PROTEINO, NO NO Italians are allergic to vegetables. They can stomach the occasional protein, but meat and fish cost significantly more euros to prohibit the poor college student from partaking. I bought some pistachios and started eating Nutella by the spoonful to catch a glimpse of health. Clementine peels have begun to gather in odd places in our room.
TUTTA LA PIZZA E LA PASTA That said, the pizza and pasta that we eat here is incredible. Real Roman pizza bears little resemblance to the American variety. The dough is risen, like a good Panera loaf, and baked to a crunchy perfection. Tomato sauce usually implies margherita pizza, with little dollops of mozzarella di bufala. The pasta can be divine if you find a good restaurant - my favorite remains gnocchi a sorrentina, potato dumplings with tomato sauce. Ravioli con spinaci is good too.
BOOM! Once in a while, we ambitious women like to access the internet. To use our computers, we have to buy volt converters (Italy runs on 220V.) I first tried using my dad's epic green Fuji multi-volt converter to plug in my alarm o'clock. Five minutes later, POOF! My alarm o'clock exploded. The wires were smoking as Allison ran frantically to our portiere to explain the "BOOM" in Italian. Apparently, "Made in China" means "Made for Destruction" in Italian. I got a different converter and started using my iPod as an alarm.
IL "WC" Italian rooms do not have as many outlets as American ones. My roommate's does not work very well, so sometimes we utilize the best outlet in the house: in our bathroom. It is not uncommon for a friend to stop by and peek into the bathroom, to find a completely dressed ragazza sitting on the toilet plugged in and checking Facebook.
ROMAN TIME All the clocks are wrong here. If I walk down one of the large roads, like Via del Corso, I will see perhaps 7 public clocks and each will have a different time. First clock says 8pm. Second clock says 2pm. Third clock says 11:45am. No Romans seem particularly troubled about the clocks or make any attempt to correct them. It represents the true attitude of a two-thousand-year-old city... a few hours make no difference to the history books. An addictive teleology.
LA MUSICA POP We hear Katy Perry everywhere. Most American songs are outdated by a year or so, yet the Italians seem fascinated. It may have something to do with the fact that modern Italian pop stinks as musical fare and our exports fare better by comparison. Allison and I have made a nightly habit of watching Italian MTV, a series of non-stop music videos from England, America and Italia. We have not only categorized each character in the Katy Perry Firework video, but gotten sick of Nelly Furtado and fallen in love with Jovanotti's Tutto L'Amore Che Ho ("All the Love that I Have"). For your viewing pleasure, and until next time:
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