Today I want to talk about Italian culture from my(Stanley) perspective.
I came to Italy to meet Giulia on the 6th of December. During this holiday in Italy I’ve been staying at Giulia’s house so I could find out many differences between Korean and Italian manners. Of course there are many differences, starting from food… but this time I am gonna talk about social relationships.
When I arrived in Italy Giulia came to the airport to pick me up and then we moved to Arezzo, the city where she lives. I finally met Giulia’s mom and sister at the station. When Giulia’s mom saw me, she gave me two kisses on my chicks. I was a little bit surprised because we usually shake hands or bow to each other in Korea, furthermore we are not familiar with physical contact. Now I’m getting used to see it but it was a pretty big news at first time, surprisingly Italian people do two kisses sometimes, even when they meet for the first time. Giulia said it’s like bow and also a way to be polite with other people.
Italian people are talkative (of course a in a positive way). When I was attending a cultural exchange in China, I met some Italian people for the first time in my life. The first time I hung out with them even if we just met, I didn’t feel awkward or uncomfortable at all. They kept giving me some topics and we kept discussing about some issues. Such in a short time I already could feel we were close. After I came to Italy I had the chance to face more these kind of situations. One day in Rome me and Giulia went to a Japanese restaurant and when we ordered, the waitress asked us about our story, also when she was taking someone else’s order she looked very friendly with the costumers. If you guys come to Korea you are never gonna face something like that in a restaurant . They are just going to serve the food and leave you a comment like “enjoy your meal”. Because If they keep talking to us, it can be that we think they disturb our time or interfere us.
About their family traditions I noticed that these are so important in Italy. People usually depend so much on their relatives. I mean: family generally means parents and siblings in Korean culture but to Italian family means “the entire family” including grandparents, relatives, and even distant ones. Of course it can be that some families in Korea are like that but to me relatives are so near and yet so far. We only gather all together when there is a big holiday and not every Sunday like Italian people do.
About Italian festivities I noticed that most of them are made for let the family gather and have a big lunch or dinner together. As I went to Italy for Christmas I had the chance to see how they celebrate this day. Christmas is a festivity for couple in Korea and not for the family. We usually go out and have dinner at a fancy restaurant to enjoy a romantic time with our partner. On the other hand Italian people celebrate Christmas with family. The family should be reunited for having a meal and opening Christmas presents together.
How do you guys regard “physical contact” and how is it in your culture?
Thank you for reading 😊
Stanley< em>
MyItalianSeoul 