Italy: What I Learned
Learning Experiences While Traveling: Every Trip is Educational
I try to look at everything
as a learning experience. Whether I actually follow that philosophy depends on
the day, but generally I try to take life as it comes and learn from everything
that I can. While in Italy in February, I tried to learn as much as I could
about Italian culture and life. After all, this would help me make my decision
between Italy and France. And while some of these experiences may be
frustrating at times, I just found them comical. Being from France, I try to
think of myself as educated in some European-isms, but every now and then the
cultural differences sneak up on me. Now I am trying not to stereotype here,
just observing characteristics that were present in both cities at that time of
year. And instead of letting a little bit of culture shock get the best of me,
I tried to embrace it or just laugh it off. They say the best way to experience
the culture is to take part in its activities, so here is my attempt to take
part in them.
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| Cutting off Medusa's Head, Florence |
Nap Time
In both of the places I
stayed, both said that you needed to be quiet in the afternoon from 2-4pm. Why
afternoon quiet hours? I mean I didn’t even plan on being in my hotel from
2-4pm, so why does it even matter? Then I realized that it was the siesta hour. I’ve heard how Southern
Europeans do this, but I’m from the north and never thought much about it. And
it is legitimately a thing. Shops were closed. Churches. Museums. All closed
around this time. I guessed that I was going to have to follow this rule just
because I was running out of activities because of these closures! But man can
they stay up late, no wonder they need naptime. I learned how the siesta is not just a myth and actually
enjoyed taking a break for a while in the middle of the day to stop and smell
the roses.
Crosswalks
Crosswalks are more like
guidelines than actual rules (sorry Pirates
of the Caribbean that I twisted that line a bit). Waiting for the light to
flash for you to cross takes forever, so most locals just cross when they can.
If they anger a person on a Vespa in the process, oh well! In Italy, I don’t
know who has the right away, pedestrians or cars, because if you happen to find
yourself in a crosswalk with no light, be prepared to wait for the coast to be
clear or make a mad dash across the street. The cars rarely stopped for anyone,
which is why I really do question what the laws say about priority. Jaywalking
is also very popular; in fact, I think tourists are the only ones that use
crosswalks on smaller streets. On larger streets, like it Rome, no one really
has the option to cross in anything other the crosswalk unless they are
training for the Olympics by playing a game of Frogger. Move over Chariots of Fire, we got some serious running to do. So instead of waiting
forever for the light, you just have to be alert, pay attention, and cross the
street. When in Rome, do as the Romans do.
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| Flame for the Unknown Soldier, Rome |
Lines and Rules
A language barrier is hard.
Bringing in your ideas of how things are run is harder. A word of advice, when
in Italy, forget what you know about forming lines and just try to decipher the
hidden message. At termini station, don’t form a line, pull a number and wait
for it to be called. When in line for a museum, make sure that you are in the
right one and don’t think of asking for directions in just a random one. When
standing in line, make sure you don’t crowd the person in front of you and
stand behind whatever marker they asked for. These rules are not that hard once
you get used to them, but figuring them out is a process that will probably
earn you a few glares. Or at least this is what I, and quite a few other
tourists, experienced in my week. My favorite was Termini station where instead
of forming a line, we just crowded around the monitors, hoping that our number
would be up there. I don’t know how clumps of people are more efficient, but
it’s just the way things are. Thanks to the rules lost in translation, or
culture, I learned how to navigate the rules in Italy and how to get by on my
own when I have no clue what is going on. Oh and not to make assumptions about
forming lines.
Protests
Now I didn’t exactly fully
take part in this experience. But I did stand around and watch, and laugh, a
lot, but quietly to myself. I didn’t want to be the lady laughing madly in the
middle of a protest all by herself. But I digress. While in Florence, right in
the Piazza della Signoria, there was a protest about something that I did not
understand. Those Italian words were not in my guidebook. I at first thought it
was a parade because of their use of drums and whistles. But then I realized
that they had a bunch of signs and looked angry, so that is when I assumed it was
a protest. All us tourists were so intrigued that we stood around, from a
distance, and watched what was going on. The Italians looked unfazed and
continued on their day. But to us, this was new. In Rome, it was an even larger
affair. Not only were streets blocked off, but police were ready with their
riot gear. I don’t know what they were protesting, but there were a lot of
angry people that couldn’t cross the street. They once again had whistles and
drums and they marched around with flags saying what they were protesting for.
At first I wondered if I should be careful since a protest this big could get
ugly. But then I looked to the policemen and they looked disinterested. They
were smoking and chatting and their riot gear was casually strung across them
or laying on the ground. Clearly there was no present danger. The situation
turned out to be very comical because of the police reaction. I already knew
that protests were a common occurrence, I am from France after all, but it was
funny to see them in person and watching reactions.
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| A Rainy Morning in Rome |
Bad Weather
Now I do know that bad
weather really does affect people’s moods and it can be a serious issue. But it
seemed that everywhere that I went, whenever bad weather struck, people would
complain that it was such an awful day. Both hotel managers stated that their
day was going to be bad because of the weather. It was the middle of February,
isn’t a little bad weather normal for this time of year? Well it is, but
doesn’t mean they don’t want it to be summer all year round. I really saw the
cities during these rainy days because only tourists were out. We don’t mind!
In fact, if you really don’t want rain, please send it to California since we
are having an extreme drought! Now I come from France where my relatives raised
me with the idea that if you leave a window open and it’s cold it is bad for
your health. So different attitudes about weather just make me laugh. It’s
funny to know that Italy is also on board the weather train.
Smoking
Smoking is like an art form in Italy. A lot of them roll their own cigarettes, taking their time to make the perfect smoke. Now even with the new laws prohibiting smoking within certain areas, that has not seemed to deter them. While waiting for the train, I watched people standing over the no smoking sign and light up cigarette after cigarette. If you thought standing near that sign would save you from the pungent smoke cloud, you are sadly mistaken. No sign seemed to deter the smokers. Even the police and shop owners would just step out and smoke where they were not "allowed" to. While waiting in line in a fairly enclosed area, such as a the Uffizi Gallery, you are still subject to the smoke. So while countries are encouraging people to cut back on smoking or being for mindful, it seems that Italy is doing just that: encouraging.
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| Graffiti in the Circus Maximus, Rome |
Graffiti
Another art for in Italy is graffiti. Part of the wonder is figuring out how they even get paint on the nooks and crannies of things. Or how high they can reach. Nothing, except maybe national monuments, is safe from this style of art. And some of it truly is an art form! And then sometimes it is just marking someone's territory. Where I am from, if you see graffiti, it means that you are in a bad area, but in Italy, I saw some in even in "good" areas. Of course the "bad" areas were plastered, but the good had their fair share. This made me wonder if they had a different attitude about it and if efforts to conceal it is not as important as here in the US. In one of the art capitals of the world, it is only fair that it is welcoming, or at least tolerating, of all forms of art.
I have to say, some of the
things that could frustrate people about Italy just made me appreciate it’s
beauty even more! It gave me a good laugh in the case of the police responding
to protests or the locals dealing with the weather. It gave me some exercise
when crossing the streets. Kept my mind sharp and alert when trying to learn
their rules. And had me stop and take a moment to appreciate and reflect on
everything thanks to the naptime. While I learned a lot about Italy, what I
really learned that when traveling it is best to just embrace the culture, not
matter how different, and get the whole experience.
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