see i am not wrong about italians

see link above for the whole story, but this is the part i want to highlight so you understand what i deal with everyday.

From the NY times

Since 2002, the number of Americans supporting tighter immigration curbs has declined slightly, as it has among Canadians. Support in Britain and France for tighter immigration limits also declined slightly.

But in Italy, which has struggled with a steady flow of illegal immigrants, many arriving by sea from Africa, the number backing tighter immigration laws rose to 87 percent, from 80 percent in 2002. In Italy, 20 percent said that immigration from the Middle East and North Africa was good, while 67 percent said it was bad. Only 26 percent of Germans called immigration from those regions good, while 64 percent said it was bad.

Support for tougher immigration rules also soared in Jordan, which has faced a huge influx of Iraqis since the war started in 2003, rising to 70 percent, from 48 percent in 2002.

The survey found Americans more likely than most West Europeans to believe that their culture was superior; 55 percent of Americans said so. The only European country with a higher degree of self-belief was Italy, where 7 in 10 respondents proclaimed cultural superiority.


CULTURAL SUPERIORITY??? just because everyone loves pizza and pasta? god!!!

alimerda

trip to italy was great. would have been better if it did not rain 247 for the 4 days we were there, but i have no complaints because it made me feel ok about sleeping in every morning.

giovanna and diego were warm and welcoming- my pre-visit fears were unfounded apparently. we communicated through fede and also kibum's (elementary) translations, gesticulations, real-life charades and lots of laughter and smiles. i wish i spoke some italian to ask them questions and tell them more about me but oh well.

porto valtravaglia is fede's hometown (population 500) on lago maggiore. the lake is surrounded by mountains and is absolutely beautiful. the town is quiet and quaint, cobblestones, pasticceria and all. funny that my urban snob bf grew up in the boondocks- i wonder where he developed that sensibility. we drove to the monastery on the lake, climbed (in a city slicker way) a mountain, and ate too much.

it was great food, great company, great scenery, everything was perfect until we checked in at malpensa.

the flight was overbooked and of course, tough luck, the 3 of us (kibum, fede and i) just happened to be the last three not able to get on the flight. after a big fuss (which i caused) we got re-routed via paris and given a 600 euro compensation. would be nice if we actually get it. i have emailed alitalia and delta everyday since coming back but only receive a canned response. fucking assholes.

in paris, we try to board the flight back to ny. we are asked by the agent for our tickets but we have none i told them. the agent in milan just gave us the boarding passes. so yet another fuss and scramble but thankfully the french are less incompetent than the italians and manage to get us on the flight in time.

we arrive in ny and wait at the carousel for our luggage only to find out they were stranded in paris. double fck. i swear the italians-just give them some fabric and they will cut it into a designer piece but they do a royally great job of fcking up any logistical matter. the bags finally arrive 48 hours later. the can of oil is dented beyond recognition, pasta spilled all over the bag, tuna juice and everything else messy and gross