Parla(speak) Italiano?

Today, my Malaysian buddies and I were walking to the student canteen to grab lunch. Very cheap food and hot girls and guys horde the area.

I promised myself I'd make an entry on the student canteen one day.

Sneak peek of more to come

 They call the student canteen here mensa. Literal translation for canteen. Not the High IQ international society that would come to mind first or also be the first thing to pop up when googled.

If you still don't know what mensa does, they love quizzing themselves with more-than-the-average-person-would-know things. There is a lot of satisfaction in figuring out their quizzes. Such as one below.

Find three non-US cities in these sentences:

“Steven, I centered the whole trip on your wishes.

It is base logic to blame me.”

“The Second World War saw much destruction.”

The answers are Venice in Italy, Basel in Switzerland, and Warsaw in Poland. If you've never heard of Basel, then you would understand why you, like me, are not mensa material.

All the brains and they name it after something so similar to what a woman faces

Forgetting mensa as the genius club and just thinking of it as canteen, the new Italian word you just learned, my friends and I were hungrily rushing to the canteen for lunch when we crossed a road without using the zebra crossing.

Normally in Italy, when you step onto the zebra cross, the cars will eagerly slow down and eventually stop for you to pass (no matter how fast they're speeding)

But also normally in Italy, the people are very expressive in their speech. So on this day, jaywalking got us an agitated female driver that gave us the sign (which Indians would perceive as "let's eat")

Not that I would have minded if she had also wanted to express that literally JK! XD

But joking with my friends about the sign languages reminded me of a picture I saw in my professor's office earlier in the morning which also was an old joke that I came across a few years back.

I can imagine myself sounding a similar version to the Italians when I speak in English.

For a better understanding of the accent and how it'll sound like, you can watch the video below. 

An old joke that I used to laugh to which now I can experience first hand and relate to =)

I wasn't kidding

In addition to my huge luggage that I lugged from Malaysia, I brought with me a box.

Christmas came early!

Milan airport insisted that I wrap the box up during the transit flight. For that, they charged me 9 Euroes for it. Just to wrap in green plastic and stick a cheapo TrueStar sticker on it! And all because I told them it contained food items. (Malaysia didn't even care)

To everyone back in Malaysia whom I told that I would probably be missing Malaysian spices, I wasn't kidding on bringing some safety precautions.

Oh praise the Lord! Christmas DID come early!

That's one box of some of my favourite unhealthy food items. The Italy-Malaysians eyes lit up when I opened the box of wonders. The spices we got from the Arab shops here in Italy still pale in comparison to some of ours.

So for that, we cooked another dinner. Its cheaper than eating outside after all. I let them cook while I wash.

Our potion of life

And voila! The magic was done. We had for dinner ;

Some seriously spicy tom yum soup!

Fried fan mushrooms

And some freshly cooked assorted vegetables with prawns

Albeit the spiced up tongue, we could not have slept better that night.

Sardinian beach - best in europe

So on this saturday morning(my second in Italy), the Malaysians decided to meet up with some other Asians and head to the beach. Sardinian beaches are acclaimed for its beauty and people come from around Europe to enjoy the sand, water, sun, naked chicks, and everything else there is to enjoy at the beach. But on this day(saturday), there were not many people. And no 'birthday suited' guests. Or as my Malaysian friends put it "orang tanpa seurat benang". They only flock to the beach on Sundays. That's when most shops around Sardinia close.

Being on an island, it is of no surprise to see large ships like these

From our apartments, we were joined by Filipino Helen(middle), and Laos Anoi(right-most) at the bus stop.

Buses in Sardinia are as frequent as it can get. People rely on it a lot here. There are also quite a lot of cars, but otherwise, you see people walking around.

I wanted to be iron man =(

2 Bus rides later, we find ourselves on the beach.

Joining us also is Indonesian Lisna (second from right)

So this is the beach. 

Nice blue skies, clear blue waters with pretty decent waves. And the water is always cool, which is refreshing during summer. And add fine soft sand to that. So nice you just want to make out on it. Like this couple.

Better than our bed at home

Other than that, you have the regular beach-goers that go for a good tan.

Sun tanning in action

Sardinian beach is so relaxing your just want to lie there, maybe read a book(like all the old folks) or laze under the sun. 

Those people living by the beach, really lucky people

Or just stand there and stare into the horizon.

And if you know how to surf, lucky you.

I watched him doing it for a while and it seemed like so much fun. 

Few of us dudes then went to swim out into the chilling waters until it started drizzling. Then, cold and wet we went to get some ice cream. 

You don't just say no to ice cream.


For lunch, we had some kebab. On the way to the shops, I came across this mannequin donning this suit. This, apparently, is Sardinian traditional clothing.

I thought it'll have more resemblance to a Sardine

Walkways around the shops are narrow, and the shops are also petite.

Umbrella as protection against rain, and pigeon poo poo

These were lunch

Kebab

Tandoori Chicken

Fried Rice

They then brought me to the Arabic store where they got these!

The magic ingredients

 Magic Rice

We then wasted 10 euroes on one of these.

My first purchase on something which is a non-necessity

Then we went back home and slept most of the day.

Hugss me

This is by far one of the most important things I brought to Italy. It served as a bolster-pillow since I'm crashing at the Malaysian's place and don't have a proper pillow yet.

And finally for a little picture before I end.

Ciao! 

A Malaysian Welcome

The first thing I did upon arriving in Milan airport was to look for internet access, which I found in the form of a small kiosk

I will eat your coinsss

Thankfully, I saved some coins from my last Italian trip over a year ago. So right away I updated my fb status, and emailed one of the Malaysians for his address in Sardinia. It was with this machine that I realised how quickly time passes scrolling through facebook. I spent 5 euroes doing all that.

I love Italian coins

With all my luggages, I stopped at a nearby cafe hoping they have wifi, and decided to order something so I can sit there. They had lots of croissants and pastries.

 And I had coffee, croissants, and pastries too.

What I had

Only thing the coffee was from them, everything else was food from the flight. Lady at counter kept staring at me. So I gobbled down and left.

Upon arriving in Sardinia, Mario, a guy from the University’s student network greeted me. Thank God for him. No picture of him, didn’t want to be rude taking a picture upon first encounter.

Mario, the Italian plumber created by the Japanese

So Mario brought me to the apartment where some of the Malaysians lived. I crashed with them in their room, and for dinner, we had a Malaysian feast. Consisting of :

A Sambal Sotong

Assorted Veges and Prawns

Rice(Arabic)!

Some good tasting corn bubur chacha

And a little dab of Italian pasta by one of their Italian housemates

Couldn't have expected more from the Malaysians than such a warm welcome. The folks include;

From left : Fauzi, Akmal, Irene, and Amin

These peeps love to cook. They found some arabian shops that sells the spices we have in Malaysia. Genius! Not much homesickness after all.

Apparently the Italians don’t enjoy the Malaysian dishes and finds them unhealthy. Must be the oil and seasonings that makes them tasty.

The night view from their apartment. Yes, there’s a McDonalds in walking distance. McD here in Sardinia not doing too well. Heard there’s plans to close down. And there I was hoping I could land a part time job there.

Tomorrow : To the beach!