Tuesday, September 18, 2012

In Pursuit of the Golden Arches


It is a truth universally acknowledged, that two young women in possession of American descent, must be in want of Wi-Fi. –Jane Austen

With this in mind Anne and I set out for McDonald’s and free internet. There is a sign right next to our house that indicates that Mickey D’s is only two minutes away. Let me just tell you, McDonald’s lies!

After walking for about fifteen minutes we couldn’t find it. We didn’t think it could possibly be farther than that. So we decided to walk back to the bus stop and take a bus into the city to go to an internet café. We waited for about ten minutes and the bus never showed up. (Side Note: I really do not understand the bus system in Italy.) We decided that we must have passed McDonald’s and that we should try to find it again. So we set out in pursuit of the golden arches. On the way we decided to ask an elderly woman for directions. In Italian that was so fast and spoken with such a heavy Tuscan accent that we could only make out about every other word we gathered that McDonald’s was far away, about another kilometer. As college students hardened by two weeks in Rome we thought a kilometer was nothing… I mean it is less than a mile! So we recommenced our journey. After about 20 minutes we found ourselves in the ghetto of the outskirts of Siena. We didn’t think anyone would build a nice restaurant there (McDonald’s are very fancy here in Italy), but we pressed onward anyway. Our effort was rewarded with the sight of trash along the road, but it was not just any trash. It was trash labeled “Big Mac” and “French Fries.” We thought that we must have been getting closer. After another ten minutes I spotted flags waving in the wind, flags emblazoned with golden arches. We had made it! So with shaking legs we entered the restaurant only to find that there was only one worker and a line of ten Italians. We decided to forego our much-anticipated cokes and just used the internet. So in summary we walked two hours for fifteen minutes of internet… I have never felt so American.

Why did we do it? Sometimes you just really want to be connected to the outer world.

Ciao!

No comments:

Post a Comment