Ciao

Hey everyone,

So this will be my last post until I get back to Lafayette and what better way to start it off than with a thank you to everyone who has been following my blog. I also want to extend this thanks to everyone who made this trip possible and the ones that kept in contact with me these past 6 weeks. I would have never made it through without you guys.

Enough with the tears now and on to more serious things. In these past 6 weeks I have learned a lot about the Italian culture and business compared to how we do things in America. The Italian culture is much more laid back and nothing seems to bother a business owner. Many of the businesses do not have business hours because the owner decides when to open and close at his or her own discretion. When looking at the restaurant business you can easily see the service is terrible. This is due to the fact that in the Italian culture no one tips for service. If you have ever worked in the restaurant industry you will know that this must be a terrible place to work because even though they are getting paid more here you make more when leaving it up to the customer to tip you.

The Italians are also very friendly toward their own women and American women. All you have to do is walk into a coffee shop or pretty much any business where there is a man and woman working and you will eventually see the guy touching on his female co-worker. In a normal business back home this would be considered harassment or in some cases wouldn't actually be done in front of the customer. It seems as though there is no human resource departments at many of the businesses here. I believe the main reason for this is because many of the businesses here are owned by family's so the kids and relatives work at the businesses so it is a lot more unprofessional. I am anxious to see what I notice about different aspects of business when I get home in Lafayette and how I apply the business practices Italians use here that seem to work, most of the time.

Since my homework assignment is complete I might as well tell you guys about our last couple of days in Florence. Sunday we woke up to go see some things we weren't able to see in the past 6 weeks. After touring the inside of the Duomo and the museum behind it I had to come back home and sleep because, of course, after 6 weeks I would get sick in Italy on the past couple of days. The rest of the day was wasted with me drugged up in bed. Yesterday we packed and started cleaning our apartment until our farewell dinner. We all met up as a group and had a nice last dinner with our fellow students and teachers. George, the leader of the trip from UL, said a few words that had everyone laughing and made us all wish we wouldn't have to leave so soon. After dinner everyone headed to the grand opening of the Hard Rock Cafe Firenze. We all watched the band for a little while then went to one of the apartments and hung out until we decided to go out to a bar. On the way there I decided I would be smart and come home and sleep because I still felt like I was going to die in Italy.


Today is our last day in Italy and we are cleaning up the rest of our apartment and are going to have dinner one last time with the group. We have to be at the airport at 4:30 in the morning which should be so much fun. Wish me luck that these flights go as planned and I will be back in Lafayette at 6:00 p.m. tomorrow.... Get ready guys because it will never be the same.