Most teenagers in America don’t get the chance to say they have traveled around the world. The exception is junior Dana Walker, who has been traveling with her family since first grade, and more recently ventured on her own to Italy.
“I went just to get the experience. I really just wanted to see the cultural differences and I’ve always had a thing for Italy and I had never been there before,” Walker said.
Over the summer, Walker got the chance to spend eight weeks in Italy with two host families. She experienced a culture that contrasted with the American way of life.
“Everything is smaller there from their drink sizes to buildings and roads,” Walker said. “Over there you don’t drive cars everywhere. Basically there are just little towns and you ride a bike everywhere or you walk. It’s very nice and the food is very different and just their culture.”
Two cities in Italy that stood out to Walker were Venice and Rome. She said they were unlike any other city she had ever visited.
“Venice is like a whole different city than I’ve ever seen,” Walker said. “There are no cars, there are no buses, there aren’t even bikes. You walk everywhere or you take a boat and the taxis are boats.”
There was also a distinction between the people of Italy and the people of America.
“It’s not that Americans are rude, but people tend to think of us as more rude and [Italians] are really welcoming and they show hospitality and they are really family orientated,” Walker said.
People in the towns were closer together due to the smallness of the community.
“There you could walk five minutes to school. Their parents aren’t as strict and people go out all the time because everyone knows who you are and it’s a safe environment,” she said.
One obvious difference between the two countries is the language. Although Walker didn’t know Italian, she still managed to communicate in English.
“The first family I stayed with, the mom was an English teacher but some of the family didn’t speak it and so I learned some Italian but most people over there know a little English. The teenagers that I hung out with all knew some [English].”
The time difference challenged her because of the barrier it caused between her and the people back home.
“[I hated] the time difference and I missed everyone here. I got homesick like the third week I was there and then I was six hours ahead of everyone there so I would get on Facebook or my email and try and talk to people but either I would be sleeping while y’all were awake or the opposite,” Walker said.
When it was time to return home, she found out her flight from Milan to New York was delayed. Then when she finally got to New York, that flight was delayed too. It added a total of eight hours to the trip.
“No one was speaking English and I was really scared because I had no idea what was going on. I was ready to be home and I couldn’t get home. I was halfway across the world,” Walker said.
The hardest part of the whole trip was going home, not only because of the flight delay, but also because of the culture shock.
“Coming home was harder for me because once I got there I already had an idea of what I expected and it fit my idea. There were new things I learned along the way but coming home was really hard for me just because I’d been [in Italy] all summer and I’d grown accustomed to their customs,” Walker said.
Now that she is home, Walker wishes she could have brought a little piece of Italy back with her.
“I wish I could have just brought Italy home,” she said. “Their whole culture and country was so different and I loved it so much because it’s everything I want.”
–By Jessica Clayton