Milan Male Reading

Reading

The Rainbow Passage

When the sunlight strikes raindrops in the air, they act as a prism and form a rainbow. The rainbow is a division of white light into many beautiful colors. These take the shape of a long round arch, with its path high above, and its two ends apparently beyond the horizon. There is, according to legend, a boiling pot of gold at one end. People look, but no one ever finds it. When a man looks for something beyond his reach, his friends say he is looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Milan Male Conversation

Conversation

Yes, I grew up in Milan and I have memories of course, of what was Milan in the sixties, at the end of the sixties and the seventies. It was a difficult time because there was a lot of a social unrest at the time. It was the political – the society was highly divided into political lines. There was very sharp division between left and right, and so, the students were mostly on the left and they revolted against the oppression of the government. And to a certain extent, I sympathize with them. I was one of them but then some of them turned to terrorism and that was very bad because – and there was also terrorism from the right side, from the right wing. So, what I remember from the seventies was a lot of excitement, a lot of turmoil, a lot of opportunities for growing, you are being force to grow up. But a lot of fear and the sensation that everything was going awry in a way especially when some small groups turned to terrorism and they started maiming or killing people and the whole thing went up to nineteen seventy-eight when the Prime Minister was kidnapped and then was killed. And then in nineteen eighty, when – you know, the Prime Minister was kidnapped by a left wing extremist group, the Red Brigades and then two years later, a right wing group, a neo-fascist group put a bomb by the station in Bologna, in northern Italy, and killed eighty people. And that was a – that was the culmination of a decade that was not very, very, very happy as you can see. Then things started going a little – a little better, you know, the craziness faded. In two or three years, the craziness faded. It’s never completely ceased. Italian political climate is still very hot sometimes but there’s nothing today that’s comparable to what I remember from the seventies. 

Some of the Italian dialects are not easily understood in another region. Now, we have dozens of dialects. And I do not understand very well the dialect that is spoken in Turin and Turin is, you know, one hour and a half by train from Milan but if they in dialect, I have problems because it’s more similar to French. There are poems from an important Milanese poet, his name is Franco Loi, L-O-I, spelled, and he writes Milanese and – I mean, he writes first in Italian then he translates himself into Milanese. So, what I’m going to do is to read some of his poems in Italian and then in Milanese. The poem is called The Air.

The shadow of God walks around inside me

A time that comes from bones, from life, from years

And that of memory and of tomorrow.

I wish I could talk to that God

Feel Him in me

Listen to His wisdom and surrender

Learn I am His and who I am

But that shadow comes and goes

And I’m far away

And only feel the air of thoughts bringing emptiness

And after that, the evenings come.

You God, who hide your servant, have no mercy

Look for the dogs and listen if it’s me

Of course, man is dead.

He’s got no memory.

In Italian. [reading]

Now, the same poem in Milanese. [reading]

Florence Female Reading

Reading

The Rainbow Passage

When the sunlight strikes raindrops in the air, they act as a prism and form a rainbow. The rainbow is a division of white light into many beautiful colors. These take the shape of a long round arch, with its path high above, and its two ends apparently beyond the horizon. There is, according to legend, a boiling pot of gold at one end. People look, but no one ever finds it. When a man looks for something beyond his reach, his friends say he is looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Florence Female Conversation

Conversation

So, what happened was I was working which I’d never done any theater and I was finishing up my thesis and I – it’s almost like something hit me from above and I thought as soon as this is done, I’m going to get into an acting class. And that’s what I did. I finished – I defended my thesis, my master’s thesis and two days later, I was in acting school and I haven’t stopped since. So, I was working here part time as an adjunct. No intention of getting PhD, no intention. So, then they offered me – the person who was working at the time quit. And so, they offered me the interim position and then when the interim position was almost over, they encouraged me to apply for the full-time position and so I did. Again, la la la, sure, let’s do it. And then of course, afterwards, I – they – my boss, Dr. Wilson, who is also a dear friend, “You know, you really should think about getting a PhD.” So, to make a long story short, I started my PhD after working here full time for a year or so. And so, I’m getting ready to go to London next. And then a lot of things happened in between, which nightmare of PhD stories with committees and people quitting and they kept me pretty much holding for a year and a half. It’s been a nightmare but anyway, to make a long story short, I’m going to London where the university, the University of Leicester. So, I’m going to London right after graduation to defend my dissertation. My dissertation is on the political and religious aspects of Italian broadcasting nineteen ten to nineteen forty-five with special reference to the Roman Catholic Church and to Vatican Radio. In other words, in other words, how did the Catholic Church accommodate itself to fascism and how was that reflected in the Vatican Radio. There is – there were only two books written on that topic. One was commissioned by the Office of Propaganda and Development of the Vatican and the other one was by this woman, who was a professor at Boston University. She wasn’t given any access to any of the archives or to any of the libraries and she comments on that with open resentment on her introduction. So, really her book was a summary from – based on New York Times articles. But I was lucky because I got access.

But I think the fact that I speak Italian and the fact that I teach here, I just – I was given permission. I wrote to the people of Vatican Radio and they gave me permission and I interviewed them and I was able to get into their library and then of course, I went to the Vatican Library, which most people can gain access to if you have research. And then I went to London and I finished my research at the BBC Archive and at the public records office and sort of their investigative work to see – because the BBC monitored all radio stations during the war. And so, what I couldn’t get from Vatican Radio I got from the BBC. So, yeah. So that’s what I’ve been working on. [speaking Italian]

Empoli Male Reading

Reading

The Rainbow Passage

When the sunlight strikes raindrops in the air, they act as a prism and form a rainbow. The rainbow is a division of white light into many beautiful colors. These take the shape of a long round arch, with its path high above, and its two ends apparently beyond the horizon. There is, according to legend, a boiling pot of gold at one end. People look, but no one ever finds it. When a man looks for something beyond his reach, his friends say he is looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Empoli Male Conversation

Conversation

Well, you know, in London I used to work with people from different nationality. I was working with the same bank and we advice oil and gas companies. And so when I move here, I realize people that cannot-- I think they do understand me but sometimes they find it hard to understand. And while in London it was more-- Well, everybody has an accent so nobody really bothers about it. If too many people keep changing, then you should change everyone then. So.

Like here, become like-- Well, I'm a minority. For the first time in my life I really am a minority. In London you're really not a minority. I mean, everybody is a minority. The ability to find a national English speaker is actually rare in any, so that’s...

