I've noticed a lot of differences in the way Americans vs. Italians live their lives. Here's a few things I've learned about the Italian lifestyle from the point of view of an American 22 year old.
Here's a list of the main things I've picked up on while living here in Italy:
Food habits
Walking and driving traffic patterns
Energy & lighting
Old interior design and common living situations
Common Italian phrases and greetings
Italian food= AMAZING; Every other food= meh
In my opinion the Italian food is the only food in Italy that's good every time you eat it. I'm sure everyone has heard of at least something about how good the pizza and pasta is in Italy. And it's true! The Italian food here is to die for. The very first meal I ate after arriving in Italy was a cheese ravioli dish (a favorite at home) and I'm not sure I will ever eat a pasta like that ever again. It is still my favorite meal I've had in Italy!! The noodles, the sauces, the garnishes, everything is to die for! Except... pasta is literally one of my meals for 4-5 days of every week. And when its not pasta/pizza its paninis or sandwiches. Although there are a lot of dishes you can make with pasta, I just want to eat a taco every once in a while too! I also found out that Italians really do drink wine with every meal. A glass of wine at a restaurant is around 3 euro ($3) which means you could get 3 glass for the price of one glass in the US. Impressive!
Although the wine is cheap, I was not expecting to be so disappointed by the lack of food variety in Italy. I am definitely a foodie. I love trying new foods and making different recipes, but there is no variety here. I've had Mexican food 3 times in a span of 2.5 months. 3 times!!!! Chinese food once, Sushi a few times (it's probably the next best food you can get around here in my opinion), and a burger and fries type meal probably 7 times. And the rest of the meals are Italian. We'll typically get fast food type of meals in other countries because there is nothing like that here in Florence. Only a McDonalds and oddly enough KFC is a popular one too...
Even the grocery stores do not offer any variety in what you can buy. The best way I can describe shopping in an Italian grocery store in downtown Florence is like shopping in a gas station. The aisles are small and they have a lot of things you could need, but only 1 type of it. Except the noodle aisle of course. For example, we've tried making tacos. We can find beef (patties not ground), cheese (but not shredded or cheddar), salsa (but just tomatos with peppers). Forget the sour cream, taco seasoning, mexican rice. In addition to that nothing here is spicy. I like flavor in my food and nothing that's not Italian has any sort of spice or flavor. My Italian teacher did say that Americans like to drown their food in sauces. And it's true! Why would I want to eat something that's dry and flavorless?
To say that I can't wait to eat a good non-Italian meal in America again is an understatement. Myself and the other study abroad students from America all agreed that 1.the food and 2.being able to drive is what we're looking forward to most when we go back.
Road and sidewalk courtesy.
Italians are crazy drivers!! It's very typical to see more "wild" drivers in the city but it is insane how much people cut each other off here. There are also a lot of vespas and scooters in addition to the cars and the way they speed around makes me jump sometimes because of how close they get to the cars and PEOPLE. If you've ever been to LA it is comparable to these rush hour motorcycle drivers.
Walking and general sidewalk courtesy is another thing that I'm still trying to figure out. Since the doors to stores lead right out to a tiny sidewalk, whenever you pass by you have to be carful that no one all of a sudden steps out in front of you. As a fast walker I'm always on a roll, but I have never been cut off more in my life! People are always stepping right into me from the store but I always thought "why don't they poke their head out before stepping out?" People just don't look like they do in the US... or there might just not be as many blind spots.
Also when passing someone which side would you go to? The right? Well not here. I can't figure out why it's not just a common rule, but I'm always stepping to the right and I end up in a staring contest with some random person...
Italians are very eco-friendly.
The lighting is one of these things that has a great concept, but is something I can not get used to.
Many Italians don't have a ton of lighting in their houses to save energy. Which is great, but I can not see my meal when I eat under a floor lamp that sits across the kitchen! My Italian teacher also made a point to tell us that Americans never turn off their lights which I'm realizing is true... They are much more conscious of turning lights off and what lighting they really need in their homes. As I'm writing this at 9pm I can see across the street that none of the apartments have their lights on bright. If there is a light on it is very dim. Although I would like to appreciate this rule, I also like to see what I'm eating, reading, drawing, etc. when the sky goes dark.
Another way they save energy is that there is no AC in the summer and in the winter the heat can't be turned on until a certain date in the year which is set by the government. This year it was November 8th, but it changes each year based on the weather. Also, the heat is only on for certain hours of the day. It's off during the day, but then turned on around 5pm and is on until 8 or 9am.
Old city means old apartments..
Florence has been around for a while and is much older than any city in the US. This is what makes the city so unique and special. As someone from the US who is used to larger room sizes, I am constantly running into things. Of course the apartments are small, but that's city living for you! A lot of the apartments have little quirks about them as well. Random layouts, random steps up, or even a washer that sits at the top of your spiral staircase like ours does...
Learning Italian
You could spend just one day in Italy and you are guaranteed to hear the phrases "ciao" "buongiorno", "buonasera", "grazie" and "allura". Ciao meaning hi and bye, buongiorno and buonasera meaning good morning and good evening, grazie meaning thank you and allura which is a common filler word translating to "'so" or "well". It's said as much as we would say "um". Other common phrases I hear/say in my daily vocabulary include:
- "Buona giornata"= have a good day
- "Prego"= please or next (said you are first in line and they call you to come up to check out/order)
- "Uno, due, tre"= 1,2,3 (when ordering something of quantity)
- "Una borsa?" = a bag (when purchasing something)
- "Scusa" = how to say excuse me when speaking to someone older than you and trying to get past.
There are so many more, but these come up in my every day life most often. Living in Florence is great because although their first language is Italian everyone knows english for the most part. (Except our handy man but we just listen and nod when he tells us in Italian what's wrong HA)
If you are ever planning a trip to Italy I would highly recommend these simple phrases when greeting people. You may not know how to speak the language, but a knowing a simple greeting phrase will go a long way!
I've loved getting to live in the city for 3 months now and while some things are an adjustment, they've been easy to adjust to for the most part. It all just makes me that much more excited to go home and shop at a target! Its the little things:)
Be sure to share this post with anyone travelling to Italy in the near future!
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