Italy and U.S.

I always dreamed to visit and live in the U.S. and finally, thanks to the grant i received, i ve accomplished my aspiration. I ve always got influenced by the american culture, especially watching american movies or TV series, and now i have the chance to test theese stereotypes and see what is true and what is not.
I only spent a week in Philadelphia, but i already noticed something that made me think about American culture and stereotypes.
There are two things i noticed about America and Philadelphia during my first walk on my neighbourhood:
– many people have a flag of the United States waving in front of their houses. I think that’s a sign of a patriotic spirit that is very felt in the U.S.; i  can’t say the same for my country, we usually feel patriotic only during Football World Cup.
– I saw lots of schoolbus driving in the street in afternoon. I know this is something really simple and common in the U.S., but still it impressed me.

Generally, american people seems to be really kind to me. it’s a melting pot of different races (white, black people, latinos, asiatic), but they all seems to appreciate Italy and especially Rome. In fact, everytime i was talking to somebody new and saying i was from Rome, almost everybody was enthusiastic about my country and city. People appreciate italian history, art, culture, food and wine.

There is one thing that i really don’t like about America: guns

Even if i am here since one week, i have already had the chance to be host at a typical american house and to see the house owner ‘s gun. Even if i understand the need of safety that everybody has, i really couldn’t have a gun and keep it at home. Honestly, I would feel safer without a gun at home then to have it.

I think Italy (and Europe in general) and U.S. are two opposite worlds: the first one is older, with more history and a bigger heritage but, just like an old man, it’s less open-minded and less open to changes; the second one, America, is a younger world. It may not have all the history of an european country, but it has a modern, open-minded, easy going and technological attitude and this is something really usefull for a country in order to be able to follow the future and assimilate and accept cultural and technological changes that will inexorably occur.