What's America?
“Do you really come from Italy? I can’t believe it! It is so awesome! Why did you come here in Missouri?”
“I’m an exchange student: I’m going to stay here for the whole year..”
“ How do you like America? Is everything so different in Italy? I would like so bad to go over there! Do you guys use cars? And are there any black people? I can’t remember in which side of Germany Italy is…. Is it in the north?”
Well, this is the type of questions that I had to deal with. Americans are very friendly and always happy to meet new people. They are curious and interested in foreigners but, unfortunately, they are not very informed about the world outside of the United States territory.
Missouri is a central state. It is separated from Kansas by the Missouri River (the second longest river in USA), and Kansas City, the city in which I lived, is divided between the two states. It was incredible for me to see, all around me, so big opened spaces: the country is a huge green sheet defined by the numerous hills. The sunset over there is the most beautiful landscape that I have ever seen: in front of you there is just the blue sky with a big red dot near the horizon surrounded by pink clouds…
Something of our culture that is very famous in America is Pizza. The most popular type of Pizza is the cheese one: it should represent our “Margherita” Pizza, but instead of the Mozzarella cheese they use a strange orange-colored cheese and a ton of oil.
As soon as I arrived, I discovered that everything was so terribly bigger than in Italy: from the roads to the cars, from the tooth paste to the toilet paper. The huge fridges can keep inside so much food!! It is not a surprise if I gained ten kilos.
But besides the food aspect, this experience opened my eyes on a different world with its culture and traditions. What surprised me the most was the friendship between boys and girls: differently than in Italy, guys at school are respectful with girls. Something that I really like is the importance that your opinion has in class or during the school activities.
The American high schools give a huge role to the sport teams. They have basketball, football, baseball, swimming, dance, tennis, wrestling, soccer, volleyball and golf teams. During the year there are competitions between different schools. Football is the most popular sport and it’s a tradition that, from the beginning of the school year until the end of October, at Fridays night all the school watches its football team game.
I was on the dance team and during the year we prepared our choreographies to show them during football or basketball games. I had a lot of fun also because their style of dance was so different and new for me.
It is crazy for us Italians to think that in America all the kids from the age of 15 have a job. But that’s the way that their society works: to be able to pay their car and the gas for it, they have to work after school. This great number of workers is the reason because all the restaurants and the stores stay opened every day of the week including Sundays.
At the beginning I was afraid of American life-style so different from ours, but after a while I understood that around it I could build unforgettable relationships with people and live amazing experiences, as I did.
Now I’m back at the reality that, one year ago, I left; but I’m taking with me the memory of an unique and wonderful adventure.
During the Christmas brake, at my house with my brother Gunner, my little sister Brynn, Lisa from Germany, and Sammy (the dog)
New year’s eve