After a horrendous day of getting keys, signing in, and attending never-ending meetings, we finally got to meet our host families. I was pretty excited and only slightly nervous that they wouldn’t speak English or that I would feel uncomfortable in their home.

     Luckily, I had nothing to worry about. My host family is the bomb. The father grew up in Italy, and the mother grew up in Seattle, so she actually knew what Whitman was. Both of them were incredibly kind and hospitable. And because the mother is originally from the States, they both were able to speak English to us while we got to get to know them, which made feeling at home that much easier. They also have a 30 year old son and a 14 year old daughter. I’ve yet to spend too much time with their son, but their daughter is such a sweetheart. She’s also bursting with sass and wit and I absolutely love her.

     And then there’s my roommate. I was unsure of who I was going to be roomed with so I was mildly concerned that we weren’t going to get along, but to my surprise, we actually are really close friends already. In fact, she’s kind of a New Jersey clone of me. She’s an art major who does photography. She also is just as interested in social political conversations and classes about gender and sexuality like I am. She’s also full of sass but also so much understanding and heart. We also both share the same music taste, and also a bizarre knack for attracting drama, so it’s been fun to exchange scarily similar experiences. All in all, I feel like I lucked out so much with my family and my friends, which were by far the parts I was expecting were going to be the most challenging to deal with.

     Adjusting to the cultural differences in the home though has actually been more jarring than expected. They’re all small changes, but it’s still enough to make you understand that you are participating in a new culture. In general, food is such a pivotal part of Italian lifestyle and experience here, so all the small differences are still incredibly important for me to take note of. For example, here in Italy everyone eats dinner at 8:00 PM and every night we burn through several courses of dinner that our host mom prepares herself. All of the food is excellent by the way. Just bursting with rich tastes and heartiness. I learned that you’re not allowed to go back once you’ve eaten a course, which makes sense. It’s also not courteous to leave anything on your plate, so I’ve learned how to finish my food, even when I’m stuffed. In addition, I’ve learned that wine is a drink only to be really drunk with food, and that beer is consumed with pizza. I also learned that you can save yourself the mess of eating spaghetti if you actually twirl your pasta with your spoon like they do in the movies. Also, the coffee here is to die for, but on the go coffee isn’t really a thing here. Also, piece of advice for any Italy travelers- “bars” in Italy refer to coffee bars, so it’s best not to show up there expecting a drink, at least that’s what my host mom warned us about.

     Also other differences I’ve run into have to do with consuming and saving resources. In Italy also, the price of electricity and water is so high that you have to be constantly watching the lights you turn on, and make sure you’re conserving water. Apparently, Americans in general get commented on how much we use up these things when we live with our host families, so I’ve be conscientious about my energy usage. It makes you think about how much we take for granted our use of 20 minute showers, or that we can use the washer and the stove and the shower all at once without the blink of an eye. I feel like after being so conscientious for a week, I must have just been so oblivious to energy use prior to coming here.

     I could go on forever about the small differences I’ve noticed, but for now I’ll leave that for another post. Now I’m left to navigate a new culture, in a brand new city. I’ll keep you all posted soon. Arrivederci!