I had a meeting with my professor a week ago and in all the excitement of being abroad and lack of sleep I lost my mental thread and couldn’t find time or energy for a blog post. I’m still adrift to a certain extent, but I’ve decided that it’s now or never; If I can’t pull it together enough to write a blog post after a recovery day when I slept until 3, then I’ll never do it. I’ll do my best to remember what went on in that hazy memory from so long ago…

I had a great meeting with my sociology professor, Pierluca Birindelli, the other day; aside from being a really satisfying conversation with a fun and intelligent professor, a few cultural differences stuck out to me. Before I get into the meat of the conversation, I’d like to talk more generally about these differences.

For one thing, we arranged a time and met outside the school. Most of my meetings with professors at Penn State have been in their offices. Walking into a professors office often feels a bit like intruding–even if someone is happy to see me, I’m always interrupting some form of paperwork or other. By contrast, meeting outside the school and going to a caf� around the corner felt more natural. There was mutual effort to make the meeting happen.

We had agreed to talk for thirty minutes, which would be around what I’m used to. But as I became immersed in the conversation I lost the time, and it was only when we stepped outside so he could have his cigarette (‘like any good Italian’), that I realized the sun had begun to set. We talked for two hours without mention of other commitments or how late it was getting. Usually I’ll notice my professors working to taper the conversation after half an hour. Granted, this is an unscientific examination. I’m sure some Italian professors would have a lower threshold for banter than others. The conversation was varied and touched on a lot of topics from a responsible outlook on social commentary (‘let’s not say the things that make us feel beautiful and detached’) to disturbing trends both Florentine and farther-reaching; For the sake of brevity I will focus on one exchange in particular. Anyway, on to the content.

            I had a few questions that mostly had to do with expectations of an American student and my initial disappointment that I ran up against an experience that I felt weren’t authentically Italian. I saw the Ben and Jerry’s next to the Duomo and cringed, and when I learned that there was a Mcdonalds around the corner, I felt sick and angry. But, Pierluca explained, what I was really reacting to was the fact that I was in a globalized metropolis. Locals don’t revolt at the sight of American influence. A vast majority of their economy is tourist-based. Their sensibility is that this is just what it means to live in Florence, and so there is less of an antagonistic relationship.

            He explained to me that in his eyes a search for ‘authenticity’ proceeded from a simplistic, two-dimensional worldview (no offense meant to me, of course).  He said I would find authenticity in daily life as I assimilated more and started to see past things I mistook for some kind of cultural corruption. The little social differences that revolve around drinking a can of coke are a lot more interesting than the fact that coke is available in every restaurant in Florence. We proceeded to discuss wide-ranging topics from. The boundlessness of the conversation really gave me a sense of the passion he had for critical thinking and discussion. I’ve never felt like I knew someone so well after a meeting. In short, I’d highly suggest making an excuse to talk to your professors whilst abroad. It was a very rewarding experience for me.

Location: Florence, Italy