Two posts in two days... didn't think it was possible did you? Well my room is a disaster, so naturally I'm employing any means available to put that off. And I do have una partita di calcio to discuss!
So Alyssa's a big soccer aficionado and had really hoped to make it to the Rome v. Manchester United game, but her friends told her the tickets were upwards of 100 euro, and that is definitely not in my budget. Well her friends are high rollers, and were looking in the expensive section right on the field. I, on the other hand, was having fond memories of the Justin Timberlake concert I viewed from the next to last row at JPJ, and was eager to relive those glory days. Such tickets ran us an easy 15 euro, and I covered Erin for her and her family's generosity with my whole wallet robbery incident (her dad and aunt insisted on putting money in her account so I could have some cash... seriously so helpful), and last Wednesday we were ready to get our European soccer on.
My roommates and I donned our Roma scarves and hopped on the metro... and being 20 something females we were chatting, perhaps a little loudly, and oh yeah... in English. This drew attention to us, and an Italian man was like, 'You are not for Manchester?' And we explained, 'No no! Forza Roma!'
'But you are speaking English?'
'We're American... not English.'
'Oh... you are American? And you cheer for Rome?'
'Yes, we live here.'
'In Rome?'
In any case, he was very baffled that English speakers would be decked out in Roma gear, and we were a little concerned that this might cause controversy among soccer hooligans. Mostly, however, we were just excited, so we met up at the Ostiense girls' place, and headed out to Olympic Stadium.
Two bus rides later we were at the stadium, and, as per usual, running late, and therefore running. Unfortunately this resulted in a wipeout on Kathryn's part, complete with skinned knee and rolled ankle, so in our haste we ended up getting set further back, and missed kickoff. When we arrived at the stadium, it was just to the wonderful news that our section was closed. Still not entirely sure why, but the closing of our section did quarantine the Manchester fans so to speak, so it may have been a safety precaution in response to the stabbings that had happened before the game.
We were afraid we'd have to stand on a landing the whole time, but spied some seats in my coveted position in the next to last row, and so made our way to higher altitudes. It was a lot of fun. Our language difference did draw some attention from the two groups of Italian teens in front of us in the form of some awkward stares, but nothing more serious than that. Totti scored the first goal but was offsides, Manchester scored before the first half was over and it was legitimate, so the one point spread kept us on the edge of our seats. We tied it up towards the end of the second half and had a few really close shots, but couldn't pull off the win.
With only about five minutes left Meghan suggested we go sit on the stairs where it was sure to be warmer, and where there were more people who were more into it. I've never seen Italians act more Italian than sitting next to a 50 year old Roma fan jerking his hands in all directions til I thought they were going to fall off and issuing, with great conviction, all of the Italian curses I grew up hearing my mom tsk tsk my dad for using.
We soon learnt that the Italian youth preferred English curse words, as we had some obscenities slung at us in our native tongue while regrouping afterwards, but I guess I'll take that over a stab wound any day. All in all had a great time with some very European entertainment, and even made it out in time to catch the Metro home, which is always a bonus.
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