Weather

Just last week, I was complaining about how the rain and cool weather was growing tiresome. I whined that I could not meander around the city without getting soaked and that Rome was not supposed to have this climate. However, a week later I am longing for that brisk weather. This proves the old adage, you always want what you can't have. I guess I was idealistically hoping for a pleasurable balance. Sunny days with a a few clouds and a slight breeze. Those perfect days where you can walk around for hours without feeling the least bit uncomfortable because of the gentle wind. Sadly, I think the days of the cozy spring days are long gone.

I am a firm believer that excessive heat is blessed with the ability to drive people insane. People become confrontational, irritable, edgy, and petulant. For years I have witnessed this craziness as a caddy in Philadelphia. On the hot and humid days, generally nice guys complain for hours about slow play, get upset over pretty good shots, and even throw clubs. I truly feel that this primal behavior stems from people tiring of the scorching ball of fire the looms from above in the summer. Without air condition in our apartment or at school, I am scared that I may slip into a state of senility as the summer progresses. I have always had the luxury of air condition at home, so this next month without it may be the biggest culture shock that I will face on this trip.

Food Differences

Growing up in a completely Italian household has made me love pasta, meatballs, sausage, pork, and everything that we think of as Italian food. However, after arriving in Rome I realized fairly quickly that Italian food in Rome is not very similar to the American version. Here, there are no meatballs, I have seen sausage only on a few menus, and there is no such thing as chicken or veal parmesan. In Rome, the typical choices for food is some variation of pasta, pizza with exotic toppings, or a panini. To go along with this, most of the panini stands and shops offer only one type of meat, prosciutto. As a result, before going to Germany I was craving some delicious meat filled platters that I could gorge.

In Germany, we would stop at basically every vendor and restaurant that we saw to partake in some gluttony. All of the food was incredible. The potatoes were crispy. The sausages were tender and moist. It was everything I hope it would be. Not eating enough meat for two weeks as left me craving protein, so Germany was the perfect cure for this. I ate so much schnitzle, sausages, and brats that hopefully it should hold me for at least a couple more weeks. Until then, it is back to my diet of Italian foods.

Jared Penn is my hero

Whilst sitting around bored on a Monday night bored because we have no TV or internet, Brian had a stroke of genius. The other day while walking to get gellatos, we passed by a Bingo parlor not thinking much of it. Brian suggested we go, as we needed something to cure the malaise that we were all experiencing. Myself, Jared, and Brian went to the parlor not knowing what to expect. As we walked down the corridor and stairwell into the main bingo hall, we expected the building to be packed with screaming Italian senior citizens, because everyone knows that screaming seniors and bingo is like Forest Gump and Jenny. However, upon entering the main room that was musky from all of the chain-smokers, we realized that this was pretty serious. After finding our seat in a booth next to two middle-aged Italian women, we were thrilled to learn that single tickets were only one euro, so we were headed for a night of cheap, innocent fun. The Italian man reading the bingo balls rattled off the numbers so quickly, so initially it was hard to find the numbers on our slips. Although I ended up losing close to ten euro for the night, the real champion ended up being Jared. In about his sixth game, Jared won the grand prize and turned his one euro into a whopping 140, which he said would pay for the trip to Paris that he just booked. When his last number was called, we all enthusiastically jumped in the air and screamed bingo, not even caring about the scene we just made. Thankfully, everyone there smiled at us because they knew it just made our night.