European Culture Discussion Blog Post

 

One of the many cultural difference I've noticed has been in the different habits of pedestrians when comparing Leon and Turin. Turin seemed like the only thing that mattered was going whenever a gap presents itself, even without a legal crossing signal. Here in Leon in seems more like people will at least sometimes wait for the crossing signal, but if roads are clear hey why not go. I've also noticed retail and service staff here are much quicker to be blunt with you compared to Turin.

I've also noticed some differences in the motorcycle culture here, and while I can't exactly comment on the big cruisers because I have seen a whopping two this entire trip, I have seen a lot of adventure bikes being used in nearly the same ways they are in the US, mostly as long distance touring rigs that happen to be slightly more off road capable than a dedicated touring bike. There appeared to be a distinct lack of what I will call hooligan culture while in Turin that appears to be thriving here in Leon. The incredibly dangerous and illegal practice of taking a 600-1000cc displacement street motorcycle and speeding around and pulling wheelies has very much shown itself here.

There is also the difference in the preservation of historic buildings, ruins, and monuments. In Turin there seemed to be significantly less emphasis on keeping historical sites preserved than I expected. The roman ruins we saw there, for example, were kind of being left to sit and the grounds were being used as a dog park. The prison museum was also in an external state of disrepair, though the inside was incredibly preserved. Something drew and I stumbled upon was an Artillery Museum, and one of the outer walls was literally falling apart into the path outside. There was a building called “Palazzo Nervi, già Palazzo del Lavoro” that I wanted to visit that is apparently closed to the public right now and is sitting abandoned with little to no maintenance. On the other hand, Lyon was mostly well kept, though as the guide of the first tour wonderfully put it, they are more than willing to keep a building the way it sits while also maintaining it. The Lumiere house was externally preserved while being turned into a museum, the factory was not preserved (excluding a small portion which has been encased in the theater building), the old town has had some traboules closed off, and apparently at least one closed off by a restaurant, many of the historic build.

Another thing I have noticed has been the fact that dinner happens much later here. At home, most people I know get dinner sometime between 6 and 9, where here it would appear people only start really going out in numbers around 7:30, and I have not been out and about late enough to see the ending of the dinner rush.

Yet another big thing is the lack of personal space. In the US people try to stick pretty far away from strangers, and here I have had approximately zero personal space more times than I can count. For example, the public transit had many times where people just didn’t care and jammed up into the bus or tram and left no room spared. (I.E. Turin Bus with the children everywhere)