After spending the past month in Florence Italy, I learned more culturally about the country than I possibly could from a textbook. By fully investing myself and living within the culture of Italy, I learned the importance of valuing time and relationships. Everything done in Italy is at a much slower pace than in America. For instance, dinner in Italy is meant to take about 2 hours and the waiter will never bother you, whereas in America, dinner is meant to be fast and the waiter is constantly asking what you need in order to make you leave the fastest. They take their time in Italy so they can fully take in the moment and spend time with one another. This also affects the business world in Italy, since everything is built on relationships. The majority of businesses in Italy are family-run small businesses (no chain restaurants). Italians value family and want to continue their business throughout generations. Additionally, most business transactions in Italy are based on relationships with one another. This was something that surprised me while abroad because Italians were always trying to accompany you with anything you needed, whereas in America they would mainly ignore these problems (such as having a lot of people in a busy restaurant).
Overall, my time in Italy grew my cultural intelligence where I was able to learn from physically being immersed in the culture. From food to way of life, I got to experience what being an “Italian” was like first handedly, and I 100% recommend trying it for yourself.
