Anti-American Rally

After a long day at the Vatican, A.J. convinced us to eat dinner near the Colosseum. I was fascinated when I noticed that the Colosseum, a 1st century symbol of Ancient Rome stood across the street from the subway station, a staple of the 21st century modern urban center. I thought that was very ironic. We walk down the street to find a nice restaurant to eat at passing by what seemed like the entire Roman police force. Naturally, we did the touristy thing; took pictures and kept walking. We soon figured out why all of the cops were there to make sure the anti-American Rally did not get out of hand. Of course, we decided to get up close and watch, although we later found out that the United States government sent a warning out to all Americans to stay far away from this rally. Not knowing this, we decided to sit at a restaurant right next to the thousands of people walking in protest of Bush, Prodi (the Italian Prime Minister), and United States imperialism.

It was an eye-opening experience. Even though Italians have an affinity for protesting, we knew that they loathed Americans for the way we act as citizens, as companies, and the way our government acts. We even saw a sign that compared the United States to Nazi Germany. It is a shame some people have to have so much anger, but it is not completely unwarranted. I am going to try to stay away from politics, but delve more into the way Americans act abroad that makes Europeans dislike us. In the United States, customer service and satisfaction is embedded in our culture. Everything has to be done quickly and be as directed. The customer is always right. That is not in line with the culture of Italy. So when Americans travel and go to places where we expect the same customer service (because that is what they are used to), we come off as spoiled. It isn’t entirely Americans fault that we are uncultured. The majority of Americans live so far away from any other country, so our customs and our way of life is all that most know. This differs from Europe, where one can travel cheaply and effortlessly to many different countries and are more in tune with others customs. The way we act is a product of the way we were brought up, and we get impatient with the relaxed state of Italians causing them to think about us the way they do. Europeans do not understand that since Americans are not exposed to different cultures, that same way as we do in the United States. This creates a superiority complex of sorts as well as a lot of tension.

This was a very hard thing to watch, but I was able to take a lot out of it. Experiences like this is what will make my trip what I wanted it to be, an understanding of the world I live in and the world that I know very little about.