A little about me!
My name is Morgan Guy and I am 21 years old. I study Interior Design at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. During the school year, you will most likely find me on campus in Otto Olson, the Interior Design studio. I really enjoy being outdoors, preferably near water. I usually spend my summers right next to the pool when I am not working. But this summer was going to be a little different! This summer I decided to spend half my summer in the country of Italy! With rarely having any experience traveling outside of the country, I thought this would be a great experience to get to know different cultures and a little more about myself. During my time in Italy I took some college course at IULM. These courses include Italian Language, Fashion, and Food & Wine. I attended this Study Abroad with my roommate from Kearney, Allison Sawyer. We both had never done anything like this before, so it was going to be a learning experience for the both of us!
|
CUlture shock
There were many things that I found different from Italy and America. I think the main one would be the whole no air conditioning. It was very common for homes, stores, and buildings to not have air conditioning during the summer. They do so to reserve energy. This was pretty hard for me to get used to because I felt like I was always sweating. It only cooled off a few times at night, but when it did it was very nice. Our classroom that we did lectures in was air conditioned, so that made it a lot easier! Another thing that I found different from the two countries are the people. The people there were pretty blunt. I mean this by, they don't find it rude in their culture to stare and it isn't a norm to be very polite. Whenever someone would be in the way or run into someone on accident, it isn't common for either one of them to say 'excuse me' or 'I'm sorry'. They pretty much just ignore the situation and move on. I found this very different from not only America but Nebraska. In Nebraska I feel we are very polite and caring. It was very hard at first because that is not what I am used to. Another thing that surprised me is you basically have to pay for everything! There isn't such thing as free water at restaurants nor free refills, no free grocery bags at the store, and the man handing you flowers on the street isn't giving you a free gift. Don't get me wrong, I loved Italy and learning their culture but somethings are very very different!