Behind “foreign” glasses

Around the World in 21 Booths: Caltech Festival Celebrates Cultural Diversity May 24, 2024

When I sent out my university applications it was as if my entire country was against me, no one wanted me to leave the traditional circle of the native student, and yet, here I am. I believe I owe this story to many people, but especially to that little girl with dark curls who, as soon as she set foot in the United States for the first time, felt a calling, felt totally a daughter of the American dream. Sometimes, people think that this concept has passed away, but that is not the case. I am writing to American students who were born and raised in this place, coming from all the states (of which I know a few names, but don’t ask me exactly where Delaware is, because I would give you a random place and maybe I’ll be right). I am writing to you reflecting on this first term and on the experiences and comparisons I have had, underlining how lucky I am to be here and take it for granted even when it is not and, trust me, everything around us is not.

Speaking with several international students during the first week of orientation and then with all the others I noticed so many differences, which, positive or negative, are making me live my college experience and, let’s face it, in one of the best in the world. Guys, even with all our difficulties in socializing as Caltech students who think about science, with everything we have to think about, I don’t think I would have ever found a better family. Taking a step like that, changing continents and reality, is not easy, but it gives you so many emotions that intertwine in the great mystery of life (cit. The Lion King). Yes, you are a bit of a mummy’s boy, I admit, family is very important, not that it isn’t for me, but you have a great sense of belonging that I admire. Your status, your home, your origins. I have found myself making so many fools of myself in these months, simply the question of where you come from is complicated, there is always the difference between ethnic origin or city of birth and what chaos, here everyone seems to know where the first wise old man of their family was, even around the world and I stop at my parents and if you ask me about my great-great-grandparents I could not tell you anything, sincerity as a journalist. But in reality how important are origins?

The United States remains and will always remain my second home for me and living there and probably spending the rest of my life in this melting pot is exceptional. Seeing cultures from all over the world come together, trying to understand each other and creating a single community is unimaginable. Migrants, immigrants, what is the difference when talking about a Nation? Last July 4th I was in Boston studying and I was impressed by the fireworks, by the people with stars and stripes faces (and other things …), by how much excitement there was in the air, they were all united in the single dance of independence. In Italy there should be an independence day, but now no one knows what they celebrate on April 24th and is just happy because it is a holiday. Let’s focus on how many soldiers fought and lost their lives and we don’t even remember it. Seeing people walking around here with “veterans” hats is emotional. I was coming back from a horse riding competition when I came across an uber veteran and I would be lying if I didn’t say that every time I see someone with that writing I feel a certain worry. They went to war, they suffered, they left their homes and families, they took up arms, but now that gentleman was taking me back to the dormitory and I couldn’t resist: I asked him everything and he was enthusiastic to answer!

The pride you show in your belonging is truly extraordinary, but there are some things I still have to understand. Like, why do they give you two bags instead of one at the supermarket, why do you turn right even when the light is red, why do drinks always have to be so huge? Everything is huge, boxes of medicines that could last for years, cans of fizzy drinks, giant cars (if I drove my polo here it would be dangerous, no one would see me), even the books are huge… even if this is my problem and the choice of university I made 😂.

The guys at the EquiScience riding Club watching a wonderful show! CONTACT ME!!!

Among international students I understood that experiences have brought us to where we are today and everyone has a completely different story. I wanted to live my dream and I put all of myself into it, but where I came from has marked me. It is difficult to raise your head when no one accepts what you are doing, when studying is only mnemonic, when you enter a system so rigid that you start to survive and not live. I have always been a very sporty girl going from basketball, to skiing, to tennis and every time the tournament season started the school would never have supported you. There was no excuse for me to do nothing but lessons. And yes, I did it, and my anger, my repressed hyperactivity became an insurmountable obstacle. Even when I competed at high levels I could not afford an hour. HERE SPORT IS LIFE, the gyms, the basketball courts, the needs of the individual, from every perspective make themselves felt. Never take it for granted, the priority that is given to physical exercise, but also to academic performances grants a functional balance.

There is this common idea in Europe: America has no history. Of course, when you are born in a place where there is a Roman amphitheater, cathedrals and thousand-year-old shards it is clear that there is no comparison, but there is, in my opinion, a thin line between history and evolution. What I know is that everyone has defined me as “a brain drain” or a mind that leaves its country of origin to study in another. I thank my country for what it has been able to give me, history, philosophy, my inner humanistic soul, but I am here because I believe that now we need to make history, write the new pages of future manuals, and this is the place where this can be achieved. I therefore suggest eliminating stereotypes and looking at reality with different eyes, eyes brought to the future, because that is what we continue to aim for.

The Christmas holidays helped me reflect, to understand how much I have lived in the gray for years and how, instead, here you are warm and open. Starting from the food which, in the end, is not typical, but is also a mix of cultures (REMEMBER that pasta alfredo and meatballs are just your invention, I want to point out), but also the infinite amount of sports that there are here, the incredible transformation of soccer that almost seems like a women’s sport, and instead in my country it is an extremely chauvinistic world even though it is a deep faith for everyone, from religions that unite in one spirit, to people. I grew up with films set in the USA, with Disney cartoons, and every time I watched them I wondered if it was really like that, if there were such big highways, if people were like that, if everything worked like in detective series and, yes, it is exactly like that (and with this paragraph I suggest listening to the song from Cars Life Is a Highway by Rascal Flatts, to really get into the mood). Well, although the most frustrating thing is showing my health insurance everywhere I go and, yes, I’m sure I’ll talk about this again, there’s that pinch of madness and freedom in the air that allows you to create and imagine what sometimes you can’t see, always remembering that it’s always better to aim for the moon, because, worst case scenario, you’ll find yourself among the stars

I’ll definitely find other differences and I can’t wait to tell you about them!