I decided it was important for everybody to know interesting facts about Italy. I have officially been living here for a month, and I have learned a lot. I figured I should let everybody know what I have been learning here, and fill you in on some cultural differences. What better way to do that then create a list. This list contains no particular order of importance, but just a form of organization.
1. All the vehicles are small: This is true. They are all small, manual, and driven by aggressive Italians. There are no street lights, or very very few. Lights are replaced with rotundas, which makes for interesting driving. The largest vehicle I have seen here is a Range Rover. Most people drive Fiats and any form of hatchback. If you came on the road with an Expedition or Escalade, you might as well be driving a monster truck.
2. Italians love food: No secret there. Except they love food, but never get fat. Everything is healthy, and everybody eats healthy. It's really amazing. For breakfast, they eat sweet meals. No eggs or pancakes. Just a sweet dessert looking thing, topped off with some cafe. Lunch, why not have some pizza. Dinner? Well, before dinner, you must have a couple of drinks, with some finger foods set up. This is known as an Appertivo, their better version of a happy hour. These finger foods aren't chicken tenders and fries. Instead, they are prosciutto or eggplant, maybe even pasta if your lucky. Then it's time for dinner, which you may not finish until 11pm or later. After your meal, you have to have a dessert. Now normally I am not a big fan of sweets, especially dessert. Italian dessert is unreal. It's almost a waste if you don't have it. And if you don't want dessert, then get gelato. The more south you go, the better the gelato. Don't believe me? Find out for yourself. Like I said, Italians love food.
3. Italians don't wear different clothes everyday: Now this is a great fact. Everybody dresses nice, and I mean everybody looks good. Whether its Prada, Gucci, or Burberry, they got it. Nice pair of shades, some expensive shoes, a sweet pair of jeans and a baller shirt, and they are ready to go. Funny thing is, they will wear that outfit a couple times in a row. Not a problem. It really is a nice thing. If its expensive, why not wear it a bunch of times before washing?! Doesn't bother me one bit.
4. Bars aren't bars: So in America, if I said we are going to the bar, we are going out to drink. Here, bars are where you go for food, maybe a scotch or top shelf beverage, but mostly used for cafe. Now when I say cafe, I mean espresso. Haven't found traditional coffee here as of yet. And they LOVE their cafe, and I do too. It's a great quality and absolutely delicious, as well as quick and easy. But if you want to grab a beer and some food, your going to the pub, not the bar. Oh, and if you want to dance and party, your going to the disco, not the club.
5. Italians are Green: They obviously aren't actually the color of green, but they live their lives gren. Everybody recycles, everybody is conscious of the environment, and everybody actually cares. For example, the grocery store charges for bags. Yep, they do. Why? This forces you to buy a bag you can use over and over again, hence promoting going green. I bought one, and it's actually very convenient. And if you do have a grocery bag, you use it to throw out your garbage. There is purpose for everything.
6. They love American foods: Fact. They may think there food is better than yours, and quite frankly it probably is. But the truth remains that if you told an Italian you are making hamburgers or a philly cheese steak, they are on it. A few days ago, for the team dinner, Taka and Fillo made hamburgers. It was awesome.
7. The train is the way to travel: This should come as no surprise to anybody that has been to Europe. The train systems are incredibly efficient, and fairly simple. Granted, having experience of the New York system helped me immensly in figuring out how to get where. I would venture to say that anybody can figure this out, and mostly every station has somebody who can speak English. My recommendation is to use the machines. You can set it to English, and it's very simple and helpful. You can get anywhere in Europe, and for a little extra coin you can hop on a high speed and travel at incredible speeds. It's like being on an airplane that never takes off.
8. Italians are prideful people: They have a lot of pride about where they are from and what they are about. Whether they have the best food, the better dialect, or the more beautiful city, they are loyal and full of pride.
9. Work is work, and family life is family life: This is an important one. Business in Italy, and I'm assuming Europe as a whole, is different. In New York City, business can consume somebody's life. It can be taken home, and effect the family and influence their lives. That's very rare here. People go to work, do what they need to do, and then when they are off work it's family time. They value that time with their family, and seperate work and business. Could be a good thing, could be a bad thing. I'll leave that up for debate amongst yourselves.
10. Italy is beautiful: This is an obvious fact. Everywhere you go, each city has a different story to tell. Each city has its own draw, whether its Milan with great night life and the fashion district, or Bologna with it's old Italian style and large population of students. Whether you travel down South to the Almalfi Coast for the beautiful walking tours, or stay north in Rimini for the amazing beach. I feel lucky to say I am a resident of this country. This doesn't mean that I am short changing New York. Living here has shown me how amazing it is to live in New York. Everybody here loves New York, and I am proud to be from there.
I am by no means an Italian, and I stand out like a sore thumb in the city of Reggio. I respect the people here, and I respect this country. This month has flown by, and I can't believe how much has happened and how much I have seen and learned. But as the saying goes, may the best of your today's be the worst of your tomorrows. I hope that this experience will only get better. Plus, everything is better in the summer.
So this weekend we play on Saturday and Sunday in Poviglio. Everybody hope for no rain, and I hope to have some good news and a couple of wins under our belt. Hope you enjoyed the post and talk to you soon.
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