Submitted by Emma Pantaleo on the 2020 winter session study abroad program in Italy sponsored by the Department of English…
Italian people are meant to be charming, but I had no idea they could be charming enough to convince me to eat five different types of cheeses and two different types of salami while walking the streets of Rome. I don’t even like salami. Somehow, I still enjoyed every moment of it. Maybe it is because of the cute Italian man who was handing it to me in such a welcoming way. There’s something so endearing about someone trying to communicate with you when they do not speak the same language. It involves a lot more hand movements and gestures, and even facial expressions. As the short, tan, probably mid fifty year old man hands me a chunk of parmigiano reggiano, he has the biggest smile on his face as if he’s saying “taking this cheese from me would make this the best moment of my life”, without actually using words to say it. Don’t get me wrong, I know it is his job to sell me the cheese. I know that he probably couldn’t care less about how I feel about him or the cheese and all he really wants is for me to spend my money on a whole block that I probably won’t even eat. But none of that matters because I can pretend that in this moment I have the power to make or break this man’s day. Needless to say, I bought the cheese.