Italy is relatively small, but just like the US, there are several different types of culture based upon region. Everyone knows that there is a difference between Sicilians and Lombardy, but there are so many other variants in between. As part of my program, I have the opportunity to talk to all these different people. One of the main things I have learned from that so far, is that there is no way I am ever going to remember all of the regional classifications. For example, Tuscany as the area in which Dante is from and therefore the foundations of the Italian language, is considered a highly cultured area and are supposedly very prideful… but as I have heard, not altogether unfounded. For the most part, my Italian peers are from Milan and the general Lombard area since that is just over the border.

Socializing with the people here is sort of half and half. The people within my age group are all very friendly and approachable. Then the older generations are also very gentile, but are less approachable because they do not know any English and whenever I try to communicate something in Italian they scrunch up their faces trying to understand me, with such agony that I give up quickly.

I am still surprised by how few people from the general populous know English. When in Germany, at least the northern/ middle parts, it seemed to me that more people knew English. More often than not, if I was speaking in poor German the other person would just speak to me in English. I suppose the upside to all of this is that I will be forced to learn Italian.