An American In Italy: How's My Dunce Cap Look?

My first trip back overseas since 2019.

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I’m currently in the beautiful city of Milan, where the coffee flows like the River Thames (which is in England, whoops!) & their charcuterie boards make the finest American deli shop look like close relatives to the Lunchable family. There’s something I can’t shake in the first 48 hours of being here: this feeling like I’m the dumbest or most embarrassing person in the room as I walk through Milan visiting cafes & stores. I can feel the eyes. As if I’m wearing a cartoon-like dunce cap of epic proportions on my head; the sheer height of it piercing the clouds above me. And quite honestly.. I understand and I’m even humbled by the feeling. You know, possibly it’s just the bright red hair and all the aging tattoos on my body. But, it’s hard not to think that maybe there’s a connection due to our political & social climate over the past several years that has made us look a certain way to the rest of the world. I mean, it could absolutely be a number of reasons that are creating this kinda uneasy feeling from my end. Maybe it’s just good old fashioned paranoia.

But, it seemed to become more so prevalent due to the actions of other Americans I’ve witnessed firsthand on my journey over here.

On my flight from LAX to Milan, I heard many an American complaining incessantly to their seat buddies & to the wonderful flight attendants about how uncomfortable the seats were, that the meals on the flight were terrible, that they’ve had better experiences on other airlines - and the list goes on. To say I was annoyed by them would be a massive understatement. It posed a question in my head that constantly rears its head:

When did we get so damn complain’y & unpleasant about any & everything?

My empathy to any foreign country in regards to being put off by us in any way is quite sizable. And no, I’m not saying only America has their problematic peoples. Or that every American is vexatious and bothersome. Calm down. But to my fellow Americans, I’m sending an important, simple message: we need to chill out, humble up, and be appreciative. Yeah, it applies to everyone, I know. But, I’m singling out my people here.

I had a “moment” yesterday while ordering a coffee. The barista immediately realizing I’m American. I decided order a San Pellegrino alongside my latte. For those that know me, I’m an avid, borderline addictive consumer of sparkling water; ingesting copious amounts everyday as if my life depended on it for survival. When I asked to add that to my coffee order, he looked at me & semi-snidely asked, “You do know it’s a sparkling water, correct?” At first, I was mildly taken aback with such a question that seemed so utterly ridiculous to me. But, the other part of me thought (and chuckled) that likely there’s people who order this and think it’s a fancy, local Italian cocktail; which isn’t really where the problem lies. It’s that they probably get upset after receiving it, realizing it’s just delicious sparkling water that is not going to get them fucked up, which causes them to express their unjustifiable anger to said barista. And these people are most likely to be American. Yeah, I said it. And you know you nodded your head saying that’s probably true because you’ve probably witnessed similar activities in other settings.

But hey, I could be wrong. I could be overthinking all of this & making a big deal out of nothing. But guess what? It’s my newsletter and this is how I feel. Haha! It’s also definitely not the first time I’ve felt and experienced this over the last 20 years of traveling abroad. There were definitely significantly difficult times during my first tour over here in the early 2000’s when George Bush was our president, who was not liked whatsoever in other countries and rightfully so. I remember people literally yelling in my face about how horrible our country was everywhere we went.

Now, I want to take a moment to vehemently express & get across to you that even the barista from yesterday was still so extremely helpful & kind. My driver who picked me up from the airport was wishing me the best on our upcoming tour. An awesome Italian fan of ours recommended her favorite pizza spot to me & she did not leave me astray. It was delicious. I did some light shopping yesterday, and the person who rang me up at the checkout was so sweet. She asked if I would take a survey on how she did and I gave her 5-stars across the board, which she was over the top thankful of me doing. My server at the hotel this morning kept bringing me espresso’s (even though I didn’t want anymore) and made me a to-go cup of even more espresso to take with me before I made my way to a museum.

(Editor’s Note: I, fortunately, did not suffer a heart attack from the ungodly amounts of caffeine running through my veins. Thank you for wondering and worrying about me.)

For all of the “off” vibes I may have felt, there was still a great sense of kindness along the way, as well. That maybe it was a moment for me to personally reflect & acknowledge. What are your thoughts?

Moral Of The Story

Whether it’s just general paranoia from my end or slight distaste from the outside world, I still feel like we can always do better. Maybe I feel a level of guilt & embarrassment for what our country has been in the news for over the past several years, causing this proverbial dunce cap to be adorned. Maybe due to the pandemic, we sunk a little further into our own bubbles and loss sight of our neighbors across the globe. Some of us had to burrow away a bit to stay sane and keep our mental health in check. Me being one of those people.

That aside, I feel that sometimes it’s hard for American’s to say they’re embarrassed, angered, or frustrated by the actions of our country that have negatively affected other countries in the process. Along the way, maybe we left several bad tastes in many mouths. Hey, I love our country, but I can also acknowledge how it has absolutely impacted the world around us and maybe diminished the views of us a bit. Although, Pew’s most recent poll regarding International public opinion of the U.S. has been generally positive, recovering a bit in 2021. So, maybe we can chalk it up to a hodgepodge of emotions, sprinkled with some post-pandemic (even though it’s not really over) shame-like trauma.

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Are You Good, Nick?

You might think, “Is Nick good? Does he want to be overseas on tour?” My answer to that is: Fuck yes I do! I’m so excited and eager to be back overseas again. I’ve missed so much about it. One thing I’ve promised myself to do more of on tour is visit more museums. So, I did just that over the weekend and visited Museo del Novocento. Here’s some pieces that I loved:

Then, some of the band & crew got dinner at a spot we always go to when we’re in Milan called Ristorante Papà Francesco. Most of us ordered the pasta made inside a cheese wheel and it was insanely good. The people here are always so friendly and take great care of us. Of course, we had to end the night with some tasty gelato from Cioccolatitaliani.

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If You’ve Come This Far

Thank you for reading my babble. I truly appreciate your time more than you know. More newsletters on the way as our first show commences tonight in Milan! Then we’re off to Germany next! Also, extra special thanks to the folks who went for the paid subscription - I will have a special video for you this upcoming week that will only be made available to paid subscribers.

Please leave a comment and share amongst your friends. Would love to discuss and chat more in the comments. Hearing your thoughts and insights would be amazing.

Much love,

Nick