III. La cintura...

I’d like to use again my recent experience in Sweden, to talk about the Italian behavior towards seatbelt.

When I arrived in Stockholm, the bus was full of Italians, the driver took the micro and said with irony: “Good morning, since we’re in Sweden… please fasten your seatbelt”.

Only 10% of the bus executed it. I can understand that maybe not every Italian is fluent in English to understand what the driver said, but in that case, you just look around you to check what others do, and you see people putting their seat belt on.

If you go in a car with an Italian, don’t count on him to put his seat belt. He will even laugh at you when you’ll start looking for it. He can be driving downtown or at 130Km per hour on the highway, they simply don’t need it. The only time they put it, is, when suddenly they see a police car, in that case you can expect them to put it for around 2 min. It’s a bit like a kid that wants to feel free and provoke but that starts behaving, when see his parents close to punish him.

I asked them why they were not putting it, I have to admit I never had a clear answer.

Honestly, I wonder why the government does not try to change the mentalities. In France, between repression and the gory details ads campaigns (trashed car, dead/handicapped people, blood…), people finally changed their habits. In Italy, people have visibly no awareness about the danger driving represents. They ‘re not scared enough otherwise they will take the risk of having their friends laughing at them and start putting their seatbelt…

I have a few friends from Napoli area, they told me that if you go there, nobody wears an helmet.  Apparently it has been established that only mafia people wear helmet to hide their faces while driving their moto or vespa…  Well that’s good to know, lol.

Anyway, I still can’t figure out why from one side of the border to the other, the mentality can be so different: there is only 400km between Milan and Grenoble, and in France, people on their vespa wear their helmet, this is even more incredible that our helmets are not as cool as the Italians ones. I love so much their vespa helmet that  several times, I was ready to buy one even if I don’t have a vespa…

Milano: an ugly city ?

People usually say that Milan is an ugly city. I’m used to this comment cause I come from Grenoble in France and people think the same. Well, as for Grenoble, I think people simply does not know how to look. Of course Milan is not Venice or Roma, but this is not the foggy polluted city with slums they pretend. Milano is like a city to hunt and luckily I love hunting :-) 

After the World war destruction, new buildings have been built but it is only to give more richness to the city. In Milan, all the architectures are mixed. I like spending hours walking in streets I discover along the walk and rising my eyes to see the beauty of the facades. Milan is a city to discover slowly to appreciate all its beauty, cause I’m telling you, beauty is hidden everywhere in this town…

Link that could maybe make you understand why Milan is like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdvRxWcJuuI

Da Peppo (Bar la Darsena) in Navigli

Since I started hanging out with my Italian housemate, I took the biweekly habit to go “da Pepuccio”. Located in Navigli, the place is a bar/tabaccheria and people usually go there to buy cheap beers to go or pack of cigarettes.

But, if you decide to stay at the counter for a coffee or an amaro, you suddenly start looking around, and you realize that you entered a different world, like a parallel world where old generation and new generation meet. On the walls, black and white pictures of jazzmen and poems about Milan. Everything around looks old, the light is doom, some blues/jazz music is on. People are incredible there, in the same tiny location, you can find from the homeless, the old poet to the fashion guy. Everybody hangs out there without being judged. You go there for a coffee and turn back home with a social experience (and a lollilop for the girls*). This is what I like in Milan, people mix. How many times I saw a girl with prada shoes &vuitton bag, hanging out with a pink hair gay guy and a streetstyle girl… I can tell you, you’ll never see this in Paris…

customer experience shared : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NH4xgzI0x34

* Peppucio,the owner gives a “lecca lecca” to every girl that order something.

II. Sweden : the water experience

I know this blog is about Italy but I think every cultural shock is nice to share, so I decided to share more about my recent trip in Sweden.
In fact I had another surprise, when I arrived in Sweden and discovered the weather was freaking hot. I was literally melting and sent immediately a text message to my Swedish friend that replied to me: “this is not North Pole my friend…”. I had prepared myself (and my luggage) to cool temperature, not more than 20°C. Completely stupiddddddd.

Soon I had to look for water, which became rapidly “the plain water quest”.

It’s not a question of finding a shop supplying water, or even a question of choice, cause I have to tell you, I never saw so many different type of bottles on shelves.  

No, the problem is that, if Swedish people do know in Design the quote “less is more”, they don’t apply it to water… To make it simple, don’t look for PLAIN WATER in their country, it’s impossible.

I didn’ t realize it immediately though. The first time I bought water, I got screwed cause it was written natural on the bottle, so I thought immediately about the “aqua naturale” in Italy meaning “plain”. Unfortunately it was also written “sparkling” in Swedish... When the weather made me look for a second bottle, I suddenly realize it was impossible to find natural water. After a few shops and checking each time with the owner, I had to admit that I should go for a water not tasting like water. 
In France, we choose the taste of the plain water (most of the people I know have their favourite water : Evian vs. Volvic vs. Vitell vs. Contrex etc.) Here, they got this trendy influence from the U.S., that water must have a flavor, or bring something more (reload, care, vitamine B12)… I would have found one specialized in “good digestion post rein deer meat balls”, that I would not have even been surprised, lol.

I tried to think about an explanation, above all that Sweden is a country where, apparently everything is thought for your comfort. Well, the only wise explanation I can come with is that: since tap water is drinkable, and they are so into nature protection, they carry their own water flask/SIGG everywhere with them, so they never feel the need to buy bottles of plain water...  
I guess they should warn the tourists when they arrive at the airport: “please buy a water flask, you’ll not be allowed to kill the planet with plastic bottles in our country, at least not for plain water”…

 

I. Mess is more (Sweden vs. Italy)

I recently travelled to Sweden and had to realize that however the country is so well organized, I love my Italian “casino” (mess). I always wanted to go to Sweden, cause I love the landscapes there, the architecture, the wood giving a comfy atmosphere, the design SO SO smart. But as one of my friend said once there: “it s as if I was living in a IKEA closet”. It’s kind of freaky. Everything that you would expect to enhance your day to day life has already been thought and is already there. I will only quote a few one:

-       a ice cream holder, so you can put it there while paying at the cash desk,

-       a door system limiting the flow to the bus, so you don’t get 15 persons at the same time jumping on the bus,

-       distributor of plastic bags in train so its so easy to get rid of the trash,

-        “slot machine “ giving you the rest of the coins so there is no mistake possible and probably no hands contact,  

-       ticket number for queuing everywhere,

-       or even the fact that they have been born with  a proactive/ problem solving attitude ( I apologies, there is no AC in the room, well would you like a fan ?, or do you want me to trash your ticket ?).

Everything is so clean, and comfy, in brief, the senses experience is so nice. Though when I arrived in Stockholm, I didn’t get this strange feeling I usually get when I fall in love with a city, like something completely not rational, talking to my emotional brain. I found the city cold and impersonal. I guess I prefer the mess which makes you hold your breath as in Barcelona, or NYC or even Milan.  It was funny that for somebody like me, with a 6 sigma background, pro org change, living for enhancement was not feeling at the end like in the perfect country to live. It was like finding the perfect guy and still, something that you don’t know, nothing rational though, were missing… I’d like to mention that when I went to Stockholm, I saw my Swedish friends that lived in Milan for one year, and they were just craving for turning back, they were saying that life was too boring there… I guess MESS IS MORE. 

And from now on I will enjoy Nordic Design from Italy via IKEA or H&M :-)