Ci spiace, ma questo articolo è disponibile soltanto in English.
Nel 2003 Rebecca ha iniziato a scrivere dei saggi per il sito Slow Travel, raccontando la sua esperienza di ragazza di città che dagli Stati Uiniti si è trasferita nella campagna umbra.
Le sue riflessioni sono riprodotte qui.
Umbria Slow:
My husband and I travel out of season , so it is a lot darker and colder in the evening and nights so we tend to stay in our rented apartment /villa , and we love having internet .. I am not sure what the problem is .. have read it a few times.
right.
(I’m really tempted to leave it at that but I can’t.)
When sharing my thoughts about this, I tend to get a high, preechy voice and a brooklyn accent. I face down, but look up over my half glasses and say something like, ” you know, when I moved to Europe there were no BLOGS and there was no SKYPE and calls to the states cost a deutschmark a minute and it was no fun going to the sauna and everyone was butt naked but me and I had no clue because, guess what, NO ONE TOLD ME! There were no on line dictionaries where I could look up what chicken legs are – I had to bring the BOOK to the BUTCHER.” or something like that.
But of course I adjusted and I got the distance and separation I needed to start seeing my home country much more objectively, and, I also believe, much more patriotically (in a real sense). In this massive synapse-type-global-connection that we now have, I am not even sure if people think like that anymore. People don’t want to disconnect – there is something disquieting and discomforting about disconnecting now that wasn’t there before all of this technology.
I stick my wi-fi needle in my arm every day and get my daily fix of connectivity. So who am I to say. But I am kind of glad I came into this life at a different time, when this (looking at needle in arm) wasn’t an option. It made me stronger.
Can I just say I remember the ’80s and a time when there were no computers or email…and that during my first study abroad program in Florence I had to rely on la posta italiana (gasp!) and that one-time jaunt to the post office at midnight to make a transatlantic call to my then boy friend, now husband. Everyday I would run to the school’s front desk hoping for a letter…sometimes days and weeks would go by without a sign of those flimsiest of scraps of blue airmail letters in sight…and then you would receive a missive, or perhaps five in one day, and it was like mana from heaven.
Sometimes I wonder what our relationship would have been like if we could have contacted each other every nano second of the day during my absence through email and skype. Surely I would have felt more connected and I would have been able share my pictures and experiences in a blow by blow fashion. But, also I wouldn’t have had my own unique alone time abroad, and certainly I wouldn’t have a shoebox filled with love letters that I still keep and pull out from time to time.
I’m not sure if one is better than the other…I just know how magical it was to receive an actual written letter, when communication was that easy to achieve. On the other hand, with daily internet fixes, I feel more connected with the world and am meeting more amazing people that I can now visit and hug in person when I travel! So, I fall back to my familiar adage…everything is ok, just do it in moderation! (that goes for cookies and chocolate too)
@Anne, yes I completely agree. I love having internet when I travel. I’m just a little ambivalent about what that means for the evolution of the whys and wherefores of travel. Like I said, I’m more of an ambivalent commentator than critical luddite.
@Diana…you speak the truth. I have often thought how different the expat experience was when I moved in 1993…more isolating and lonelier in some ways, but ultimately very rewarding. Now it’s not only easier to keep in touch with folks “back home” but also to connect with other expats, which can be can be a saving grace when you are first getting adjusted.
Does that make the old school expat experience more “real”? Are we justified in the “I used to walk to school in six feet of snow barefoot” attitude towards these young whippersnappers? I’m not sure. Sometimes I think that these kids actually have it harder with the siren song of home so strong and present and feasible in moments of indecision. I was often resolute in my ignorance; had I been tempted every day with a steady stream of homesickness inducing information from the States I may not be where I am right now.
@Melissa…you echoed the exact sentiments I have expressed so many times about my first exchange experience and the years of having a “long-distance romance” with Stefano. I often wonder if constant contact would have made the flame flare up and burn out rather than slowly smoulder.
I agree that the connections I have made online have been very gratifying and often segued into “real” relationships. The key is balance, as you so wisely say!
Brilliant, well-said. Progress…right? Like all advances / progress there are pros and cons and…always lurking is the possibility of abuse. Personal responsibility for personal choices is more and more important. Parenting today has yet another difficult and complex task: encouraging the awareness of the pros and cons of the many tools of modern technology.
