A twist on the ideal Roman Holiday
Letters from Abroad
All of a sudden, it was pouring outside, a habit of the random and unpredictable Roman weather I have come to love. It had more or less a dampening effect on the "let's dance" mood of my friends and me. So we decided to cook a big dinner potluck style, with the expectation of having a luxuriously long meal in the spirit of the Italian way.
Though one friend casually mentioned earlier that one of her Italian neighbors offered to take us bowling, I suppose I unconsciously couldn't consider seriously. However, following a dinner filled with delicious home-cooked food, well-chosen wine and lots of laughter (not least because we sang along to "Kiss the Girl" from The Little Mermaid), bowling appeared to be the perfect ridiculous activity to follow the even more ridiculous antics of the night.
I don't know what we were expecting to find when we arrived at this bowling alley. Naturally nothing as lame as an American bowling alley, somehow it had to be cooler and more exciting. Well, what proceeded definitely did not fit with our current picture of Italian suaveness. For instance, one problem that I have noticed here in Italy is that Italians incorrectly use American dance music. If you would play it in a club generally you should avoid playing it in other venues, e.g. a sit-down restaurant, the metro, a bowling alley. I really don't understand it, but Italians can hear Chris Brown, Sean Paul and 50 Cent, and just stand there. It somehow acts as their background music. This bowling alley was playing better music than in most American clubs and NO ONE WAS DANCING.
Naturally we Americans roll in, and something comes over us. We dance in place, trying not to look too awkward around all of the nonchalant Italians. But I mean how could we help ourselves?
Italians seem to have an issue with having an obvious, unstoppable and uncontrollable sort of fun that we Americans, it appears, are used to. Where we laugh and giggle, dance to music that forces itself on us and through us, joke in a sometimes cheesy way, Italians are always coy, sophisticated and classy.
Though one friend casually mentioned earlier that one of her Italian neighbors offered to take us bowling, I suppose I unconsciously couldn't consider seriously. However, following a dinner filled with delicious home-cooked food, well-chosen wine and lots of laughter (not least because we sang along to "Kiss the Girl" from The Little Mermaid), bowling appeared to be the perfect ridiculous activity to follow the even more ridiculous antics of the night.
I don't know what we were expecting to find when we arrived at this bowling alley. Naturally nothing as lame as an American bowling alley, somehow it had to be cooler and more exciting. Well, what proceeded definitely did not fit with our current picture of Italian suaveness. For instance, one problem that I have noticed here in Italy is that Italians incorrectly use American dance music. If you would play it in a club generally you should avoid playing it in other venues, e.g. a sit-down restaurant, the metro, a bowling alley. I really don't understand it, but Italians can hear Chris Brown, Sean Paul and 50 Cent, and just stand there. It somehow acts as their background music. This bowling alley was playing better music than in most American clubs and NO ONE WAS DANCING.
Naturally we Americans roll in, and something comes over us. We dance in place, trying not to look too awkward around all of the nonchalant Italians. But I mean how could we help ourselves?
Italians seem to have an issue with having an obvious, unstoppable and uncontrollable sort of fun that we Americans, it appears, are used to. Where we laugh and giggle, dance to music that forces itself on us and through us, joke in a sometimes cheesy way, Italians are always coy, sophisticated and classy.
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