Similar to Memorial Day at home, folks will bring flowers and decorate the graves of the departed. I hope the weather clears up a bit for them to do this...it's raining and gross right now.
Since I brought you my five favorite things about living in Italy, I have to counter that with my five LEAST favorite things about living in Italy. Some of these may surprise you, but we've come to the conclusion that among European countries, Italy is a nice place to visit, but maybe not a nice place to live.
My Five Least Favorite Things About Living In Italy
1. The Food- I know I'm probably crushing a lot of dreams with this one, but Italian food is NOT American Italian Food. There is no Olive Garden, chicken parm and Italian salad dressing don't exist and cheesy garlic bread is hard to find. Sure, they've got pizza and pasta, but they're definitely not the American kind. The other problem is that every restaurant here has a sign that reads "specialita pesce". Not sure how ALL the restaurants can specialize in fish, but that spells disaster for us- the only 2 New Englanders who don't eat seafood. Seafood is EVERYWHERE....in the pasta, on the pizza, mixed with risotto. (If you see my brother any time soon, ask him about his prawns experience!) Our town had a little festival a few weeks ago to celebrate bacala- salted cod- yuck! Another problem with the food here is that it's a lot of the same stuff. Sure, Italian food is nice on your two-week vacation, but when it's really the ONLY food you can eat out, it gets old. In England, Germany and Austria, there are Mexican restaurants, steak houses, burger joints and Asian eateries. Not here. As someone who grew up in the home of Dunkies, I'm used to being able to stop and grab breakfast on the go. Not in Italy. If you want a coffee (espresso or cappuccino), you have to stand at the counter of the restaurant and drink it. No to-go cup, no travel mugs. I'm also not a huge fan of the first course, second course thing. I don't want a slab of meat on a plate with nothing else. Some restaurants take their courses so seriously here that they watch your plate and wait until you are completely finished to bring out the next item (I almost complained one time this happened because I thought they forgot my food). And one final knock on Italian food...I can't count how many times I've ordered a meal and when it comes out, I'm honestly surprised by what's on the plate. It's a gamble every time. So when you see us visiting in the States, PLEASE don't offer us any Italian food.
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| This is German food. We LOVE German food! |
**Redemption points: I do love a few things about Italian food- #1. It's a thousand times healthier than American food. Fresh fruit and vegges are everywhere. #2. Having to eat GF is surprisingly not that difficult in Italy because most of the food is natural and fresh (not breaded and fried) #3. I love European french fries.
2. The Driving- As mentioned in a previous post, Italians love to bike. They do this because it's SO expensive to drive. I've heard that Italians can't get their licenses until they are 21 and that it costs a few thousand Euro to do so. Now add really expensive gas (right now it's 1.36 Euro per liter) and really expensive highway tolls and you'll see why Italians ride bikes. The toll thing is crazy. All Italian highways (autostradas) are toll roads- and not just the $3 it costs to come over the Tobin Bridge. Driving from here to the Austrian border (2 hrs) will cost close to 20 Euro. Driving from here to Rome...people have told us... is close to 50 Euro (one way!). Europe is toll happy. Austria is the biggest rip off (think Delaware on steroids) to drive through. In addition, Austria, Slovenia and Switzerland require you to purchase a car decal for a certain price to drive through. And add no tolls and decals required to drive on the autobahn to the reasons why I love Germany. Parking costs a lot everywhere (and the spaces are so small I sweat every time I pull into and out of them). We're also insuring three cars here at the moment, which is murderously expensive. I'm very protective of my Honda and she's expensive to drive in Italy. Italians love rotaries and it's rare to hit a traffic light. I still remember being 16 and crying hysterically as I drove through the Cape Cod rotary, getting beeped at and trying desperately not to get rear ended, so I'm well prepared here. Moral of the story- all you at home, stop complaining about toll prices on the Pike and gas prices rising around the holidays. You can complain about crazy drivers because I'm pretty sure folks in Massachusetts are far worse than Italians.
**Redemption point: Europeans have nice cars. (Heck, we even have a BMW here!) They all drive Audis, Mercedes, Volvos and really cool Ford models that aren't made in the States. They are also all standards, which I'm slowly learning to appreciate.
