The
fresh breeze leaves me as soon as I am engulfed by the hordes of people
cluttering the streets. To replace it, a thick pungent smell of cigarette smoke
fills my nostrils as I look at my surroundings. Above me, I see buildings and a
bright blue sky. But, looking ahead, all I can see are the masses of people.
I am in
Venice, and it is quite a bit different from what I imagined. First off, it is
so much larger than I anticipated. I had envisioned walking from one end of the
island to the other with ease, effortlessly covering the entire terrain of the
island in one week. But now, looking at its size, I know there will be places
of Venice that I will not see. Perhaps, now that I am physically seeing myself
in proportion to the island, Venice looks larger than when I viewed it in
photographs on a computer.
Secondly,
as I mentioned above, Venice largely smells of cigarette smoke. I was greatly
looking forward to the sea breeze and fresh salty air. Also, I thought the absence
of cars would further increase the clean air quality and smell. So, I was
severely disappointed by the constant smell of smoke and prevalence of smoking
in general. I think I will look up the rates of lung cancer in Europe versus
the United States when I return home.
Thirdly,
Venice is much more crowded than I expected. I was told that Venice is a
tourist city, but I did not realize the extent to which Venice is geared toward
tourists. People are constantly trying to sell you things and almost everyone
around you speaks English.
Furthermore,
I learned a lot through my travels to Venice. I had not previously traveled
internationally to this extent. Plus, in my past travels outside of the United
States, I was always traveling with family. Whenever I travel, I am constantly surprised
and amazed by how many other people are traveling. Each person has their own itinerary
and destination, as well as a unique place that they are coming from. It is
incredible to think of the number of people that pass each other in an airport.
There are so many stories and experiences all in one place, but the airport is
only a passageway, and people continue to their destinations.
Flying
into the airport in Germany, I felt out of place. I did not understand the announcements
spoken through the loud speakers, or the words written on the signs throughout
the airport. A woman passing me sneezed, and I automatically wanted to say
bless you, but I could not think of how to communicate that to her in German. I
felt like I stood out, not just because of the language I spoke, but because of
the way I looked and acted. Looking around, I tried to place the nationality of
the people surrounding me. However, this only made me wonder more if people
could tell I was American. But then that made me wonder, why do I care if
people can tell I am American? Do I think it is bad to be American? Was
everyone else in the airport feeling the same way? I am not sure I know the
answers to these questions yet.
On the
plane from Germany to Venice, all the instructions were given in German first
and English last. I was not used to hearing foreign commands first, and quickly
realized that my language was in the minority. When the flight attendant came
by to serve me a drink, she asked me in German what I would like to drink. I
had no idea what she had said, but knew it had to do with drinks, so I
responded with “water, please”. She understood my response and spoke to me in
English after that, but her automatic assumption that I was German made me
wonder if I really did look blatantly American or not.
Throughout
my travels to Venice, I became more conscious of my identity as an American and
what that means. I was disappointed by how little I knew about other languages;
I should at least know how to say hello/goodbye and please/thank you. Although
my initial impressions of Italy were not as mystical as I had imagined, I am
enjoying the city so far and am really valuing the learning experience of this
study abroad.
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