Post date: May 01, 2014 11:15:45 PM
Week 2: Day 2
This morning on my way to school, I was walking behind a smoker. Smoking is a big part of Italian culture. Unlike in America, kids can buy cigarettes at a young age. On any given day in the city you will see a group of 15 year olds chain smoking on a street corner. You will also see old men slowly meandering down the street with wooden pipes. While the majority of people are smoking tobacco, some are using electronic tobacco pens which releases zero smoke. While in America, smoking is viewed as a bad habit, in Italy smoking is a part of the culture like a glass of wine with your dinner.
After class and lunch today, I went shopping with a few friends. We went down the main street, Via Settembre XX. Unlike the majority of boutiques hidden down the small alleys of the city, this street had main stream brands and stores. Along with an H&M and Brandy Melville was an Italian store called Coin. What hit my most was how similar the Italian stores are to the stores at home. While I was expecting some big cultural difference or revelation, I found none. Other than the Italian and euros, the stores were exactly the same.
For dinner we had what we call “nun dinner”. For nun dinner we eat food made by the nuns cook at the school section of the Marcelline. Sitting at long white table across from the nuns, we look like a skewed version of the last supper. Tonight they made us pesto veggie soup and lasagna. Sitting together eating soup with the rain pouring outside, we had become a mini genovese family. Everyone was finally becoming adjusted to the city and to each other. Nun Dinner was one of the best meals I’ve had so far in Italy!