Viaggio in Italia

I'm in Naples now, at last, and I'll be here for the next 10 weeks as an intern in public affairs at the US consulate. My last few weeks in Bologna were pretty stressful as I had oral exams and papers spread out over about a three week period. The oral exams were all super stressful experiences. Partially because of the nature of the whole system, partially because I didn't do enough studying during the semester to prepare for them. And at the same time, all of my friends finished earlier than I did and I wanted to do stuff with them and enjoy my last time in Bologna, which made my exam stress feel even worse. In the end, though, I survived, and I didn't do too badly. By the end I felt kind of sad to leave Bologna but I also couldn't wait to be done with the stress and away from the academics.

So after having my last exam on Tuesday and packing frantically on Wednesday (as well as hitting up all of my favorite gelato places, by the end of which I felt slightly gelato-ed out), I got to Naples on Thursday. I was a little nervous because I'd never sent the deposit for my apartment like I was supposed to and I'd never set up an arrangement with the landlady to get keys or anything, so I didn't know what was going to happen. It turned out the consulate had sent someone to pick me up at the airport, which was unexpected, and they wanted to take me to my apartment to drop off my luggage and then go straight into the consulate. Well, thank god we managed to find the apartment and that my roommates were there to let me in.

I thought I might just go in to say hi and fill out some paperwork, but no, I was expected to stay there for work and to meet everyone, including having a one-on-one meeting with the consul general. Luckily I'd decided to take a shower that morning despite having to wake up after just three hours of sleep. Still, though, I felt incredibly scruffy and exhausted. I was wearing my converse sneakers and a stained t-shirt and my hair was all a disaster, and I had to go around and meet all of these people in suits. I didn't even have a purse on me, all I'd grabbed from my backpack was my wallet and cell phone, and I had to give up my cell phone at the entrance as it wasn't cleared for security. Anyway, I was a mess. I got gently reminded by the consul general's secretary that dress was formal, by the way, and especially for public affairs where we have to interact with the public. thankfully the consul general turned out to be a brown alum which i think made him a little forgiving with me than he otherwise might have been.

and then my supervisor wasn't there because she'd gone to rome for the day and no one really knew what to do with me. i ended up going to a three-hour-long cpr course so now I guess I'm cpr certified. And when I got out for the day I had no idea how to find my way back to my apartment. The funny thing was I managed to figure out the public transportation to get back to the piazza my apartment is near just fine. And then, knowing I was within two blocks of my apartment, I couldn't remember how to get to the building so I wandered around in circles for like an hour. And eventually spent 20 euros calling my mom, and then my brother, having them google maps it and try to explain to me how to get there. I'd even tried to ask people on the streets and no one knew where it was. There are so many little streets and they all change names every block, so even within the neighborhood people couldn't tell me how to get there.

Anyway, I made it in the end. I finally got the chance to properly meet my roommates, who were incredibly nice and incredibly curious about me. There are three of them, all from different small towns in this region, Campania. One's 26 and a pharmacist and the other two are pharmacy students, I think maybe 24.

After I did some unpacking they went out and brought me back a pizza and sat down to watch me and interrogate me while I ate it. By the way, best pizza I've ever had. The first things they asked me, after the usual where I was from and how old I was and what I studied, were whether I had a boyfriend and what I eat for breakfast. Italians are fascinated by the concept of American breakfast, which is always entertaining. I told them we don't eat eggs and bacon and everything except for maybe on weekends, but they said when their american relatives came over they asked for the big american breakfast.

(By the way, although neither of them have been to the US, they both have american relatives. Most americans of Italian origin come from this region, and I've talked to tons of people who've said their family's from Campania, even though they've never been there or never met their relatives who are still there. It's interesting now to meet Italians here who have American relatives they've never met or never visited in the States.)

Anyway, they were entertaining girls. The other thing they asked me was who was that guy I was with earlier when I came to drop off my bags. They tried to bring it up casually but it was pretty clear they'd been trying to analyze it all day. They were kind of disappointed when I said I'd just met him and didn't know anything about him aside from the fact that he's italian and he works for the consulate. i said i thought he might be gay and they were horrified and insisted it couldn't be true.