Beautifully expressed in your winning style, Rebecca.
My husband was a sea captain in the early 1990s and away for 5 months at a time, I sometimes think how different things would have been if there was internet. I often didn’t know where he was as he couldn’t contact me for weeks, but then there was the romance of talking over the radio when possible and of course I have love letters.
So well written! I have wondered how having Internet connection changes the interaction between innkeepers and guests, since they now can look stuff up online instead of asking… I have just started traveling with a laptop this last year, and try to restrict it to just necessary travel logistics research and the occasional work email. In our week long rental in Bologna it was great, especially as we had a ton of rain and needed to make modification to earlier plans. But yeah, it is sad that we take less time to disconnect…
Well said. It is difficult in these times (I’m not 100 just sound like it) not to obsess about our email/blackberry blah blah blah and I confess to visiting internet cafes when on holiday BUT
One of my fondest memories is going into HSBC in Hong Kong to change traveller’s cheques and being to told to hang-on. I thought there was a problem with my cheque but the counter staff came back with a letter from my mother set via the bank instead of poste restante. What a thrill to get some mail and hear from home and so unexpected.
Here I am sitting in Melbourne on a rainy afternoon, reading Rebbecca’s blog. I got hooked, and now, whether you like it or not, I am typing.
Peeping into souls of nice looking young ladies (I am a 67 year old fart) from all over the world – isn’t it great? It wouldn’t be possible without internet!
This is my first ever contribution to a blog. I am afraid my language and literary skills aren’t up to it. (I am a retired engineer).
Internet is great.
I can’t imagine my retirement without the internet. I was born in Czechoslovakia, live in Australia, but above those two, I am a citizen of the world. I could spent all day sitting at the computer and browsing through newspapers, forums etc. Sometimes I spend hours responding to newspaper articles only to scrap it. Too many responses – nobody is going to read it anyway.
We are fortunate to have enough money to travel overseas every year, mostly to Europe of course. We were in Venice last May, and who knows, I may be in Perugia in a month or so.
We travel independently. We could not do it without internet. I spend months researching our next trip, book hotels for every night, cars, ferries as much as possible. I collect plans and maps, notes etc, and just before we go I transfer everything onto my laptop. It makes travel easier and we are more relaxed.
On the trip I like to be in touch with our two daughters, scan the news, weather, shift money around etc.
Now about the disconnect – actually you better ask my wife. But I never was good at talking, anyway. Engineers don’t do that. She has her books, the bible, and she joined a walking club with other ‘senior’ ladies who like to talk. But occasionally we watch TV together or a DVD. We are good friends and I think she is happy.
There is another disconnect – from the surroundings. There is so much info from everywhere that I don’t care about Melbourne or Australia too much anymore. And although the beach is only about 40 minutes away, we go there only a couple of times a year. And the laundry door needs repainting. Next year, maybe.
Good, Rebbecca, that you now understand why people like internet. Please, if you have to charge for it (and we don’t expect something for nothing), do it in a way that doesn’t put your customers on the wrong foot.
It has been a pleasure to visit your part of the world.
Josef
Josef, thanks so much for stopping by and taking the time to write! I am honored to be on the receiving end of your first blog comment, and a thoughtful and thought-provoking one, as well. It sounds as if you are enjoying your retirement and seeing the world, and good on you…if you do make it to Perugia, let me know! Best, Rebecca
I have been living in Italy for 10 years, and only last year was able to have internet installed at home (Le Marche, if you think in Umbria things move slowly…)I absolutely love it and use it constantly, for the ridiculous (playing WoW, not afraid to admit it) to the sublime (Youtube=Glenn Gould and Butthole Surfers etc.) But on vacation, I reject it. Sometimes meeting your neighbours in the agriturismo is not as great is one may think, sometimes it is better. But I would rather disconnect and meet them all, or stroll, or even complain about something with my husband (this place is TOO “lovely”) in real time and in real life. The trip/vacation/travel/rest should be intimate and real. We can put our pictures on Facebook when we get back.
Having said that, many travellers don’t have that option, MUST be in touch with the office, or the ailing relative. So, Rebecca, you did good thing. The Wi.fi can be there and we should all just use it with discretion.
Have a good one!
Shell
Shell, thanks so much for taking the time to comment. You were able to put in two paragraphs what took me an entire blog post to say!