“Italy”. What comes up in your mind when you hear about the
place? Great food - pizza, pasta, gelato, tiramisu; beautiful & romantic
sceneries – Venice, Rome, Florence, Napoli, Capri. Hmm… all the wonderful
memories are coming to mind now.
I had a chance to stay a year in Italy and I was more in
love with the place than I was before. Although I live in a place where it is
alive for 24-7, where I can have hot meals at 2 am at a restaurant, stepped in
to buy some groceries or medicine late at night, late cinema, pretty much a lot
of things. As if people doesn’t sleep here. What a culture shock when I arrived
there, everything only opens right after 10am, then a 3-hour lunch break, on
Monday they will only work after lunch (right after the 3-hour lunch of
course), and on Wednesday all supermarkets are closed after lunch, and of
course on Sunday nothing ever opens ever (I said ever twice).
It was like night
and day to me, back in my country people are workaholic and everything is
centered around their work. Well, I began to adjust to it or at least I forced
myself to adjust. The first month I was there a lot of university matters,
permit, bank accounts, paper work, and other official related work were
delayed because I was so used to my time, I thought they will always be
available. But all my important tasks got dragged for some time, simply because of the long lunch hours, they don’t work on certain days, some transactions are
only done on certain days… I know, crazy right!! At least to me it was. But then, since they just like to take it easy, and chit chat a lot among themselves at
the counters while entertaining customers, take another 15 minutes to staple
and restaple documents, tell you to come back next week since it is already
lunch hour… in the midst of it all, I learn to just relax and breath.
Apart from all that, there's a lot to love about Italy. I love a quiet stroll around the town,
randomly stopped for “un cappuccino” and just take many-short sips. During the
summer, I loved their gelato (well, not entirely true because I seemed to have
it every other seasons as well), their farmers market with all the fresh juicy
apples. Ahh.. memories. It was really beautiful, and grateful to Allah for such
a wonderful experience.
I was sad that I didn't get to visit more places in Italy
because of my study schedule. But any short trips that I could get on, I made
sure I go. But definitely, hope to come back and visit more places and immerse
in the culture. By now, my ability to speak in Italian is degrading and the
vocabs that I have got so familiar to is escaping my mind. I better get there
soon, before I forget it all.
