Only Americans do Yoga?

Today when I got to yoga class, a few of us talked with the instructor about our Summer plans. One American girl said she was going to go back to the US for a little while and then come back to Florence. The Yoga instructor glanced over at me and asked me where I was from to see if we were "neighbors."

The other girl is from Virginia and is studying art (she told me later). I explained to the yoga instructor that her state is on the east coast about 3,000 miles away. I clarified that the Pacific ocean is off the California coast and the Atlantic ocean is off the east coast.

After yoga class we realized that there were three Americans, one Italian girl and the Italian instructor. We outnumbered the Italians for once. The other American was a man from Rhode Island. Again, I told the yoga instructor that his state was closer to the other girl's because it was also on the east coast.

He responded by telling me that Rhode Island isn't that close to Virginia. I didn't think they were bordering states, but in contrast with California, they're neighbors to me.

We laughed about how the Italians are on vacation and only the Americans seem to come to yoga class. The American man responded by saying that all the Americans are on vacation in Italy. I figured he was responding for himself since the other girl and I are not here on vacation.

It was interesting to speak to both of the Americans in Italian. First, I thought it would be rude to speak English with them in front of the other Italians and second, I figured if we are in Italy and we can speak Italian, why not just continue speaking Italian?

Share your comments for this blog post on the Living in Florence's Facebook page. Grazie!

Back to Top