Words of Wisdom from the Streets of Cagli

by Kaitlin Thornal

Two days in a row I saw her. Peering out at the world from her doorstep on Corso XX Settembre wrapped in a maroon sweater, she watched as life on the street passed her by. The first day she simply nodded hello. The second day, after making eye contact, she approached and reached for my hand. Mourning the death of a fellow citizen gone too early, she was contemplative about life. She wasn’t shy about her age – 91 years old – and soon, she proudly told me, she’d turn 92. But she said she didn’t feel that old. These days, she takes each day as it comes and makes sure to buy the newspaper every morning. After all, she said, I don’t want to die stupid.

I don’t want to die stupid. I understood it in Italian, even before it was translated for me. What a powerful statement! What motivation for a graduate student in the throes of a big project! What a gem of wisdom from the streets of Cagli!

When I ventured down Corso XX Settembre a couple days later, sure enough, there she was. This time translation was on me. Admittedly, the great degree of communication dissonance due to the language barrier made conversation difficult, but we were able to chat for a few minutes. Walking away, I marveled at how language, one of the six stumbling blocks to intercultural communication, is such an incredible phenomenon. Even though I couldn’t understand her word for word, I caught bits and pieces. Her name was Maria Paradisi and she was quite proud of her bello cognome, her beautiful last name. When I told her mine was Kait, she wasn’t surprised. Weren’t so many American girls named Kate? It was truly a joy to spend a few minutes with her, and proof that it’s true what our readings tell us, intercultural communication is so critical to getting the most out of the living/studying abroad experience!