The Life of an International Economics Student

0:00So, good morning everybody. As you heard in introduction, my name is Lucia Manzi and I'm a student from Italy, more precisely from Milano, which is the biggest city in North Italy. Boys, suppose you know more about cities like Rome or Venice or Florence and never heard about Milan, which definitely looks more like a business city. Boys, shares with many other Italian cities are centuries old history. My university is one of the biggest Italian university, But what drew me here to Alabama was my interest for American history and a libertarian tradition, which along with economics are the topics the Mises Institute is so concerned about and constantly works for their diffusion. In fact, my project focuses on the early American political thought and in particular, on a dispute about the Constitution and the foundation of the American Republic according to the natural rights theory and its fundamental pillars, the right to life, to freedom and to private property.

1:01Though my university is famous and well known in my country, the fact that it is a state university usually means that it is structured as a big oppressive bureaucracy, often malfunctioning and most of the times unsuited for research. Since if research depends on state funds, there's not much room for freedom of research in it. What I wanted to experience coming to the Mises was the chance to study in a place that truly valued all the studies concerning the search for freedom. And I also wanted to experience studying abroad in a country so different from mine. Speaking as a foreign student, I must say, nothing widens your horizon and opens your mind like the encounter with the culture which is so different from yours.

1:46Everything looks new and amazing to someone who has been living all his life in the same place like I was. From people's customs to the crazy weather, I'm really glad to say there's no tornado in Italy since it's too much of a small place for such phenomena to happen, to Auburn's obsession with football, all the way up to the big difference you can perceive from an academic point of view. At first, getting used to a way of living so different from yours is not as easy as one in agents since they still cannot have dinner before 8 p.m., which is the usual summertime in Italy. And unfortunately, I still use a lot of gesture when I speak. But soon, you learn about the people you're living with and especially learn to appreciate the best things about their culture.

2:34And I must say, what particularly struck me about the American way of living is the culture of efficiency and the extreme wealth that you can experience spending even just a little time in the USA, even in a small quiet town like Auburn is. Even the most ordinary things like the waitress refreshing your glass without a sweet tea or the same waitress approaching your table every five minutes to ask you if everything is still fine are the evidence of a long story of wealth and attention to serve the customer as best as possible. Just think about the amazing variety of choices you get when you enter any grocery store as Jeff mentioned before in his talk, or any coffee shop. These are the consequences, the best consequences of capitalism.

3:21And they made the difference in every field, especially in the field of research. In particular, in this field, they mean that most of the times, a research project is valued by its merit. And there are places like the Mises Institute who live and work in the most efficient way without any dependence on government funds and are so deeply devoted to boldly pursuing their ideals, which imply a true love for research without the need for any compromise. In Italy, it would have been so much harder to find any similar institution, able to provide its students with all the support needed. Actually, at this time in my country, it is even harder to find any university able to provide its most talented students with a decent scholarship, or any room for research, which is suffering a miserable situation at this very moment.

4:17In conclusion, these are the reasons why, in the end, I can say that what I've gained from my experience as a student abroad is definitely the possibility to learn not only by what I'm studying, but especially by the encounter with people that share with me the same passion in search for truth and freedom, despite our different cultural backgrounds, which in the end turned out to be a far worse source of knowledge more than an obstacle.