Allora oggi . . . in my email box this morning is a note from the quaint villa located on the Amalfi coast where I had made a reservation several weeks ago.  The email message states that, “sorry I made a mistake.  I looked better, we do not have a pay pal for payment.”  What?!  Me incredulously thinking it is 2012!   What international tourist business doesn’t use PayPal to handle reservation deposits?  Seriously, I have to show up in PERSON at Wells Fargo bank and transfer funds in order to secure my room reservation in Positano.

Allora my next thought is about cultural competence.  This semester I am teaching an international tourism class at a state university.  The focus of our class is globalization, culture, cultural competence, cultural variability, intercultural communication, and being a respectful and gracious tourist.  Fully anticipating an experience of “culture shock” at some point during my adventure, I was not expecting an ethnocentric spoiled American slap so soon.  In my effort to fully embrace my Italian adventure and be a gracious tourist I will make a special trip to Wells Fargo instead of trying to convince the Italian villa to use PayPal.  Restate sintonizzati . . .