Posted by on Thursday, June 1, 2017 in 2017 Blog post.

On Saturday at 12:30pm, I began my walk to the Cefalù train station. At 1:06pm I boarded a train to Palermo, and then took a bus to the airport. At 5pm, I flew from Palermo to Rome. Then, at 10pm, I flew from Rome to Dublin. I spent the night in Ireland and finally departed for D.C. from Dublin at 12:30pm Sunday.

Fruit in an open-air market in Palermo

It took leaving Sicily to realize how different life was there. It seems obvious, but the first big culture shock upon traveling home was the food. Even in Rome and Dublin, I finally had options other than pizza, pasta, or panini (of course, those foods make up 50% of my diet at home anyway). I was also reminded that fast food exists. Now, I am dying to get my hands on some Chick-fil-A…

Outside a historic church in Sicily

It has hit me now just how underdeveloped Sicily is. I had forgotten that most places have clean bathrooms, un-cracked sidewalks, air conditioning, and drinkable tap water. Surely the people of Sicily realize this. However, I didn’t get the feeling that they mind. I think the Sicilians know that they don’t have the objectively highest quality of life, but they don’t care. This connects to our discussion in class about indifference and complacency.

A dilapidated Sicilian sidewalk

Being in Washington, I’m obviously noticing the difference in government as well. We talked several times over the last month about how the Italian government moves at its own pace, and is full of corruption on a national level. It has made me notice how American secret service are trained to move quickly and efficiently, but elected and appointed officials achieve things about as quickly as the Sicilians. Additionally, corruption is definitely present here in the US, but it isn’t organized like the Italian Mafia. It’s isolated to individuals.

Ultimately, Sicily was the experience of a lifetime but I’m glad to be home.

An un-edited shot of sunset in Cefalù – one of the things I’ll miss most now that I’m home!