So I'm two weeks into my Italian adventure and I have been thinking about how easy it is to settle in here. I was expecting complete culture shock and feelings of being somewhere completely alien, but instead I feel as though I'm experiencing some kind of lack of culture shock, shock.
When we were at university being prepared for going to far flung foreign lands, top of the list of issues that we would face was culture shock. Some of the things I was expecting when coming to Italy were to be overwhelmed by loud people, pasta and a lack of tolerance towards shorts and strappy tops. Even my au pairing handbook says that "Italy is not for the shy." So far so worrying. But really throughout my time here so far I've found that many of the stereotypes of the Italians just aren't true, and Italy is just a little bit more similar to England than many think. Within 10 minutes of arriving in the country, we were driving out of the airport car park past a man shouting and waving his arms at the ticket machine and I had a little smile to myself. One stereotype ticked off straight away. After that though, I found that many things about the Italians completely defy stereotypes and there are so many aspects of Italian life that are very comfortable and familiar to me as a British person.
When you type the words "Do Italians..." into Google, the suggestions include things like "eat pizza" (yes, yes they do), "speak English" (some do, many don't), and "have big noses" (haha, not sure what to make of that one.) It's fair to say that we have many preconceptions of the country and as such we build ourselves up to experience some kind of crisis of existence when we get here and realise that the rolling hills of England don't stretch this far south. In reality though, I'm glad that I had preconceived ideas of who Italians are and what the country is like, because it means that I've been proved wrong and instead I'm able to appreciate all the ways in which this place is not how I expected it to be. For me, that is far more adventurous than going somewhere knowing exactly what to expect and having your stereotypes proved right.
Although, having said all this, Italians roads ARE as scary as everyone makes them out to be and you can consider it a good day if someone stops to let you cross the zebra crossing.
Speaking of Italian stereotypes, I think I'm turning into a walking British one. I miss tea, and it's weird because I don't even drink the stuff. I miss the sound of the kettle boiling (they reckon this is what calms people down and satisfies them more than the tea itself and no-one in Europe seems to own a kettle) and just the smell of it being around and people's daytime social activities revolving around the quest for a cup of tea.
My second week here has been really great. Although I am currently finding myself faced once again with the task of packing. It'll be worth it though as we are going to the beach for a week! The way they do summer here is instead of having a two week beach holiday in the sun like many British people do, they first spend a week at the beach to stock up on the vitamin d reserves and enjoy the beaches before the foreign tourists start to arrive at the end of July. They then escape to the mountains a couple of weeks later to cool off and get away from the influx of holidaymakers. It sounds pretty sensible to me!
My other news of the week is that today we had an Earthquake!! I didn't feel anything but the news said it was 5.2 on the Richter scale and apparently others in the town did feel it! I think I was too busy colouring a picture. I'd forgotten how much fun it is to be a 7 year old!
This week I've been watching An Idiot Abroad and it really is the best cure for any type of homesickness. Just seeing the kind of stuff that poor man is put through in the name of TV makes me incredibly grateful to have a comfy bed to sleep in and no threat of bungy jumps being forced upon me at any moment!
Hope everyone has a good week, and I'll be back next weekend with hopefully lots of new pictures!
Much love, Alice :)
No comments:
Post a Comment