Thus far, I think my favorite flavor is stracciatella, basically the Italian version of chocolate chip ice cream. The cioccomenta will probably be Mom's- basically mint chocolate chip- and, as if I didn't get enough Nutella, the Nutella-flavored gelato is also fantastic. I also really enjoy the fruit flavors- I've had excellent limone (lemon), arancia (orange), and frutti di bosco (mixed berry). They taste more like sorbet than ice cream, which I think can definitely be a plus, especially post-pizza.
I think that food in general in Italy is different as well, to say the very least. For one thing, the grocery stores are tiny. Even the largest ones we've found don't compare to the usual American grocery stores- I wouldn't even say they're Walgreen's-sized. The variety, therefore, tends to be lacking. I have yet to see cheddar cheese (which is REALLY sad), baking powder, any sort of variety of tortilla chips or salsa...the list goes on and on. The restaurants too, of course, tend to serve solely Italian cuisine- which is great! Italian food is WONDERFUL. I just can't handle eating it every single day. Pasta overload is no fun. Nor is pizza overload- not that I've met a pizza I didn't like in Italy, of course. We finally broke down and went to the McDonald's near the Spanish Steps (which, by the way, are kind of a letdown), and it just happened to be the nicest McDonald's I've ever seen in my life. And the fries were SO wonderful. Not that they were any different from American McDonald's fries. They were just....not pasta. Yum. I guess you could say that food-wise, I'm feeling pretty homesick right now. I would kill for Chipotle. Or Chinese take-out. Or Dotty's. Ahhh. But we're doing a lot of cooking at home- we've been having chicken parmesan, chicken stirfry (at least we found the soy sauce!), and many, many turkey sandwiches. I was pleasantly surprised to find that they have Granny Smith apples here (I wasn't really expecting that, but I guess I don't really know why they wouldn't...), and of course the bread is wonderful. I just wish there was a bigger selection- and Mexican spices and cheddar cheese wouldn't hurt either! But such is the Italian culture, and we're definitely making it work for us. And improving our cooking skills along the way, eh?
We're also eating a lot of these cookies. Best thing ever. Nutella and/or peanut butter are welcome additions.
Personal habits also seem to be fairly different in Italy than in the US, I think. For one thing, personal space is a completely different (possibly non-existent) idea here. People stand close to you to talk and crowd together with no problem at all. It's definitely quite the shift from the comfortable American arm's-length personal space! I also think that smoking is a lot more accepted here than it is at home. I can't imagine people going outside to smoke with the professor during a break in the middle of a class at home. I mean, it's not like people DON'T smoke in Madison, it's just that there's more of a stigma against it, I think. It was kind of a shocker for me when my entire French class, including the professor, went out to smoke during break- and I was the only one left in the room. Interesting.
The actual physical parts of Italy are also so different. The streets in Trastevere (and in most of the streets I've been to in Rome) are still cobblestones from forever ago- which means they can get a little dicey sometimes. I'm glad I didn't bring any heels along with me; I probably would have broken an ankle already. I have a hard enough time in flats.... I took a picture of the cobblestones near the Colosseum, but keep in mind that these are so flat and well-spaced compared to the ones I traverse everyday. It's quite the experience.
The doors are also different....which is kind of random. Our apartment's front door, for example, has a handle on the apartment side of it. Like you would expect.
On the other side, however, there's just a bar. A big, gold bar. And a keyhole.
This lack of doorknob means that you pull the bar to shut the door. Possibly slamming it. Possibly making your neighbors hate you. And you always have to have a key to open it, which I suppose is more secure than American doorknobbed doors, but it's just kind of baffling. What do Italians have against doorknobs??
A final major difference is the lack of a dryer. Our lonely little washer takes about two hours to do a load of laundry.
Yes. Two whole hours. Hopefully that means that it's really efficient and that our clothes are really clean, but judging from the stench of cigarettes and Febreeze still emanating from my newly washed and dried jeans, I'm not so sure. Yikes. But the washer is what it is. At least it's there and we don't have to go elsewhere or pay to do our laundry. The dryer situation is, however, less than ideal. I mean, it just takes time and space, and sometimes I feel like we don't have either one of those! We have three maybe 1.5 x 2.5 feet drying racks for all our clothes. It doesn't always seem like enough....
Yikes! But everything gets dry...eventually. And at least it keeps the laundry from piling up!
So there you have it- a few of my observations regarding the differences between American and Italian culture. I'm sure I'll think of more- and maybe even realize some similarities that I'm currently missing. After all, I've only been here for three weeks! All in all, however, it never ceases to amaze me that I'm actually in Rome! I constantly remind myself that I'm here- and all the beautiful and incredibly old streets of Trastevere definitely help me remember.
Next time I'll be discussing Naples! Lauren, Katherine and I took a brief day trip there last Friday and got wonderful pizza...and saw Mount Vesuvius! Pretty awesome if you ask me. Off to Paris in seven and a half hours- time to get some sleep!
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