On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog

(Aka RSVP lovers)

 As I told you in other occasions I am been before to New York and every time I came here I never had the chance to see a New York Knicks match at the Madison Square Garden, either because there were no events or the tickets were too expensive for the pockets of a poor unpaid intern. Well this year finally Knicks started to suck and I had the chance to buy tickets for 16 dollars, thing that I did and went to see the game against Pistons.

The first impression I had was that everything was so showtime: I guess this word describes, even if it’s not an adjective, the evening of an NBA match. At every stop or timeout there was music, people dancing, singing, running with little cars (funny) and shirts threw at the public. A funny evening, I also saw the first match of Lin, that decided after that game to remember how to play basketball and dragged the ticket prices to levels I can’t afford. There was even a guy in front of me that knew him before he became famous and told me to pay attention to Lin in a future because he was going to be a champion. A wise man.

The fact is that actually in New York there is a business around tickets, that involve also internet sites like Stubhub, the most recommended one, you can find good deals, Craiglist, not totally guaranteed but still reasonable price, and Ticketmaster, the official and biggest one, but too expensive (for me, not for you maybe).

I used Ticketmaster to buy Jovanotti (an Italian singer and poem and showman and everything) tickets and Stubhub to buy basketball tickets. I would love to go to Broadway, buy the reason why I didn’t buy tickets yet is that it’s cold. Not inside of the theatres I mean, but outside Times Square. You see, right in the middle of one of the most famous square in world (just after Piazza di Spagna) you can find a ticket stall called with the original and picturesque name “Tickets”, where you can find millions of people in queue for a simple reason: the stall sells the tickets for the Broadway shows that aren’t full yet, and has available tickets at half of the normal price. You will recognize the line just by walking next to the M&M shop, which by the way I don’t know how it can still be open selling only candies (public image I guess, like the shops in Via Condotti in Rome that spends 30 to 40 thousand Euros of rent of the place and earn less, they are just there for the public image of the company, they have to be there).

I love the way tickets are managed here in the US, except for the average price of the events: I just can’t stand to se The Lion King for 80 bucks, my family will come to New York in April and I will surely have to take them somewhere, probably at some Broadway show, and they are seven, they will have to spend lots of money. I mean, I would spend money for Spiderman; it seems funny, but 80 bucks? Nope. I will try the assault to the Times Square ticket box will all my family, it would be funny!

The problem I have now is: pushed by the enthusiasm of the low price of Jovanotti’s ticket I bought two tickets, because obviously I can’t go to the concert alone, but I still am alone right now. I’ll see what I’ll do by the half of March, and if I couldn’t find anybody I would give the tickets to Miss. F. and her boyfriend, they told they wanted to go, I don’t know if they bought tickets. If you are a girl and you have listened to Jovanotti’s music before or you just want to experience the deep emotion of coming to a concert with me tell me, I will be happy to be an idiot with you.

(The first victory that got Knicks out of the dump, Lin first match and I even had a chili hot dog. What else?)

(Aka East Coast allies)

I actually can say that I am not the first one to think about changing my life coming to US. Beside Miss F. that you will know later on there are other Italians that are trying to realize their dreams in the land of opportunities like me. Two of them are doctor Q. and his sweet girlfriend (soon doctor S.), two dear friends of mine who chose DC as their landing spot to start the long race to success.

Doctor Q. is Italian and he studied in my same university but, believe it or not, I really had the chance to know him in NY, while participating to NMUN program. We can actually think that NMUN was a sneak peer of what I am doing now; the only difference is that I don’t sleep in a hotel right now. Before the NMUN I met doctor Q. at the preparation courses for the program in Rome, and it was love at the first sight. Not physical love I mean, but mental and artistic love. At the end of the preparation course we performed a two man comic show in front of 200 people, destroying every chance to have a future in diplomatic career.

 After the preparation course we flew with all the guys from our university to New York, and we both realized that US may be the place where we may actually belong. He is not working but studying right now in a famous and prestigious university in DC with his girlfriend, Italian and Canadian, that is studying too there political science. And, in the end, their dog Dakota, which shared the bed with when I went to visit them. 

I found a good offer online, with Kayak which you may already know if you are American but you can’t know if you Italian. 120 dollars round trip to DC, which is a fair price compared to train (which take three and a half hours and costs 150 dollars) and bus (that takes a couple of lives to arrive to DC and costs a couple of sandwiches). I am not very fond of crowded places and even if I like the train more than the plane, I chose the latter one for the price and the flight time. I even had the central wing seat, so I could completely stretch my legs and enjoy a quickly half an hour flight. 

DC is a mature place, that’s the first adjective that came into my mind the first time I landed there. I have been in DC before but never with somebody that is actually expert of the place (I prefer bars to discos and I just went around without destroying myself too much). I like the city, it seems quiet, with not much traffic, the temperature was warmer than New York and people seemed friendly and almost every guy in bar had my age. I guess that for university guys this could be a perfect place to study (and do the fraternity things we saw in movies that comes to Italy) (I would do that stuff if I’ll ever come back to university). 

Georgetown was another city inside of Washington, a totally different one, and New York is extremely different too. Three worlds I would say. Which I prefer? I guess you already know the answer. The Big Apple is similar to Rome, it eats people who don’t understand it, but most of the people I met told me to wait a couple of months to rate the city and my experience. In the mean time, let me say that there is no place like home, and telling the truth I still don’t feel NY as my home. You know why? Every time I smell prosciutto in an Italian alimentari I still want to cry thinking to the ham I eat here. 

(I even had the time to meet my friend Barry)