Theres no place like home...for a good cheeseburger

I find it rather amusing that the new semester of blogging should start now, because despite the fact that I write the Ventures ABROAD blog, I’m about to briefly repatriate.

Maybe some of you have gone through these struggles while studying abroad, but Holy Fruitfly do I want a cheeseburger. Not just any cheeseburger though- I want a cheeseburger from this pub in my town called Blackthorn. And while I’m there, I would really appreciate a plate of wings- as, Blackthorn has, in my very qualified and professional opinion, the best wings on Long Island. Plus, for those on the South Shore of Nassau county, they make a corned beef and cabbage egg roll- that although sounds very unappetizing from afar, I can assure you is the greatest thing to happen to food since the slicing of bread (really, thumbs up to whoever decided to come up with that one).

See, this is my problem! The date grows ever nearer and I find myself thinking about certain things I know I can never find here. Like a good cheeseburger…maybe even one from the Tombs in Georgetown (which, fyi, brings me back to an old college tradition I had with my roommates where on Thursdays we’d go to the Tombs for burgers and beers. Just three GW students infiltrating Georgetown territory. This would be replaced post Graduation with Thorny Thursdays, where Thursday I’d dine with my friend Sam at the Blackthorn in our town, but enough about food).

As another part of my preparation for my impending trip, I felt it necessary to check Air France’s website for the inflight entertainment- which lets me know if I’m going to be I-pod dependent for the entire trip or just little bits of it. I was very happy to see The Other Boleyn Girl as part of the selection (I’m a HUGE Phillipa Gregory fan), as Milan, oddly enough for a major European city, has very few original language movie theaters and that wasn’t something I was willing to see dubbed.

I also think it’s a good opportunity to brush up on my French- for the flight. Of course, my French is limited to what I’ve learned from Eddie Izzard, essentially very useful phrases like “the Monkey is on the branch. The cat is on the chair”, so unless the plane has a tree, a monkey and a cat in addition to the normal seating, I’m probably going to come of certifiably insane- which of course, I’m okay with.

Anyway, here we go on a new season of blogging. Send me some questions and we’ll start a nice round table discussion of Insurance, Europe, Italy, AC Roma- whatever you’d like!

1° Maggio, work, play and party

This past weekend, Italy celebrated the first of May, which is Italian labor day- and as with most long weekends, Milan emptied out as if mandatory.

I went to Rome, because, as in previous posts, I can’t get enough of that city. Despite having lived there for a collective 2 years, which should arguably be enough to satisfy my dream- I find myself on that same after work Eurostar from Milano Centrale to Roma Termini every few weeks (which reminds me, I should sign up for the Trenitalia frequent “flyer” miles …I keep forgetting). I couldn’t not go down- as my friends in Rome reminded me Wednesday night on Messenger prompting me to buy a ticket for first thing Thursday morning.

Anyway, I got to Rome just in time for the last million hours of the May 1st free concert at San Paolo which was fun although a bit crowded with an estimated 700,000 people crammed into a piazza. However, the event also had a big political aspect to it, every once and a while having speakers come in and talk about the right Italians have to a secure job and on-site mobbing (what in Insurance can be covered with an Employment Practices Liability policy, it should be said that the company I work for is the only one to offer said coverage in the Italian market right now).

Now, what bothers me about this event, is that, like most mass gatherings of college age students here, there was a strong communist presence involving lots of flag waving. This bothers me on a few levels (and I will explain why leaving my personal politics out of it, although my personal opinions are clearly right), which I will break down as follows:

Communists in general: I don’t think I’ve ever seen one communist who was, lets just say, 45 and worked in a bank. Why is it that people who are generally “against the man” are usually people who have never actually tried to work WITH the man? I’m sure its lovely to be a communist when you’re 28, still the Italian equivalent of a college sophomore and have never paid taxes. Sure you want everyone to be on equal footing- but these are the people who once they get into the real world- start complaining about how high their taxes are because we have to financially support a universal health system that incorporates even the Roma Gypsies who live in tents outside of Tiburtina station (fyi- there are about 80 camps in Rome alone).

Communists, I can assume, are not well versed in history: I have spoken to many people, who I would consider smart and well educated, here in Italy and they all agree on one overwhelming point. Italy, and Europe at large, owes an ENORMOUS debt of thanks to the United States of America (I write out for emphasis) for the Marshall Plan. For those of you scratching your heads, the Marshall plan was an economic recovery program in Post-World War II Europe that essentially helped everyone recoup beyond pre war levels while simultaneously preventing the spread of communism. (Who said that History major would never come in handy??) Essentially this is how Europe enjoys freedom today. Additionally, I can assume that none of these Italian communists have ever noticed that the sustainability of a communist government is dependent on repression of freedoms they claim to be seeking and that communist governments tend to fall after things like bloody revolutions (Think Monty Python: “Come and see the violence inherit in the system- Help, Help I’m being oppressed!).

Recent Election Results: Based on the recent election results, in which Berlusconi (a great ally to the US) won quite easily, it is fair to say a good part of those flag waving communists actually voted for the Right.

So, in summary, 19 year old Italian communists bother me.

Thank you.