Male: Well, how did you end up moving to London and then eventually end up moving here?

Ah, to London. Well, to London it was understood, Italy was a bit of a lost country. Long time ago. So I wanted to go abroad. By chance I went to London. Oh, I'm an engineer. I'm an aerospace engineer. So. 

I started aerospace engineer and then never did my job. I work as an engineer anyway, in oil and gas. And then did a Master in Business, and then I changed to investment banking. And then why I moved to London is the financial side of Europe. From there I was fed up. I say, 'send me anywhere.' I was fed up with the city over there. And I said, 'Let's try Houston.' Never been here before.

So I just jumped to Houston. So basically I was alone. I was dealing with gas, with being in Brazil. But I tried. But it was too difficult. I would have like San Paolo, it would have been better, but there was an incident and Houston was the choice.

Well, in Italy we study in English at school. But we don't speak. We study grammar. So, I had to learn it after I was twenty. I started really to learn English at post-twenty-five. So that's why my accent, I guess, is now go bad.

No, I never had that. I took a couple of training before when I was younger. Yeah. So I went to school. I took, you know, exam, courses. And then really when I went to London for the first time with an Italian company, that was the first time I was in English environment really. And really I was understanding fifty percent of what people were saying to me. And then I started to go better now, and so now I understand everyone. I believe that was in two thousand and four. So I been living abroad since two thousand and four. Long time

So, in London for only for seven years and then I move here. So I'm used to understand everyone from Indian, Scottish. When I don't understand I fill the gap with some guessing. This is what I used to do. But when you go-- When I was used to work offshore in oil and gas, there you find people almost all sort of background. We not fluent in English. So then become a mix of everything. Just whoever can guess it.

Male: How did you ever make a transition from aerospace through engineering into banking?

Aerospace? Well, aerospace to oil and gas I used to-- I start in a business they used to produce turbine and compressor for oil and gas. And they were similar like design to the aero derivative or to the aerospace. So that was the link. That's why they hired me. It was in Florence, very nearby where I was born. Then from there start in oil and gas, then I move abroad with ENI, is our national oil company. So then everyone forgot I was aerospace. And then I remain oil and gas, and then I went to business school and that's the transition to finance. But in-- to advisor in oil and gas company, and then I been in finance.

Male: It's very interesting that you ended up here. 

I think I pick the right time.

Male: It's such a center for aerospace as well.

That's true. That's what I find out at the end I ended up being in aerospace but not doing aerospace. We're doing well-- Houston has been doing very well. Houston is lucky. But the bank is one bank across the board. So banking overall has not been doing well, but Houston is super out of this place. Unfortunately, we get paid according to how the bank perform globally. At least, I mean, there is a little differentiation. But. No, but Houston I think has been an island of economical health. Impressive. I mean price of oil and gas is doing well. Until they collapse, Houston is going to keep doing well. And yeah, overall it's getting better anyway. I think for everyone it's getting better. For you guys here in the U.S., they're doing great. I'm impressed about the resilience of the U.S. economy.

Male: Which is very interesting because of how many Americans view it as in such terrible shape. But when you look at what's going on in Europe right now--

Well, when you look at it, coming from Europe this is amazing shape. Right?

Male: Yeah. Yeah. And how is Italy doing now? Italy's been--

Well, Italy-- Well, here it's doing-- Depending on how you see. I mean, when someone is doing well, who's doing well? Mainly people that have the money still doing well. There are lots of people with money, that's what people forget about. So it's gonna take a long time before like sinking the country to a state like Greece is now. But lots of people that using like solidarity across generation the same thing. And so parents subsidizing children with housing. People have jobs, they don't pay enough. But they didn't pay enough before. So people really-- Well, I think now it's worse. I mean it's lowly, but it's gradually worse. While the world has seen—you realize Italy was in a bad situation. Like a few months ago. I don't know if you are following economy. Well, the bonds in Italy start to trade like seven percent. They said Italy is going to go bankrupt. Italy hasn't changed. So it was the same one year ago and then the year was going down. It was a slow decline. 

Now, perhaps, now the trading right now, it seems Italy is much more healthy. Well, the same as Italy is a few months ago. Berlusconi is out, there is a new guy. Yeah, it is a bit more stable, it's not going to change the country. Many people tried and-- I mean I think it's different. People don't want to change it so you can put it in gold and then-- I don't know. I'm not very optimistic to say about it.

Male: How do you think most people viewed Berlusconi. Such an interesting character. He's--

Well, for sure abroad had a very negative press coverage. In Italy, too. I guess it was too much of a-- Anyway, he didn't manage to do what he had to do. He was supposed to be able to be not politician to do same things that he did as much as the others. And on top he had all these problems, conflicts of interest and people didn't-- So anything he tried to do be more difficult to do. So for this new guy that is a professor university, this kind of clean-- If he try to do something people couldn't say, "oh, he's a corrupt guy," or "he's making for his interest." So at least you know there is difficult to be attacked if he has to do some kind of difficult reform. That's a big advantage of this guy. Nobody has anything against him. So that helps if he has to do something that people is unpopular like. Many things that Italy should do, they gonna be unpopular for at least for half of the country.

Mozzanica Male Reading

Reading

The Rainbow Passage

When the sunlight strikes raindrops in the air, they act as a prism and form a rainbow. The rainbow is a division of white light into many beautiful colors. These take the shape of a long round arch, with its path high above, and its two ends apparently beyond the horizon. There is, according to legend, a boiling pot of gold at one end. People look, but no one ever finds it. When a man looks for something beyond his reach, his friends say he is looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Mozzanica Male Conversation

Conversation

I'm twenty-two and I am born and raised in Italy. My village name is Mozzanica, and it's in the province of Bergamo, Northern Italy. I like music, I like TV shows, I like movies, I like comic books, and my dream is to become a voice actor and maybe open a comic book store. My village is very small. It has four thousand inhabitants and there's really not much to say about it. It's got nothing. It's got two bars, and that's it.

My major interest is in music. I like every kind of music, from classical to modern, from Bach to Martin Garrix. On the comic book side, my favorite comic books are Japanese, but I also love superhero comics from the USA. I have a bunk bed; I sleep on the upper bed. I have many, many posters; a large desk with a gaming PC, which I mainly use for video editing; I have various swords and knives because I'm passionate also about weapons. And right next to my bed there is a shelf full of number one comics. 

