[psusue]

I was in Italy for five weeks two summers ago and I found much the same attitude at the university I was at while there. The idea of people going to a school sponsored sport (does not exist in Italy), with school colors and clothes on (extremely rare and very tourist oriented in Italy, CHEERING for said team (school spirit is seriously lacking), was pretty much as alien as you could get for students there. They were probably put off by my enthusiasm, but there you go.

I feel like this is for a lot of different reasons. Some that I can surmise is that most Italian students go to school while living at home. There are no dorms and most students retain their friends from childhood from their hometowns. That coupled with the fact that there are no school sports or other rallying points for the students, there is little unity and even less school spirit. School is school and that is it.

There is also the fact that the school system is set up so differently in Europe. Their high schools probably rival our junior colleges, their universities our upper level courses, and then their second degree (last two years out of five), are pretty much our graduate schools. So basically they have their masters degrees at age 23. Which is possible in the U.S. but is not quite done in the same fashion, besides the fact that almost every student graduates with this degree, most who are seeking further studies (i.e. law school) do that directly after. School, from what I gathered, is taken pretty seriously. The idea of college being a social and academic experience is pretty foreign, although students do like to have fun at night/on the weekends.

But again, this is with their childhood friends. They feel that we're a bit flaky for moving away and making all new friends, but the situations are so different it's hard to compare. So yes, the idea of a sorority is very odd to most Europeans, but again there are social and academic reasons behind that. I don't know if the idea would ever catch on, because the cultural "soil" may not grow that kind of social scene.