View Full Version : How many of you are from Europe?
korthuran
06-09-08, 02:55 PM
And where?
I ask because I'm trying to understand something here. You see. We here in the U.S. are under the impression that Italy is indeed a first world country. My girlfriend has been in Italy for a bit over three weeks now. She's attending a art school summer program in Venice. Here is what has happened in a little over three weeks.
She has personally been asked over a dozen times if her boobs are real. In public. She dresses conservatively.
She has avoided certain streets because the gypsies use them as outdoor latrines.
She has seen a gypsy whip it out and piss in the street.
Apparently Italian public toilets don't come with toilet paper? They sell it by the square or some **** like that?
One girl she knows has been given a roofie.
One girl she knows was grabbed by a rugby player and nearly carried out of the bar and raped. Her guy friends with her were beaten senseless by the rugby players teammates.
Last night a group of bums attacked a group of students outside her apartment. The bums beat the guys senseless and held a broken bottle to the neck of one of the girls. Every other bystander ran away.
I'm told the French like us more than the Italians. That blew my mind.
My question is what the **** happened? Why does Italy suck so much ****?
I wish she could have gone to London or Germany. Germans are good people. She's German, she would have liked it there. I'm worried sick about her. She doesn't get home for ten more days.
**** Italy.
Does sound kind of crazy, but I live in NYC and some of that stuff on the list doesn't sound too outlandish/i've seen it.
Santril
06-09-08, 06:19 PM
I'm told the French like us more than the Italians. That blew my mind.
Truth be told, the French are wonderful, charming people. Unless you're in Paris. Parisians are vermin who are wastes of air.
But yeah, I've seen much the same inside of D.C. as well.
The overall lesson here? Urban environments suck.
korthuran
06-09-08, 07:48 PM
Venice.
Keep in mind she's been lost in New York (saw some ugly stuff) and we currently live a few hours away from Chicago, Detroit, and Cleveland. Oh and Flint. She has a frame of reference here.
Her brother and his wife were actually in Detroit for a period of time working there. She's spent a fair amount of time over there visiting. She likes Detroit more than Venice. It's not that hard to beat Detroit.
There are a bunch more smaller incidents. For the most part the only people she's met over there that were nice weren't actual residents in Italy. She's been told the immigrant populations are the more crude groups (asking about the boobs). But overall it's not a very pretty picture compared to what I expected to hear.
A few more little tidbits. The locks on their apartment didn't work properly. They spoke to people at the school about fixing them. "Not our problem they say." Their clothes washer has been broken for three weeks. They finally get a person to fix it. The lady fixes it and leaves a bitchy note about being lazy and filty (filthy being leaving some paper in the waste basket). What the hell is going through these peoples heads? I just don't get it.
I'll grant that everywhere has shitty people but damn. She doesn't go out after dark. She doesn't go to the clubs. She stays in and does her homework. Something seems wrong to me when you hardly ever leave the apartment and still have this many stories in three weeks.
Deltar Battlewall
06-09-08, 07:50 PM
Without knowing more about this series of situations, I'd have to agree this sounds more like a product of being in the city rather then being in Italy. Although in Venice, the bystanders don't run away, they speed away in their little boats.
korthuran
06-09-08, 09:13 PM
Maybe it's Florence. I can't remember which at the moment. All of a sudden Venice doesn't sound right to me.
Maybe you guys are right and it's just a product of living in a city. I don't know. I lived in Portland for over two years. Never came across anything like this in my time there. Here in Michigan it's ugly. A lot uglier than Portland but nothing like what she's told me. Maybe it's because I'm a guy. I don't know. Either way I'll be scratching Italy off of my world travel plans. Austria sounds nice.
If it's Florence, well, that would explain at least some of it, that city is shall we say not known for being a nice safe place according to some friends of mine who lived in Italy for a few years. The phrase human cesspit might have been used at one point during the conversation.
Santril
06-09-08, 11:59 PM
Hey, it's better than Naples, Italy.
...don't go to Naples. That's all I have to say on that subject.
*shivers uncontrollably*
I'd chalk a good percentage of her experiences up to being in a big city. Hell, the last time I went to Chicago for an EQ Fan Faire, I got propositioned for gay sex on my way back to my hotel by some guy that said he was from Nigeria. (I think it was Nigeria.) I'm from the midwest and a town of like 230,000, so that kinda freaked me out. All the other Safehouse staff, some of whom live in big cities, just got a huge chuckle out of it.
shehab aldean
06-10-08, 02:00 AM
well some people think Italy got into the first world club with some help
their economy suck , they have bigger debit than most europian countries ( even ones not in EU ) , Naples is dirty and so is the cheese from their
and not mention how stable their governments are
Velvetrose
06-10-08, 06:44 AM
Do NOT eat Naple Cheese
SincroFashad
06-10-08, 06:57 AM
*slams fist on table*
My god, things just ain't been right around these parts since they sacked Rome back in 455!
korthuran
06-10-08, 08:35 AM
Just think. If the Romans hadn't fell apart we could be on Mars by now!
