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I have a small percentage of Italian in me, and this past summer, I was lucky enough to travel to Italy. I visited Rome, Florence, and the little Italian village where some of my family hails from. I spent time exploring the tiny village of Venafro in Southern Italy. This was important to my family because living in Texas and Tennessee, it was interesting for us to see some of our other family members' way of life in a small, hillside village.

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One of the main ways that I have learned about other people's ethnicities, genders, abilities, and sexual orientations is from being a teacher. There is no room for discrimination of any kind in a classroom, so I have actually cherished the opportunity to be able to learn some things from my students. Another way I have learned about other people's ethnicities and culture is through my work on mission trips. Diving firsthand into another culture and another way of life is, in my opinion, the best way to learn.

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Half of my family lives in different parts of Texas, and the other half lives in Knoxville, Tennessee. However, a few generations back in the lineage are still living in the tiny town of Venafro, Italy, where we got to visit in June of 2018, which is shown in the photo below.

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In my family, we celebrate all of life's milestones in the traditional American ways. For example, birthday cake, candles, and a wish for birthdays, a white wedding gown and close friends and families for weddings, Christmas is celebrated with a Christmas tree and presents, etc. In the photo below, I am with my sister on her wedding day. Our entire family was there to celebrate her.

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Some ways that my family shows we care is simply by celebrating each other, whether it is a birthday, graduation, new job, anniversary, wedding, etc., we just enjoy getting to celebrate the little things and the big things in life. Also, now we show we care to our Italian family by keeping in touch, sending emails and photos, and promising to visit them again. In the photo below, my sister and I show that we care for each other by taking time to fly to each other's houses a couple times throughout the year so that we can spend time together, even though I live in Texas, and she lives in Tennessee.

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In my family and culture, it is proper to address people older than ourselves by saying sir, ma'am, Ms. Mrs., or Mr. This practishows respect to those older than ourselves.

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Before my trip to Italy last summer, all I really knew was stories that my family has told me. The stories impact me because that is where I come from. However, after traveling to Italy and finally getting to see some of my roots, it was great to finally have a real life experience to compare all the stories to. It was fascinating to compare what Venafro was really like compared to the images I had in my head from the stories I had heard.

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My Texas and Tennessee family keep in touch with our Italian family by talking on the phone and sending emails and pictures. After meeting them in person in June, it is so nice to be able to now put a face to the name. Now we enjoy keeping in touch via email and keeping each other updated on all the goings-on in our lives.

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Here is America, it is most common to shake hands when meeting someone. However, when visiting Italy, I quickly noticed that people there are very affectionate. They love to give big hugs and kisses on both cheeks. It is appropriate to hug anytime in America, and in Italy, it is also appropriate anytime to kiss others on the cheeks.

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In my family and in our American culture, it is normal to give people ample personal space. However, I discovered when in Italy, they do not provide as much space as we do in America. For example, when standing in lines, they will be as close to you as possible. We also learned that Italians don't really follow the rule of lines like we do in America. For example, if you are in a line then each person that follows joins in the back of the line. Italians don't abide by that rule and just push and shove right to the front, completely ignoring the line.