My Greatest Disappointment
- csnyderaau
- Nov 12, 2017
- 3 min read
I always wanted to be a "Professional Basketball Player" (thank you, Love and Basketball), so when the opportunity presented itself, signing the contract was a no-brainer. However, outside of Monica taping her own ankles in a scene from the movie which planted this dream in my imagination to begin with, I had no real idea what I was getting myself into - on the court, and especially off of it!
I was in a brand new country, with brand new people, and a brand new language. Accompanied by a naïve set of expectations. As you could imagine, getting acclimated to my new surroundings came with a bit of culture-shock. Never mind having to navigate public transportation for the first time (in a foreign language at that), pay with coins that had the value of bills, or "communicate" with the upstairs neighbor who knocked on my door to fetch her bread off the roof outside my kitchen window (more on her and her lack-of-pants-wearing-husband at a later time), the most surprising and challenging aspect of this new life was waiting for me at the bake shop across the street.
I spent 22 years of my life in New Jersey and the Northeast, I literally "ran on Dunkin." Admittedly, I think I half expected to still be able to choose from 1 of 5 Dunkin Donuts in a two mile radius, but OK, that wasn't realistic. However, I could have Never anticipated that iced coffee - my life blood - would NOT exist. I walked out of the bakery that day with your average cup of what you could expect your grandmother to put on the table after a family dinner (maybe that's a NJ-Italian analogy), nothing close to the extra-large, sugary-artificial flavor-deliciousness that is the staple of an American morning. I was in for a long season, and career - I still miss my American coffee just as much!
An Overseas Survival Guide to Coffee:
1) Do Not get overly excited when you see the words "Ice Coffee" on a menu. You Will receive a glass of coffee with a giant scoop of ice cream in it. Not necessarily a bad thing, but not necessarily an iced coffee either.
2) Asking for "cream" is more likely to get you a mound of whipped cream on top of your beverage than a swirl of milk in it.
3) Be prepared to drink a lot of instant coffee. For some reason these dissolvable grinds are way more popular than in the States.
4) Don't expect a lot of options. "Coffee, Cappuccino," and if you're lucky, "Latte, and Macchiato" are normally as far as it goes when it comes to selection.
5) If you do find a coffee shop that offers more than these typical varieties, don't try to get too creative! Just because "coffee with vanilla aroma," "iced latte," and "soy milk substitute" are offered on the same menu, does Not mean your foreign barista knows how to improvise like your favorite Starbucks back home. Asking for a "Vanilla, Soy Milk, Iced Latte" is liable to get you a blended vanilla-soy milk beverage with no coffee in it at all.... Or a pumpkin one for that matter:
5b) Bonus tip: if you don't want a semi-strange, middle aged man to join you for your pumpkin milk shake, don't say "hi" to strangers when you cross the street on the way to Starbucks.
6) If you happen to live in an area with a global coffee chain (Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts), don't expect them to carry the same products. This can be a good thing around Christmas time when "gingerbread" flavor hits Europe.
7) Get acclimated! Enjoy the local, shot-glass sized espresso. Sure it's not your order from your coffee shop (*chain), but European coffee has its own virtues. Namely, it normally comes with a chocolate, biscuit, or chocolate coated almond or coffee bean!
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