Adjusting to Expat Life in Italy: Riding Out the Culture Curve
Posted on: Aug 1, 2009Back in my college days, before I’d ever worked for the mouse, lived overseas or, heck even flown on an airplane, I took a class that impacted my future experiences with every other city, state or country I’d ever live in. The class was called Cultural Communication and the professor, Dr. Larry King stood before our stuffy, poorly lit lecture hall and explained, in a series of words I can’t quite recall, the next 10 years of my life.
I can’t explain why this class-no, this lecture-grasped a prominent place in my memory like it did, especially at a time in my life when I had no intention of up and marryin’ some good-looking eye-talian and high tailin’ it to southern Italy. But it did.
The essential points in his lecture have rung true for me over the years and reminded me that every culture shock symptom I have experienced is not only normal, but expected.
And I’m going to share those points with you.
Post continues here with the stages of culture shock.
How about the dreaded Italian mother in law problems some expats have…. that makes adjusting to expat life EXTRA SPECIAL!!!! lol… I have SO many of those stories.. I need to make a blog… Are you back in the states now?
You should write a blog about it! Great idea. I am actually just back from the states. Was a good vacation.
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I’m in the home phase.
If you can visit the country and rent a place for a few weeks (or months) before the move it helps. A lot.
Auguri for being “home.” I think I still swing back and forth between home and humor!
.-= nyc/caribbean ragazza´s last blog ..A great thing about living in Rome? The fountains. =-.
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Supposedly home starts at about 7 years, so I am past that and almost in grave stage. I don’t know how to live anywhere else.
I have a friend who is moving to a different country. She just didn’t make it here. She was angry a lot. She is really angry and dissmissive now, sending me news articles that are scurillously critical of Italy. I can go along with a good bit of criticism of Italian things, like Sr. B and the current non-approach to the financial crisis, the continuing robbery of all Italians by organized crime, the blithe acceptance of things like a 50% rise in garbage tax when we have all just seen what they have been doing with our garbage. But Italy itself is a delightful treasurebox full of every wonderful thing as well as all that cr*p. Will Berlin be better? I don’t think so, it will just be German snafu instead of Italian snafu.
I find just as many things not to like about my original country as about Italy. All it takes is paying attention and a lot of love.
It is hard for me sometimes to get past the negative things like you mentioned, but then I go home and Fed Ex is days late delivering a package, banks don’t answer the phone or I have other customer service issues that remind me that some of the things that bother me about Italy, would bother me back home, as well. Thanks for your perspective.
.-= Judith in Umbria´s last blog ..Ruins =-.
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We’ve been lucky with the bureaucracy and never hit the “Hostility” stage at all. After 6 years this is home, but for us home is where the heart is, and we’re ready for the next phase! Funny think is, I never thought I’d be one who moved from place to place, but for the past 20 years that’s what we’ve done, and I have to say I’ve enjoyed every minute! Maybe moving on a regular basis and dealing with different situations helps!
Good point. It makes sense that the more experience you have with being an expat, the better at it you’d be!
.-= Barbara´s last blog ..ANOTHER WEEK – ANOTHER SAGRA! =-.
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