Italy La Dolce Vita: Gelato, Food, and Culture

Each student has a unique and individual experience on their Experiment program. The following essay is a single glimpse into a program from one student's perspective.

Tolga G.

Italy (ITGD)

Last month I had the best experience I have ever had in my life. It was not just entertaining, it was teaching at the same time. I don't mean teaching is the teaching at a school by a teacher. This was teaching by experiencing, discovering and communicating.

While most of my group was from the U.S., I am from Turkey. As an international student, I had to deal with two cultures: Italian culture and U.S. American culture. I thought I knew U.S. American culture, but within two days I realized it is not the same culture that appears in Hollywood movies. There in our group I saw everyone had their own culture and tradition. This trip made me learn a lot about the world and other people, too. That's what I call "the experiment".

Although no one met each other in the group before, after our summer together we had extremely strong ties to each other. When I think about it, it sounds crazy that I didn't even know them a month before. Now, I miss them and all the other memories I left in Italy.

My trip to Italy was a great experience because instead of seeking differences, I sought out the similarities that we all shared. When I boarded the plane for Rome, I said to myself "Ok, Tolga. You are going to a completely new country, and nothing will be the same as in Turkey." But once I arrived, I quickly understood that I was wrong. Italian people are human beings like us, and their houses are homes like ours. My thoughts are that they are the same but in a different way. Their lifestyle may be different but their vision, hope, and motives are so similar to any person in the world. People in my group were so surprised and amused to see the differences. Of course I enjoyed these differences too but that's not the lesson in humanity that I learned. I found similarities in a different country and saw how people are so similar to each other in the world.

When I was in Italy, I met so many people. They all led such diverse lives and they all had such different lifestyles and historic backgrounds. Then I thought of all people who live in the world and how each has their own interesting life. When thinking about this, I can't help but be amazed. They all had different ethics, culture, color, and language; but deep down they have feelings, ideas and they chase after the same dream to achieve happiness. I learned while being in Italy that despite the differences in the world, we are all same deep down. I was so frightened at first, especially with my homestay because I was living in a stranger's house. They had strange traditions and rules and they were speaking a totally different language. However, we shared so many similarities too. We laughed at the same events, we enjoyed similar activities, we communicated with a smile, and we all were very sad when I had to leave.

All in all, this is the memory I wanted to share. The world is huge, and the cultures are diverse. Still we all share similarities with the rest of the people out there, no matter how or where they live.