The First Meeting:

The first time I met Enrico 2 other Erasmus-students and 2 students of my class joined. The six of us took the challenge!

16^th March 2010: Enrico and I got to know each other a little bit, before applying our course material to our different societies.

The first thing I was curious about, was his reason for coming to Belgium. Surprisingly the answer was: “There were no other possibilities anymore. Either, the amount of students allowed, was already reached or the language of the country wasn’t a language I can speak, like French, German. So that’s why I chose Belgium.”

When I, like many other Belgians, think of Italy, I immediately think of the beautiful climate. This is probably due to my touristic image, which might be quite different from the image of a student or someone who works in heavenly Italy. When I ask Enrico his thoughts on Belgium, he surprised me by saying: the Parliament… Let that be the one thing I would not think of…I would have suggested our Belgian beers, Manneke Pis and our famous chocolate. Which apparently isn’t that famous.. Enrico didn’t even know we had some fine chocolate.

The climate differences intrigued me too, was Enrico prepared for our colder climate and our grey days over here.. ? Also regarding this aspect, he surprised me.. he owned a warm coat, a scarf and gloves and remembered to bring those attributes here. The difference between Italy and Belgium isn’t that big anyway, in his city of origin, it had also been snowing: over 1 meter of snow! Hearing that I feld very lucky! :D

Enrico and I talked about our countries, our habits and our societies. We started comparing the impression we had of each other’s country. Italians seem to be generous people, who show their feelings quite fast and who would welcome someone new to their group of friends seemly fast.  When I asked Enrico about his image of the Belgian people, before coming to Belgium, he answered: “To be honest, I didn’t think of Belgian people before I came here… but I reckon, you’re all serious people, in whatever you do. But you also like to enjoy life, maybe a little less than us. Maybe the weather has something to do with that. ;-)

I asked Enrico: ‘what was the first thing you noticed arriving in Belgium, and what is different in Italy?’ He answered: “Mrs. Saelen said to me, we had to arrive on time.  ‘cus Belgian people are very punctual, but I still didn’t notice that. Nearly all teachers arrive later then the hour stated in the course schedule. Furthermore, the busses are rarely on time, and when they are on time, it’s a coincidence.”

But Enrico doesn’t take the bus that often, he usually uses his bicycle, faster, healthier, and less air pollution.

Now, you already know some more about Enrico and Italy, but the subject we’re going to talk about now, is our cultures:

What’s the relation between Italians and other people, and what’s our relation and other people?

Italians tend to go on their feelings more often, they care less about following the rules. Unlike us, Belgian people, who are more strict, maybe we think more black and white, more than Italians do anyway. When we look at ourselves and how we behave ourselves in a group, we came to the conclusion that both cultures are loyal to their groups, which doesn’t mean we would hide our own opinions or that we  wouldn’t pursue our own interests.

Emotion-wise my assumption was correct, Italians will show their emotions a lot faster. ‘Not every emotion,’ Enrico clarified, ‘only the positive emotions.’ When it comes to the negative emotions, we are more similar. Those feelings and emotions are only revealed to our relatives and close friends.

Italians are more affective  than Belgians, they will communicate more often verbally than non-verbally, which is surprising since only one quarter of our communications happen through words.

While comparing countries , other subjects came up too, like the local specialties.  Italy to us means Pizza and Pasta, but that’s just because those products are commercialised. The same goes for our beers.

If I ask him about a typical product , produced  in his area, it appears to be a T-bone steak. To me that seems more American than Italian.

Enrico ensures me that the T-bone steak, the way they prepare it over there, is the best way to eat it.

Back to the cultures, how fast do we confide in people and what’s the difference between friends and acquaintances.

Enrico clarifies the Italian culture: “We, Italians, have lots of acquaintances. besides that, we also have good friends, they know us a little bit better. And then, there are the real close friends, but my family is also part of that group.” While most of the people I know are acquaintances, and a small group are my truly closest friends. But that differs from person to person I guess.

I wouldn’t call my family a part of my closest friends, although I know that they will always be there for me and nobody would ever know me as well as they do. The category ‘closest friends’ is just friends only, my family deserves a place of its own.

Here in Belgium, we mainly focus on what you have achieved in life. Your friends and family focus more on what you have become through life. In Italy, they focus on the person who you are, which doesn’t imply that what you have achieved isn’t important.

Next week I learn a little bit more of Enrico’s and Italy’s culture.  Not so much about the Italians themselves anymore, but more specifically about their relation with time.

31-03-2010 om 15:45 geschreven door HeleneStorms