After being in Milan for for several weeks I grew to realize that a lot of things that are "the norm" here are not very common back in America. I thought Americans LOVED their dogs, but after living in Milan I've witnessed dog loving on a completely different level.
For instance, people can take their dogs literally anywhere in Milan which is not allowed in America. I'm talking about dogs in restaurants, cafes, shopping malls, grocery stores, you name it! These aren't just small puppies or service animals either. These are huge dogs that can easily be mistaken for bears or wolves inside common areas. It's ridiculous. I once went into a small cafe to order a cappuccino and I couldn't even make my way to the cash register because a dog twice my size filled the entire cafe. Back home it's common for people to leave their dogs outside on a leash or even in their cars to avoid making people uncomfortable, but it is completely different here. #MansBestFriendForReal
“One's destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things" - Henry Miller
Another thing that took me a while to realize is that Milanese people smoke cigarettes like it's the 1920's! It's all the rage, and it is especially popular among young people. Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of cigarette smokers in America from all backgrounds and ages, but with the growing social awareness on the damage cigarettes can do to one's body they are beginning to become less popular especially among the youth. If someone's seen smoking cigarettes back home and they're younger than 25... it's a turn off. It's like what's wrong with you #LBS. Nonetheless, it's completely cool here. I once seen a girl on the train no more than 14 years old with a cigarette in her hands. I was #shook. It's kind of scary to think about, but at the end of the day teens in America still do all types of drugs and all drugs are bad, they just effect the body differently.
Italian Family Structure
Family is everything here in Italy. I've learned that just by living with my host family. They love spending time together and having dinner at the end of the day is almost sacred. It threw me off a bit when I realized that my host family has dinner together every single night because my family back home didn't. We would have dinner together often when I was younger and my mom had the energy to cook, but you know how you get older and things change. Now my family probably has dinner together two or three times a week and other days we all just fend for ourselves or eat in front of a screen. I think it is nice to have a home cooked meal every night although there are some days when I wish I could just eat fast food while watching Netflix. I believe that having dinner together is a great way for families to unwind. However, dinner with Italian families last forever... Oftentimes when we're done eating, we just sit at the table and find ways to extend the conversation which can be both entertaining and a drag.
I realized that young people in Milan don't move out of their homes as early as a lot of Americans. My host dad asked me if people my age were living independently in America and when I told him "yes, it's very common", he was utterly surprised. I assume that many Italians don't move out until their mid - to - late twenties. They also have babies much later in life. My professor told me that she had her daughter at 25 and everyone viewed her as a "baby having a baby" because women don't normally have babies until their late thirties or forties which is shocking- especially in comparison to the teen pregnancy rates in America. Nonetheless, I don't see anything wrong with women having babies and settling down later in life. I think it can actually be very beneficial.
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