Roughing it Abroad

I was recently talking to one of my most favorite people in the world on the phone, and she asked me about the similarities and differences between the US and Rome.  I have thought about this before she asked, but hearing her response to what I said about Italy made me see Italy through the eyes of someone less used to it perhaps. To quote, I am "roughing it" apparently. So I guess I'll share the few differences that I have accumulated in these first two weeks.

I mean the first difference you notice is that there is very little air conditioning anywhere. Of the 15 apartments IES has, only 2 have air conditioning for example (and I am not so lucky as to be one of them...) This is even though it is still in the 90s in September (though, fun fact, apparently this is the hottest, muggiest September that any of my Italian teachers can remember...of course). Anyway this lack of air conditioning speaks to the frugality of the Italians I think, as well as perhaps the luxuries of the United States. Apartments automatically shut off all power if as many as six things (including lights) are turned on at the same time. For this same reason there are no microwaves, no dryers, no garbage disposals, and very few dishwashers. (And I don't even want to know about the heater situation yet, because I can't even remember being cold). These things are even mostly true in the 1.2 million dollar IES apartment some of my friends live in. They have air conditioning, but none of the other amenities, and if they have even lights on while the air conditioner runs the power shuts off.

Yet at the same time, their recycling is so much more complex. There are 4 different categories I have to separate things into, and a different day/placed to drop each thing off at. (And this from a girl who has basically never recycled in her entire life...I guess I deserve it.) It is like Rome is such a weird mix of things hopelessly behind the United States and yet I can't decide if people would even want these other things. Everything here is just less wasteful...

Also fuel here costs about 10 dollars a gallon, so most people opt for public transportation whenever possible. But you will see a ton of mopeds and small cars. I have counted one truck and one SUV so far.   I haven't even discovered how they drive these though, since I have yet to see a single gas station.

To change topics, the way Italians dress is extremely different as well. Now of course I knew this, I was told all about the style of Roman women before going. However that is not quite what I have seen. I mean only high schoolers wear shorts (which in this heat would seem like a necessity) and no one where flip flops. Mostly you notice how few bright colors, large bags (only the Americans have longchamps it would appear, which is ironic since they are from Europe...), or sweat there is. And then you will see a few women wearing stilettos, though more wear wedges since the cobblestone streets here are literally death for heels (like giant gaping holes in the ground). I think I mostly fit in though, which has saved me from catcalls and pickpockets so far. W&L prepared me to rarely wear athletic clothing during the fall and to depend on flats.

The last major difference is that in Italy, the customer is NOT always right. To illustrate this, I will tell the story of how my roommates and I attempted to go to an "american" restaurant last night. We were all craving a bit of America, so when we read the menu, advertising hamburgers, fires, etc we got excited. Flash forward to ordering, when we found out that the employees at the American food restaurant do not speak any English. Small problem, odd, but easy enough to overcome. My roommates orders a buffalo chicken barbecue sandwich. I point at  the option of hamburger and fries, and another orders a salad with 'balsamico' (which took a couple of tries to explain dressing to the waitress). Finally we attempted the impossible, changing an item. One of my roommates is an extremely picky eater, and to save the pages it would attempt to explain her preferences, suffice it to say that she definitely doesn't eat most meat. She was craving a grilled cheese, which was not on the menu, but there was a turkey melt with only cheese, turkey, and bread. We decided to risk it because it seemed so simple to request that there be no meat, and the waitress nodded, smiled, completely understanding. So after waiting an hour to get food (which I guess is understandable since we were over an hour early to dinner - Italians generally eat at 9), things start to arrive sporadically. Buffalo chicken barbecue sandwich equalled a grilled chicken patty with barbecue on the side. I received my hamburger and fries....but only with a hamburger patty, no bun. The waitress told me I had said 'only' hamburger (meaning no drink, since soft drinks were 4 euros), after some begging she brought me a bun. My vegetarian friend was not so lucky, not only was there turkey in her melt, but also bacon..apparently the waitress did not understand at all. She was a good sport though and didn't even try to send it back, mostly because you cant send these back in Italy...it simply is not done. Finally the salad came...but without any dressing. We waited 5 more minutes, no waitress, no dressing. Finally my roommates went inside to ask and after asking for balsamic in Italian several times, finally got a nod of recognition. She was offered olive oil after being told that there was no balsamic. My roommate tried to say that she could not eat the salad then but the waitress told her to deal with it, after continuing to beg the waitress got some from the restaurant beside us. We spent the rest of our meal being glared at by the waitress, who I am absolutely sure spit in our food. I think we have all been cured of that experience for a while...I think I will simply stick to safe (albeit protein-less food), such as pasta. Wish me luck.

Ciao Belles