culture – DANIELLE SHEPARD

I’ve recently returned home from my study abroad experience in Italy and I wanted to share what I loved about the city and maybe what others could avoid! A majority of my time was spent on our campus in Cortona, but we went to Rome twice and Rome is definitely NOT overrated. I have way more Do’s to share than Don’ts because it’s an amazing city with so much to see and do.

Do: See the monuments! If you’re like me, you’re not going to be going to Italy very many times in your life; experience it! While the monuments are crowded and have long lines, they’re monuments for a reason. They’re breathtaking. Every single sight was one of those things in life that makes you feel very small in a big world. The major spots include: the Colosseum, Trevi Fountain, Roman Forum, Vatican, Pantheon, Piazza Navona, Piazza di Spagna, and Piazza del Popolo.

Don’t: Get sucked in the tourist restaurants, like in Piazza Navona. We were exploring Piazza Navona around dinner time, which was maybe a mistake. We were constantly bombarded by servers that have to stand outside the restaurant and entice customers in. These restaurants are all very similar, pretty cheap and don’t have the best service in the world. I wouldn’t say we had a bad experience at all, but you could tell it was a tourist trap and I think we could’ve found something more authentic!

Do: Wear sunscreen and comfy shoes. I got very sunburnt by just walking around the city all day, LOL. I’m pretty pale, but I know I’m not the only one! I also underestimated the amount of walking we’d be doing, so I went for the cute shoes instead of sensible. I ended up with tons of blisters and a whole lot of pain! I recommend grabbing some Birkenstocks or good, Italian-made sandals as a souvenir!

Don’t: Try to walk the entire city. Rome is a massive city; don’t try to walk it. One day, we walked 12 miles and only saw a fraction of the city. I recommend tackling it by region, instead of hopping around too much! All it takes is just a little planning of where you want to go and your time schedule! I included the map to the left, just to demonstrate how something may not seem that far on Google Maps, but it’s actually a good distance away.

Do: Take the metro! We bought the Roma Pass, which included 3 days of public transportation use. To me, the bus system seemed okay for short distances, but for a brand new tourist, it seemed pretty confusing. The metro was extremely easy to figure out and use thought and I definitely recommend! It was faster than the buses, as well. They only have two main lines that basically hit all of the main spots!

Don’t: Be careless with your belongings, but don’t give yourself too much anxiety over pickpockets either. Before our trip, I felt like I was in a reverse episode of Beyond Scared Straight. They warned us about pickpocketing so much that I was terrified that every single person in the entire country of Italy was out to rob me. While I know pickpocketing is SUPER common, they had us thinking that it happened at every turn and if you people-watched for a few minutes, you could see it happen. This didn’t happen. While I did buy some RFID sleeves for my cards and I wore a cross body purse, neither I nor anyone on my trip was pickpocketed. Don’t be stupid with your belongings, but I do genuinely think that it’s not aaaassssssss bad as they say. Or maybe I just got lucky; I don’t know.

Do: Visit an art gallery or museum! We were on a study abroad trip, so naturally we were going to museums left and right. I’m not super into art history, but I’m glad I got to see some important historical works in the place that they were created!

Don’t: Wait in a line all day for one museum/attraction when you could be exploring the city. (Unless you’re visiting the city for a longer period of time) Like I said, we went to a ton of museums on our program and most of them were extremely crowded with ridiculously long lines. Don’t wait in every line for every museum. I recommend picking one or two and really experiencing those, rather than blowing through all of them just to say you went! The picture to the right is of the Borghese Gallery, which was definitely one of the better ones! You buy your ticket in advance for a time slot, which regulates the amount of people that are inside at a time. It was nice seeing the pieces without being pushed over or having a blocked view the whole time.

Do: Find some authentic souvenirs, not just magnets and Italian flag pasta. Rome is the center of Italy’s tourism industry. It’s a massive city, where millions visit every year from all over the world. They have countless souvenir stores and booths with the same cheap things in each one. While I bought the cliché souvenirs like some David magnets for my friends, I also made a point to buy some local art prints from street vendors and some snacks from a bakery!

Don’t: Worry about not knowing Italian fluently. Italian people are awesome. We had very few negative experiences with local people in any of the cities we visited. While I think they appreciate it if you actually try to speak with them in Italian, they’re more than happy to speak with you in English if they know it. Almost everyone we encountered in Rome knew English pretty well, so we didn’t have any major communication problems and you probably won’t either!

Do: Pick a cool spot and hang out for a little! My favorite spot in Rome was the Trevi Fountain. It was pretty crowded at all times of the day, but it’s so pretty and such a fun spot. There were people sitting and drinking wine, tossing coins in the fountain, playing instruments, talking with friends; just hanging out! It’s so big, intricate and old; again, it’s one of those things that make you feel small in a big world. I recommend picking a spot, just to sit and take it all in! You’re in Rome, Italy. Get some wine. Grab a snack. Enjoy it.

Do: Hoard your euro coins! If this is your first time in Italy, keep your euro coins like they’re gold! Italy has a huge cash based economy and coins are scarce. Most stores and restaurants don’t usually take cards, unless it’s a large purchase. Rome was much better about having change than in some of the other Italian cities, but I wanted to point it out because I’ve seen where a cafe couldn’t (or didn’t want to) break a €5 bill for a €1 purchase. Their cash based economy can easily be adjusted to and really isn’t a big deal; I just wanted to warn any first timers!

