American Scavenger Hunt

I am incredibly grateful to be here in Rome and I love the city a lot. There are many challenges that we face being Americans trying to adapt to an Italian lifestyle, however. Simple trips to the grocery store and mailing a postcard can be exhausting. I’ve come up with my American Scavenger Hunt of items we’ve been searching for this past week.

Baking Powder

My roommate and I both love to bake & cook. We also both LOVE breakfast the most. It’s unfortunate since that doesn’t seem to be popular in Italy. A typical breakfast is a cappuccino and a pastry. Sometimes I grab an apple from the fruit stand. You can tell it’s not normal to eat a bowl of Frosted Flakes because they are expensive! Anyway, we’ve been craving pancakes and homemade chocolate chip cookies. (Chocolate chips are also non-existent so far.) We just want that small comfort of smelling them in the kitchen and diving in while they’re still warm. Today we FINALLY found baking powder! We had to Google it and take the picture with us – it’s called “Lievito Pane degu Angeli”. We’ve stuck to making scrambled eggs and eating the M&Ms we brought, but I’ll keep you informed when we actually put it to use.

Coffee To Go

I’ll admit it; I miss Starbucks. The cappuccino is to die for, but I miss carrying around that white and green cup with the brown paper sleeve. There’s something about walking around sipping coffee that’s simply different than standing at the bar in a caffe. It’s just a culture shock thing, but it’s a struggle for a coffee lover like me. Tomorrow I start classes and we’ll see how real the struggle becomes then! Oh, and there’s no coffee pot in the apartment. My roommate tried the espresso maker, which required a lot of guesswork. I’m not sure I want to follow in her footsteps after seeing her try the result! 

Chinese Food

It cracks me up how many Chinese and sushi restaurants are here. Apparently it’s a trend that has caught on in both America and Italy. I cannot wait to try Italian Chinese food, though the prospect of reading the menu is a bit daunting.

Dryers

We have a washing machine that we’re not entirely sure how to use, but it is not paired with a dryer. I’m not opposed to hang drying except for the fact that I need my jeans re-shrunk! In addition, we don’t exactly know where to put the soap or what buttons to push on the washing machine. I think I’m going to break down and seek out the Laundromat.

      

      Peanut Butter

My peanut butter was cruelly taken from me at security in the airport. Since then, I’ve been hunting for it in every store. Nutella is delicious, but more of a dessert to me. Peanut butter is an everyday staple on bread, apples, pretzels, or just a spoon! Speaking of pretzels, I can’t find those either L I finally had success, however, and discovered peanut butter in what we now refer to as “the ethnic store”. Right next to my apartment is a small shop called “Maa Alimentari” which means it has groceries. This particular one is run by a few Indian men and sells whole fish (heads, tails, fins, and all), coconut water, shrimp crackers, cous cous, and PEANUT BUTTER! It’s a brand called “Calve” and tastes like combination between crunchy & smooth and natural & hydrogenated, but nonetheless, it’s perfect. Every bite. I’m a happy girl.

There you have it. These are the top five comforts of home I’ve longed for so far. Who’d have thought this would be what I was missing sitting here in my Roman apartment, besides all of my friends and family, of course J