Italy is a very good place to live in, but my zone is nothing, nothing good because it has nothing. I am one hour away from Milan, which is the biggest city in the zone. And I cannot go there very often because I have no car; my car broke down. So, I go by feet, but by feet it will take about a day. And, woo-hoo!, that's my super interesting life. I hope to have help you with your accent course. And bye-bye.

Torino Female Reading

Reading

The Rainbow Passage

When the sunlight strikes raindrops in the air, they act as a prism and form a rainbow. The rainbow is a division of white light into many beautiful colors. These take the shape of a long round arch, with its path high above, and its two ends apparently beyond the horizon. There is, according to legend, a boiling pot of gold at one end. People look, but no one ever finds it. When a man looks for something beyond his reach, his friends say he is looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Torino Female Conversation

Conversation

So, if I'm not – Maybe I'm not supposed to tell you this, but maybe will help you. Some of the rules that you might apply are-- Well, first of all, we don't have t-h sound, so there's no "th" and there's no "the". And those will become – the first one will mostly become an f sound, so "f", like this. And "the" would become either "duh" or "tuh". And it will depend on the word. 

The vowel sounds that we have are mostly ah, eh, e, ee, o, oo. So everything changes to sound more like those.

As to say we never read the "h" at the beginning of a word. So, as I told you before, "hour" becomes "our" without any "h."

We tend to read the endings of the words, like I told you in "going" or also "father," which bring us to the fact that we roll our Rs. But it's not very difficult for an Italian person to make an English R. So you can decide whether to roll it or not. And even if you don't it will still sounds pretty much – pretty good, pretty Italian. As to say – but if you do roll it, consider that it's not as strong as Russian or Spanish R would sound. So, yep. "Arrrr." And I think that's it. If something more comes to my mind I will tell you later on. And as you can hear, my accent is still pretty recognizably Italian. 

Maybe something else could help you: One of the most common mistakes that even people who know English and Italian people who know English make is to avoid the S at the end of a word. So, whether if it's a verb or for a plural form, you will often hear people forgetting about it. So that could add credibility to it.

And English-speaking people when they pause and they normal speak they make like a "uh" sound noise – sound like "uh" or something like that. Well, Italian people when in Italian, we say "eh." And that sound "eh" is also means "and." So, when Italian people wells-- know English pretty well--and of course, I include myself even if my English is not that good--when we speak we tend to say at some point "and," and then make a long pause and-- Yeah, I just did it. Something like that. So that's also pretty-- I don't know, something that maybe you could consider about trying to do yourself.

So my Italian accent and therefore my English accent is a Northern one, which is very, very little represented in movies and stuff like that because when people think of an Italian accent they tend to focus on an accent from the South because it's-- I don't know, I think it's a little bit more recognizable and funnier because it's stronger. But we exist, too. So I'm very glad that you asked me to collaborate to do this project, and also that you are considering people from my area. 

What else? I've been studying English since I was eleven. And I'm twenty-one, by the way. And in order to improve my accent I've been listening to a lot of music and YouTube videos and movies. But the tricky thing with it is that you tend to hear people talking from all of the places of where English is spoken. So, maybe one video would be from a British person and the next one would be from an American person. And so you take-- You can't really take one accent. But I'm trying to lose it.

Also, another thing that could be useful is that in-- at school, we learn British English. So we'll do recordings that we hear and all the words are British ones. So, if you have to choose whether to say "lift" or "elevator," it's lift. But the exception is zucchini because, of course, that is an Italian word and we tend to use that. Yeah, I think that's pretty much it. Thank you again for what you are doing and for asking me to help.

Bergamo Male Reading

Reading

The Rainbow Passage

When the sunlight strikes raindrops in the air, they act as a prism and form a rainbow. The rainbow is a division of white light into many beautiful colors. These take the shape of a long round arch, with its path high above, and its two ends apparently beyond the horizon. There is, according to legend, a boiling pot of gold at one end. People look, but no one ever finds it. When a man looks for something beyond his reach, his friends say he is looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Bergamo Male Conversation

Conversation

I am born in nineteen ninety-five, of course. I raised in little country near a little lake, somewhere near to a city called Bergamo. And if you don't know, this city is near to Milan. That you, I think you'll know what is.

I started studying in the IT department. I mean, my school was a technical school, especially from the ICT subjects. Okay? After that, I started loving the security department, I mean. And I went to study to Milan, where I could do some certification or to be fair our Cisco certification, so based on the network technology. And everything's going with them.

Well, what I gonna say, I can tell something more about me. As first, sorry for my pronunciation; it's kind of bad, I know it is. But I learned what I know about your language from TV series and online video games. So, it's not good as I would like. But maybe if some help, if I will get some help I could get better.

I studied music for, like five years. Yeah, something like that. And then I started dancing, subject dancing. I used to dance twice a week. One during the normal week at the Thursday and one, of course, in the weekend because, you know, I like the discos. But there are only few disco where guys can dance above. But it's good.

If can I do a question to you? One month ago, I was hanging in the internet, okay? I talk with a guy who was from England. He told me my pronunciation is not-- I mean, it's not Italian. I don't know how to explain what he told me. But I wonder if he was right or not? If you tell me what's your opinion, I am pleased.

Crema Lombardy Male Reading

Reading

The Rainbow Passage

When the sunlight strikes raindrops in the air, they act as a prism and form a rainbow. The rainbow is a division of white light into many beautiful colors. These take the shape of a long round arch, with its path high above, and its two ends apparently beyond the horizon. There is, according to legend, a boiling pot of gold at one end. People look, but no one ever finds it. When a man looks for something beyond his reach, his friends say he is looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Crema Lombardy Male Conversation

Conversation

Precisely. In a small town called Crema that is not so far from Milan. It’s about fifteen minutes driving, and not so far from other cities, too. For example, Bergamo and Cremona. I study English and Spanish at a small university in Milan called CIES. My degree is about translation and interpreting, so the aim of my university course is to become an interpreter or a translator, but in reality I want to be a teacher. But I decide to study interpretation and translation, because there is deepest study of the language, I mean, of the meaning of the words, of the construction, of the sentences. Instead of studying, for example, modern languages and literature. But I study literature, too, in my degree, so I can become a teacher one day. Well, I started studying English at primary school, but the thing is that in Italy and in other countries there in the south of Europe, they don’t teach English in the same way as in the northeast Europe. So I became good at English by learning it by myself, not in school. And that it’s a sort of disadvantages for us, so I think that a sort of change in the educational system would be good for my point of view here in Italy.

