A Little Act of Kindness in... Rome!

Whenever I heard people talking about Rome, they often complained about the prevalence of pickpockets at crowded and touristy areas. I even read from a travel book that a man almost lost his wallet as two Gypsy girls approached him and one of them lifted her shirt to show her bare breasts, but the man was conscious enough not to stare at the pair for too long and managed to keep his belonging intact. True story or not, I am not sure but I definitely read this from a book. The author might have exaggerated quite a bit (?)

Most importantly, on my train from Pisa to Rome, I even overheard some other locals (I presume) telling the tourists to be careful as Rome is a "City of Robbers". I was like..."what the hell?"... I then approached some other Italians in the same train cabin and they were smiling and telling me that it's not that bad. Oh well, that was quite assuring? x.X

After hearing such stories, I did what I could to make sure that my things won't get stolen. Placing a lock on my bag, putting my cash in the deepest pocket inside my bag, and distributing my cash at different places... (p/s: i didn't place my cash in my bra or in my socks, if you are desperate, you could do that. Or if you like having something touching your stomach as you move, you can get those traveller belt which I think is useless and uncomfortable)

Fast forward the story a little...

My boyfriend and I went to this famous Italian pizza place (can't remember the name, maybe is Buffeto?) and there was already a queue. As I joined the queue, I started talking to a guy in front of me. (My boyfriend went to have a look at the pizzeria. )

The conversation was something like this...:

Me: Hello, do you speak English? (Because quite a few of them don't!)

Italian guy: Yes...? (He wore a pair of glasses and he definitely looked very educated!)

Me: Oh great! Is it your first time here?

Italian guy: No.

Me: I see. Do you have any recommendation?

Italian guy: Probably the most basic pizza? Margarita?

Me: I often heard people saying about a type of pizza which has an egg within. Have you heard about it?

Italian guy: Huh? Probably it is best to have the most original one...

(And my boyfriend got back at this time, and they introduced themselves to each other)

... ...

Alright, so his name starts with M, and I would use "M" from now onward since to me it would be more respectful...

M then asked us about the life in Singapore since he considered doing an MBA in SMU, Singapore. And he told us that he had an interesting Italian friend who worked in China as someone who just has to be chauffeured to go to clubs and parties (show his face). And that is his JOB!!!!!

After some interesting talk, it was finally our turn to be seated! Eventually we had dinner together as it was always nice to talk to new people and I like the idea of talking to a local as he is definitely more familiar about the place than us! 

While we were having our delicious pizzas, we found out that his girlfriend is in US. Being in a long distance relationship is definitely something in common between us and M! We even recommended him to use FaceTime instead of Skype because Skype video calling is so crappy. :P

When the bill came, we wanted to pay the bill for all of us but he was quicker than us!!! He was really kind and bought us dinner, because he said that we are his guests. We wanted to get him some desserts or drinks after that but we just parted ways. Nevertheless, we added each other on Facebook and we are still in contact! He is coming to London with his girlfriend and I definitely look forward to seeing them both.

Thank you M, for being such a nice and friendly host. You definitely make our trip in Rome a very very memorable one. And... I shall look forward to seeing you guys soon in August!!