I definitely did not dress like a typical (stylish) Italian woman – in part because, as I have written elsewhere on this site, I have the wrong body shape to buy clothing in Italy. But I think it also has to do with attitude, gestures, my way of carrying myself. Part of it is plain old genetics: by descent I am roughly half Scottish and half German (with bits of a bunch of other “races” – we’ve been American for a LONG time), so I definitely don’t look Italian. I was often mistaken for German or Dutch in those countries.

As for adapting, I probably unconsciously took on some cultural norms when I was younger and my self was not yet fully formed. Probably not much from my childhood in Thailand, because we lived largely in an American bubble. But lots from my adolescence in India – when I visit there now I am startled at how much I know (or think I do) and take for granted. By the time I moved to Italy my personal norms and behaviors were largely settled, and I was more conscious of the bits of Italian culture I chose to assimilate.

Have you managed yet to identify what it is that makes you “look” American? Is it just a skin tone thing because different European cultures do dress differently so I would think you style of clothing would have something to do with it. Also your neutral accent doesn’t raise eyebrows? (over here in OZ they think I’m Irish, which I take as a compliment)

Do you find yourself adapting to a given culture the more time you live within it? Picking up new specifically unconscious habits from that culture, stuff like that?