Friday, August 24, 2012

Did you say UN LATTE?

Ciao Ciao!

Mi chiamo Camy (Kay-mi). So it's true, I am studying abroad for the semester in Rome through the UCEAP program at U.C Berkeley!! (Go Bears!) Kow Kow is a childhood friend & Isaac is my boyfriend~ and we decided to BLOG about our experience here in Italy. Hopefully you can find it helpful, entertaining and possibly relatable as well?

A little background about me. I am a Psychology major and a Human Rights minor. (Not sure if that says anything about me) I took a semester of Italian in Fall 2012, although after reading this story, you would never guess that I had any exposure to the Italian language.. ever in my life ;)

This is me :)
So Day 1 in Rome. After a very long flight from LAX to Rome with a layover in Toronto, I am starving! Especially because Air Canada told us that they would provide dinner & breakfast. "Breakfast" was a carrot muffin. How disappointing. Isaac got 2 because they had extras. Score!

We get to Rome and I am hungry but also very excited to be in Italy. We've been talking about going to Italy since December of 2011, and it seemed so surreal to finally be here! We found our apartment which is decked out in Ikea furniture.  After we got ourselves situated, we went to find a nice Italian Ristorante nearby!

I ordered a pasta con frutti di mare which is pasta with seafood

Because it is so hot & humid, I am excited to order something to drink. I confidently ask the waiter for "Un Latte Freddo." Kow and Isaac ask me what that is, and I say proudly, "it's the same thing as a latte in America." When the waiter comes back with our drinks, it's not a latte... but it's MILK.

Maybe everyone reading this is thinking "Obviously! Everyone knows that!" Well, I did know that... but I had completely forgotten. I blame the jet lag and the heat. My face is bright red while Kow and Isaac are laughing at the situation. I am trying to play it off as though I meant to order cold milk (even though I don't drink milk) but Isaac tells the waiter "Sorry! We wanted iced coffee"---which confuses the waiter even more. And on top of that, Kow is trying to ask the waiter "which is better" but the waiter thinks she is ordering both meals. It was a hot mess.


Our "latte" that they easily fixed to a "Cafe Latte"
Does anyone know why words have different meanings in America than they do in Italy. For example, latte, or like pepperoni? Pepperoni, what we are familiar to is actually called salami. Makes sense. But in Italy, pepperoni is pizza with bell peppers. Molto interessante.

Okay that's it for me for now!
Grazie~

Camy

3 comments:

  1. That's so great - you have funny and interesting stories from Day UNO!

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  2. very funny and entertaining! thanks for such a great post camy!!

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