by Jessica Silva
One of my favorite parts about studying abroad in Italy is experiencing the culture through the food. Spaghetti carbonara, homemade gnocchi, gelato, and of course, pizza. It is all delicious. I love food and I love trying new things. At home I am notorious for choosing the most obscure item on the menu; apparently I brought that tradition here with me to Italy.
During our recent trip to Urbino we enjoyed a pizza lunch. Well, not everyone enjoyed their pizza. I had a hard time deciding what to order while we were at lunch so I decided to play it safe, I would order a pizza with spicy sausage, or wurstel.
My friend and I had seen wurstel on several menus throughout Italy. Curious to learn what it was, we decided to rely on our smart phones and a quick Google search. Google responded with spicy sausage. Now I realize spicy sausage is not that exciting or obscure, but with the waitress hovering over me I made my decision. You can’t go wrong with a sausage pizza, right? Wrong.
As all of the pizzas were being delivered to my classmates, I was eager to try mine. To my displeasure the waitress placed a pizza covered in sliced hot dogs in front of me. Hot dogs? I have heard of chips pizza, a pizza topped with French fries (not bad), but I hadn’t heard anything about hot dogs. I can’t stand hot dogs.
Knowing that I was to blame, I forged forward and began shoveling all of the hot dog to the side. I kept telling myself it was just a cheese pizza, but the taste of wurstel was always present. Not wanting to be rude or insensitive, I moved forward as I slowly washed the wurstel down with wine.
Clearly this mismatch was on my part. My order was literally lost in translation. Instead of trying to communicate and ask the waitress what wurstel was, my friend and I relied on the accuracy of technology. I’m sure if we had tried to communicate with our waitress we would have known what we were ordering. Through both verbal and non-verbal communication we could have determined the “sausage” was actually a hot dog.
When traveling internationally I think it is important to remember the human element and interaction. Some of my favorite experiences so far have been interacting with the locals and working through our language barriers. These interactions have helped me grow during my time in Cagli and are paving my path towards becoming a global citizen. My worst experience by far has been the wurstel. Sometimes the easiest route isn’t always the best route. Sometimes it gets you hot dogs.
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