May 10 - Departure (Cont.)

As we were waiting in the airport, we began our course discussions. The topics that were thrown out to the group were as follows:

• Time
• Money
• Expectations for the Trip

It was truly amazing to me what came out of this discussion. We commented on the fact that in the U.S., for the most part, "time is money," and that we often find ourselves working ourselves to death just to get by or as a means of "keeping up with the Jones." In the U.S. there is a perception that being "early" is considered "on time," whereas being "on time" is considered being late. What I found most interesting was the comment made by one of our group members about the concept of "African-American Time," which, I learned, is a much more fluid concept of time - no one really seems to get angry if someone is late because time is not seen as a commodity that can be "wasted."

We discussed the fact that, at least in our limited understanding about Italian culture, they, too, consider time as a fluid concept and money as not being the primary means of acheiving happiness. It was our estimation that in Italy, family and friends - interpersonal relationships - were the key concept that drives life. Therefore, we attempted to align our expectations to the realities that the Italian systems/concepts of both Time and Money were not like ours in the U.S. and, as such, we would have to adapt accordingly. Further discussions for the group were as follows:

• What is "Dialogue?"
• "-isms"
• What is an "American?"
• What is "Education?"

We are all very excited about the upcoming departure!