Varese Male Reading

Reading

The Rainbow Passage

When the sunlight strikes raindrops in the air, they act as a prism and form a rainbow. The rainbow is a division of white light into many beautiful colors. These take the shape of a long round arch, with its path high above, and its two ends apparently beyond the horizon. There is, according to legend, a boiling pot of gold at one end. People look, but no one ever finds it. When a man looks for something beyond his reach, his friends say he is looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Varese Male Conversation

Conversation

I was born in Italy. I was born close to Milan. The city is Varese. It is located between the border of Switzerland and Milan. Now I’ve been living abroad since three years. The first time that I decide to go abroad for study, for example, I was twenty-four. I wanted to exploit the Erasmus Project Exchange. I decided to go to the Netherlands. I was studying classical music, and I took part of the first year of master there. After that, I went to Bulgaria, because I found a job there. Meanwhile, I was studying. I was taking part of the second year of master. I, as a musician, I went on audition for working in Bulgaria. I was living in the north, close to the border with Romania. After that, I wanted to change my life, and now I’m living in Lisbon, in Portugal, but and I changed the job. Now, I’m working in a company for customer service. I working as agent for a e-commerce project. But sometimes I’m working as a recruiter. Recruiter, I’m helping the recruiter… recruitment department. I’m good here in Lisbon. I changed three different countries. Four if I count Italy as well, with four different mentalities, different languages. Yes, Portuguese is similar to Italian. It’s similar with the grammar, similar to the words, vocabulary. But really feel good if I compare it with the accent, with the pronunciation. And I studied Dutch. I keep studying Dutch. It really, really different. And when I was Bulgaria, I was able to speak the basic. The survivor kit, if I can say this. Because it is a really difficult language. I really don’t like it, because I don’t like the sound. I don’t like the words. It was a good experience, because I realize my dream. I was a musician there, classical musician. I had a contact with a opera theatre, and after that I wanted to change the job.

NW Italy Male Reading

Reading

The Rainbow Passage

When the sunlight strikes raindrops in the air, they act as a prism and form a rainbow. The rainbow is a division of white light into many beautiful colors. These take the shape of a long round arch, with its path high above, and its two ends apparently beyond the horizon. There is, according to legend, a boiling pot of gold at one end. People look, but no one ever finds it. When a man looks for something beyond his reach, his friends say he is looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

NW Italy Male Conversation

Conversation

So I grew up in a little mountain village in the northern border of Italy. It’s really close to France and Switzerland, but it’s still Italy of course. And, well, it’s a really tiny village, so if I have to kind of describe it, I would just say it’s a bunch of little, pretty houses with nothing to do but hiking, and I don’t know. There’s a cinema, a movie theater, a church, a really Catholic church and, well, that’s it. So I lived there from, well, when I was born to almost fourteen, fifteen because after then I started to live in another town, so I kept moving from the other town to my hometown because there are no high schools here. So in order to get a high education, a higher education, I have to go to the city. So during the week now, I do not live here, I live in the other town, which is a little bit like bigger. So my hometown is about a thousand and three hundred people, whereas the other town is almost thirty thousand people, I guess. So they’re a little bit different, but they both are like mountain places so really different from Austin or Houston. And well, then I spent a year in Texas in Austin, which is way different from anything I had ever seen before, because like Austin is a really big town compared to all the places I lived in. I mean, I’ve been traveling around Europe, and I went to England, to Turkey, but those were always like just trips, so I never really lived there. It was just for visiting. Well, I mean, I’ve been also to other American cities, so they’re all really different in that, for example, your roads, your streets are huge compared to ours. So when I’m walking in just like a street in my neighborhood, I may think it’s like a high road, because like there are always two ways, whereas in Italy there’s always just one way in normal streets, except for high roads. And, well, just give me a second.

[Italian] Okay. [Italian]

Sorry, my sister. So I would just say that American cities, and Austin, which is the one I saw, are bigger, and they’re more scattered around. Whereas European cities, Italian cities, they have a town center and, well, everything is just based around the town center. 

Well, many things actually. I loved going downtown, even though other kids would not go downtown really often, just because you guys think that downtown is boring because there are all those skyscrapers that for us Europeans are really like cool. But then we… I also realize that they are just like banks and offices, but they were still like real exciting for me, so whenever I could I would go downtown, because that was awesome. That was like my culture experience. And then I also loved going to Tex-Mex restaurants because, well, we have this sort of prejudice in Italy that American food sucks, because all the hamburgers and fries we have here are from McDonalds, so they’re not really good. But once I got to the U.S., they were really different. So whenever I could, I would go for hamburgers or Tex-Mex, which was really good, so I loved spending time with my friends in like restaurants or fast foods. And then I also, yeah, I just love visiting the city, and also, because in Italy, you can start driving when you’re eighteen, I could not drive and I can’t drive now either, but all my American friends who were sixteen, seventeen, they could drive. And so they would just give me a ride around the city, and that was really cool because like that was something that I was not used to doing with my friends, just because we do not do that here. 

Yeah, so the thing is that I love studying, and the way we study in Italy is pretty different from how you do in the U.S. So we spend a lot of time on our books outside school, and so I read a lot for school. And reading happens to be also my hobby. So my hobby and my school activity are pretty much the same thing, because I love doing both. So I would say that I spend most of my time reading and sometimes even writing. But I also do other things. Like I love visiting museums and art exhibits and that kind of stuff. Yeah. And I also like concerts, but I don’t really get to go to many, so that’s not really a hobby, I guess. And well, whenever I can I just love hanging around with my friends and getting coffee and talking, talking, talking. I listen to a lot of classical rock, so like the Pink Floyd are my favorite band, and I also love the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and the Doors. And Bob Dylan and like all the classic rock and pop rock, folk rock. And then I’m also, I’m getting more and more into indie rock. And then I listen to a lot of Italian songwriters but not to the contemporary ones, just to the dead one, I would say. Yeah, I don’t like contemporary Italian music. Yeah.

