Friday, January 28, 2011

Coffee Update



As I'm sure you've noticed, I haven't been posting anything about the vending machine from hell lately. That's because I've been going to the bar lately - the coffee's nicer. Now, this should be easier, right? No automatic sugar, or resetting to deal with. Wrong. The problems are just of a different sort. I don't understand line ups. They completely baffle me. The main reason I get confused is that the time you arrive has very little to do with your place in line. A second problem with the bar at school is that I'm not exactly sure where the line is. I usually stand in front of the cash, though that's not the only place people go to.

This is the bar. Sorry it's so small, I'm not terribly skilled with Paint. You don't want to know how much time I spent on this.

I only go get coffee with it's not super busy and when no one else is there, there aren't any problems - I just hand the barista my money and he makes my coffee. But as soon as there's more than three people, we have difficulties. I go stand wherever I think the line is and wait for the people ahead of me to be served. Soon I'm standing directly in front of the cash. Whenever one of the baristas comes by I open my mouth to say "un caffe", but I'm always beaten by someone else shouting out their order, as everyone who arrived after me is now standing around me. I think part of the problem I have here is that I wait for the barista to look directly at me before I give them my order. This repeats a few more times before I start trying what I think is the other students' strategy - just give my order whenever. This may be less successful than my other strategy - I get quite a few "un momento"s. Usually, in the end the barista takes pity on me and refuses other orders so I have a second to tell him mine.

And that is getting coffee from the school bar. Always more difficult and time consuming than originally anticipated. I will try to figure out what the other students are doing, so I can try to follow what they do - it shouldn't be as much of a challenge as it is.

2 comments:

  1. Michelle!

    I love reading your blog, and I finally learned how to follow you via some other program or whatnot.

    Just a question,
    Is ordering coffee in Italy the same as in Canada, or is it "weird" (for lack of a better, more culturally-diverse expression) like in France?

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  2. I'm not sure exactly what you mean by "weird". I'm boring, so I get just plain coffee (known to Canadians as "espresso"), but I occasionally get a machiato, or something else. I have also seen places with more "specialty" coffees, with various alcohols or flavourings.
    As for the actual ordering process, you normally pay before you get your coffee. Sometimes this means going to a separate counter, telling the person there your order, and they give you a receipt to give to the barista. The same goes for many things you might buy from a bar (ie not sitting down) such as gelato or a sandwhich.
    Hope that helps!

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