*Items to Declare (Italy)*

01Apr08


I have loved my time in Italy so much, that I think I’m going to stay as an illegal alien…April Fools.

While I have enjoyed the weather, scenery, and history of northern Italy, I must say that there have been several circumstances that have made it kind of hard to want to come back.

From my understanding, the idea of “machismo” came from this part of the world. I don’t know if that makes for a “purer” form of it or what, but men, aged 15-30, in this country (and I’m making a broad generalization based upon a week of observation here) take it a bit too far for my taste. I might be walking down the street, minding my own business when I spot a fella eye me from the other side of the street. Making a B-line in my direction, he is suddenly taking up the path that I am walking and I have to move to let him by. I would chalk this up to one guy being a jerk, if it hadn’t happen 5 (maybe 6) times in the six days I’ve been here (three times in one day at one point). On top of my experiences, I have heard several stories of the young women of our group being harassed unwelcomingly. On top of all this, there were the two cops on bicycles, one man – one woman, who rode past us while we were all walking as a group. The guy-cop started making suggestive verbalism to one of the more dressed up women in our group. Imagine that, a bike-cop, the least hubris-inducing career in the world, professing his manliness in front of a partner whom he would presumably have to count on to save his life.

Other than my run-ins with that nonsense, I did enjoy my time in Verona. Touristy to an extent, but the local people can still live and work here…a very walkable city.



Next up: Vienna for two days, then on to Prague…I’m only about a month until I’m back on United State’s Soil.