Turin Male Reading

Reading

The Rainbow Passage

When the sunlight strikes raindrops in the air, they act as a prism and form a rainbow. The rainbow is a division of white light into many beautiful colors. These take the shape of a long round arch, with its path high above, and its two ends apparently beyond the horizon. There is, according to legend, a boiling pot of gold at one end. People look, but no one ever finds it. When a man looks for something beyond his reach, his friends say he is looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Turin Male Conversation

Conversation

I was born and raised in Italy, in a city close to Milan. Always been living here and I’ve studying English for, I don’t know, a long time since school actually. After school, I continued studying it on my own like watching movies, reading books, attending private courses. Right now, I’m using it on a talking for conversational purposes. You name it, I do whatever I can to improve it. I stopped studying grammar a long time ago. Not because I don’t make mistakes, because I do, especially when talking. Sometimes I know I’m doing them, and but you know, it’s not like when you write down stuff that you can delete it and rewrite it, so you just go with the flow. Because I don’t think it’s that important. You know, you can be very perfectly… you can have a perfect grammar, and then you’re not able to talk. And or you’re slow. You talk too slowly and nobody likes someone who’s very slowly to talk to because it’s a little bit boring, I think. And I don’t know. Whatever. 

Accents, yes, obviously I have a very strong Italian accent. I don’t feel very comfortable about it. I know it’s not… it doesn’t sound very good. Always when I watch the BBC, for example, and they interview some Italian, and he has the courage to use English, because usually Italian loves talking Italian. They’re a little bit scared or scared of using another language. The accent usually is pretty horrible in my opinion. Still, they say, your foreign people say that the Italian language is so beautiful, sounds so lovely, and whatever, so let’s hope also the accent is like that. And at the end of the day, I don’t really care about that. I care to express myself, get in touch with people, and communicate. That’s what is really on my mind. What else? I’m also studying Spanish. That is, I’ve been doing that for like a year and a half. And I’m definitely fluent. It’s so easy for an Italian. The accent’s not… Actually, quite similar, like it’s quite similar, the language, the grammar, most of the words, so it’s definitely a piece of cake for an Italian. Or for a Spanish to learn Italian, vice a versa. That’s it. I would love to start learning French. It’s on my to-do list. And one day I’m gonna start. 

Other things about myself? I’m thirty-seven. I work in the IT field. I’m a freelancer. So I have my own clients. I like my job, definitely. Sometimes it’s a little bit stressful, but nowadays it’s difficult to find a job that is not stressful, that is not like twenty-four hours a day job, but it’s okay. It’s okay. I mean, I prefer to be busy instead of being or having too much time to think about stuff. It works better with the kind of person I am.

Monza Male Reading

Reading

The Rainbow Passage

When the sunlight strikes raindrops in the air, they act as a prism and form a rainbow. The rainbow is a division of white light into many beautiful colors. These take the shape of a long round arch, with its path high above, and its two ends apparently beyond the horizon. There is, according to legend, a boiling pot of gold at one end. People look, but no one ever finds it. When a man looks for something beyond his reach, his friends say he is looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Monza Male Conversation

Conversation

I was born in Monza, and I’m twenty-four. Monza is a city in the North of Italy. It’s very close to Milan, and it’s famous for the Grand Prix’s Formula One. So I was born and raised in Monza. I live here for all my life. I just went to Dublin for one month a few years ago, because I wanted to improve my English. But yes, I almost complete my studies. I am studying business economics at the University of Milan. So I would like to experience other countries and other cities after university for I don’t know, maybe some internships or yes, some periods abroad, so I would love that. I would love to travel in other countries. The beginning in Europe but also outside Europe. I don’t know. Yeah, so I’m a very active guy in the sense of like sports. I love doing sports. I am playing football. I’ve been playing football, honestly, for fifteen years, more or less. I am twenty-three and I started when I was eight. I also love to hang out with my friends in my spare time. Also here in Monza, we have the park at Monza. It’s one of the biggest park in Europe, and it’s really huge. And during spring and summer it’s really nice to go there with a bike or running, and yes just hanging out there with your friends or family and so on. I have passion for English since I went to Dublin few years ago. I started to be more interested in British English, so I really yes, I like British accent. Of course, I do to improve a lot, but I’m trying to, yes, to imitate British people when they talk, like with their mouth, how they position their mouth, and how they do the sounds. In doing this, I’m listening a lot of like BBC, British radio, British materials. I think it’s helping me a lot, but at same time, in Italy it’s not easy to talk with a lot of people in English. Of course, I have a partner exchange. She is from the United States, and once per week we talk like half an hour in Italian and half an hour in English, and I like it. I mean, of course, I prefer British accent, but I think you have to be ready for every kind of accent, more or less. The American one, the Australia one. I think that, for example, the Scottish one, it’s more difficult. In fact, when I went to Dublin, I was also to, by to, yes, elderly people, they had a very strong, strong accent, Irish accent. And I didn’t understand everything at all.

Northern Male Reading

Reading

The Rainbow Passage

When the sunlight strikes raindrops in the air, they act as a prism and form a rainbow. The rainbow is a division of white light into many beautiful colors. These take the shape of a long round arch, with its path high above, and its two ends apparently beyond the horizon. There is, according to legend, a boiling pot of gold at one end. People look, but no one ever finds it. When a man looks for something beyond his reach, his friends say he is looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Northern Male Conversation

Conversation

I was born in Italy. I am fifty-five, and I live in this small town since I was born. I am married. I have three children, and I work for a small company that supply gas and electricity to many customer in all northern part of my country. I am a very active person, because I like to practice some sport, especially in outdoor, like backpacking, like riding my bike and my mountain bike, and to climb mountains, and also… and skiing as well. I am very keen of music. All kind of music, but especially just music and rock music. I… And I am a fan of famous singer, American singer, Bruce Springsteen, that I have seen many times in my life during his tour in Italy and in Europe. All the best. Bye bye.

