Since I have never been overseas and the only countries I have been to previously were Mexico and the Bahamas, I was expecting a major culture shock when I got to Italy. Thankfully, my mom was able to come with me to help me get acclimated to my new home for the next 4 months. As I expected, my initial impression was that it was very different from American culture. Thankfully, the places my mom and I visited were cities with a large tourist
population, so even though we were far away from home, we weren’t alone. I was worried about not being able to speak Italian, but that was generally not a problem, especially if the restaurant was popular. While the adjusting process was rather smooth for me, there were still some important cultural differences I would like to highlight. First, in Italy, particularly in Milan, the fashion was way different, and you would get weird looks if you dressed how people normally do in Texas. Fortunately, I have been getting really into fashion recently and have been putting myself out there with my outfits. My outfits usually don’t fit in around Texans, but I fit right in with Italians. However, people, especially in Milan are very judgmental, so don’t get too angry if you get some weird looks. Also, drivers and pedestrians are very different there. Drivers drive at insane speeds even in the city. The stereotype of everyone being in a rush is actually true, and pedestrians couldn’t care less. They walk in front of cars going 100 km/h, knowing that they’ll stop. It’s scary! I just made sure to be careful with the drivers for my trip. The last major difference that I was very thankful for was the walkability of the city. I loved being able to walk right down to the grocery store when I needed something for dinner that night. Of course, the food was way better there as well. Despite these differences, I still loved every second of my
abroad experience, and it was really hard to come back to normal life here in Texas. I would even say I had more culture shock coming back to the US than I had going to Italy.
