One of the most interesting things about international travel is experiencing a new culture and way of life. If possible, I always try to live at least part of the trip with locals and experience life past hotels and resorts. While it was very different and sometimes inconvenient to live in the African village or in Rome with my sister, what do people from abroad think of the United States on their first trip here? My sister brought her pure-bred Italian boyfriend Valerio (Vale) here for the holidays and I made note of his initial impressions.
Pick-up trucks were first on the amazement list. He saw an entire parking lot full while landing in Atlanta to change planes. Previously, he had only seen them on TV shows and they blew him away. He also ran into his first hotdog stand in the airport.
Traffic during the holiday season does not get any worse in Springfield, Missouri. However, during 5 o’clock traffic he repeatedly remarked how light and orderly the traffic is.
Upon arriving at my parent’s house late in the evening, the wall-to-wall carpet amazed him. He proceeded to roll around on the floor in pleasure. Further, the size of our yard and house were unbelievable. Comparable to three or four standard houses in Italy, I believe ours is not much larger than the average in our area. Central air in houses and restaurants had him staring at duct work numerous times. Having only really seen an AC window unit, central is a beautiful thing.
Our food is really heavy compared to Italians apparently, full of flavor and very good, but heavy. This probably correlates to his numerous comments on the average weight of Americans. He has never seen anything like it and we only enhanced his astonishment after taking him to the mall. The malls also lead him to notice all of the “very young girls with babies.”
Valerio had a little back trouble and went to the hospital for a checkup. He was astonished at how nice everything was and compared our hospital to a nice hotel in Rome. Don’t they have universal health care there? Just saying.
Obviously a few positive and negative observations but on his last night I asked what he will predominately remember when he thinks of Missouri and the United States. First, what do you think of? Besides being more organized, he replied by saying we seem to happier, calmer and smile a lot more to each other than Italians or any other culture he has seen. I will admit that surprised me.
Vale and his first chainsaw encounter:
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