Returning Home from Italy: Surprise Cultural Shock

Submitted by Samantha Smith on the 2017 winter session program in Italy sponsored by the Department of Psychology…

Going to Italy, I knew I would need to keep an open mind about everything I would see and experience there. I would mentally prepare myself and I looked up quite a bit about culture shock. While similar, there were slight differences in Italy as compared to America. And on the plane heading to Rome, I felt, and turned out to be, prepared for the new environment.

What I didn’t think about was the culture shock returning home to America. As soon as I landed in Philadelphia, the staff in the airport acted differently as compared to in Italy. The voices sounded different. The outfits were slightly off. Perhaps a little exaggerated, but still true, it smelled different.

After finding my parents and hopping into our car, I noticed that the driving was different, too in America. I knew the driving was different in Italy; after all, I witnessed their high speeds and unique crosswalks for three weeks. However, I didn’t realize that it would even feel odd to sit back in an American car and experience American driving again. As we drove down I 95 towards Delaware, sitting in traffic, driving in straight lines (forewarning: Italians use lane lines as a suggestion), and a large, multi-lane highway was just so odd. It was almost foreign to me after being immersed in nothing, but Italian streets for a few weeks.

After crossing the Delaware border, my parents decided to head to a restaurant for dinner. Even the customer service differs from America to Italy. Here in America, our waitress was very friendly and attentive, even cracking a few jokes here and there. On the other hand, in Italian restaurants, the sign of good service is not to be around. They don’t want to feel like they are being rushed in any way so finding your waiter is a bit of a scavenger hunt.

Within a few hours of my returning to the States, I experienced, what I guess, you could call reverse cultural shock. I had myself mentally prepared for the culture shock in Italy, but not for my return back home. Now, realizing this, I’ll adjust even better, however, it was something that never crossed my mind beforehand.

Goodbye, Italia! You were lovely.