Italy is nothing like I've ever seen before. Riding in on the bus to Grado from the Trieste airport was a great experience, seeing the water and the boats was amazing. One of the first things I've noticed about Italy (and Grado) was that the culture is much more relaxed in every way. When we got to Grado, I immediately noticed that the culture was completely different. I have really enjoyed seeing a lot of the history of the surrounding area. Especially in Aquileia, I noticed that there was so much more history than anything I've ever seen America. Climbing up the bell tower, I tried to think about how many people had climbed up the tower before me for various different reasons, especially during times of war. One of my favorite things that I've seen so far was the ancient weapons that were shot out of a slingshot during a war. Most of the historical artifacts in the US are from the 1800s or maybe a little bit before. Everything in Italy has so much more history!

The Italians dress much more nicely on a regular basis than we do in the States. I haven't seen anyone in sweatpants at a dinner yet, and I really like that. The people here have been so nice when we've tried to speak our Italian to them. I've only gotten laughed at a few times! The first week of the trip has been amazing, and I can't wait to see what's next.

David

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  1. AnonymousJune 8, 2017 at 1:49 AM

    Vogel Reflection #2

    After our first full week in Italy, I thought that I had already seen a lot. But after this last 3 day trip to Lake Como, Verona, and Venice, I can now say that I've definitely seen and learned more about history, culture, art, and language in the past 3 days than at any other point in my life. Driving up to our hotel in Lake Como was both fascinating and a bit terrifying. There were times where I'd look out the window and couldn't see the side of the road, but we made it. Professor Seaman was right when he compared Bellagio to Beverly Hills. I liked touring Bellagio, but the boat ride on Lake Como was one of the highlights of the trip so far. I asked one of the boat drivers if there were many water sports on the lake, and he said that that didn't happen very often, which is another difference between our culture and Italian culture.

    Verona was another great experience. To be honest, I hadn't done much research on Verona before we left and really only knew what it meant because of Rome and Juliet. However, on our tour of the city I learned that just like everywhere else we've been in Italy, there is ample amounts of history behind every aspect. One thing that I enjoyed learning about was the Della Scola family. In Italian culture in the past, certain families were more powerful than others and a powerful family had their own crest and had much influence throughout the city and also within the surrounding cities. For dinner we ate at a 5 star hotel, the only one in Verona. I could write an entire reflection on this meal, but the highlight for me was talking to our bus driver Roberto. I knew he didn't speak any English, so I tried to make small talk in Italian and told him I spoke Spanish, and I learned that he did too. In about an hour of conversation, I learned so much about Italian culture and even what Italians thought of Americans. One interesting thing Roberto told me was that any time he has a job driving the bus, he always shows up 15 minutes late because that's the custom in Italy. I told him how different this was from the way I was raised, because at home if I'm not 5 minutes early then I am late. This conversation helped me further realize how important language is in our world, because without language we wouldn't be able to communicate and learn about other cultures.

    Venice was also amazing. Taking the gondola ride through the city with the music playing was a surreal experience. At the Gallerie dell'Accademia, there was so much religious history depicted through art and sculpture. When Tim and I were walking through one of the galleries we talked about how every painting we saw was a religious one. Studying religion in a culture is also extremely important, even if someone doesn't believe in one religion doesn't mean they can't appreciate it. This trip has been unreal so far, I'm looking forward to our next 4 days.

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