Spencer Smith

Cultural Lessons from Italy

Last quarter HTC sophomore Spencer Smith studied abroad in Milan, Italy, where aside from pursuing philosophy research, he gained new cultural perspectives.

At the state university in Milan, Smith examined aspects of “possible worlds” in metaphysics, and their moral and ethical implications on our decisions.

Smith said that although his professor was skilled in metaphysics, he hadn’t looked at the specific questions Smith was interested in. Because of this, he and his professor explored the material together, choosing essays and research to explore.

“It was nice because the professor’s not doing the same thing he’s done 20 times before,” he said.

While performing research, Smith stayed in an international dorm with students from all over Europe, where his single-language limitations manifested themselves; he found that many of the students he wanted to converse with could only speak a little English, and Smith could not speak much Italian.

But Smith’s linguistic struggle has helped him embark on a renewed commitment to foreign languages.

“There are so many cool people in the world, and I can only talk to so many of them because I only speak one language. So I really want to start learning a lot of languages because I want to talk to more and more people,” he said.

He also encountered “skewed” perceptions about the U.S. through discussions with his German roommate, who was convinced that the American college experience mirrored that of the movie series American Pie, where nightly partying is the norm.

Yet, Smith actually found that he studied more frequently than many of the other international students there.

“When you get people into a foreign country, they tend to think they’re on a prolonged vacation than a study abroad program,” he said.

Besides disproving some worldviews about Americans, Smith said the experience also altered his own perspective about the United States, making him remember and miss some of the forgotten positive aspects of the culture.

“I started developing an image of America as home,” he said, adding that even small details like the absence of cinnamon on European apple pies helped remind him of the positives of American culture.

Above all, Smith said that the trip helped him to keep things in perspective and remember that there are always at least two ways of looking at something, and that this attitude will influence his academics.

“Injecting that idea into what I’m doing in English and philosophy is going to be huge,” he said.