During my study abroad experience, I have noticed a huge contrast in looking at the authenticity of local life versus the stereotyped version. When you walk around Sorrento, the town very much feels as if it is intended for a tourist audience where the locals are left on the backburner. This differs hugely when you investigate more local areas like Piano di Sorrento, where most Sorrento residents live, and Nerano, which is a small local town that I stop by every day to work. Areas like Sorrento that are targeted to tourists are a lot more active and packed, with the tourists almost overflooding the area.

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After speaking to locals who live in Piano di Sorrento, many of them feel like they are unable to live in Sorrento due to the huge contrast between life for tourism versus life for locals, especially during the summer. This has led me to keep my eyes open to notice these differences, looking at how the marketing of stores and shops differ in Sorrento compared to other towns. Even stepping out of the Sorrento area, you can see this in areas like the Amalfi coast. Amalfi was covered in tourism with lots of overconsumption of shops and restaurants targeted towards the tourist Platte. However, as you walk away from the center of town and more into the local neighborhoods, there is a noticeable difference in the quality of buildings and the poverty shining through the area.

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Additionally, after living in Italy for almost five weeks, I feel even more connected with my own identity and how I stand out in the area. As a Cuban American, I felt more connected with my culture as it became a topic of discussion with many of the locals, I became close with. Especially since lots of Italians spoke Spanish, it was even easier to conversate and share each other's cultural experiences. While I am still a minority in both the U.S. and Italy, I felt sometimes a bit more welcomed and appreciated compared to different towns in the United States, except my hometown Miami. I also experienced more advantages than my American classmates, being able to connect more with the local Italians and communicate a bit more efficiently with English and Spanish. However, there is still some difficulty with the cultural and language barrier at times.

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Even though I do feel a bit comfortable in Italy, there are still significant instances where I do feel minoritized in Italy. Especially when shopping in the local grocery stores and not understanding the language, during my first few weeks it made me put myself into the shoes of my grandparents and how they may have felt when they first immigrated to the United States. In fact, during the first week, I told my friends “I wonder if this is how my grandparents felt as an immigrant in a foreign country, not being able to speak the same language. Did they also face these small struggles like not even being able to read the groceries at the store?” It is a minor obstacle compared to the bigger picture, but it makes you stop and ponder what it is like for immigrants and minorities in the United States.

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Overall, there were instances in Italy when I felt so out of place, and there were other times that I felt a lot more comfortable due to being a bilingual Cuban American. This study abroad experience had a huge overall impact on my cultural identity, making me feel more connected and prouder of my heritage and the unique opportunity it gives me to connect with the Italian culture. However, there will always be a gap between my own identity and the Italian culture that will continue to make me feel like a fish out of water. This makes me feel more in tune with who I am where I come from, and how many immigrants (including my own family) may feel when they move away from home and start new life in a foreign country. From this experience, I think I have only just begun to understand the impact of culture and self-identification when living and working in a foreign country.