An Expat’s Thoughts On Italy

I have lived in Rome for almost nine months now, and this is a beautiful place with quite a different culture. One of my friends recently asked me what I think of Italy as an expat living in Italy and I couldn’t answer him right away. I decided to write it out considering that that is the best way to express what I am thinking. So I am sharing it here so that everyone can see. What I think is not representative of what all expats in Italy think, these are just my observances and opinions. I hope you enjoy!

Italian Attitude

So anyone who knows Italians knows that they have a very unique outlook on life. Living among them for almost nine months, I have to admit that when I first arrived here, this attitude surprised me, but now I almost seem to be adopting it. Their cultural attitude seems to be a juxtaposition between easy going and extremely passionate. They get passionate about the most random things, and you have to be careful not to step on those landmines. I think that I’m scared to because what looks like anger is often just passion. For example, as a student, I have a limited amount of time to come in to work, and so when I first started working, I would always go up to my boss when my work was done and schedule when I was coming in next week. When I first started working there he told me that I was always welcome. And so after a few times of me trying to schedule when to come in, I went up to him to do it again and he abruptly cut me off and said “Andrea, you are ALWAYS welcome. To keep trying to schedule is insulting in my culture because I have already told you the door is already open whenever, to keep checking that its still open is an insult to my hospitality.” I had no idea that I was insulting him, and maybe this was just an example of me not knowing certain cultural differences, but I have never seen anyone that passionate about being hospitable.

This is a culture of very warm and friendly people, and they are the first to jump into a car and rescue you if you are stranded somewhere. Honestly the friends I have made in Rome are some of the sweetest and most caring people. And for some reason they are always trying to get me to eat something, or checking to see if I’ve eaten a meal recently. Its endearing. But that is when they know you. Now these people are quite easy to get to know, but before they do, they are quite similar to cats, and all the expats I’ve met seem to agree with me. If you walk past them on the street, they wont move for you, and will bump into you without a second thought, when is kind of irritating when you aren’t a very big person. Also, they don’t hesitate to get right into your personal space, which maybe is just something that is just culturally different. Americans like a bigger bubble of personal space then Italians I guess. My mother told me once when she was shopping in the super market, she was in the freezer section, looking down at some frozen peas or something, when all of a sudden this lady just gets right up next to her. Like she could have reached out her arm and it would have been draped over this lady’s shoulders she was so close. Maybe because my mom is American, but she got extremely uncomfortable, like, can you please move away from me? (And some of you might be thinking, oh she needs to be more careful, that woman might have been a pickpocket, but be calm my birdies, she had her hand on her purse through out this strange encounter.) Honestly if I had the time, I’d be here talking about this part of their culture till next Tuesday, but since you probably don’t have that kind of time to kill, lets just move on to the next category.

Italian dressing

Ok this one is a stranger one. So I’m going to start off by saying that I am by noooo means into fashion, or even very good at putting together cute outfits. I grew up dressing in whatever t-shirt and jeans I grabbed first, and I lived in a place where fashion wasn’t the biggest thing that I had to worry about. So moving here and realizing that everyone takes what he or she wears extremely seriously here definitely made me feel like a fish out of water. I do have to thank them for making me a bit more aware of the clothes I wear, however, I don’t know if I will ever make it as high of a priority. Also, they ALWAYS wear pants, and I do not understand. It will be at least 90 degrees out and there is still a crap ton of people wearing pants. Another thing is that they seem to try and copy American street fashion, and yet Americans try to copy Italian fashion? I will forever be confused by this exchange. I cant really talk about fashion for a lengthy period because its just not something I pay attention too. However, I will tell you that I have met very few Italians who will go outside without making sure they look absolutely perfect. Their hat has to match their shirt or shoes, yada yada yada.

Italian culture

This is a bit different then actually attitude toward life in general, the things I’m going to talk about are just general differences I noticed from both cultures. One nice thing about Italian culture is that they don’t shut away their older population. I like seeing a meet up of a bunch of elderly people who are just chatting away, gossiping about someone’s grandchild or making witty remarks about another’s spouse. I don’t eavesdrop for very long because my mama taught me better, however its always nice to see a big group of them sitting in some piazza, drinking coffee and chuckling together. You don’t see that in America, or at least where I am from. In America there are retirement homes, and retirement communities, where the elderly live and rarely leave. Of course there are many who do not conform to this general stereotype of the American elderly, such as those who stay in the north for the summer and go to the south for winter. I believe they call them “snowbirds”. However, growing up, if you asked a peer “oh where do your grandparents live?” at least ninety percent of them would respond with “so and so retirement homes/communities.” In America, the elderly are more shut away and thought of as a thing to protect and care for.

Another great thing that I love about the Italian culture is that there is always a place to buy fresh vegetables and fruits on every street, and they are soo cheap! The food you can make here tastes so much better because the ingredients are so fresh. They pick them in the morning and you get them a few hours later. On my way to class I can stop by this little shop that is so filled with vegetables and fruits that there is only a very narrow pathway down the middle and you have to flatten yourself against the wall of fragrant apples if anyone needs to get past you. I stop there and by a few apples to snack on during the day and they cost me no more then fifty cents all together. While this isn’t to say that they don’t have frozen food, they definitely don’t use it as much as Americans do. Ok but I have to say that I really miss driers. Like if America is doing anything right its having driers. And I know that America and Italy are very different in terms of culture and that Italian are very conscious of the amount of energy they use, but oh my god, what I wouldn’t give to not have to think about how long its going to take my jeans to dry and play out what day to do laundry according to that. All of my Italian friends laugh and say that I’m spoiled but whatever. Maybe I am but driers are one thing I hate not having.

Italian food

Ok I mentioned food a littler earlier, but here we are going to dedicate an entire section. Let me start off by saying “Oh LORDIE yes. Italian food is just a yes, all around.” They have perfected pasta and pizza and while I don’t exactly like the fish, I am told by may of people that they cant seem to make that bad either. Italians are some of the best cooks in the world, and through all of the downsides of moving to Rome, I have to say that the food makes all of those cons sting just a little less. Of course I occasionally miss Chipotle or Americanized-Chinese food, but you know I cant exactly complain. My favorite dish has definitely been pasta with Arrabiata sauce. My only warning to everyone out there is don’t eat pasta all the time. I forgot that rule when I first got here and I’ve been trying to loos the extra pounds ever since (insert annoyed emoji). While pasta and pizza are what Italy is mainly known for, they actually have very healthy choices and their style of cooking with olive oil instead of butter is a small, but great change to ones diet.