All right, but apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, a fresh water system, and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?
I've been to Florence, Venice, Rome and Pisa. What you're describing closests resembles my recollection of Florence. Granted I was there 15 years ago, but there were tons of "gypsies". Pickpocketing is/was rampant, bad sanitation, etc.
Was traveling with my sister and we didn't let each other out of each other's sights. Helped a little that she knew 2 Italians from Florence, they had worked with her in the States for a few years.
If your girlfriend visited Rome, Venice or Pisa (Pisa was by far my favorite Italian city we visited), I'm sure her impression of Italy would change. Seems to me that Florence was the Tijuana of Italy.
Oh yeah, and seems that lots of Italian blame the US for all those Italian hostages that were taken in Iraq a few years ago. They have definitely soured on Americans.
Loreleli
06-10-08, 10:14 AM
All right, but apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, a fresh water system, and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?
Their empire fell, that did a lot.
Plus, they gave us Spaghetti, imo, all is forgiven!
FSM- praise his noodles!
All right, but apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, a fresh water system, and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?
One could easily argue that it was the Persians who invented a loto of that.
And Lore I believe it was the Chinese that invented spaghetti.
One could easily argue that it was the Persians who invented a loto of that.
And Lore I believe it was the Chinese that invented spaghetti.
Don't ruin a good Life of Brian quote :)
Jhani Vandolay
06-10-08, 11:10 AM
Brought peace.
Loreleli
06-10-08, 11:27 AM
One could easily argue that it was the Persians who invented a loto of that.
And Lore I believe it was the Chinese that invented spaghetti.
Maybe, but the Italians perfected it! mmmm, pasta!
Chinese noodles do not taste nearly as good as real homemade pasta. Add the sauce and it's a slice of heaven!
and because I was curious:
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Who_invented_spaghetti
Best noodle is: Skinny Rice Noodle! Typically used in Thai food. Mmm, Pad Thai.
All right, but apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, a fresh water system, and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?
Don't forget the orgies. Everyone always forgets the orgies. You wouldn't think they would, but they always do. :p
Clearly Koru didn't forget the orgies ;)
Loreleli
06-10-08, 01:07 PM
Don't forget the orgies. Everyone always forgets the orgies. You wouldn't think they would, but they always do. :p
they 'stole' that from the Greeks too! lol
korthuran
06-10-08, 02:18 PM
But the Romans used women.
Qtip4urMamma
06-10-08, 02:28 PM
But the Romans used women.
What the hell else do you do with them?
Blame them for not wanting to date you?
korthuran
06-10-08, 03:13 PM
I meant that the Romans used women. The Greeks used boys.
Get with the innuendo people!
I meant that the Romans used women. The Greeks used boys.
Get with the innuendo people!
Isn't innuendo an Italian suppository?
Qtip4urMamma
06-10-08, 04:06 PM
Isn't innuendo an Italian suppository?
I thought it was some mexican boy band?
shehab aldean
06-11-08, 12:58 AM
and because I was curious:
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Who_invented_spaghetti
HA HA
Loreleli
06-11-08, 04:43 AM
I meant that the Romans used women. The Greeks used boys.
Get with the innuendo people!
And how do you know so much? ok, hand over the time machine already!
I thinks it's called reading and edumacation.
Qtip4urMamma
06-11-08, 08:35 AM
I thinks it's called reading and edumacation.
That's just a common myth. Time Machine can be the only explanation for this knowledge!
Telurinon
06-11-08, 10:33 AM
Clearly Koru didn't forget the orgies ;)
Pics or it didn't happen!
Can't, or Koru would be force to reveal her real life identity....and then she'd have to kill us all. Which I'm sure would be fun for her. Not for fun for us, our families, our pets, and potentially future generations of our bloodlines.
Loreleli
06-11-08, 11:30 AM
I thinks it's called reading and edumacation.
maybe (4 years of latin here, lots of dead romans to read up about - who stole their culture besides boy love from the Greeks) but time machine is soooo much cooler!
aside:omniscitor! Spent 1 class with Dean of the Department at UGA making up fake latin words. Tons of fun!
Can't, or Koru would be force to reveal her real life identity....and then she'd have to kill us all. Which I'm sure would be fun for her. Not for fun for us, our families, our pets, and potentially future generations of our bloodlines.
Life as a hitman for the Icelandic mafia is hard at times. Trust me, you don't want to wake up with a cod's head in your bed. I mean the smell for one thing.
