Cultural Reflection – Italians in the United States

30 stereotypes that explain the cultural shock of Italians in the US

When you move abroad, small cultural differences are often more fascinating than big ones. Probably it’s because they are everywhere around you, and sometimes they impact your everyday life significantly. Here are some of the differences I find most interesting — even when they are a bit stereotypical or exaggerated (because there’s a little bit of truth in a lot of these stereotypes):

Food

1. Food with incredibly long expiration dates. Milk gets me really confused in particular
2. Selling fruit and vegetables by unit instead of by weight
3. Grapes, watermelon and all kinds of food with no seeds inside. Seriously?
4. All-you-can-eat
5. Free fountain drink refills
6. More types of dressing than your mind could possibly conceive
7. Someone please tell me, who is this Alfredo and what would be his connection to Italian cuisine?
8. Finding out that “Pizza americana,” i.e. with fries on top, is not only completely unknown but also a pretty horrific idea for Americans
9. Knowing only McDonald’s and Burger King, and finding out there are also places such as In ’n Out or Five Guys
10. Huge plates

University

1. Compulsory class attendance
2. Homework, in college?
3. Varsity sport teams that are not terrible, or deserted
4. Free access to any facility
5. Professors who are actually in their office during office hours
6. Professors who are very serious about cheating, instead of helping you cheat
7. Free food everywhere
8. Wearing hats in class
9. Wearing pajamas in class
10. Huge campuses

Everyday life

1. Air conditioning
2. More air conditioning
3. A cold from all that air conditioning you’re not used to
4. People wearing shorts in January, because 35°F and a feeble ray of sun peeking through the clouds obviously means early Spring
5. Antibacterial everything, everywhere
6. No-ironing shirts are really a thing?
7. Crossing the street with red lights (but we do that anyways, even if it’s not legal)
8. Actually stopping when you notice a pedestrian on the crossing lines
9. You can really pay with cards for goods under 500 euros?
10. Huge cars

The list could go on much more, of course, but I think there’s plenty for now. Did you also experience a similar kind of cultural shock? What were the things that struck you the most?