Written by Giorgia Sartorio and translated by Michelle Tarnopolsky
On November 14, 2023, my class and I did a cultural exchange activity at Syracuse University in Florence. The American university offers the possibility of spending a semester abroad, and one of the locations offered is Florence. These semesters are intended to prepare students for a world shaped by globalization by attending various courses including one in Italian.
This is how we came to meet students from a completely different reality from ours, one that we were ready to learn about and appreciate, in the same way American students would appreciate ours. The project, which involved an initial division of my class into pairs, involved starting a dialogue between an American student and a couple of us Italian students. The dialogue took place half in English and half in Italian so we could practice the foreign language on both sides and discover the differences between our culture and that of America.
What made this experience so important to me was the discovery of the various and different points of view with which one can analyze a concept or a habit. The girl with whom I interfaced had a totally different conception of aspects and lifestyles such as the relationship with her parents and the concepts of fun and leisure. Starting from these simple examples, I managed to expand this perspectivism to all fields of my life, even more so when I started studying the philosopher Nietzsche.
Another aspect, which for me was the most important, was the possibility of establishing a conversation with an unknown person who would not judge me. In fact, I have always had a kind of fear in relating to unknown people, even more so in English. This problem, which I call the “fear of making mistakes,” started in my first year of high school, a period of new friendships where the only thing I wanted was to be perfect.
I only managed to overcome this harmful desire in my last year, both because I understood that it was impossible, but also thanks to this project. By establishing a dialogue with a person who, like me, had to learn, she helped me understand how all my paranoia was imaginary: how she did not judge my mistakes, and I did not judge hers. So, I consider this experience essential. Beyond the growth to which it led, it was a pleasant day with my classmates, with whom I lived the most beautiful years of my life.