How living abroad makes me more Italian than I used to be

Key Takeaways:

- Had the extraordinary opportunity to live in Italy, Australia, the United States, and Spain

- Being abroad teaches you how to appreciate your home country more

- Add up what acquired from different cultures

First of all, a short introduction about me...

If I remember when I was in high school in Italy, and I went studying abroad in Adelaide, Australia for five months, I used to often criticize Italy...from the education system and the people to even the food, that if you think about it, you cannot really critique if it is Italian. Well, it is better to say - first of all - that I used to criticize my hometown, a beautiful small place with fantastic food, a distinguished past, and notable in sports. Still, it is a small town, and there are not endless opportunities and activities like in big cities. Also, I was a teenager, and I was growing up and building my personality, but my life was not bad at all. I just wanted more; I always like to renovate myself.

Anyway, I had this fantastic opportunity to go to Australia, a lifetime-changing experience, and from there, everything began. I became passionate about traveling, and once I graduated from high school, I left to go to college in South Florida. At my university, I came in contact with so many different cultures, as my university is one of the most international colleges in the United States. To keep experiencing and learning about cultures, I studied abroad again in Barcelona, Spain, with a program from my university, and then came back to graduate with a bachelor degree and continue my studies by rolling in the Master of Business Administration program while working on campus.

Now, let's dig into the theme...

Studying abroad gives valuable individual skills and endless opportunities for life and career. Still, I will not talk yet about all the opportunities that experiencing and living abroad gives to you. That will be for another article.

What I want to focus on here is that when you live and experience abroad, you better understand the values of your country and its culture...and Italy has a lot! You appreciate more where you come from; you start to understand the pros and cons of your home and foreign countries. You become patriotic, and you feel proud of your origins. Aspects you did not give much importance before, you will appreciate them, and you will consider the small details and reflect on them. Examples include locations, conversations with people, and their personalities, opportunities, and history. Once you get acquainted with a specific culture, you change, and of course, it is up to you on how much you benefit from an abroad experience. Learning a language is the best example of fully immersing yourself in a culture. For instance, learning Spanish helped me to get close to Spanish and Latin American cultures. I used to hate reggaeton, and now it is one of my favorite kinds of music, to provide a funny example.

I also like to share with my friends what is fun about places I live. I love cooking pasta and Italian food with my college friends and telling them interesting facts about Italy. When I had friends who visited me in my home country and in Barcelona, where I studied abroad, I really enjoyed sharing anecdotes, experiences, and information about the place I was living in. I am very eager to learn about the various aspects of a culture. I then can acquire their lifestyles and take what I mostly like from those cultures.

However, it is funny how, on the one hand, my Italian friends often say I am more American because I love Starbucks, and now also more Spanish because I listen to reggaeton a lot. On the other hand, my friends from different countries tell me I am very Italian because pasta is my favorite food. It is about perspectives and viewpoints, depending on where a person is coming from. From all those skills you develop from living in other countries, such as open-mindedness, critical thinking, internationality, and communication, the most important one is that you acquire a new culture. However, you add it up to your cultural identity; you cannot replace it with another one you adopted before, and, most of all, you cannot substitute it with your native one.

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