Before I left for Italy, I was starting to become extremely fed up with American culture.  I was tired of hearing about the war, I was annoyed and sick of all of the superficiality both in real life and on TV, and I was ready to give up the fast-paced lifestyle that apparently makes America so unique.  I kept thinking about how nice it was going to be to escape all of that for a good couple of months and live a relaxed European lifestyle.

Since the moment I arrived in Florence, I have constantly been comparing European ideals with disappointing American standards and mores.  It wasn't until a couple of days ago when I was doing research for my internship on Oliviero Toscani (see below), that I realized how hard I have been on my country.  Toscani is Italian but he has spent a significant amount of time living in the U.S...sometimes even hanging out with Andy Warhol!  He has a really interesting perspective on both countries, and on life in general.  I was reading an article in which he was quoted saying,

"you can say anything you want in America.  There is the worst, but there is also the best, in America.  When Europeans talk about America it makes me laugh.  They don't know.  America is anything you can say, do, be...Americans are great because they get so mad, they get so passionate."

I paused when I read this because I forgot about all of that.  When you are living outside of the states, the only thing you hear about America are the stories that make the headlines.  But just because our government has seen better days, because we are at war, and because people like Paris Hilton are the face of our country, does not mean that that is America.  It's the entire lifestyle, the "we the people," the "American dream" ideas that I forgot about.  Or, maybe I didn't forget, maybe I just never realized it.  It's hard to recognize what it is like to live in America until you have lived somewhere else, at least for me.

Italy is probably not even a very good example to use in comparison.  Countries that are still run by communism or lagging behind economically make this difference significantly more drastic.  But given the mere fact that one can still recognize the difference between America and anywhere else, says a lot.

I have never been a patriotic person, but it wasn't until I was living away from my home that I realized how lucky I am that I do live at home.