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Description
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In the beginning of my stay in Italy for my erasmus I didn't have so much
difficult situations in everyday life. The local people were really helpful and
nice, especially in Rimini. Everyone was quite easily approachable and you
felt like you could ask help from anyone, and most of the time people helped you
with pleasure. But although people are kind, it really helps if you know about
the culture and the way of life and timetable of Italians.
In Rimini for example most of the shops weren’t open during lunch time and then
they re-opened later in the afternoon. So before you know this you might be
surprised that the shops were closed from 1pm to 3 or 4pm. Also greeting people in
the shops, the building where you live, work and school, is important,
otherwise you might come across to them as a rude person. Italians are also
really passionate about their food so for example if you’re eating in a
restaurant and you eat really slowly or leave some food on the plate you might
end up offending the cook and they might think that you didn’t like the food.
It is also really rude in Italy not to go to have dinner in someone’s home if
they invite you. It is also rude to visit someone’s home and refuse eating if
they offer food to you. Italians also consider it rude if they offer their help
to you and you don’t take upon their offer. These are just some examples of everyday life situations that non-Italians should know. But of course if you don’t know
everything at first it’s not the end of the world and you shouldn’t end up
doing a lot of harm with the locals.
Difficult situations during
exchange
During my exchange
period in Rimini, Italy, I encountered one really challenging situation.
This situation was about my housing situation, the apartment I had agreed to
rent over the internet wasn’t exactly suitable for living. The situation began
when I arrived to the apartment on Thursday evening on 9th of
February really late and I didn’t have time to look around the apartment really
well since it was late and I was tired. Then the next morning I had to go to
sign the contract for renting the apartment, so I still didn’t notice the
unsuitable living conditions in the apartment. During the weekend I noticed
that the house was full of mold. I’m allergic to it, and anyway living in a house
with mold isn’t healthy and so that condition wasn’t suitable for living. Next
Monday I sent a thorough email to the person who I had been contacting from the
company explaining that I have to leave the house as soon as possible due to my
allergies to the mold, and that I would want to cancel the other contract,
since I had one for February and another from 1.3.2017 to 31.7.2017. But their
answer to me was that I should just clean the mold with specific cleaning product
and ventilate the apartment and the problem would go away itself. But to me
this wasn’t the right solution, and I was outraged that they demanded me to do
the cleaning for the mold and didn’t send a professional to do it.
I tried to reason with these people, explaining them about my allergic condition.
And since I let them know really early that I want to leave before first of
March, they had three weeks to find a new tenant, since I paid for the
whole February. The situation turned out to be more difficult, because these
people didn’t want to let me go and they said that the upcoming contract had to
be respected. Then I decided to ask people for help. I went to the university
and asked the international coordinator for help and she explained to me what I
should do and she wrote a letter for me to end the contract, which I sent to one of the
partial owners of the company. I also asked help from the Erasmus organization
in Rimini, and one boy from the organization helped me also.
The situation turned quite heated when I went to the company’s office to return
the keys on the last week of February with the boy from the Erasmus
organization. They had received the letter that the university’s international
coordinator had written, and they found it really disrespectful and out of
line.
When we went to the office, first we were talking with one of the workers I had
been emailing about the problem and he was trying to plead to the contract that
I can’t go away from the apartment. We had found some loopholes from the contract that could help
to cancel it. For example that the day it was signed was marked to be 1.3.2016,
so in the eyes of law the contract wasn't valid or had any credibility.
So we asked the worker if they had registered the contract already, and he told
us they didn’t. Then we said about the faulty date and that for them it would
be easiest just to let me go, since they don’t have validity on the contract
and that I don’t desire to ask any money back for what I paid for February.
So in the end we agreed that I’d go away from the apartment without any
problems and that they cancel the faulty contract. But what made the situation
heated was that the partial owner of the company wanted to talk to the Erasmus organization
boy alone, and he was shouting at him really angrily about the letter I had
sent to him. The owner was convinced that the boy from the organization had
written it and he told him that it was really rude. The Erasmus boy said that
he didn’t write the letter but he also didn’t tell who had written it, since
the owner said that he wants to sue the person who had written it. I had read
the letter myself as well, but it was really formal Italian, and I didn’t find
it offensive, because my Italian isn’t perfect yet. And I trusted the
international coordinator of course, that she would write a good letter. Well in
the end the Erasmus boy convinced the owner that he would have a talk with the
person who wrote the letter and would give them a warning if he would find out who wrote it, and the owner was somewhat
satisfied with that solution. Then I gave them the keys back and I finally
could put the whole mess with the apartment behind me.
I think we could’ve avoided many conflicts if already in the beginning these
people from the company would’ve just listened to my side and my worries about
the apartment and wouldn’t have make it so hard for me to leave. Since after it
became really hard to reason with them I felt obliged to ask help from other
people in order to solve it. I also didn’t know how are the tenants’ rights in
Italy and if I would just leave the apartment, could these people make some
problems for me later on. Then of course we found the loopholes from the
contract with the Erasmus organization boy, which made my case more easier. That
also kind of proved that this company wasn’t being really professional, like
when they told me to clean the mold myself. And I’m really happy that so many
people turned out to be really helpful and that with them I could solve my
problem.
I later on heard that in Italy and especially in this region many landlords try
to rip people off and that they aren’t being really honest. So I’m happy I
encountered people I could trust and who could help me with these difficult
landlords.
I think that this
experience was really growing and good even though it was unpleasant at the time
it was happening. It was also really stressful, since I was in foreign country
and I didn't know the customs and rights of a tenant in this country. I still
learned many useful skills about cross cultural communication. I could ask help
from other locals when some of them were giving me trouble. The most important
thing I learned through this experience though, is that you should always be
really careful about any contracts you would sign and also ask for all the
receipts for any payments you make. I was trusting this company so blinded that
I wasn’t thinking anything before I signed the contract. And if the signature
date would’ve been right in the contract I think this company would’ve made it
harder or impossible for me to cancel the other contract and leave the apartment.
In my opinion it is really
important to be openminded and ask for help if you’re not sure what you should
do, especially when you’re in a foreign country. If others offer their help to
you, you should take upon their offer even though you might feel that you’re
bothering people with your problems. It’s the best way to solve troubles with
someone who knows the customs, when you’re still learning the right way to
operate and you’re new to the culture. This experience also kind of reminded me
once again that especially when you’re abroad you really need to be careful who
you can trust and consider that with care.
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