My (Italian-born) Italian language teacher told me "when you travel in Europe there'll be times when you'll need to drop all that Anglo-Saxon politeness." I look forward to making the effort but suspect I'm too old to change. Actually I think I'm nicer when I'm travelling - normally I'm a grump. Maybe it's an unconscious urge to atone for the sins of some of my compatriots.

harzer, I've sometimes wondered what brought about the American style of eating. Just follow this rule:

I eat my peas with honey,
I've done it all my life.
It makes the peas taste funny,
But it keeps them on my knife.

Sorry if everyone is already past this topic, but I was rather amazed by Neopolitan's comments on cutlery 'holding styles'. Amazed because I had never realised there WERE different styles - with the exception of my brother who reverses everything as he's left handed. We just think of him as strange :)

Guess I am more european than I thought!

By the way, I'm Australian.

I'm also Australian, but my father was English and very very particular about how we held our knife and fork. I seem to remember reading that the English way was 'invented' in the late seventeenth or eighteenth century, with the introduction of the table knife, and was brought to Australia with the first English settlers.

These days we're increasingly versatile. Most Australians I know seem to use chopsticks if eating East Asian food, fork in left hand and spoon in right - eating from that cf Italian spaghetti style - if eating South East Asian food etc.

When in France I speak French. Since I don't speak it nearly as well as I speak English, this affects my interactions with other people significantly. When I speak English to English-speakers, I speak very quickly, make lots of cultural references, use vocabulary in creative ways, inject as much humor as possible.

In French, I stumble, question people about vocabulary, struggle to get jokes and am incapable of making them. Nothing comes out as quickly or as fluently as I would like. I feel like a particularly dense child.

This is not how I normally feel at home.

But the effort to do it increases my enjoyment of travel tremendously. It forces me to expose myself much more than I ordinarily do. It exercises my brain in fascinating ways. It completely changes my relationship with people I meet on a casual basis. And yes, when I am less articulate, I do feel like a different person. It's probably good for me.

And if you think my French is bad, you should hear my Italian!

My tips in restaurants get pretty small--if at all.

I do learn different things about myself, but mostly from others with whom I travel. For instance, traveling with my DH, I learn about habits of mine that I hadn't noticed before. I learn different habits when traveling with friends or parents.

I tend to be introverted around strangers at home, but extroverted among friends. When traveling, everyone is a stranger, so I become more extroverted to make more friends :)

I dress about the same -- comfortably but (IMHO) nice.

I don't think I'm a different person while traveling, except that I'm HAPPIER when traveling :)

I wear way more black or dark colored clothing overseas.
I use public transportation ALL the time-can't even remember the last time I used it at home.
I drink more red wine and bottled water than at home.
I spend way more money on eating out than at home without batting an eyelash.
I am just as extroverted overseas as I am at home because thats ME!
I use my days more wisely overseas as I realize how blessed I am to be there?

Back to the knife and fork thing - I read holding the knife in the left hand was a custom created in colonial America times to show a non-aggressive intent during meals at inns. In other words, you would have to switch the knife from the left to the right hand to stab your fellow diner.

One poster above touched on a couple things I strongly agree with. There is an *intensity* about foreign travel and while I feel I am the same person on my trip, I most definitely do come HOME changed from the experience each and every time.

When traveling in Europe a feel a lot more liberatied and "free" so to say; in a way I think people really enjoy their lives more over there & it rubs off easily on me. I think we need to have a lot more vacation time here in the US - in Europe the standard in a lot of countries is 4 weeks. Americans need to relax more!!

Hi b,

Of course. Isn't that one of the the purposes of travel?

No.

No.

>Are you a somewhat different person?<
Well, I don't think of myself as one of the faceless crowd of teeming humanity. :)

((I))

Birthdaygirl- I have read a few of your posts and it seems like you have come home with a lot on your mind! Finding love abroad, thinking about how much you have changed. . . that is pretty common among those who travel, though it is not exclusively us.

Changing environments, especially if you have not a lot in the past, can bring things to the foreground that you thought were only peripheral to yourself. SeaUrchin talks about the independence thing, and it really is interesting how that comes out. I remember you saying that due to an ill family member, you had been grounded for a while, so this getting out is a big change for you. If you are looking for others to say they went through the exact same thing you did, well, yes and no. People do and people don't, but it is good that you recognize these feelings and are talking about them

I know that probably sounded really after-school-special-ish, but I just wanted to say. . .

Oh, I forgot about drinking habits! Whenever I vacation I drink more than I normally do. But that's not exclusive to Europe :)

However, in addition to the odd pint of cider in a pub, I drink tea every morning in Europe -- don't touch the stuff more than occasionally at home.

I take public transportation everywhere in Europe; I almost never do at home. My "casual" wardrobe is more upscale in Europe than at home. I have to dress up every day for my job, so when I'm not working and I'm home, I tend to dress very down. It seems my more "upscale-casual" clothes are lighter and therefore easier to pack as well as more versatile versus jeans and sweatshirts.

I'm a pretty quiet person, and I think I'm mostly the same way when I'm traveling, although I will ask more questions.

I learn lots of different things about myself. I love being surprised by how many many things interest me; things that I wouldn't think I would be interested in.

Otherwise, I'm basically the same person. The only noticable difference I can think of is that I am probably not as chatty as I am at home, and that is only because I try to learn enough of the language to get by but I definitely don't know enough to hold a conversation. Unless someone starts a conversation with me, I tend to keep to myself a little more.

Tracy

TO answer my own question, I feel that of course, I am the same person, but just a bit more happy and relaxed.

I would say I slow down a bit, but that would be a lie...I am up and out of my hotel by 7am---if I stay to 8am, that is late for me!

I do have more wine, however, when I am on vacation, and I do tons more walking.

My clothing on vacation is more akin to my weekend clothing---jeans and t-shirts and gym shoes.

I think I smile a bit more.

Visiting Europe for the first time last I didn't know WHAT to expect....

I have two young kids and a DH at home who let me take off to Italy to visit my BF, and the luxury of two weeks alone, let me discover myself again, and did let me be as extroverted or introverted as I wanted to be.

I did learn a lot about myself...that I can spend hours wandering around not talking to anyone...

I am naturally pretty extroverted, so it was nice to crawl into my comfortable shell and relax, be quiet, be restful, and enjoy watching time pass.

Didn't dress differently, but dressed more conciously...thought about what I would wear instead of throwing just anything on...and the scarves!!! they are a permanent addition to my wardrobe now.

I did become a different person...after my trip to Assisi...realized that spirituality can take many forms, and that to lose sight of who you are inside can affect how people see you on the outside.

Thanks for the questions! Heading back to Florence in 7 weeks..can't wait! Another 2 weeks of wandering around, doing nothing, and exploring everything!

I resist the temptation to cut in front of other people waiting in lines even though that seems to be the "norm" in some countries.

Neil, I'm amused that many American and some British Thai restaurants give you chopsticks to eat their food.

I have been looked at as an ignoramus by other diners for asking for a spoon and fork.
The waiter just smiled and said that the diners think that it's sophisticated to eat with chopsticks.
He and I were both well aware that in Thailand, you only see chopsticks in Chinese restaurants.
I think that King (I've forgotten his name) in the nineteenth century adopted Western cutlery but decided that knives were not needed.
Of course, you do see them in restaurants that cater for Western tourists.

Camel your DH doesn't mind that you have an Italian boyfriend? How nice!

In Europe I drink more, eat more, walk more, smile more, flirt more, and see more sunrises.