This week, Kate muses aloud about several topics adjacent to studying abroad and crowdsources stories from fellow millennials’ good, bad, and cringy “cultural” experiences. Recently an article went viral about a Gen Z’er not enjoying her time in Florence, and it got Kate thinking about her time trying to cosplay a more sophisticated, European version of herself that genuinely thought she came back a changed woman due to her collection of street pashmina and her ability to navigate the Eurrail train system. In hindsight, she ponders bigger themes like feeling ashamed of our interests, not realizing what about us was obviously “American” and realizing that we were embarrassing to other cultures, discusses the ridiculousness of the things we “loved” about Europe (long meals? open container laws?) but argues for there being a deeper layer of identifying with cultural elements of places that legitimately do prioritize quality of life in a different way. A classic, highly tangential, partially crowdsourced ep sharing both Kate and BTI5 listeners’ perspectives. Enjoy!Get tickets to my April 2nd virtual show, Be There in Five Years, at moment.co/bethereinfiveSUPPORT OUR SPONSORSRight now, Hungryroot is offering Be There In Five listeners 30% off your first delivery and free veggies for life. Just go to Hungryroot.com/BETHEREINFIVE, to get 30% off your first delivery and get your free veggies.Shop the new spring collection and receive 20% off your purchase with the code BETHEREINFIVE at marcfisherfootwear.com. And on April 3, for National Espadrille Day, you will get 30% off of select espadrilles! That’s marcfisherfootwear.com, code BETHEREINFIVE.Spring into your most radiant skin yet with clean, vegan skincare and body care from OSEA. And get 10% off your first order sitewide with code BETHEREINFIVE at OSEAMalibu.com. You’ll get free samples with every order, and free shipping on orders over $60.Exclusively for our listeners, Shady Rays is giving out their best deal of the season. Head to shadyrays.com/TangleFree with code: BETHEREINFIVE for 30% OFF their best-selling Tangle Free Aviator and much more.