Mangia

For dinner this evening I followed Kim's advice and went to the grocerie store and just bought a few cheeses as well as little crackers. I had a hard goat and 2 that tasted like sharper mozzarella. For desert i'm noshing onsome cherries. It is very easy here to have the 6 small snack type meals rather than the american style huge meals. THere are dozens of little farmers market type places thoughout the city and as long as you have small enough currency you can get almost any vegetable or fruit you want. Wine is also under $3 most places and good  ..not awesome but good. The claim by the italian students today was that they invented franzia...and then they apologized.
For bought food I have been trying all the paninos and pizza topping I find, never the same thing twice. As for paninos i had one with pesto, sharp romanago and proscuitto which was excellent and one with zucchini and mozarella  ....not so much.  The zuchinni here is slightly pickeled i think and is not pleasing to my americano palate. As for pizza topping i tried the zucchini there with the same result,   the standard mozz/tomato/basil combo which was great and my favorite and most interesting pick... Salmon and Artichoke!
As for ordering there are social customs to be aware of, when you enter or leave you say high to the employee Boun giorno in the morning or boun serra in the afternoon/evening or ciao anytime. You can use the phrases for hello or goodbye. For payment you do one of two thing, at bars you usually pay first and then take the ticket (with a small coin) to the bartender or at the lunch places you pay after you recieve your food. Even when i am the only person standing in the shop and my pizza is in the little panini press the cashier wont take my money until she hands me my item, despite the minute or two we spend staring at each other. THere is no drive to make money or sales here, i guess capitalism is not there way. Once oyu have your food you can get it to eat standing there at the bar, to sit down (which usually incurs an additional 2 euro fee, al taglio which is to eat and walk, or simply to go.
For dinner you enter the restaurant same as america and ask for a table for two or 4 or whatever (Tavolo vor dua) and then you pick your antipasti (appitizer) primo (1st) and secondari(second) and dolce (sweet) you dont have ot pick all, i have just been doing the primo (usually a pasta) and the vino delle casa (wine of the hosue or their cheapest) Its odd to get veal marsala because nothing comes with the meat, no side of pasta, you have to order that seperate. Mike and I took my friend Chris and his girlfriend to a sweet place acorss theriver from the jewish ghetto. It was cheap and good and the waiter was an italian that spent about 15 years in NYC and so had a new york accent on his english. 

While i'm posting i will also address the internet situation. Italy has sold out of the internet, it is quote "finished" I can get it at school and i can bum my roomates when he isnt using it (which is rare). It would be helpful for school and so it is not just an addiction but my prospects of having it at home are slim. It also works poorly 1 bar is the highest i've gotten, even in the internet cafes that have their own. Well I must return to the 40 pages of IBL i have to read tonight before my mexican friend caesar arrives around 1am and then I have class at 9am. Ciao.