An Extraordinary Journey

The Swiss Hotel we stayed at

Over the break, I went to Italy with my parents and a friend from our SEA program. The trip was unforgettable, but what I took away from the trip was even more valuable to me. We traveled all around Italy, Switzerland, and Austria over the break, spanning 2700 kilometers over seven days. You could definitely say that I got a taste of many different cultures and languages while in these various countries. At the same time, I got to take a good look at the way Europeans do business and how customers are treated.

This is a Venice street market

Traveling is a great for looking at the way Europeans do business, and that is exactly what happened to me. While over in Switzerland we stayed at a local family-owned bed and breakfast. They bent over backwards to accommodate us, not to mention they spoke flawless English. It impressed me that they spoke English so well because I assumed that in order to do business with another country we would have to learn their language to communicate. No matter where we went, this was also the case. In all the cities and towns we stayed in the people we were dealing with spoke English. To me, this shows just how expansive our American/British economies are. Because we are such a major force in the world, people feel the need to speak English in order to be competitive among the travelers in their region. While traveling in Italy it exposes you to a totally different cultural experience that you might have to deal with in future business ventures.

Coastline of Monterosso, Cinque Terra

Italians do business much differently than we do in America. The environment in Italy, and all Europe in general, is much more relaxed. For example, in Italy, most of the businesses from around 1 until 4 in the afternoon are closed. Entire little towns are shut down; nothing happens and everyone goes out for a relaxing lunch. This is totally different from the States. We are lucky if we have a half an hour for lunch, but this just shows the vast difference in business etiquette between cultures. The importance of this is huge because if you want to deal with businesses from Italy in the future, you will need to understand their culture and business practices in order to have successful dealings. Without this knowledge, you might offend your Italian counterparts and not even realize this. Even though my trip was about seeing the picturesque countryside of Italy, seeing first-hand the way Europeans do business was just as striking.