I have learned many things from my time in Italy and have seen just a glimpse into their lifestyle and way of conducting business. Throughout our company visits we visited many sustainable businesses and I learned that becoming zero waste is something they heavily value. They are incredibly advanced in recycling technology in order to be able to give new life to waste. It is important to understand this because this means they are not trying to expand their businesses to become giants but just to have enough to be profitable and impact their community positively. This was an interesting concept for me because at first I thought the people were just more lazy and did not want to work as hard however that was not the case they just were not trying to create massive production and were more focused on quality of life. They really care about taking care of their planet and this is something we should care about too. Other than the businesses I have realized that some of my initial impressions were very much correct, and some were just stereotypes. Italians are very loud and expressive, however it does not mean they are difficult to deal with they usually will help anyone. They do talk with their hands, and eat pizza, sandwich, pasta and pork a lot, but it is all very tasty. I have also learned to not be afraid to be adventurous when trying new foods, especially if it is something that that region is known for. Over all I have come to realize that Italy is a very beautiful country and has many cool people, however the economy isn’t of a prospering country either. When speaking with locals I noticed all the smart and educated younger Italians either move out of Italy or to the North as a result of lack of opportunity and I believe believe a byproduct of this is less skilled workers/talent in Italy and more people leaving. This is interesting to me as the USA is a place people come to for more opportunity. The amount I have been able to learn through company visits, cultural immersion and the overall experience have been great and something I would not change.