Do: Go out and experience the nightlife! Rome is a big city with a lot of young people, so the nightlife is awesome. While we were there, we went to an Irish pub (lol) that had a ton of locals inside watching a soccer game, which was cool to experience! Then, we headed over to Ice Club, a pub made entirely of ice! That was super fun, even though we were three of the five people there at 9pm on a Sunday evening. We didn’t have a ton of time before we had to catch the last metro, but you could see people pouring in and out of pubs all night! If you’re not into the party/club scene, we also went to plenty of bars (cafes) for wine and snacks for a chill night out!

Do: Get gelato and pastries literally whenever you want! This is the most important Do. Eat whatever you want and don’t feel guilty! You’re burning tons of calories trekking around the city and you deserve a couple gelatos throughout the day! It’s cheap and you will never find anything more satisfying than a cup of gelato on a hot day in Italy. Once you get home, you won’t be able to find anything just as good! Trust me, I’ve looked. 😦

These are my major Do’s and Don’ts of Rome! Did I miss anything? Comment below!

This May, I was fortunate enough to live in Cortona, Italy with the UGA Terry College of Business program. Largely known for its depiction in Under The Tuscan Sun, Cortona was the perfect way to experience small town Italian culture. UGA’s Cortona campus is a renovated monastery-turned-dorm at the top of the scenic mountain town. It was crazy how quickly it began to feel like home, almost 5,000 miles away from Georgia.

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Cortona is located in the farthest eastern corner of Tuscany atop a mountain. The streets and buildings are all made of stone with almost no greenery that is not in a pot, but this really adds to Cortona’s overall charm. The only flat street in town is Via Nazionale where all the shops and cafes are located. These are the cafes we would visit almost every day for a latte (only 1 euro!) and a pastry to work on our assignments. While the stone structures and streets add to the overall charm, the real charm of Cortona is its people. I honestly expected local people to not like us since we were American, but they were really patient and kind to us, as well as all tourists. UGA has had students coming to Cortona for the past 50 years, so they’re definitely used to us, but I think it helped that they knew we were genuinely there to learn about their culture. My favorite part of Cortona was its family owned, local artisan shops all around town. You could buy anything from handmade soap to custom designed clothing. While you might want to come prepared where your wallet is concerned ($$$) if you’re hoping to buy, it’s so much fun stopping in and meeting the owners and artists themselves!

Through this Terry College of Business study abroad program, we took an international business course and an Italian culture course. Our Italian culture course explored Italian art and literature, as well as the history behind it. By visiting local businesses and speaking with their owners, we learned fascinating information about the overall Italian business culture. I was most interested in two aspects: riposo and “marrying your employees.”

Riposo is basically the Italian “siesta” and it is still a very common practice in Italy. We had to wait until about 3pm to go to the cafe every day because they’d be closed from about 12:30 to 3 every single day. While I admit this definitely results in some profit loss and reduced productivity, it is genius from an employee job satisfaction standpoint. The mentality behind this practice is that employees aren’t living their entire waking life at work. This allows employees to feel as though going to work is an activity that occupies most of their day, but isn’t their whole life. They get to maybe nap, eat, or see family and friends during their break, which allows them to feel rejuvenated when they come back at 3 or 4pm until close around 7pm.

When I say “marrying your employees,” I mean that it is law in Italy that an employer cannot simply just fire an employee. An employer commits to employing someone for life, unless they do something insanely terrible or illegal. Even if they are a horrible employee, an employer is required by law to give them three warnings and then, if they do not correct the behavior, they can be let go. However, the fired employee has an option to appeal this, which can cost the employer thousands of dollars in legal fees, time and energy. While I say this, it is not necessarily a bad thing in the Italian culture. While lackadaisical employees can hinder productivity, often times it’s good for a business. This practice has encouraged the Italian people to see their job as a career and not so much so a stepping stone to the next best thing. For example, it was very common for 40 year old men to be a waiter at a restaurant and they took their job very seriously. Whereas at home in the US, a waiter is usually a bored college student trying to pay some bills and student loans. Waiters in Italy were always very concerned if you did not eat all of your food because they thought you didn’t enjoy the food. The success of the restaurant directly affects their chosen career, so they want to ensure customer’s satisfaction with their experience.

My favorite part of Italian culture is “aperitivo,” when everyone in town comes to the piazza around 6pm to sit, drink wine or walk around to talk to neighbors. It’s something both locals and tourists can participate in, which what I thought made this custom cool. This Huffpost article did a great job of explaining the historical significance behind it and the typical “aperitivo” food and drink. I didn’t know about Spritz before I went to Italy, but they are an Italian staple. I wasn’t a huge fan though, so I stayed with red wine most of the time! Italian’s eat very late, after aperitivo, so they usually eat around 9pm and later. The Italian culture believes eating is an activity for spending time with friends and family. In a traditional Italian dinner, there’s at least 3 courses and 5 courses is most common: antipasto, primo, secondo, contorno and dolce. I love Italian food, so it was great getting to try so many things each night. Some have asked me if we had to adjust to different portion sizes in Italy versus the “huge” American portions. Honestly, I ate way more food in Italy than I ever do at home in the US. While each portion may be small, a person gets full after 3 or more courses of carb-loaded food.

If you ever have the opportunity to not only go abroad, but live abroad, do it. I cannot stress enough how amazing it was to spend a month in this amazing little town. Immersing yourself in a culture so different from your own allows you to appreciate their way of life, but also your way of life back home. While I was very happy to be home, I already miss Cortona with every part of my being and I’ll forever be an Italophile.