The only foreign country I have been to is my parents's home country of Italy, more specifically in Benevento (the closest residential block of towns to Naples). The last time I went was over 5 years ago, so I can't remember everything in detail, alas :/ Let's see what I can remember...
- Cafes with ice cream and pastries galore were scattered all over the place! Packaged ice cream is pretty much dominated by Unilever's Italy brand "Auguri" (which uses the Good Humor logo)
- The main tourism targets in the general area that we went to (apart from Naples itself) are the Palace of Caserta and the castle in Montesarchio (I don't know if it has a name); if you go to the Caserta prepare for lots of walking (in the courtyard)
- The time period around August 15 (the day of the Assumption of Mary) is a major celebration here (for that reason). In Montesarchio there was a several-day-long festival with street vendors, carnival rides, and other festivities.
- Piracy was the norm for getting CDs and video games: all my cousin's PS1 games and all the music CDs I wanted were pirated, the word they used was facsimile. I have no idea why, and I wasn't too happy about it (I preferred authentic stuff). I ... actually did not call it piracy at the time, not knowing it was that =P I don't remember if DVD movies were also pirated, but I did have access to a few DVDs in one relative's house.
- Television: you have a bunch of channels, beginning with the RAI triad (like the BBC triad) and moving on in other ways. I forget if everything was digital or analogue but it was clearly over-air (i.e. not satellite/cable). Teletext is still a thing. One day, I actually did run into SpongeBob, Pokemon (I remember the details of this one episode but no one I've told it to in the English-speaking world knows anything so I'll get to it later), and Hamtaro....
- Mentos in playing card deck-sized boxes!
I need to get one of those boxes again...
- More TV: music video channels are still a thing. There were several different genres being represented there, but all of it was music made recently (at the time).
- Pizzas are small (think like big chain pizza nowadays small) and made to order (you can get a cookie pizza with Nutella spread if you want). There was one place with a humorous placemat showing a caveman trying to bite a wheel and deciding to use it as a pizza tray instead but I can't find it now.
- Here's one song that was popular at the time and whose CD I had a copy of when I came back (this guy's stuff is generally good); I don't quite remember other popular songs from the time but you can use that one as a time reference for searching
- Meal structure is typically breakfast in the morning, then a giant family dinner-sized lunch midday, then some quick cooked thing late at night. This wasn't unusual to me as one of my aunts here does the same thing in their household (I didn't know they had actually brought that tradition over though!), but it might surprise you.
- Breakfast cereal offerings (I remember this specifically for some reason, possibly because in an even EARLIER visit I remember a box of American cereal promoting some toy based on Hand from The Addams Family) and sodas, and possibly some of the other stuff I don't remember, are the same. We went to a supermarket once in the trip I am talking about; I forget what it was called.
I can't really remember much else right now, but it was great, and I'm not sure when we'll be able to go back. (One of my parents have gone on occasion when someone on their side of the family dies, but that's about it, and I'm especially not sure when we can go back now since we run a restaurant of our own...)
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