Bologna Female Reading

Reading

The Rainbow Passage

When the sunlight strikes raindrops in the air, they act as a prism and form a rainbow. The rainbow is a division of white light into many beautiful colors. These take the shape of a long round arch, with its path high above, and its two ends apparently beyond the horizon. There is, according to legend, a boiling pot of gold at one end. People look, but no one ever finds it. When a man looks for something beyond his reach, his friends say he is looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Bologna Female Conversation

Conversation

I was born in nineteen ninety-eight in Bologna, and I’ve always lived here. Bologna is a small town in the North of Italy, and it’s famous especially for its food, its university, its arc gates, and its red color. In fact, it’s called the red town, also for its political thoughts. In addition, we have the most ancient university in the world. In fact, it was founded in one thousand ADA. Also, you can walk under more than thirty-five kilometers of arc gates. It’s said that Bologna, the citizens don’t need umbrellas because they can avoid rain very easily. And finally, the food. The food is amazing. I think we have an obsession because we can’t stop talking about food, even when we’re eating. Well, the most known dishes are lasagna, tortellini, mozzarella, tagliatelle Bolognese, and this can’t be confused with spaghetti a la Bolognese, which actually don’t exist. In fact, tagliatelle and spaghetti are two different kinds of pasta, and we don’t put Bolognese sauce in spaghetti. So when I read that, when I read spaghetti a la Bolognese in some restaurants abroad, I usually have an heart attack. 

And what else? I am nineteen years old and I am starting university on the first of October. I will study languages and economics, and I chose English, French, and German. I already studied English and French, and I can speak also Spanish quite well. I decided to add German because I think it will be more useful for a future career as I’d like to work for an import-export company and to travel. I love sports. In general, I prefer team sports. In fact, I am playing volleyball in an amateur team. I’m fond of Bologna Football Club and of Fortitudo, which is one of the two basketball teams here in Bologna. And next year, I would like to study in France for a… during a semester to improve my language knowledge. I love French culture and people, and I know it’s weird coming from me because I’m Italian, and Italian and French people don’t like each other at all. I love reading, especially social, classic, and romantic books. Also, historic books. And I also listen to the music in my free time. And my favorite band is Twenty One Pilots, which will be on, yeah, they will be on a European tour next spring, this spring, yes. And they will have a concert right here in Bologna. A miracle. Because all the international concert usually take place in Milan. The accent. Well, in Italy people can recognize people from Bologna, just by hearing the s, because we pronounce it too much.

Milan Male Reading

Reading

The Rainbow Passage

When the sunlight strikes raindrops in the air, they act as a prism and form a rainbow. The rainbow is a division of white light into many beautiful colors. These take the shape of a long round arch, with its path high above, and its two ends apparently beyond the horizon. There is, according to legend, a boiling pot of gold at one end. People look, but no one ever finds it. When a man looks for something beyond his reach, his friends say he is looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Milan Male Conversation

Conversation

I am thirty-two years old. I was born in Milan, a city in the northern part of Italy, and I basically spent most of my life there. And then about in two thousand and two, I did an exchange here, and I was sent to Galveston in the U.S. And this Galveston was a very little town in the middle of absolutely nowhere in Indiana. But during that year, beside being completely isolated from the world and from my family back in Italy, I fell in love for U.S., and after graduating from high school, I moved back to Italy. I completed my final year of high school in Italy, and then I decided to pursue my degree in communications and media, my bachelor degree, which is basically everything and nothing. During these five years of university, I spent six month in two thousand and eight, at the University of South Carolina Upstate in Spartanburg, which is in South Carolina. And it has definitely been an amazing experience, and that would help me grow not only academically but also as a human being. And of course, I kept practicing my English, which is still not perfect, I know. Once I came back in two thousand and eight in December, I already knew that before, but it got into me stronger, the feeling that Italy was not the place where I wanted to stay. So after taking twenty-seven exams and the final oral thesis, discussion, I decided to pursue my master’s degree in public relations and advertising. Which is still everything and nothing, but still it’s a little bit more specific. That was in Australia, in Sydney, at the University of New South Wales. And that was another amazing experience in my life. It lasted for about two years, after which I was lucky enough to find a job here in Singapore. And that was two thousand and twelve, the thirteenth of April two thousand and twelve. I landed in the hot and humid Singapore. And after six years I am still here, and I’ve been working for the same international U.S. corporation, multinational. And I am loving it since the first day. And what I’m planning to do next? Well, learn Japanese and I am generally thinking of moving to Japan. Not anytime soon, because as I said, I gotta learn the language.

Friuli Male Reading

Reading

The Rainbow Passage

When the sunlight strikes raindrops in the air, they act as a prism and form a rainbow. The rainbow is a division of white light into many beautiful colors. These take the shape of a long round arch, with its path high above, and its two ends apparently beyond the horizon. There is, according to legend, a boiling pot of gold at one end. People look, but no one ever finds it. When a man looks for something beyond his reach, his friends say he is looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Friuli Male Conversation

Conversation

So I was born and raised in Italy in the region called Friuli. It is in the northeast part of Italy, close to the border between Slovenia and Austria. My mother is Spanish, but since I never lived in Spain, just for a few weeks on vacation, we can say that from the accent point of view, I’m just Italian. In the last two years, I have been living in Prague, in an English-speaking working environment. But this environment, not many of the native speakers so actually, it’s basically an English talked by foreigners. So this is it. So I think it’s important… it was important to mention that I’m from the northeast part ‘cause Italy… since Italy is very long, we have very different regions, and every region has its own language. They are called dialects, but it’s actually they’re not dialects, they’re really languages, different forms that are not mutually understandable. Of course, in school and in television, we have only one language. We can, of course, recognize each other. We can recognize which part of Italy someone is from, but there are some differences that probably can be spot even when someone is talking another language.

Casano Male Reading

Reading

The Rainbow Passage

When the sunlight strikes raindrops in the air, they act as a prism and form a rainbow. The rainbow is a division of white light into many beautiful colors. These take the shape of a long round arch, with its path high above, and its two ends apparently beyond the horizon. There is, according to legend, a boiling pot of gold at one end. People look, but no one ever finds it. When a man looks for something beyond his reach, his friends say he is looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Casano Male Conversation

Conversation

So I was born in Casano. That is a city near Milan, in the North of Italy, you know. And I lived in a small towns. I moved several times in my life, but I always lived in small towns here in the North of Italy. My accent, I think it’s very strong between right now. I live between Bergamo and Brescia that are two cities in the north. The accent usually is really strong. For example, when I go to Rome, they always make fun of me, because for example, I greet… How do you say to say hello? The other verb to say that? I don’t remember. To greet my friends. And I say, “Ciao, [Italian]?” That is, “Hi. How are you?” Sometimes they answer, “Ciao, [Italian].” That is to repeat what I said with my strong accent. I don’t like it. For a foreigner, I think my Italian accent is noticeable. I remember last summer, I meet an American girl, and I miss her. And she always laughed at me because of my Italian accent. My way to speak in English. I am terribly sorry to say that I used to hate English, because my first teacher, a very beautiful girl, I have to say, when I was only eight, was really not able to teach. She didn’t teach us nothing. And I want to stress that she never gave us homework or bad marks. So the reason we used to hate her and her subject was that she didn’t teach us anything, and her lessons were really boring. I remember, for instance, that two years later, one day she was ill, and she couldn’t teach us the lesson, so she was substituted by the gym professor. The gym professor, since she didn’t know what we could say, just tried to have a little conversation with us and asked us, “What’s your name? What’s your name?” And nobody in the class after two years of English lessons, was able to answer to this. Without two, I think, was able to answer this simple question, “What’s your name?” Two years of English lessons. Figure out. Now, I have to learn English because I want to obtain a doctorate in England, so I am desperately trying to learn some English. Okay, I am discovering it can be a beautiful language, but the problem is that it’s too far from our mind, from our way to be.