What exactly does the Icelandic Mafia traffic in? I don't see reindeer dung bringing that much on the black market.
It's mostly a protection racket. That polar bear thing a couple of weeks ago? He totally missed a payment.
And you know you're screwed when the Icelandic Mafia comes in wielding Tommy Guns while riding on polar bears.
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1410/1262584641_e1d9e0e063.jpg
oops, naughty word in the picture
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1410/1262584641_e1d9e0e063.jpg
Florence, heh. Don't ever go there, especially if you are a woman.
Elerion
06-12-08, 09:09 AM
Italian people are very forward, but most of those things sound like anomalies.
You should know that the north is by far the nicest part of Italy for a tourist. In general, anything north of Bologna or so is very civilized and high culture. Anything south of there is noticably less so. Towards the south they are backwards in their ways, they're lazy and rude to outsiders. Rome is an exception, and has a modern and friendly population more like the north.
At least this is what my italophile friends tell me. I've only been there once, in Milano, and I had a wonderful time.
likenew
06-12-08, 03:56 PM
I use to want to visit Italy.
That said, working at an airport I've heard so many bad things about the place from coworkers, trainers, and passengers, that you couldn't pay me to go there. One of the trainers said the last time he went there, an older woman carrying a baby and with 8(I don't remember the number but a lot) kids walking with her, tossed the baby in the air at him, and while he caught it and held it the woman and the other kids ran to him and pickpocketed his wallet...Then ran away. And of course wasn't able to get anywhere with the police there.
2nd world country? sure. Trash? Most definitely!
Greldek
06-12-08, 04:00 PM
I'm under the assumption that Italy, like all of Europe, Asia, Austrailia, North and South America, and Antarctica, is probalby a massive **** hole, because people are there. Lots of people. I can't stand places being in cities that have over 100,000 people in them. My town itself is just about to hit 60,000 and that's getting to be too big for my tastes.
I have no desire to travel anywhere, other than the wilderness! Which makes planning vacations with my GF difficult. But other than my immense hatred for massive populations, I'm sure most of Europe is just like the US, only with less guns.
You'd like Iceland then, aside from Reykjavik (round 150,000 give or take) most towns are quite small, and there's a fair amount of wilderness between civilization. I was pretty astonished when I went to England, it was just fields, nothing but fields with like these tiny little slices of nature between them, seems like it would be impossible to ever get lost there with nothing but farmland. So weird and abnormal. Also there were no fields of hardened lava, which is just wrong on so many levels. And those tall trees I still believe are sophisticated special effects created by ILM.
Greldek
06-12-08, 06:00 PM
Yeah, but I prefer my bears to be of the grizzly nature, rather than polar. Otherwise I'd totally come hang out with you Icelandic folks, so long as you didn't make me hide my viking heritage, or green toe.
weird what you guys are saying about florence. I hit Venice, Rome, Pisa, and Florence in 2005 and Florence might have been my favorite city.
weird what you guys are saying about florence. I hit Venice, Rome, Pisa, and Florence in 2005 and Florence might have been my favorite city.
Obviously something about you just doesnt scream "Force me to have intercourse!"
Loreleli
06-14-08, 11:18 AM
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/06/15/2274918.htm
They are deploying troops to patrol the streets
Italy defends move to patrol streets with soldiers
Posted 3 hours 37 minutes ago
The Italian government has defended its decision to use soldiers to patrol cities in an effort to curb crime, rejecting criticism that it will "militarise" the streets.
"There is a strong call from citizens for better control of the streets, for improved safety," Defence Minister Ignazio La Russa told Sky Italia television.
"My hope is that particularly in the evening, in the cities, these troops can ensure greater safety."
The government announced on Friday that up to 2,500 soldiers, some of whom have served in Afghanistan and Kosovo, would be made available for a trial period of six months to bolster the police in difficult urban areas.
Silvio Berlusconi's new conservative government won an April election on a law-and-order ticket, and crime and public safety have stayed on top of the political agenda since Mr Berlusconi took office.
The government's decision was attacked by the centre-left opposition, with Roberta Pinotti, defence spokesman for the Democratic party, expressing "firm opposition to the militarisation of the streets".
Italy's main trade unions said rather than using soldiers the government should make better use of 25,000 police who are doing desk work, and the mayor of Turin said the move was "populist demagoguery" that would hurt tourism and Italy's image abroad.
"I have only seen soldiers on the streets in Bogota, but there the situation is rather different," Sergio Chiamparino told La Repubblica daily.
Mr La Russa said he did not understand the criticism but specified that the use of soldiers would not be permanent, with the initial six-month period being renewable "just once."
"Very often just seeing a [soldier's] uniform can be sufficient as prevention. I don't see what the problem is," he said.
- Reuters