Culture Shock and Reverse Culture Shock

Leaving my home in the United States to go live in Rome for four months was amazing but was a big change. I noticed a lot of differences and learned to adjust to them.

I wish I learned more Italian but I only learned enough to get by. If you want to learn some more common phrases before you go to Rome, check out my blog post titled "Common Italian words and phrases."

Here are some things I noticed were culturally different in Rome:

People will cross the street whenever they want and expect the cars to stop for them.

This was weird for me to see because the traffic in Rome is always too hectic. I tried to do some research on this but every article I found said that Romans are very careful when crossing the street and that drivers are rarely generous to pedestrians. (1) I'm not sure if I only ever saw the rare jaywalker but I would notice people crossing the street even if cars were coming. I was usually too scared to cross the street without a walk sign because the traffic in Rome is very busy.

The washing machines are in the kitchen and dryers do not exist.

When my roommates and I arrived in our apartment, we thought that the washing machine was in the kitchen because it was a small apartment that didn't have enough space anywhere else. We soon realize that most Italian homes and apartments have their washing machines in the kitchen. It was also shocking that our apartment did not have a dryer for our clothes but we also found out that no one in Italy uses dryers and use drying racks or clotheslines instead.

Coffee is very different in Rome, but also a lot better.

If you want to hear more about the differences between ordering coffee in Rome versus the United States, look at my blog post called "Coffee Ordering."

Waiters do not request a tip, and will not bring you your check unless you ask for it.

Waiters in Italy get paid a more respectable wage in Italy than they do in the U.S. and therefore do not need to be tipped. Waiters will also not bring you your check unless you ask because they don't want to rush you out.

Rome is a walking city.

While the traffic is hectic, and public transportation is easy, you can walk practically anywhere in Rome. I loved my short walks to my classes and my long walks to and from my "Ancient Rome and its Monuments" class.

Reverse Culture Shock

Reverse culture shock is the culture shock I had readjusting to my life in the United States. I had to remember to tip my waiters, that ordering a latte will not get me a glass of milk, and that I don't have to wait two days for my clothes to dry. I know that your friends that study abroad can be annoying talking about "how different their time abroad was" but it really was different having to adjusting normal everyday parts of my life. One annoying thing that my friends and I did after we got home was that we would say "grazie" (thank you in Italian) instead of saying thank you. "Grazie" was the word we said most often so it was more difficult than I expected readjusting to saying "thank you."

Below is a picture of me and some friends on Halloween in Rome. While we loved learning about Italian culture, we still loved celebrating some American traditions!

Citations:

(1) “How to Cross the Street in Rome.” Rome Vacation Tips, 25 Feb. 2021, romevacationtips.com/how-to-cross-the-street-in-rome-and-live-to-tell-the-tale/.

Gambardella, N. (2019). Halloween.