Culture Shock?
- Thread starter goofytourist
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I have not been yet but I am really looking forward to being culture shocked, I love taking in new things and information and just soaking up different cultures. And the more that I talk about it, the more excited I am getting about going and I am not going for ages, I have to get married first!When you first went to Italy did you have any type of culture shock at all? When I first went I was in awe, it just felt so different. I was ooh-ing and awe-ing at everything! I feel so stupid now, but it was so different. Then those awe feelings went to somewhat more depressing feelings as I tried to adapt.It was very confusing. So did you ever feel a major culture shock?
I travel quite a bit, so I wouldn't say it was culture shock, but in Italy everything is so beautiful and there is so much history in it all that you can't help be amazed by it all. You simply gaze over everything and can't take you eyes offof it because you're afraid you will never see it again. In terms of hanhing around with people and the cities it was all fun.
I don't think you experience culture shock if you are on holiday, only when you live there. When I did live there, I did have some culture shock in how people shopped (early) and that people don't rush. There are other things for example you don't really queue in Italy when a train or bus arrives it's first on.
As a tourist the effect is minimal, but if you live there you learn to adapt and accept certain ways of doing things.
As a tourist the effect is minimal, but if you live there you learn to adapt and accept certain ways of doing things.
I think we did. It was an awesome restaurant, but I forget the name. It's near the big opera house in Rome, on a little corner. Would recommend.
Your mention of nuns reminds me a story my brother told me one day, while talking on the telephone. I was like, how was your day, what's going on? He was like pretty awesome. Just got back from running an errand. There was a group of nuns getting ready to cross the street, so I stopped for them and they all waved at me in thanks. May sound kind of mundane to some people, but in my world, have not seen many nuns around, since my days at a parochial school. lol
P.S. Not in Rome, but North Italy.
I've never been but am planning on visiting soon. From what I've heard is that there is some culture shock. Here in the U.S., everything is so fast paced and hectic. Italy tends to be more laid back for the most, even though there are big cities there. The language and accents are very different as well.
And then they are always late. It was my biggest cultural shock -- I was always used to being that one student that comes at the last minute, sometimes late, in my home country. When I studied in Rome, I'd come a bit before the course starts, and in the next twenty minutes, students would arrive at different times. Teachers would also often be late. Was... quite a change of pace.
I think when somebody visits any country for the first time they get that first initial shock, in some cases that can be a bad thing in some of the countries I've been to!
With Italy though, when I first went it was to Rome and I was only in my early teens back then and I have to say, at that age the whole city seemed crazy.
With Italy though, when I first went it was to Rome and I was only in my early teens back then and I have to say, at that age the whole city seemed crazy.
Same here. I live in one of the most secular countries in the world. I don't even know what parochial school is. But seeing nuns on the metro in Rome is definitely an experience!
Or shall I say Catholic School. Well, we did not call our teachers, nuns, they went by Sister so and so.
lol eg My husband.
I've traveled around the world quite a bit before, so I wouldn't say that I had any huge culture shock. It was more a feeling of amazement like "yes, I'm really here, this is Italy!".
Being half Italian I was relatively used to hearing Italian being spoken, despite not speaking it myself or understanding all that much. So it wasn't too overwhelming hearing a different language.
I would say the biggest culture shock I've ever had in my travels was in Asia. That reaaaaallllly felt like sensory overload and a big culture shock.
Being half Italian I was relatively used to hearing Italian being spoken, despite not speaking it myself or understanding all that much. So it wasn't too overwhelming hearing a different language.
I would say the biggest culture shock I've ever had in my travels was in Asia. That reaaaaallllly felt like sensory overload and a big culture shock.
When people travel to a different country that they've never been to before, they'll often have a set idea of what it's going to be like. They'll have read reviews and seen that country on the TV, but when you actually arrive you often find a totally different experience from what you expect.
That's very true - almost everywhere I have traveled, I've had massive preconceived notions of what the places would be like. I'm usually wrong a lot of the time - either fully, or partially!
I think that's something that we're all guilty of to be honest. We will form our own impressuons of what a place is going to be like before we have even been.
Sometimes it's a nice surprise and surpasses our expectations, other times, well...we can be left disappointed!
Sometimes it's a nice surprise and surpasses our expectations, other times, well...we can be left disappointed!