As soon as I got off the train in the Roma Termini, I immediately started looking for Starbucks. Everyone knows that you can’t get a good cup of coffee unless it’s from Starbucks. I soon found that this was not the case. Mainly because I was unable to find a Starbucks here in Roma. I can’t say that I’m surprised though. Honestly I didn’t think I would find any here 🙂 There are plenty of coffee bars around though. These things are quite interesting. You go in and order from a cashier who then gives you a receipt that you take to the bar. The barista then looks at what you ordered and fills your order. You stand at the bar drinking your coffee, until it is done and then leave. I find it quite amazing that people will just be walking along, stop for some coffee and then continue on their journey. I guess that is an advantage to living in a large city like Roma.
It is quite weird to not be seeing any of the usual American chains here. Again I can’t say that I expected them, but it’s weird to walk for blocks without seeing a Starbucks or a Walmart. How can these people live without Walmart???
It was quite comforting to walk into the hostel to check in and see that they were had MTV on the TV though. Eminem was on, so there are some American things here. Although I walked into the common room this morning and the songs on MTV were in Italian, so not everything is American here. There are also McDonalds all over the place, so I’m never far from home 🙂
So far it has been quite an adventure and I haven’t even been here for 24 hours. I am enjoying myself, but think it would be somewhat more enjoyable with someone else here with me. Well, I’m off to breakfast and to see if I can find myself a good cup of coffee 🙂