pabster
Well-Known Member
Howdy all!
Some of you may have noticed that I stopped posting for weeks on end. The reason was I went with my family to the Old Country... southern Italy. We went to get my infant son baptized and to introduce him to my wife's extended family out there.
Every time I go over there, I wonder "Could I live here?" Maybe it's because I was born and raised in the states, and I've traveled quite a bit in my life... but I always compare everything to what I have at home.
For those of you who haven't been to Europe or haven't stayed outside of hotels over there, I want to throw out a few observations I made.
- Almost all cars over there are offered with a diesel engine. We rented a car which I drove extensively (more on the Italian roads in a minute) It was a Ford C-Max. Sort of a large 4 door hatchback/wagon. It had a six speed manual tranny which ROCKED, and a 1.6L diesel engine that was plenty peppy. When I say peppy, I mean I was able to pass cars on two lane roads that were going 70mph, and I punched the throttle and shot right past them. Gotta say, I'm not a big fan of Fords, but this car was great for trucking the family around on Italian roads. That being said, I missed my Charger. A lot.
- OK, the roads. Everything in Europe is SMALLER than here. A lot smaller. Population density is higher, buildings are way older, roads are way narrower. Lots of roundabouts. Lots of passing. Insane tailgating. But I saw very little road rage, and in general, drivers were surprisingly competent if not good, as long as I followed the simple rule of always driving offensively. When in doubt, hit the gas. One pet peeve I have about American drivers is the sitting in the fast lane and refusing to move over... this never happens in Italy. If you're going 150mph and a car flashes it's brights a mile out, you move over.
- Prices of stuff over there would blow your mind. Not only is everything more expensive, but it seems like companies routinely screw consumers over, and everyone just sort of puts up with it. Imagine everything at your grocery store doubling in price while the amount is cut up to a half. Beer would be a great example. I'm a pretty avid beer drinker, and as much as the wine over there was great, I wanted ice cold brews to take off the edge of traveling with 2 little kids. Get this- they sell bottles of beer in 3 PACKS. I'm not kidding you. And if you buy more, as in a case, the price per beer is the same. About a dollar a beer. In a supermarket. The price of gas is about 6-8 dollars a gallon, diesel slightly cheaper.
- Getting stuff done. OK, this is probably the biggest one. Good luck getting anything done over there. You want to get a birth certificate, or set up trash service, or something to do with bureaucracy? You would not believe how inefficient, and unhelpful people are when it comes to getting things like the above done. If you need to do something, most likely a person in a office will say that the guy who deals with whatever it is is on vacation, or sick, and they can't help you, that it is impossible. As an American who has grown used to a notion of customer service, and getting lots of stuff done, I couldn't believe that the society hadn't fallen into anarchy considering how inefficient the systems in place were.
- Last but not least, where I was the tap water was suspect. People told me not to drink from the tap. And the tap water was shut off from 12p-3p every day. This is in Italy, the 8th largest economy in the world. When I got home, I did some digging, and found that the Camorra, the mafia in Campania, regularly dumps industrial and toxic waste all over the place, making tons of money by charging less than others for waste disposal. This waste then contaminates the groundwater, and therefore makes the tap water unsafe to drink.
- OK, finally the good. The food is amazing. The pizza is the best in the world. The buffalo mozzarella is life changing. The wine is awesome, and actually cheap. The gelato is the best ice cream I've ever had. The beaches are pretty clean, the water clear and great to swim in. The kindness of most people, the time they take to tell a story, to have an animated conversation. So there's plenty of things to like about Italy.
So keep in mind, the above observations are only based on the state of Campania in Italy- not all of Europe is like this, although the diesel cars and the insane cost of living is pretty universal. But the point of this post is just to throw out a perspective, and give anyone reading this a moment of pause. Keep in mind that although the USA has it's problems, I can say from experience that we are VERY lucky to live here. People work hard here for the most part, and the system works too. Not all the time, and not for everyone, but hey- you're not going to get any better that this great country of ours. So if politics, or the economy, or whatever it is is getting you down, take a look at where you live, go fill up a glass with water from the tap, buy a case of beer for less than 20 bucks, smile at your awesome Mopar Machine, and give thanks for the United States of America.
