by Robert Kunkle (Garner, NC)IN THE US we expect a certain amount of order to our lives. The way we schedule our days and weeks depend on this order so to limit the amount of “wasted” time. Here are just a couple examples to where these expectations clash with Italian culture.
-Where is Waldo? In the US, public rest rooms are plentiful, easy to find, and free. Signs are everywhere and usually included on any maps provided – especially the classic “you are here maps.” This is certainly not the case in Italy. After two 1 hour plus waits I have yet to figure out where the restroom is at the Pesaro bus & train station. In Bologna, we found the first sign for the location of the restrooms once we found them by trail and error. And once found we realized the use of these restrooms would set us back $0.80 €. This would never fly in the US.
-But the sign says back at 3:30: One of the points we have heard time and time again was that we should take store hours with a grain of salt. So when we went to the travel agent at 3:30 and found the door would not open- we thought – oh well – that’s Italia. So we waited, and waited and waited. At 4:00 someone emerged. We noted that the door opened in and we had been trying to pull the door open. The office had been open the whole time. In the US, fire codes dictate that doors need to open out. Plus intelligent design says that if you have a door designed with a pull handle, it should be pull to open – not push.
