What I like about Italia

I know I complain a lot about things here in Italy but as I near the end of my stay I want everyone to know that there are things that I do enjoy about it. I therefore decided to make a list of things I like. Most of them involve food.

Café:
I love the espresso they serve here. I like how it’s expected to drink coffee everyday, at almost any time. I like the different options you can get and how quickly you can have a coffee and leave, step outside and 2 doors down is another bar where you can get another café if you like. Not that I've done that or anything...

Pastries:
Almost as readily available as coffee, for the first time I enjoy eating croissants filled with goodies. Before I usually only liked danishes or donuts. I love the croissants filled with Nutella or with chocolate cream. Also, not sure if this counts as a pastry, but I did try a Cannoli (a fried pastry shell filled with sweet ricotta or chocolate cream), and it was delish. Thanks for the sweet tooth Dad!

Pasta:
Mmmm, pasta. And you can get it in all shapes and forms with different sauces. I like that they put fish in their pastas. You can get pasta al forno which is baked pasta dishes. I tried homemade pasta alla norma made by Danilo’s aunt, which has eggplant and it was really good! I have also had tortelli, tortellini, tortelloni....and of course spaghetti with many different varieties of sauces, like pecorino or alla carbonara. Ok, I need to stop now. Oh, and strange enough, they don't ever, ever ever, ever ever ever combine pasta with bread like we do in the US. They eat it with meat or salad only, or as a sandwich.

“Salads”:
I am still trying to figure out what exactly constitutes as a salad. It doesn’t have to have lettuce to be a salad. They have salads with just tomatoes, mozzarella, and tuna, or just tomatoes, or just lettuce and some kind of meat. They are good though.

Gelato:
How could I forget! The cold weather has made me lose my memory! Since it has turned colder I haven’t really had a gelato, but I do love them. My favorites are chocolate and strawberry, but I did try Kinder and Nutella flavors too and dear GOD!

Fruit:
They have great fruit here because of the Sicilian climate. The peaches are wonderful and could be my favorite, but coming in close second are the oranges. They have a particular type called blood or red oranges that you can only find here. They are incredibly sweet and juicy. Usually in the States it’s always a gamble whether or not the orange you bought will be good. Here they are always good. And the pineapple tastes like pineapple, and the snozberries taste like snozberries.

Parmesan cheese and Prociutto crudo:
Parma could be heaven on earth if the cheese and ham wasn’t so expensive. But seriously, these two items to me are what make Italy so spectacular. The way the ham is sliced so thin must release some kind of toxin that makes my mouth water.

Greetings:
I like how you can say “buon giorno” or “buona sera” to anyone and they will always say it back to you. There is also lunch time when you say “buon pranzo” or “buon appettito” almost as much as you say “Ciao”. At lunch when we are eating in the office, people will stick their heads in the door just to say “buon pranzo” and then just as quickly will leave.

Offerings:
Sometimes they are over polite with their offerings, but all in all I don’t mind it. Italians will always offer you some of their food, a jacket, or help carrying something. They will sit in the back of the car if you want to sit in the front, they will accompany you places if you need help finding something, and they will loan you money if you need it. If someone pays for me I have difficulty paying them back, but not because I don’t have the money to do it, but because they don’t take it. I have resorted to shoving the money in their pockets since they won’t take it half the time. It became frustrating to me at first, but now I found the best way to pay them back is to buy them something as well and then refuse payment. You should see their faces when that happens…

Cell phones:
I love prepaid service! If you don’t use your phone very often it totally works to your benefit. Most of my usage on my phone is through text messages because it’s the best way to clearly communicate with someone. Actual phone calls are a bit more expensive, unless someone calls you, then you are not charged for airtime. It’s kind of nice. So if anyone wants to call me….

Turquoise waters of the Mediterranean:
It’s true, the water is beautiful. Too bad it’s winter now, but it’s still lovely to look at.

Mount Etna:
I love looking at the mountain everyday from the train. I have an even better view from Franco’s office at work. But my favorite thing about Etna is at night when you can see the lava flowing down the side of the mountain and exploding from the top. It’s unreal. I had a great view of it coming back from Roma at night. It’s difficult to fathom that at one time there was so much lava that it came all the way into the city and into the ocean. The mountain is so far away yet so close. Right now the mountain is covered in snow and it's gorgeous. My only qualms with Etna is that when it has heavy volcanic activity the airport closes. But other than that...