Right away they told me the same thing every southerner I've ever met has told me: since we're from the south, we're way friendlier than those northerners and we'll always be here for you and we'll get you anything you need. And we'll cook for you. Also, if we get along, they said, we're definitely coming to visit you in the states.

And the next thing: we prefer it if we all hang out together so we expect you to come out with us to bars and clubs and whatnot. And, once they found out I didn't have a boyfriend: we have lots of guy friends you can meet and they're from all over italy and they're all carabinieri. and they have cars and can drive you places. (Carabinieri are like police except that in italy they have different types of police, so carabinieri are basically the government police and the most high-prestige types. they're also the coolest ones because they get to wear berets and carry around machine guns. they're the ones who guard the consulate, for example.)

So I think it'll be fun to get to know these girls a little bit while I'm here. all of the italians i got to know in bologna were guys, since the reality was that guys were a lot easier to meet... anyway, it'll be interesting to get to know some italian girls for once.

The consulate should be interesting too. My second day I wore one of my new suits and felt a whole lot more comfortable, though I was still exhausted. I met my boss, who's really nice. she's an american woman married to an italian. she seems like she's really into getting me involved in a ton of different stuff and including me in everything she's doing. I left the house at 6:30 am and got back at midnight, after the head of the poli/econ section had us interns over for dinner at his house. I ran around all day, too, at a staff meeting and lunch with the consul general and a town hall meeting with some u.s. navy reps over the trash problem, and a trip over to the university with a guest speaker, and then dinner. i didn't even get a chance to run back to my office to get all my papers, all the tons of materials they'd given me to read over, so I guess I won't be able to do any of that over the weekend.

Even this weekend there's more to do. There's a protest tonight against the mafia (called the camorra here) and their connection to the trash problem. Tomorrow, Sunday, there's a marathon that has two parts, in Naples and in New York, that we have to make an appearance at. Then next week president bush is coming to rome so i might be able to go up there for the day and see him, or at least see the accompanying frenzy.

I think I'll end up being glad I chose public affairs instead of another section. The interns in some of the other sections get to deal more with real political issues -- like the trash problem, and the camorra -- but they mostly sit in front of computers all day. i think i'll be getting out of the office quite a bit, both to different events around naples and hopefully on little day trips outside the city -- and i should be able to use my italian. One thing I appreciate about Italians is that even when they speak english, they're always pretty excited about meeting americans who speak italian and they're usually happy to speak italian instead.

Naples, by the way, is more beautiful than I ever imagined it. It's huge compared to Bologna, so much more lively and complex, and so much more stunning. there's a lot of trees and greenery and of course the water and gigantic mount vesuvius looming over everything. it's an odd atmosphere, because while naples is more extreme in its italianness than bologna in every way -- crazier driving, more corrupt government and police, more loud and friendly and rowdy people, more ridiculously eurotrash style -- there's also a palpable american presence here. there are many u.s. navy bases and many navy families. apparently on the main base they've recreated a mini-america - they even have an applebee's. and of course the consulate is quite the imposing presence, a massive white building on the water, its own little compound, surrounded by carabinieri with machine guns. its hard to describe really, but you feel the american-ness here. mostly alongside, rather than mixed in with, the italian-ness, which is a strange dynamic. like there are pockets of america within this very italian city.

oh, for example, i met two american-italians so far and was shocked both times because i've never met any before. the driver who drove me from the airport was speaking italian with giampaolo in a neapolitan accent and i assumed since he didn't say anything to me that he didnt speak english, although i was struck when i first saw him by how american he looked. and then after a while he said something to me in english in a perfectly native american accent, and i was totally surprised. turns out his father's american and his mother's italian. its a perfectly normal thing, just that i've never met someone who was a natively bilingual speaker of english and italian before and it's pretty neat.

people have a lot of complaints about naples, even the ones who love it. americans and italians. same goes for the state department, really - that is, even the people who love working there have a lot of complaints about it. no matter how i end up feeling about them both, i'm pretty sure it's going to be fascinating here.