Thanks for reading, it's good to be back.
Some of you may have noticed that I stopped posting for weeks on end. The reason was I went with my family to the Old Country... southern Italy. We went to get my infant son baptized and to introduce him to my wife's extended family out there.
Every time I go over there, I wonder "Could I live here?" Maybe it's because I was born and raised in the states, and I've traveled quite a bit in my life... but I always compare everything to what I have at home.
For those of you who haven't been to Europe or haven't stayed outside of hotels over there, I want to throw out a few observations I made.
- Almost all cars over there are offered with a diesel engine. We rented a car which I drove extensively (more on the Italian roads in a minute) It was a Ford C-Max. Sort of a large 4 door hatchback/wagon. It had a six speed manual tranny which ROCKED, and a 1.6L diesel engine that was plenty peppy. When I say peppy, I mean I was able to pass cars on two lane roads that were going 70mph, and I punched the throttle and shot right past them. Gotta say, I'm not a big fan of Fords, but this car was great for trucking the family around on Italian roads. That being said, I missed my Charger. A lot.
- OK, the roads. Everything in Europe is SMALLER than here. A lot smaller. Population density is higher, buildings are way older, roads are way narrower. Lots of roundabouts. Lots of passing. Insane tailgating. But I saw very little road rage, and in general, drivers were surprisingly competent if not good, as long as I followed the simple rule of always driving offensively. When in doubt, hit the gas. One pet peeve I have about American drivers is the sitting in the fast lane and refusing to move over... this never happens in Italy. If you're going 150mph and a car flashes it's brights a mile out, you move over.
- Prices of stuff over there would blow your mind. Not only is everything more expensive, but it seems like companies routinely screw consumers over, and everyone just sort of puts up with it. Imagine everything at your grocery store doubling in price while the amount is cut up to a half. Beer would be a great example. I'm a pretty avid beer drinker, and as much as the wine over there was great, I wanted ice cold brews to take off the edge of traveling with 2 little kids. Get this- they sell bottles of beer in 3 PACKS. I'm not kidding you. And if you buy more, as in a case, the price per beer is the same. About a dollar a beer. In a supermarket. The price of gas is about 6-8 dollars a gallon, diesel slightly cheaper.
- Getting stuff done. OK, this is probably the biggest one. Good luck getting anything done over there. You want to get a birth certificate, or set up trash service, or something to do with bureaucracy? You would not believe how inefficient, and unhelpful people are when it comes to getting things like the above done. If you need to do something, most likely a person in a office will say that the guy who deals with whatever it is is on vacation, or sick, and they can't help you, that it is impossible. As an American who has grown used to a notion of customer service, and getting lots of stuff done, I couldn't believe that the society hadn't fallen into anarchy considering how inefficient the systems in place were.
- Last but not least, where I was the tap water was suspect. People told me not to drink from the tap. And the tap water was shut off from 12p-3p every day. This is in Italy, the 8th largest economy in the world. When I got home, I did some digging, and found that the Camorra, the mafia in Campania, regularly dumps industrial and toxic waste all over the place, making tons of money by charging less than others for waste disposal. This waste then contaminates the groundwater, and therefore makes the tap water unsafe to drink.
- OK, finally the good. The food is amazing. The pizza is the best in the world. The buffalo mozzarella is life changing. The wine is awesome, and actually cheap. The gelato is the best ice cream I've ever had. The beaches are pretty clean, the water clear and great to swim in. The kindness of most people, the time they take to tell a story, to have an animated conversation. So there's plenty of things to like about Italy.
So keep in mind, the above observations are only based on the state of Campania in Italy- not all of Europe is like this, although the diesel cars and the insane cost of living is pretty universal. But the point of this post is just to throw out a perspective, and give anyone reading this a moment of pause. Keep in mind that although the USA has it's problems, I can say from experience that we are VERY lucky to live here. People work hard here for the most part, and the system works too. Not all the time, and not for everyone, but hey- you're not going to get any better that this great country of ours. So if politics, or the economy, or whatever it is is getting you down, take a look at where you live, go fill up a glass with water from the tap, buy a case of beer for less than 20 bucks, smile at your awesome Mopar Machine, and give thanks for the United States of America.
Thanks for reading, it's good to be back.