Okay, my favorite language is Spanish. I am Italian, but my favorite language is Spanish, yes. Because it’s harmonic, it’s romantic, it’s melodiouses. Do you have that word? Sometimes I try to invent, improvise, to figure out. My second favorite language is German, because it is not so nice, but it’s not ugly. And it’s interesting because it has cultural issues. And sometimes it’s… they’re cunning. The, I don’t know how to say it in English, the composed words. Do you know some German? For example, house is Haus. It’s simple. But they write actually H-A-U-S. And not like you English that you speak or that ah is a, a is e, e is i sometimes. Double-o is oo. I can’t understand. Okay. Okay, I was saying the house is Haus. Ill is krank. So the first time I read the word Krankenhaus, and I didn’t know that word, I immediately understood that the meaning was hospital, because it is the house of the ill people. Or another example, because it’s entertaining, hope I’m not boring you. Garden in German is Garten and children is Kinder, you know. So they had the word Kindergarten. English can be nice. I like William Blake and Edgar Lee Masters, but I can’t understand your way to make on sentences. In Italian, it is not simple, too. In fact, I don’t like Italian. I love Italian, because it’s my mother language, but I don’t like it. 

Bassano Male Reading

Reading

The Rainbow Passage

When the sunlight strikes raindrops in the air, they act as a prism and form a rainbow. The rainbow is a division of white light into many beautiful colors. These take the shape of a long round arch, with its path high above, and its two ends apparently beyond the horizon. There is, according to legend, a boiling pot of gold at one end. People look, but no one ever finds it. When a man looks for something beyond his reach, his friends say he is looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Bassano Male Conversation

Conversation

So I was born in Germany, but I lived there only six months. So I am Italian. My parents were immigrated there to look for a job, but after six years, they moved back in a small village in the center of Italy, where I grew up. I moved myself in different regions of Italy throughout the course of my life. I live in the north, the south, and the center of Italy. So I have a good whole range over the whole Italian territory. I’m married, and I have two children. My daughter is in London with her boyfriend, but… and both of them work there. Instead, my son lives with my wife and me. I have a lot of different hobbies, such as running, cycling, rock climbing, and study many kinds of topics. Like learning English, for example. I hope that in three or four years, I will be retired. After that, I will go about Europe as an whole life tourist.

Modena Male Reading

Reading

The Rainbow Passage

When the sunlight strikes raindrops in the air, they act as a prism and form a rainbow. The rainbow is a division of white light into many beautiful colors. These take the shape of a long round arch, with its path high above, and its two ends apparently beyond the horizon. There is, according to legend, a boiling pot of gold at one end. People look, but no one ever finds it. When a man looks for something beyond his reach, his friends say he is looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Modena Male Conversation

Conversation

I am originally from Italy, from the town of Modena. I am twenty-eight years old, and I’m study linguistics and foreign languages. At the age of twenty-two, I moved to Sweden, where I continued my studies. And then I found two jobs in Sweden. I was working as a language teacher. I was teaching Italian to adults in a private school. And I was also working mainly as a ticket inspector on the trains, the regional trains. It was a very well-paid job, however, it was very tiring and after three years, I quit it because I didn’t have the passion for the job that was required in order to continue. And after that, I started to study again. I came back to university. In my… in the town where I live in Sweden, there is a very important university. It’s the University of Lund, which is one of the top hundred best universities in the world. And I started to attend Greek classes, just ‘cause I wanted to learn Greek language. This happened after I came back from a vacation in Greece. I spent long time there, and as I usually do while traveling, I started to learn the language there, mostly to be able to speak with locals that were not able to speak English or other languages. So after coming back to Sweden, I started attending classes there, and since I liked a lot of the classes, mostly because the teacher was very good. I liked her method, and I was the only student in the class, so it was a very personally tailored class. Private class, can we say? I continue, and then I quickly learn the language. And now, after two years studying, I can say I even master the Greek language, which is something that gives me a deep and great satisfaction.

Padua Female Reading

Reading

The Rainbow Passage

When the sunlight strikes raindrops in the air, they act as a prism and form a rainbow. The rainbow is a division of white light into many beautiful colors. These take the shape of a long round arch, with its path high above, and its two ends apparently beyond the horizon. There is, according to legend, a boiling pot of gold at one end. People look, but no one ever finds it. When a man looks for something beyond his reach, his friends say he is looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Padua Female Conversation

Conversation

I am thirty-six years old. I am Italian. I was born in Italy and always lived here. In particular, in a town called Padua in the northeastern part of Italy near Venice. And I studied as a psychologist, especially neuropsychologist. But I’m… I actually work as a clerk in a transport company because, well, here in Italy the labor market is a kind of a mess. And you know, bills and rent have to be paid at the end of the month, so that’s why I had once the chance to get this job, like in the transport world. And so I accepted the job, and I’m still doing that. But I’ve always, in my mind, the hope to be able to change one day and work as a neuropsychologist. And in particular, I am involved in our better… I was involved in the study of decision-making and behavioral addiction, like gambling addiction, and I also had a three-years internship in a hospital about this topic. And I also had a part in a international publication, and yes, that’s what I would like to do in my life, but we’ll see. We’ll see what will happen.

