With one day left before my fellow classmates and I leave for Italy, I am feeling extremely excited but also slightly anxious. I know once we land in Cagliari and get settled into the guest house, the anxiety will subside and I'll be excited to start exploring and learning. I'm also thankful that I get to travel with friends.
My initial expectations of Italian culture is that it is very family oriented. This expectation, if true, will be comforting when traveling, especially in a small group of 19. I also suspect that Italian culture is deeply rooted in its love of food...which is great because I too, love food. My expectation of Sardinia however, is slightly different that what my outlook of Italy is as a whole. I feel as though the people will be friendlier and more inviting to travelers, especially if they know we are aspiring environmental engineers. In general, I have a preconceived notion that Italians are very loud, but for some reason I believe that the island life mellows people out and I can't see people from Sardinia acting in the same manner that I would expect another Italian. After reading the fifth article for assignment 1 as well, it makes me believe that Sardinians are welcoming people. Overall, I feel as though the Italian culture that we will be submersed in will be warm and inviting and not all too different than what we may be used to here in the United States.
The major concern that I do have is the language and custom barrier. I understand Spanish fairly well and I have been attempting to learn basic Italian since the semester ended, so I hope that with that understanding I can at least get off to a good start. I hope over the course of the month while we are there I can develop my language ability to communicate more effectively. I am also happy and comforted by the fact that we are traveling with a native of Cagliari who can help us when we need it. In terms of the culture, I feel that as long as you make an effort to be polite, no one can ever get that offended at you. Rule 1, eat the food offered to you, smile, eat it all, and say thank you. I feel that beyond that, customs will be fairly easy to pick up on.
As far as being immersed in another culture, I am extremely excited about that. I have never had an opportunity like this before so I am excited to see what the activities, daily life, food, cloths, and relationships are like. I hope that wherever we go or whatever we are doing, I can appreciate the culture and truly immerse myself in it. Actually traveling with friends, I feel, will make it easier to go out of my own comfort zone when the time arrives. To learn about the culture, I will always do my best to be outgoing on all of the excursions, and beyond classwork, travel the city and see what there is to experience. I will make sure to eat the local food and experience the local activities to make myself more involved.
With all of my preconceived notions, and my fears and excitements about the language, customs, and culture, I am ready to say goodbye to the US for a month and see where my new travels take me!
Ciao Cagliari!
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