Living in Rome for 1 month and being in a culture with a slower pace of life was a breath of fresh air. In the US, we are constantly working to achieve the American dream, which is the almighty dollar. We do this because we have always been taught to do good in school, get a good job, and make a bunch of money.
There is nothing wrong with making a good living, you should want that. But it seems like we are trapped in the mindset of living to work instead of working to live. We work through our lunch break, take food to go, make microwavable meals, stay late to finish deals, go in early for more customers.
In Italy the pace of life is quite the opposite. They will work hard but they also play harder than we do. They will take the time to close restaurants and stores to leave and eat with their family. People don’t often take food to go, they sit down and enjoy life. There is no concern of lost business.
Italians take month long breaks from work, but again, they do still work extremely hard. But the mindset of living to work for them is foreign to them as working to live is foreign to me.
Having friends and family around to them is important, and as I got more familiar with the area and community, I began to familiarize myself with shopkeepers, and them to me.
A sense of community began to grow for me in just 3 weeks. I even became best buds with a local gelato store owner, who I practiced my Italian with and tried various gelato flavors with as well.
I know that the culture shift for the US will most likely never come. But I strongly encourage you that if you like eating whatever you want, being surrounded by good people, and having the time of your life, you need to study or live in Rome for a small point in time and see how you think about life.
