InterMilan vs. Rome Soccer Game

On Sunday this past week, a group of about 40 students went to see the InterMilan vs. Rome soccer game held in Milan at the San Siro Stadium. The bus ride was about 4 hours and we got to the game about 2 hours early so we split off into smaller groups and browsed the food stands and bought some InterMilan scarves so we could cheer them on. To put it lightly, the stadium was HUGE. It was originally built in 1927 but overwent a huge $60 million renovation when the World-Cup was held there in 1990. There are three separate tiers (we were at the very very top in the 3rd tier---lots of stairs to climb). The stadium can hold around 83,000 people, so about 12,000 more people than Kinnick Stadium.

We were warned extensively beforehand that Rome's team are huge rivals to InterMilan so we were suppose to steer clear of fights or riots. But I felt the teams were very sportsmanlike and there was only one crazy section of Milan fans who were lighting up red flares, waving huge flags and signs, and shouting things in Italian I could not understand. It was so weird to see people lighting up cigarettes and cigars in the stadium -- Italians are big smokers and there aren't laws like in the U.S. banning smoking from school property, restaurants, or other public properties.

Probably the most interesting experience while I was at the game was going to the restrooms. First of all, the toilets in the women's restroom were simply a hole in the floor. It was like a toilet seat at ground level. And there was no toilet paper--apparently you bring your own??? My friend Brittany and I were unaware of that before coming--she asked another lady in line who gave her a piece of newspaper while I was lucky enough to have some tissues in my coat pocket. And they don't provide soap at the sink....no wonder Italians are so fussy about not touching food with your hands....

Anyway, the game was great. InterMilan ended up winning 5-3 against Rome. It was really fun to shout the players' last names five times when they scored. (see video) There were also a big group of gentlemen from Israel who were sitting in front of our group who were really funny. They didn't know any Italian either but were having a great time jumping up and down, screaming, and just going along with whatever the Italians were doing :) We didn't get back to campus til 3am so I went straight to bed!