Post date: May 01, 2014 11:27:43 PM
Week 4: Day 2
This morning on our way to school, we passed by a man on a vespa with his son. The boy was about seven years old, had no helmet, and was holding on for dear life as his father zoomed his vespa in and out of traffic. Next to him, in a tiny truck were three grown adult men squished together like sardines. While this is a common sight, it always shocks me. In general, Italian traffic is crazy. People weaving their cars and motorcycles around one anothers, yelling at eachother, and barely escaping accidents. The worst had to have been when a bus I was in knocked over a woman on a bike. Buses in general stop within inches of whatever vehicle is in front of them. This woman, seeing the bus creeping up behind her, tried to maneuver out of the way, and in doing so fell. Shocked and scared, she pulled herself and her bike out of the way of traffic as fast as she could. Whether the bus driver saw her or not I am unsure, but for us on the bus, it was scary.
After class today we decided to walk down a side street to Brignole to take the bus. Going down Via Septembre, we turned at Via San Vincenzo. This smaller street had no cars and was filled with people, food, and stores. Along the way we saw many cafe’s, focacceria’s and gelateria’s. At one cafe we stopped to go to the bathroom. The place was quirky with framed pictures on the walls and colorful furniture. To get to the bathroom we had to go down a small, thin, and metal spiral staircase. Farther down the street, we stopped at a focacceria and pastry shop. Inside it was all dark wood with gold finish and glass windows.
That night, when we were hanging out and watching a movie, we heard something outside. The sound of drums was echoing up the hill. Where the drums were or why they were playing them so late we had no idea, but it was very erie, as if we were waiting to go into battle. After we all went outside to figure out what was going on, there was a big boom and a flash of light. Someone was setting off fireworks at Corso Italia! We all went up to the roof and watched the fireworks over the water.