Culture Shock

Everyone warns students about culture shock when they leave their home country and are traveling abroad. You will miss home. You will miss the food. You will miss your normal lifestyle. Other than missing my friends and family back home, culture shock was just a definition that not too many people agreed with. Don’t get me wrong, learning to get around, learning the new traditions and how real italians lived, trying to speak italian was all a struggle, but extremely enjoyable. After 4 months of running around a foreign country and jet setting regularly on the weekends to a new culture and lifestyle, you get pretty use to differences.

The problem now is getting use to your old lifestyle when you come back home. You think it would be easy, jumping right back into how you always lived and always spent your days. Then you realize the excitement of change and of new experiences and miss it like a fat kid on a diet misses chocolate cake. I have realized how unadventurous my back at home life has become, with the routine of work and class. Although traveling to a different country every weekend or visiting the most spectacular places is out of the question, I am determined to make my days as adventurous as possible. I have decided to try new things, see new places and explore what I have around me.

Now, I will leave you with some reverse culture shock, so you can see what I am missing from Europe:

Making wishes in the Trevi

Eating the most amazing pasta

Exploring early in the morning, so even the biggest tourist attractions were empty

Paragliding over the Swiss Alps!

Running around Prague

Flirting with our gondola driver in Venice

Shopping in Milan

Visiting Barcelona

Hiking in Ireland

Running around Dublin

Seeing the beauty in Cinque Terre

Hanging out with my Dad and sister in Rome

Loving every minute of being in Italy

No wonder I want to go back!

Sweets

Sometime it is the little things in life that can make your day that much brighter, like having a good hair day, talking to your best friends back home, or getting more then 15 likes on an instagram. The other day I stumbled upon the best cannolis in a tiny sweets shop in a hidden piazza.  This cannoli made my day so much brighter and a whole lot sweeter. Luckily the shop is a bit of a hike from my apartment, so it will prevent me from eating cannolis for breakfast, lunch and dinner!

Street Art

The street art in Italy is a culture of its very own. Almost every building has some form of graffiti, making some of the most boring facades pop with color and life. I have captured just a few of the creations I have seen and am always on the look out for the most creative and imaginative pieces.

The Merchant of Venice

We have all read Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, or at least the sparknotes version of it, (so you can pretend to know what you’re talking about when the professor calls on you in class…). Well, this every book is the reason why, my friend, Abbie was extremely persistent to get to Venice. While Shakespeare did not quite convince me, Abbie’s determination got me on a train and I do have to admit it was more than worth it.

Abbie, Ashley and myself spent the day walking the streets and bridges near the Grand Canal, exploring San Marco Square and of course rowing through the ‘streets’ on a gondola ride with our ‘gondolier’ Micheal! Venice is comprised of 118 petite islands separated by cannels and linked by bridges and is unlike any other place I have ever been. Tiny ally ways, colorful architecture, amazing seafood, beautiful Venetian glassworks, intricate masquerade masks, boats as common as cars, and tourist as common as a mosquito in summer is all what makes Venice worth a visit.

 

 

Night Walk

I do love a good walk. Especially a good walk after a big dinner. Last night we found ourselves tucked away in a cozy side street at a tiny Italian restaurant. We ate like real Italians and a stroll through the piazzas following the wine, bread, pasta, chicken and panna cotta was a great way to rid the food babies we were all hording and avoid falling into a massive food coma. The cobble stone streets we found ourselves wondering were filled with vendors, gypsies and Italian families enjoying the perfect weather. I found myself distracted by the shiny jewels and pashminas with each step I took down the street, but, it wasn’t until I found a man sitting and carving jewelry I was actually intrigued to get a closer look, and I am glad I did.  For what we found was gorgeous bronze, artfully sketched and carved into the most amazing rings. I found myself drawn to the intricacy and turquoise boarder of the ring pictured above, while the other girls found different reasons for the love of the rings the man had already began sizing for their fingers. While the rings are great souvenirs, they are even greater works of arts with impeccable craftsmanship that you can rarely find.

Moda

I have been in Italy for just a little while and I have been observing the ‘bellezze italiane’ and taking notes on their classic yet spontaneous and casual style. I myself find myself drawn to their style and trying to emulate it in my own wardrobe (although hitting a few Italian boutiques wouldn’t help).

Colosseum

Walking through Rome is like walking through a museum. The sights, the smells, the architecture, the beauty. I am slowly but surely learning my way, meeting new friends, and embracing all the Italian culture I can. Pictured above is a few friends in front of the Colosseum. It still does not seem like real life, the massive building is breath-taking and the history that lays within its wall incredible.

Being here is like being in a dream. Nothing seems real. The buildings, statues and art you have learned about for years comes alive while walking down the street, and no pictures will ever capture the amazing atmosphere.