In the land where you can find wine and beer galore for less than 1 euro, is a ginger ale too much to ask for?
Apparently, yes, it is.
I ended up with an unfortunate outcome out of one of my food adventures- basically I either got food poisoning or the stomach flu so instead of going to Venice for Carnivale, I spent the weekend curled up in the fetal position alternatively crying and puking my guts out. All I wanted when I came out of the deathbed phase of my sickness was some ginger ale to ease the queasiness. A store by store search of Florence revealed that neither ginger ale nor 7-Up are words in the Italian dictionary. I had to settle for tonic water, which more or less tastes like the spawn of Satan, and using my newly acquired Italian vocab to curse the lack of appropriate sodas.
It’s safe to say that the honeymoon stage of study abroad is now over. What was “cute” when I first arrived, like the high ceilings of my apartment, aren’t cute anymore – the height of the ceilings make for extremely drafty rooms. Also, we were told to keep our showers under 10 minutes: “It’s the Italian way.” I can respect that but when the water is ice cold for the first three minutes, then scalding hot for the next two, ice cold for another minute and then a trickle till you give up, suffice it to say any shower, short or long, is hard to execute. Oh, also our Italian textbooks didn’t teach us how to differentiate between men’s and women’s body wash until chapter never so yeah, I’m using men’s body wash. It was funny when I first got it and now I just smell like an adolescent boy.
The thing is: nobody tells you about these moments when they talk about study abroad. It is all about the amazing sites that they’ve seen or the delicious dishes they’ve tasted and you hear zilch about the complications. And then when I do talk about my pneumonia-inducing high ceilings and miscreant shower to people, my comments are commonly dismissed because boo-hoo, I’m in Italy, my life can’t possibly suck.
Consider this though: I’m not saying my life sucks (Truly, Mother, I never said my life sucks so now here it is in writing) but the struggle is real! I can’t deny that I die on the inside a little bit every time I feel like I’m at that stinky point where I absolutely can’t put off taking a shower or that it’s frustrating having to walk around my apartment in fuzzy socks, sweats, a ski jacket and multiple scarves to stay warm. But, I think bearing with it all is what makes the parts people do talk about- the food, the friends, the sites, the events- even more special, memorable and noteworthy; that despite the daily difficulties that present themselves, there are still places to discover and people to do it with. Steve Maraboli once said, “Happiness is not the absence of problems, it’s the ability to deal with them.” I may have found him randomly on Brainyquotes if I’m being honest, but when it comes to describing my study abroad issues thus far, he is pretty on point.
(But really, Italy, it wouldn’t hurt to step your soda game up.)