3. The Language- Obviously Italians speak Italian. I do not. This has created a problem. I realize I'm a guest in this country and I need to learn their language and customs, but it's hard and frustrating. In other European countries we've been to, they all speak English! Germans speak better English than we do! We went on a tour in Slovenia and they spoke 83298 languages, including English! In Austria, we had a Croatian server at a restaurant who spoke English and asked us about the greatest Celtics player of all time (Dino Radja). Our Italian friends can't seem to jump on the English train. They're the only country in the EU to speak Italian exclusively and yet they don't really attempt to speak anything else (except up north where they speak German). Some of them speak English, but not many, especially not in our little town. I'm honestly trying. I took beginner Italian class this summer. I try to make the few Italians I know speak around me so that I can learn. I listen to Italian radio stations to perfect my listening. I go to Italian mass and practice my responses. (I'm really good at Pace, Rendiamo grazie a Dio and Amen.) Unfortunately, it's not really working. My six years of Spanish have given me a remedial understanding of Romance languages, but Italian is different from Spanish in a few key ways. Try as I might, I just can't pronounce anything that begins with a C. I frequently use Spanish words inappropriately for Italian- like the few months when I told my girl Elenora (the cashier at the local supermarket) that "No grazie, no bolsa" (No thank you, no bag (because you have to pay for bags at the supermarket)), I was saying bolsa- bag in Spanish instead of borsa- bag in Italian. Oops. One time when ordering ice cream, Brenden asked for (what he thought was) two scoops. He actually asked for two bedspreads. We're trying.
**Redemption Point- not sure there is one here. I will never be mad at people in the US not speaking English though. I feel their pain. Also, when a European says "I don't speak much English," it's a lie. They're probably fluent. Their concept of "a little English" is MUCH different than our concept of "a little Italian".
4. The Culture- Some people would be good at living as an Italian (my mother). Some people are not (me). Living in Italy is like living in another time. Things are slow and old fashioned here. As mentioned, everything is closed on Sundays. Stores have crazy short hours. And then there is the reposo. Similar to the siesta, the reposo is alive and well at many key places- supermarkets, gas stations and restaurants. It's impossible to get things done between 12:30 and 4 pm on a weekday. You cannot go to a restaurant between 3 and 7pm and try to get a late lunch or early dinner. Supermarkets close for the day at 1:30 on Wednesday and Saturday. Again, this sounds all well and good, but it's SO frustrating. It doesn't help that we function in an American world on an American schedule here because of our jobs. I've never had to plan as much for shopping and getting gas in my car as I have here. When you're used to 24-hour Super Wal-Marts, these selected hours will drive you insane. Things are also closed on holidays, on days workers feel like going on strike and for most of the month of August. As I said...Italy is nice to visit...not to live.
Italy is also an old country...as in it makes Florida's population look young. I recently read a statistic that Italy is closing in on Japan to have the oldest population (in age) on the planet. I honestly believe it. I feel like an infant here. Old people are everywhere and they run the country. I've heard Italy is not really a progressive country compared to others in Europe and I think I know why.
**Redemption Points: The family focus is nice (except when you have limited family here!) and their value of vacation/holidays is refreshing.
5. The Weather- In yesterday's post, I talked about how the fall weather is similar to home and how I like it. I also talked about the unbearable heat...which I don't like. It's a well-known fact that I don't operate well in temperatures over 75 degrees. This past Italian summer was HOT. By hot, I mean well into the 90s for most of June, July and August. Let me point out that Italians do not like to be cold. They do not like air conditioning, which made for a very long, hot summer. (Fortunately, we have air conditioning on our place, but most places don't.) Air quality is another issue here that only gets better in the summer when it rains (which it doesn't do a lot). Since we're surrounded by mountains, the smoggy city air gets trapped and summer days were permanently hazy. One of the first days I got here, I tried going for a run and thought my chest was going to explode. I hate the haze and the heat. August is a miserable month here-it is so hot and all the popular vacation places (mountains, beaches, etc) are packed because all of Italy is off. Another thing that irks me about the weather (and this is a shot at the US) is temperatures in Celsius. When I hear that it's 15 degrees out, I think freezing cold. When I hear it rained 20 millimeters, I'm not sure if that's a lot or not. Seriously, when did the US do us a favor of NOT using the system the rest of the world does?!?! (This is also true for dates and time). Not only are we dumb Americans for only speaking English, we don't have any knowledge of the metric system. Even Canada does it...why can't we?!
**Redemption point: We live less than two hours from skiing....and there is already snow on the mountains!
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| Almost ready for skiing! |
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