This morning I got up, prepared myself and went out. Daily routine you could say. In fact, it’s been almost 2 years I’m in Italy now, but I still get amazed by Italian lifestyle every morning I go out.
Not standing the metro, I go to work by walk, this grants me the possibility to see the city in action, to see how it moves. Each time I stop to a traffic light, waiting, I realize suddenly that I’m in Italy (and no longer in France), that the roads are full of well dressed ladies riding their bike or guys wearing suit on their vespa. What is awesome is that they look so chic. OK, I understand they go to work and have to dress well, but still, they have usually the helmet (and even the jacket) matching the color of the vespa. This is really amazing, because it’s not touching only a small elitist percentage, nope, this is an entire culture. I remember a teacher at school saying once : “I’m Italian so I have good taste in my DNA”, well he was definitely right.
But walking in the streets , is not only a nice positive experience, it’s also about experimenting the Italian urban jungle where no rules stands (and I know Milan is nothing compared to Sud). Italians have really low awareness of the space they need to move and consequently push and bump into you on a regular basis. Sometimes, when I’m not awake and it’s the third time I got pushed in 5 minutes, I’d like simply to yell at one of them “MALEDUCATI ! Go get a training in the USA.” But unfortunately, my education tells me to keep it for myself.
One of the other thing unbelievable is the behavior of cars, or should I say people in cars… They drive like hell in narrow streets having no consideration for the people walking. I mean they don’t even break when they see you. I work in a small street and seeing those cars too big for the Italian streets, driving fast, each time, I have the feeling they’re going to bump into you, a bit as in Miami Vice City game where you drive on the guys just for the fun… So I regularly close my eyes and wonder what are the statistics in term of car accidents…
If ever you have to take the bus or the tram, you will understand that they drive the same. Basically they put hand handles so high that 95% of the Italian population can’t pick them, so the driver keeps braking in an aggressive mode and people keep falling. I don’t remember experimenting something similar while taking the bus or the tram in France, I think they were driving more smoothly and you didn’t get the impression that you will crash into a car or someone every two seconds. The other amazing thing is that driver insults pedestrians, and pedestrians insult drivers. The first time I was really shocked and actually I keep being, cause it’s happening almost each time I’m taking a transport which is not the metro…
I tried to figure out why people who have such an attention to details in term of design and fashion could not see that they’re not paying attention to others or even their environment ? How can you notice the nice fabrics of the collar of the shirt of your friend, but be blind when it comes to respect other s’space or pollute the seaside with garbage ? I have the feeling that at the bottom of their heart they know they’re rude, cause when you throw them a nasty look or make them notice you were first in a line, they tend to apologize or pretend they hadn’t seen. Really, I don’t know, is it only a matter of education and culture ? The only thing I know is that it’s not going to change.
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