Italy

My strong Italian accent while speaking English makes the topic of Italy one of the first to be discussed when meeting new people. The reaction is almost always very positive, with common jokes about why one should ever be living outside of the country of La Dolce Vita.

I experimented with different kinds of responses. I noticed that if I try to suggest that maybe it is one of the best countries in the world for vacations, but living there also has some disadvantages, like a lack of work opportunities, then the reaction is: “We always tend to want what we don’t have.”

While it is indeed a human tendency to see that the "grass is always greener on the other side," something is left out from that picture. I recently met a classmate from Hawaii and tried not to have the same attitude of extreme positivism as I experienced for Italy. The conversation became much more interesting when we discussed the trade-offs of living in such a famous tourist destination.

In a few words, a country's popularity in the common culture has many benefits; for example, many people asked me to stay connected to show them Bologna the next time they visit Florence. At the same time, the dialogue about nationality becomes enjoyable when stereotypes are abandoned in favor of original and unpredictable questions.

Life is too short to stick to what we think we know.