Hello Everybody!

Silvia’s here, as you know I am a volunteer from Italy…

Can I guess what are you thinking, when you are reading the name of my beautiful country? It is perhaps Pasta like Spaghetti, Maccaroni … and Pizza of course.

Have you ever asked yourself what the world think about you just because you were born in a certain nation? Do you know, how is this called?

Well, you should already know, that this is a “Cliché” or “Stereotype”.

A stereotype is an idea or belief many people have about a thing or group that is based upon how they look on the outside. Stereotyping people is a type of prejudice because what is on the outside is a small part of who a person is.

For me, it was not so easy to find stereotypes about Slovakia…or better…to find where Slovakia exactly was! The biggest problem was that, most of the Italian people, but also people from other countries, tend to think that Czechoslovakia still exists as an unique country, so that Czech Republic and Slovakia are still together. Or another big problem was the misunderstanding between Slovakia and Slovenia – I really can’t believe how it is possible that in 2016 there are still people that don’t know the difference between these two countries, maybe we have to study more geography.

Fortunately, there were also people who told me something about your country before to come here, so I could be totally prepared for this experience.

But, would these opinions about your country and his inhabitants be really true? And the stereotypes that you have about us and our country? Could be…but not everytime these prejudices reflect the reality.

Moreover, they could be positive or negative evaluation, given from other people and based just on their point of view… so, I will tell you also my point of view, my toughts about you, since that I have been here for two months.

WHAT FOREIGNERS THINK ABOUT SLOVAKIA AND HOW ARE SLOVAK PEOPLE IN THE REALITY?

Well, the first thing that my male friends told me was:

~ Silvia, you are very lucky, do you know that the girls there are very beautiful?

– Ehm…ok and what about the boys?

~ …

So, voices around the world consider the slovak girls very pretty, while the boys compared whit them are considered nothing special. But I was really expecting also to see more blue eyes and blonde people here, because in Italy we believe that the Slavs in general have all these somatic characteristics. Another Stereotype is the one of being bad-tempered, easily offended and without humor – So please guys don’t be angry with me, these are not my thoughts but just Cliché. I guess, that we have just a different humor, not that you don’t have it. ;)

Slovak people are also often stereotyped to be big drinkers.

Borovička, Slivovica.. are just some of the various typical slovak beverages.

But above all they are used to drink beer like it was water.
– And when they are sick or just when they are tired, they like drinking a lot of tea (especially Tatra tea).

One of the most important thing that I have noticed and that I really love of slovak people is the attachment to their traditions. You are very proud of your rich folklore and folk traditions. Each region, city, and municipality has a unique character and folklore – costumes, music, songs, traditions, dances and dialects.

Italian people are losing this attachment, especially in the north, where I live. And this is such a pity, because our culture was and is still great!

Moreover, my other Italian friends told me that the Slovak families are very warm and welcoming to guests and strangers… so I am just waiting an invite to discover if these voices are true.

WHAT FOREIGNERS THINK ABOUT ITALY AND SOME DIFFERENCES BETWEEN YOU AND US.

Food

Yes guys, Italians live for food, in particular Pasta, in fact if we could, we would like to eat it everyday, but since it is not so healthy we eat Pasta just 5/6 times per week. From this point of view I noticed a big difference between Italians and Slovaks, because for us our cuisine is culture, we love cooking and eating, and we don’t eat just because we have to or we need, but I saw that here, mostly the young people, eat just because they have to survive and not because they really like it. -And this is also why we spend a lot of time to cook and to eat, to enjoy completely the food.

Italians talk with their hands

Yes we use hand gestures whenever we have to communicate with someone, that it be a foreigner or an italian doesn’t matter. And this makes Italians some of the most expressive and passionate speakers in the world. But due to this, foreigners are often playing joke on us.

Family

Family is so important in Italy, like is for you, but we live in a different way, and would be unusual for you discover that many Italians either live close to their parents or in the same house. In fact, it’s common for adults in their 20’s and 30’s to live with their parents. The reason is that living together is easyer and more advantageous to spare money. While I saw that here the young people leave early their homes, and also the parents work abroad without their family to find a better job and earn more, while in Italy if our parents have to move we mostly leave our city whit them.

Italians are usually in late

We would like to be on time like you, but for us is more difficult, because we live with our own timeline and we are taking the life slowly appreciating all the moments. But this is a problem when we find people always on time…that unfortunately have to wait us. Like our poor Team Leader, Marianna that had to work with four Italians people, who tried to do their best, but as usual we arrive in late to the appointment. Excuse us!

But don’t worry, I can suggest to you a trick to ensure that we will not arrive in late again, you have just to tell us that the appointment will be one hour before, so we will be ready, maybe, for the right time.

Coffee

As you can see when we are in Libresso, Italians love coffee and the quality of coffee in Italy is taken very seriously as well. Italians love the mix of coffee, milk and foam, and it’s an art in itself, this is also why in UPeCe we have an italian coffee machine. But not all the Italians are the same, for example I don’t like so much coffee, for this reason I am considered not a true Italian.

Italians are strong football fans

Juventus, Milan, Inter…—these are just a few of the most famous names you’ll hear being thrown around when Italians are discussing football. Italians take soccer very seriously, and when there’s a game on, all attention is directed toward it.  As regards the sports, we have different interest: yes you like watching football too, but I saw that for you also ice hockey and floorball are very important, sports that for us are almost unknown.

Noisy people

The Italians are also known to be noisy. Well, our voices are a little bit louder than normal, I know, but we are certainly NOT the only ones in this world. I’ve heard so many foreigners people speaking louder than me, I swear!

Fashion

First of all, when I say “fashion and italian style” I don’t mean clothes designed by famous italian stylist. We are not really expert in fashion, we don’t watch the runways… However, someone says that we have a “genetic” sense of style. It’s not a matter of buying expensive clothes or wearing sunglasses indoor — it’s something that we have inside, a sort of sixth sense that tells us what is good and what is not. By the way, we have also very different styles, and eveybody likes its own… I love go out with my slippers (and this is not typical italian).

All Italians are involved with Mafia

This is not true! Mafia in Italy is real, we are not proud of it. But not all Italians are related to the Mafia.  The majority of the population does not have anything to do with it and we will be offended if you assume that we are. Please keep this in mind!

So, as you can see we both have a lot of stereotypes that could be true or false, and also in a same country we can find a lot of different people, but this is the important: 

We can live all together also if we are different and this is even better, living in contact with who is diverse increases our knowledges and makes discover ourself!

Remember: “The world is beautiful because it is diverse!”.

I hope that you liked this article, see you next time with a new one!

—

Silvia Canova