Modena Female Reading

Reading

The Rainbow Passage

When the sunlight strikes raindrops in the air, they act as a prism and form a rainbow. The rainbow is a division of white light into many beautiful colors. These take the shape of a long round arch, with its path high above, and its two ends apparently beyond the horizon. There is, according to legend, a boiling pot of gold at one end. People look, but no one ever finds it. When a man looks for something beyond his reach, his friends say he is looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Modena Female Conversation

Conversation

I’m forty-three, although everyone very kindly tells me I don’t look my age. Thank you. I was born in Modena, which is in the North of Italy. I’m quite lean, but I tend to put on weight if I drink or eat too much, and living in Italy, this happens very often honestly. When it grows, my hair is quite wavy and it’s going a bit gray, so I usually dye it. My skin is whitish and I have a pale complexion. That’s why I like putting makeup on. I’d say my smile is one of my strong points, although my teeth aren’t perfect. At the age of six, I moved with all my family to a nice village near Lake Garda, the biggest Italian lake. Once I got my diploma in foreign languages, I went to a university and became a teacher. I work in a private language school, and I love teaching. Why? Because teaching is both challenging and rewarding. Because no two students are alike. My family is pretty big. I’ve got lots of relatives, but my closest flesh and blood live with me under the same roof. That means my husband and my two children. I tied the knot fifteen years ago, so I’m no longer mommy’s little girl. I come from a large middle-class family, and I get on well with my dad, my mom, and my two sisters. And I’m already an aunt to a gorgeous little nephew, who was born last September. Yoo-hoo. 

I had a positive, idyllic childhood, living in the middle of the countryside, and I grew up to be a nice, little girl. Everything considered, I think my parents brought me up well. My mom and dad were there for me whenever I needed them, and I think that had a very positive influence on my life. But when adolescents came, I wasn’t ready for it, and neither were they. Maybe I wasn’t ready for the outside world. Traveling is my passion. I’ve traveled all over Europe, so Portugal, Spain, Germany. And I’ve also been to China. By the way, Rome, also known as the Eternal City, as you know, is the place where I’d like to live. And one day I’ll visit New York as well. That’s my dream. What about my hobbies and interests? Let me think. Yes, I’m very keen on yoga. I do yoga every week. It helps to keep me fit and think more clearly. I also like reading, especially French and English literature. And I love watching American TV series. My favorite one is Suits. That’s it.

Tuscany Female Reading

Reading

The Rainbow Passage

When the sunlight strikes raindrops in the air, they act as a prism and form a rainbow. The rainbow is a division of white light into many beautiful colors. These take the shape of a long round arch, with its path high above, and its two ends apparently beyond the horizon. There is, according to legend, a boiling pot of gold at one end. People look, but no one ever finds it. When a man looks for something beyond his reach, his friends say he is looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Tuscany Female Conversation

Conversation

I was born and raised in Tuscany, in a small town, very small town, called Montepescali. And the main city near Montepescali is called Grosseto. And let’s say, what brought me here in London, I mean, not from, I mean, you can’t hear from my accent but it’s like it’s been twelve years that I live in Los Angeles. And but I hanging out with Italians, so that’s why my English doesn’t improve. And now I’m in London because I have a movie coming up next week, so hopefully, COVID permitting, I can do this movie. I’m a set photographer. So.

Male: Are you having to go through a quarantining right now?

I did it. I did when I left Los Angeles to go to Italy. I did fourteen days at home at my aunt’s house. And then I… when I came here, I did a quarantine also here. So in two months and a half, two quarantines. I basically went to get tested this morning at the studios, and then I just came back, had my breakfast, and then I just left at eleven thirty. And I came back it was six PM. And seriously, I never stop one second to sit, so I was just walking around. Yeah, everyday I try to go out to different, you know, path, different streets. And let me see, I don’t remember the name, but it was like the Chelsea area. And it was like along the Thames River. [Tamigi] we say in Italian. And so the… I saw like two bridges, and I walk on these two bridges, because I can pull up my Instagram stories. So. Battersea Bridge was one and Albert Bridge the other one. This is my first time, very first time in London, in forty-five years. And I don’t know, I really like Shoreditch. I don’t remember that… the pronunciation, but I went to visit my friend there and it’s very… I don’t want to say that it looks like, but it seems to be like Silver Lake in L.A. It’s like very hipsters. And that one it was… Oh, Covent Garden. I loved it. Very beautiful. And there were like some artists that were playing opera all day long. It was awesome. And London is beautiful everywhere. Everywhere you go it’s like there is in every neighborhood it’s some… there is something specific. And the cemetery and the parks are beautiful. Beautiful. They are very beautiful, curated, I mean, everything is neat. And now it’s like fall so there are like all of them, the leaves. It’s like very colorful. Orange and yellow and red. These things, you know, I don’t remember the last time that I was in Europe like during the fall. So in Los Angeles it’s, I mean, you can see it somewhere. Silver Lake, you know, especially Los Feliz Boulevard, you can… you could see some fall but you know. I miss it. I miss Los Angeles so bad. It’s, even if it’s like three months that I left, but I miss it so much.

Male: What is it that you love about Los Angeles? Living in Los Angeles?

The weather, first of all. The weather, you can’t beat the weather in Los Angeles. Especially if you come, you know, to live in London. And then, you know, there… it’s like twelve years now, so there is my house. There is my things. There are my things. There are my friends. Even, you know, if I have like lots of friends in Italy, but you know. I miss Flore Vegan, my favorite restaurant. Even if I’m not vegan, but I love Flore in Silver Lake. Oh my god, I’m so L.A. All gluten free and you know. 

In London, you can see… you can find like Whole Foods, so feel like home. And there are some… What else? I saw that there are, yeah, all of the junk food that I never, you know, go to even when I’m in L.A. Like, of course, McDonald. I didn’t see Burger King, but there are another chain. I don’t even remember because I don’t like junk food, so I don’t pay attention to these things. Oh, Starbucks of course. There is Starbucks. No, no, for example, this morning I had like a chia rice pudding, and I felt very L.A. Or I bought like kombucha the other day. Like this brand that you find it in L.A. and I’m like, “Oh my god, I’m so L.A.” I love and hate that city, but I’m most I love that city. But I am very lucky because I got the chance to live in Los Angeles and learn, you know, especially the past two years, I’m… I was lucky, very lucky to work a little bit in the summer in Italy and in Europe in general. So you know, I did like six months in Europe, and then I went back to L.A., and then I went back to Europe, so you know, you can appreciate the best of both sides. When I, you know, when I’m in L.A., I feel like homesick of Italy, and so when I go there I appreciate everything, and when I go back to L.A. everything is beautiful. Even, I don’t know… Trader Joe’s.