Italian Chinese?

Because I am an RA, I often have to go on trips to the local towns to supervise. Last night a small group of us went to Bassano del Grappa...I think this was my favorite "local" town yet. We wandering through the streets and made it to the bridge as the sun was beginning to set, and it really was a beautiful scene. Since the majority of us were sick of the cafeteria food, we decided to go to one of the Italian Chinese restaurants there. To me this seems like such an oxymoron...Italian Chinese, really? I wasn't sure what to expect of the food or of the staff. Would it be Italians making Chinese, or Chinese making Chinese?

We got a big table outside and waited for the servers to come. When I saw that it was indeed Chinese people, I wasn't sure whether to use my English, Italian, or just wild hand gestures. Turns out that they did speak Italian, but to each other they spoke their normal language. Most of us weren't exactly sure how to communicate, so we resorted to pathetically pronouncing the Italian words and mixing in some "Grazie's" and "Thank you's". A really cool intercultural experience happened when the one international student with us, Zhou, began speaking to her and what I assumed was a dialect of Chinese. As he kept switching from Chinese to English to a little Italian, it really dawned on me just how much cultures are mixing, and what we can do to be able to effectively communicate with everyone we encounter. Just for future reference, the "Italian" Chinese was absolutely delicious- I will be going back again for sure!



This is a view from the bridge in Bassano...I highly recommend seeing it!