An International Adventure Begins

Written 3/10/18, posted 3/11/18

The past roughly 36 hours have been a lot of things. They have been exciting, stressful, exhausting, and exhilarating. We began our journey in familiar West Lafayette and we are now curled up in new beds in new dorms halfway across the world on a private island transcribing our experiences. The past day and half and the journey up to this point can be summed up, but not fully contained, in one word: challenging. In the process of getting to San Servolo, I did so many things that I had never done before. There were forms, phone calls, emails, plane tickets and much more. Every box on the study abroad portal that needed to be checked seemed like a looming mountain that I didn’t think I could easily climb. I fretted that something would go awry and it all seemed quite daunting and a little bit scary. More scary to me, however, than the possibility of my own human error, was the idea that my fear could potentially hold me back from enjoying this amazing opportunity. I was profoundly moved by a quote from Paul Virilio’s article Speed and Politics on this subject. “Fear is the cruelest of assassins: it never kills, but keeps you from living (63).” I strive to live my life to the fullest and this Italy trip is no exception. In light of this quote, I tried to relax about the paperwork and the administrative aspect of the trip and thus allow myself to more wholly appreciate the genius of Leonardo Da Vinci and the Renaissance and be excited for the trip without worry.

After much anticipation, the trip is finally here! I was prepared for culture shock once arriving in Italy, but I had not given much thought to what cultural differences I would encounter en route to our destination. At first everything seemed pretty much familiar, with a few minor differences, and on the first KLM flight I experienced my first major cultural difference. The flight attendant handed me water in a stout cylindrical container, something I had never seen before. It probably took me two minutes to figure out that it was water. I thought at first it might have been Jell-O and I sat there on the plane shaking a container of water to try and determine the mystery substance’s viscosity and properties. When I eventually figured it out, I felt so embarrassed. How could I not immediately know what water looked like? I knew then I was flying, literally, into unknown territory.

Day one in Italy was no doubt unknown territory. Everything was new to me and even the simplest of tasks required near scientific scrutiny to figure out what to do. How to turn the hotel lights on, how to flush the toilets, everything. The whole day was a very uncertain time, as if I never got off the metaphorical vaporetto and the solid ground I stood on was just a bit wobbly. While I maybe have not quite gotten my “land legs”, I’m not worried. I know that this is only the first day and the longer I spend engaging with the culture, customs, and appliances of Italy, the simpler it will all seem. Two of Leonardo’s quotes exemplify this well. One, “ Wisdom is the daughter of experience ("Notebooks" 7).” And two: “… Experience, mother of all certainty…("Notebooks"6).” With more experience in Italy, like anything else in life, I’m confident that I will gain not only wisdom and certainty, as Leonardo predicts, but a confidence in my ability to adapt and thrive in unknown situations. This brings me back to Paul Virilio’s quote from earlier. I think that when you decide to face your fears – today for me unknown streets, late night vaporetto rides, and knowing 0 Italian- is when you do not allow them to keep you from living, but when you overcome them is when you are able to truly start thriving. Tonight I faced situations that challenged me. Now that I have gained experience in how to navigate them, I’m confident in my ability to handle being in the same scenarios again and feel that I can grow and thrive in our new home and classroom for the week.

One situation I encountered had to do with the language barrier. I was at dinner and I asked the waiter, in English, what there was to eat on the menu without meat. He pointed at two dishes that contained beef. I continued to try and explain what I meant, but the language barrier was too vast for us to overcome. I ate bread for dinner and made a mental note to learn the Italian word for vegetables. In his notebooks, Leonardo said “Those who fall in love with practice without science are like a sailor who enters a ship without helm or compass, and who never can be certain whither he is going(“Notebooks”10)”. This week we are all going to be practicing eating out pretty frequently. I now realize that I need to practice the science, or rather the art, of communicating my dietary requests in Italian. I want to be capable of walking into any restaurant certain I can effectively convey my wishes. As Leonardo previously said, Experience gives way to certainty, so as our trip continues I will continue to gain experience in this practice.

Today was a busy day and so much fun. I’m so excited for tomorrow.

--Ally


Sources:

Da Vinci, Leonardo. Leonardo Da Vinci Notebooks. Selected by Irma A. Richter. Edited by Thereza  Wells. Preface by Martin Kemp. Oxford University Press, 2008, 1-11.

Virilio, Paul. “Speed and Politics An Essay on Dromology”. Translated by Mark Polizzotti. Semiotext(e), 2007.