Submitted by David Deming on the 2019 winter session study abroad program in Italy sponsored by the Department of Languages, Literatures & Cultures…
The first week in Italy has been extremely eye-opening for me in many different ways. The first and foremost surprising thing is the way the Italian people dress. Back home, people only wear dress shoes to formal events, but here it is everywhere no matter the occasion. One of my favorite experiences so far has been going to the Gucci Garden in Florence because fashion is one of my hobbies and interests. Walking in was like hitting a button that causes a scream over the intercom, “you are poor!” and I didn’t even care. I was so excited to look around at the gallery they had of past collections. Besides that, my favorite thing from the program has been the food because of one vegetable, eggplant. At home in Delaware, my favorite pizza to get is a cheese pizza with roasted eggplant from a restaurant named Bertucci’s. But the only problem at home is other than that, I cannot find eggplant in many other places. Here in Italy, eggplant is everywhere and I cannot be happier! Every other store or cafe I walk into has something with eggplant in it and they are all delicious. I’m excited to continue the experience and become more fluent in Italian.
