The first time I have been here is when I first got to life. Since that day I have lived here in “beautiful Tuscany” while dreaming of exotic places. My mom is Polish and met my Italian father here. It happened by chance.
I never felt home here and always disliked Italian people, finding them small-minded, hypocritical and insincere. I know this cannot represent all the Italian people, but during my life I had to do with many people, and found it real hard to find a genuine one. I learned not to trust people easily, and became very displeased.
Maybe it was my fault.. Maybe. But I got to learn something while I moved to Finland to study: people there were lovely, if shy, reserved and quiet, and honest. You could be yourself without being judged. I absolutely loved it and was thankful to Finland to have helped me find out that there was nothing wrong with me:
It wasn’t a problem if I was shy, or if I didn’t want to act a part, or if I didn’t wanna wear the same pair of shoes that were fashionable at the time… Growing up in Italy, I quickly realized how teenagers there are been brainwashed (more than anywhere else, I believe) and sacrificed to the god Fashion! It’s ridicolous how everything here is based on appearance. And I know that happens everywhere, but not to such an extent that that happens here.
Italians are also noisy and I find them rather “un-sensitive” generally, but of course there are (there must be, Italians are 60-something millions, in the end) exception to the rule. Maybe it all is really my fault. -(Don’t worry, end of rant now!)
On the positive side (yes, there are also things I like about my country), there is the timeless-ness (is this a word?) of the place, the awesome, awesome food (has to be the best in the world, probably), the ancient buildings, and the atmosphere and ancient buildings of cities such as Florence (my hometown), Venice or Rome.
Living abroad for some time, I started to appreciate Italy a bit more, and even though it’s real crowded and messy and becoming more and more un-safe and poor, it definitely has a special charm no other place can compete against.
