The Midwest of Italy
EMANUEL AGUILAR (fine art major) writes:
Arriving into Florence, Italy, I presumed that my biggest difficulty would be to blend in without standing out as an American or a tourist, in order to facilitate my stay and not get mugged or ripped off or something of the nature. I have found that it is the complete opposite of what I am experiencing.
Perhaps I'd say the most interesting experience for me thus far has been that the locals speak to me in Italian, as if I were Italian. Mind you, my Spanish facilitates my conversational abilities with the locals, but none the less, when I respond with a "no se" or "I don't know" to their fast and fluent Italian, I am given a look of disgust. In a sense, I feel as if they are looking at this poor one of their kind who has failed to to speak his language, and thus I feel ashamed. Hmmmm. I figure it was interesting to share that my Spanish now has an Italian accent and my Italian is not good enough for a fake Italian, which is what i am here.
The city is beautiful. I could see myself living here, and I did see one Starbucks. Four Dolces, and of course Versace and Roberto Cavali, who has a restaurant in his store. Anyhow, the laid-back culture is very comforting, leaving me at times comparing Florence to Chicago. The Midwest, with its laid-back feel and lack of cultural awareness, for the most part, is a good American comparison to the culture here in Florence. Of course, I am in Europe and the cultural awareness is more advanced and exposed, none the less, but on my way here I imagined to see great fashion and style and such upon the entire population, or most of them, at least. However, I have yet to run into a neighborhood were style triumphs, but that's just because I'm in the Chicago of Italy. There is nothing wrong with that; I'm simply making a comparison.
I have to say that I love the aged textured of all the walls and buildings in this town. The physical documentation of time on the city is recorded on every square inch of wall, and it creates a beautiful landscape of color and rust. My first video in class is dedicated to this aging appearance of the city and how it creates it. Although in most cultures, being old is considered ugly and undesired, here it is celebrated even on the buildings, which are allowed to remain old and aged and not rehabbed in a modern way. Modern architecture is nowhere to be found, and so the city has cast a spell on me. It's physical for now, but it shall enchant me with more in-depth experiences later, I presume.