So we have thus far spent a week in Rome, and one full day in Palermo, and am currently watching Futurama in Italian in my Palermo Hotel, while typing this blog in Microsoft Word, due to me not wanting to pay the €3 an HOUR (yes, hour) for internet.  Before I go into the city of Palermo, I thought I would write a little on my adventures thus far, from just an observational perspective of the people. (By the way, I just saw a commercial for Toy Story 3. HYSTERICAL!)

Rome was interesting, and kind of like a cleaner and smaller version of New York.  The subway, or “metro,” stops at 11:30.  The sirens for ambulances and police cars are different—much more annoying.  The drivers confuse me:  they stop for pedestrians.  When there’s no light, its hard to know if you should cross, because one keeps thinking the drivers will keep going, but then they don’t, and its all very strange to me.  Very different from the Sicilian drivers I’ve seen thus far.  Thus far, though again, only a day in Sicily, some of the motorcyclists and vespa drivers here are… creative…

The fruit here is delicious!  (I promised myself I wouldn’t go back to food, but I can’t help it!).  If it’s healthy, its reletivily inexpensive.  Its nice to see that a salad isn’t as expensive as a full on meat dish (honestly, it shouldn’t be.  It makes sense!)  My breakfast for most of my time in Rome was fruit I bought from the local grocery store.  It was inexpensive so I could buy a significant amount.  I’ll probably do the same for the Uruguay/Netherland game tonight (GO NETHERLANDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!)  (By the way, I think that show where the mermaid wants to be human (not “The Little Mermaid,” its live action) came on.  I HATE live actions dubbs… It looks so weird!)

Speaking of the games, its very interesting to see soccer here, regardless of Italy being knocked out of the cup so early.  They are still watching and finding their own sides to take.  Watching parts of the Ghana/Uruguay game in a Piazza Friday night was AWESOME!  Apparently, Romans were crazy for Ghana.  Later, speaking to some Italian fellows (they spoke English pretty well; most in Rome do), for the next game, people were split between Argentina and Germany.  Leading up to that disappointing game that may or may not have put a lump in my throat near the end (why Argentina….. WHY?!) (By the way, commercial for Gatorade that started with Track (Usain Bolt for that part) street soccer, and beach volley ball.  My life is a little more complete. Yay soccer and track!)

Anyways, there are A LOT of Germans visiting Rome (I’ve heard they come here for vacation, but, I still didn’t expect to hear German that much).  Also, for the Spain/Portugal game, a bunch of us went to the FIFA event near the Piazza di Popolo (big field, big screen), and if I didn’t know any better I would have thought we were in Spain.  Thank god I was with them—cheering for Portugal would have been a HUGE mistake (Sorry Ronaldo, maybe next time (NOT)).  I can’t wait for the Final in Siracusa, or even the next semifinal game tomorrow night! (Palermo isn’t really safe at night, so much so that our professors are actually just short of making it mandatory to stay in the hotel after dark, so I have to watch the game in my room tonight.)

Palermo is actually a tad surprising.  It looks a lot more run down then I would have thought.  It kind of reminds me of a poorer part of Brooklyn or Queens, at least compared to Rome (not too bad, but the streets are smaller and more crowded, the houses are a little more run down, and the driving, like I said, is a little more creative.  Also, the food thus far is less expensive. (Ok, so this show just had a pretty cool music number, but then it got really cheesy and the guy’s running after the girl who’s a mermaid saying he loves her…. Its weird besides being a dub… now they’re making out: WHO GETS TO MAKE OUT WITH A MERMAID?! )

Speaking of music, ALMOST ALL MUSIC IS AMERICAN!  I, for the most part, don’t like what ends up coming on to American Radio stations, and I can’t escape it.  I’m actually a tad annoyed when I walk up to the nice vendor and the sun is shining and the air is beautiful and I can see the gorgeous Sicilian landscape as far as the eye can see, and Ke$ha comes on (by the way, more than one mermaid?! Does anyone know this show? What IS this?)

Finally, one last food section, along with people.  The people we’ve spoken to in Palermo today were extremely friendly (and not just people trying to sell us stuff, but even then, in Rome some of vendors were creepy and/or not so desirable).  The food that we’ve had thus far, in my opinion, is superior! NOM NOM NOM is what I have to say.  Last night we had a HUGE dinner at the hotel we’re staying at, and all of it was just so good! Waiters walked around with trays for every course and just spooned food onto our plate (all of which was delicious!) and they just piled it on.

During dessert, we had this strawberry ice cream cake type thing (it was so good! The gelato-y part was incredible!) but THEN we saw that they brought out a chocolate one, and we were slightly upset (shown by my exclamation “ARE YOU KIDDING ME THERE’S CHOCOLATE?! I WANTED THE CHOCOLATE!”… I know, subtle (actually the waiter didn’t hear me, I just made a few people at my table laugh) When the waiter came to give the last person his dessert, we kind of just stared and mentally drooled, so the waiter just gave us chocolate ones on the spot!  Our waiter was also really funny and friendly, more so then anyone in Rome.  In fact, they all were.  A couple of the girls think they may have been flirty by nature because they were so nice (which would be weird cause they’re all middle age and we’re just a TAD younger), but to be honest they were just being nice.  The same during breakfast too (where they didn’t have to do a THING because it was continental, but they still came over and helped everyone with the coffee machines and stuff.  Even in really nice American hotels, I’ve never seen that.  Its usually just a mob of people and food)  Also, the Nutella filled croissant was AMAZING! (I want them at home.  Someone find a recipe for it NOW!…. Dad, Ariana, etc, why are you waiting, GO!!!!!).

I also find it hysterical that since we came to Sicily, if I wear the right clothes, I blend.  Like, blend.  I was wearing nice tan sandals, a black and white checkered skirt from just below the waist to the knees, and a plain but nice white short sleeved shirt (for those of you concerned, no, it wasn’t a tee-shirt).  Also my hair was down.  Yes, about my hair—For those of you who keep saying it makes me look Jewish, there must be a TON of Jews here if that is the case.  I’m pretty sure I saw a couple of possible doppelgangers today, and a few people started speaking in Italian or Sicilian on the spot, and didn’t realize till I opened my mouth that maybe they should speak English (which they did on the spot as best they could, even though I probably didn’t need it for basic things (Unless it was Sicilian, something that didn’t really get passed on)).  I found it most humorous.

By the way, the majority of the day out today was fun, and I got Sicilian playing cards (FINALLY!) and an Italia shirt (VP of Italian-American Club and I lost my one Italian shirt.  Thank god I finally found something inexpensive!)

Also, quick note, the beaches are BEAUTIFUL! But swimming in this water is apparently like swimming in the Hudson.  Hopefully we’ll have something before we leave Sicily.

Well, that’s it.  I must prepare to go into Palermo so I can go back before dark.

Peace, love, and midnight pool jumping (I won’t explain it, I will just say that I did not participate.  I just laughed when I heard about it).

-E.M.M.