Europe Italy

Interview With a Comasco

30 October, 2017 Welcome to my interview series featuring cultural perspectives from nationals of different countries around the world. This month, I’m happy to introduce you to a native Comasco, who was born and raised in Como, Italy. A little background: Como is both the name of a province and the name of the capital […]

Europe Italy

Lake Garda, Italy: Welcome to Paradise

30 September, 2017   Lake Garda, Lago di Garda in Italian, is both a big beautiful lake as well as a tri-provincial community of several lakeshore towns. The towns span the provinces of Verona (region of Veneto), Brescia (region of Lombardy), and Trento (region of Trentino-Alto Adige). These tri-provincial towns encircling the lake include such beauties as […]

Europe Spain

Top Ten Things to Do in Barcelona

4 September, 2017 Barcelona is the capital of the Catalonia region in northeast Spain. It is a city that is somewhat notorious for its separatist politics but also admirable for its fierce pride in its Catalonian culture and Catalan language. Throughout the city, Catalonian flags wave proudly from balconies and flagpoles in a nod of […]

Europe Switzerland

Geneva: Travelogue (24 July, 2017)

24 August, 2017 This summer, I made my first trip ever to Geneva, the major city of Romandy, which is the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Did you know that Switzerland is one of the most developed countries in the world and has the highest nominal wealth per adult as well as the eighth-highest per capita gross […]

Europe France

À la Lyonnaise

31 July, 2017     Where in the world…? Lyon is the third-largest city in France and the capital of the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. It is located in the centre-east of the country, roughly150 km southwest of Geneva and 114 km northwest of Grenoble. The Rhône and Saône rivers run through the city and converge to […]

Europe Spain

Top Ten Things to Do in Madrid

July 10, 2017     I went backpacking solo in Spain a few years ago (October 24-25, 2012), and one of the places I visited was Madrid. In contrast to Barcelona, which is a seaside city, Madrid is landlocked and improbably located right in the middle of arid, desert-like land. However, the city itself is […]

Europe Italy

Ten Insights into Italian Culture

31 May, 2017: You may or may not already realize this, but Italy is a multicultural country and therefore “Italian culture” is very diverse. Italy is a country that has many languages (French, German, and Slovenian are official languages in certain regions, in addition to Italian), region-specific dialects, traditions, and ultimately, cultural differences. Here, I […]

Europe Italy

Ten Insights into Italian Culture: #1 – Italian Communication

There are many stereotypes about the way in which Italians communicate, so-called Italian communication, and that are attributed to Italian culture. Most of these stereotypes manifest as shouting, excessive gesturing, pinching together the fingers of one hand interrogatively, and using exaggerated singsong cadences when mimicking an Italian accent. Well, I’m here to tell you to […]