Alexa
Capozzoli
STEREOTYPES- People
Going to Europe, everyone has their own stereotypes that they have come up with in their head. Throughout our lives, we have learned so much about many places and tourism that we have formed our own stereotypes.
One major stereotype that was confirmed was Japanese tourists. We think of them traveling in big groups which is exactly what they did. Every Japanese tourist that we saw was in a big group of other Japanese tourists. One thing that I found very interesting was that they were in groups with people that seemed to be around the same age. They all seemed to be middle ages or older too. There was no young people in these tourist groups. Lastly, they all had a leader of some sort, also Japanese, who had a pole with a colored flag on it to lead the group throughout the cities. There were the same groups in every city that we visited. It was very interesting to see how it did not vary from city to city.
The main stereotype of Italian people is that they are loud and very passionate. I did not see this as much as I thought I was going to. There were moments, but they have their variation just like any other group of people do. I especially noticed that people were quieter in Modena. I believe this is because it is less of a city and more laid back than the other places we visited.
OBSERVATIONS OF LOCALS
One of my favorite parts of visiting foreign countries is seeing how the locals live. To us, it is all so different, but to them it is their life- just like if they were to visit the United States. Living like a local is the best way to explore a new place. A major observation I had was even though majority of the places we visited had many people who spoke fluent English, not every place did. The more low-key and local spots did not have many people who spoke English or writing in English. As much as we wanted to be a local, with minimal knowledge of the Italian language, it made it more difficult.
In terms of attire that the locals would wear, there was a lot of black. I vividly recall spotting a group of four young adult girls in Florence walking down the street and each one of them was dressed in black from head to toe. There were a lot of neutral colors worn and sometimes a splash of color. The splash of color was most likely a bag or a scarf. This is mostly different than the United States. Even though people do dress very simply like that, we also have a lot more variety in colors and patterns worn.
I felt that majority of people's interactions that I noticed were very informal. Typically when they greet someone they either shake hands or hug, but with both occurrences they kiss each cheek once. This is similar to the United States, but there is no kissing of the cheeks which is very popular in Italian culture.
