Siracusa and New York

Life has been pretty busy lately - it seems all my friends are turning 18 right now, I just got back from a school trip to Siracusa and I've been organising a tour in the north. 
I plan on doing a post on Siracusa, so look out for that, but a few random things I noticed: we stayed at a resort-like hotel that caters to French people. As it's pretty obvious that I'm not Italian, they assumed I was French. I've never heard so many "Bonjour!"s, and "bonsoir!"s in my life. We saw two Greek tragedies (in Italian), Filotette and Andromaca - amazing! Also, Italian buffets will be the death of me. Siracusa isn't that far away from Palermo, less than four hours. This didn't stop my friends from complaining about the length of the trip... Oh if only they knew...
Secondly, my classmate just got back from a trip the New York, where she participated in the Model UN program. Other than some language issues (model UN is in English), she said she had a great time, and enjoyed seeing the monuments, museums, parks and streets of New York, as well as meeting new people. She mentioned a few interesting things about the US, though. 
She said it was more difficult to eat healthier. A street hotdog, or fast-food hamburger, large fries and a pop was a few dollars, meanwhile a good sandwich, salad or soup would be double that. She also complained that bottled water cost way more. She didn't have a problem with the tap water at restaurants, the hotel, wherever, but when you're out in the city, and want something to drink, it would be way cheaper to buy pop than water. And she noted that pop was far larger. In Italy, bottles are usually 250 ml, cans maybe 330 ml. A "party" or "family" sized would be 1.5 litres. I haven't encountered fountain pop. (But then again, I can count the number of times I've had pop here on the fingers of one hand, and haven't gone to any fast food places). Compare to North America where bottles are 560 ml, 2 and 3 litres, even the cans larger at 355 ml. And of course, fountain pop larger than my water bottle. And she said that the people of New York were always in a rush, never slowing to say hello, and she didn't hear many "excuse me"s. 
I liked hearing her perspective on America, and I sympathised with her language obstacles, and it sounds like she had a lot of fun on her trip. 
That's all for now!

UPDATE: McDonalds here does, in fact, have fountain pop. I was out with my friend and her brother and they were hungry, so we went to McDonalds for some chicken nuggets and fries. It seems that McDonalds is more expensive here, but I wouldn't really know as I never eat I at home either. They have a €1 menu, where you can buy a small hamburger, "toast" (think: grilled cheese), and you can get a double cheeseburger for €2. But a Big Mac meal is nearly €7 - for that money I could get a good sandwich, fruit from a stand, gelato, coffee and a bottle of water. Obvious which I prefer. 
My friend and her brother split chicken nuggets and fries, so I tried a nugget. Sorry, I still don't like them. I was then made fun of for not liking fast food.