get the picture without me needing to go further. I adore my host family and I like my French friends I’ve made, but let’s just say that now that I’m “home” I’m looking at French people as a whole in a different light than I was before I went to Italy, and I don’t necessarily mean this in a bad way. The French are much better than making bread than the Italians. (I’m kidding, only not really…)

I also have to add that for as lost as I felt in Italy without being able to speak a word of the language except for the names of my favorite pasta dishes, I found such comfort in hearing French being spoken by other tourists around us. I never imagined in a million years that I would think that. I found it more comforting than hearing English – American English more specifically. I think I cringed every time I heard a loud, unattractive American voice stick out in a crowd. Why are we so loud? Why do we do and say dumb and ignorant things? I was in line to board my plane in front of the quintessential Ugly American Tourist Family that you always hear about. When it came time to board the plane, everyone made a mad dash to the gate, pushing and shoving their way to the front of the “line”. The concept of a formed line doesn’t really exist here, and that wasn’t good enough for the Ugly American Tourist Family. This is sadly how the scene unfolded, and I’m not exaggerating in the slightest:

“This is UNFAIR!” whined the twenty-something year old daughter. “How can they get away with that? We were there first!”
“I don’t know, but this would NEVER happen in AMERICA”, the father yelled, raising his voice above the crowd towards the end of his stupid sentence.
“I’m gonna go YELL AT SOMEBODY!” cried the daughter.
“Oh yeah, and who are you gonna yell at?”
“I don’t know, SOMEBODY” she whined. “This is UNFAIR!”
“This system doesn’t work. This is unacceptable” he restated.
“So what are we supposed to do? Just SHOVE ourselves up there like THEY did? I want to sit with you guys” she continued to whine.
“NO. WE DON’T DO THINGS LIKE THAT IN AMERICA.”

This isn’t the first time I’ve felt embarrassed to be American since leaving the States.
I had some interesting experiences with some British folk as well, but seeing as I’m not British, I should probably bite my tongue. I justify talking about Americans the way I do because a) I am one, and b) I’m lamenting for my people. I probably did some dumb and ignorant things myself, and I accept that, but at least I’m learning and I can see the difference.

Anyway, the gelato was amazing.

Well my friends, if you hung in there until the end, I thank you, and even if you didn’t I still thank you. Like I said, I don’t kid myself about being long-winded. Hey, at least you got to experience all of Italy’s finest for a lot cheaper than I did. If you ever get a chance to go, you’ll at least now know what to look out for. I wasn’t kidding about the gelato.