- October 28, 2014
- 11:09 am
- Jacob Guise
- no comments
“La Dolce Vita”
The last few weeks have been a whirlwind of excitement. I was able to visit several different areas such as Croatia, Belgium, the Netherlands and France over the course of Fall Break here at JFRC. The next few weeks will be more mild by staying in Rome and showing the eternal city to a few friends and family members as they come to visit.
This most recent weekend, I had a friend from Spain visit all the sights and sounds of this beautiful city. Although he had lived in Europe his whole life, he has never step foot in Italy. He was amazed at the ancient history and the aroma of excellent food. I asked him about the differences/similarities of Italian and Spanish life and got an interesting answer in my opinion. He said the language and culture are similar in many respects – people are more laid-back, go with the flow, and want to enjoy people’s company, which is a different mentality held in most of northern Europe. But, he said that this chilled Mediterranean lifestyle is a curse.
Yes, people may seem happy and stress-free here, but there are many struggles buried under the surface that stem from this “La Dolce Vita” (the sweet life) lifestyle, he said. There’s no sense of urgency either to correct many of the problems that are occurring stemming from the most recent crisis, because of the mentality simply doesn’t provide it. An interesting note, I thought.
Either way, I’m taking my time to enjoy this “Dolce Vita”. It is a major change compared to the hustle-and-bustle that I am use to in America. When living in Italy, I have learned that you must accept that the busses never run on schedule, transportation strikes occur often, and you can take hours upon hours for a meal.