Today, Kelsey and I had a few hours to kill before our first day of
school so we decided to check out a gym a few blocks away. Once we walked in,
we tried asking the receptionist about prices, but it turned
into a really funny conversation because she didn't speak English.
Instead, she was super enthusiastic and expressive (as most Italians are), which was great because
we totally understood what she was saying. She could tell we were interested, so she pulled out a microphone, spoke some Italian over the loud speaker, and before we knew it a twenty-something guy had come over and handed us little blue booties to wear on our feet (no street
shoes allowed, apparently.)
What followed was a very entertaining tour of an Italian gym. Since our tour guide really could not speak English, the words he tried to come up with for gym equipment were hilarious. ("Thisa is the room for jump, for, uh, stretch, for youra feet-a-ness, yes you know yes?") We just nodded and smiled the whole time and understood about 60%. I kept having to look away to keep from laughing because the entire situation was just so funny. (Plus we could tell he was trying really hard to explain everything, which was so adorable.)
Unlike gyms in America with huge open spaces/tall ceilings, this gym consisted of a bunch of tiny workout rooms connected by hallways weaving every direction. The guy pointed to a staircase illuminated by disco neon lights from below. We walked down the tiny circular stairway for about three floors, and into a very strange locker room. There were tiny spa's everywhere you had to weave around. And, there was a WATERFALL. So cool! We walked out the other side to a (claustrophobic) small room with a pool. Another very good looking twenty-something guy was leading a water aerobics class. He was yelling into his microphone in Italian and jumping all over the place as thirty older women followed by jumping around in the pool. The whole scene was entirely too funny - the instructor's tiny tight outfit, his crazy Italian expressions and shouts, the older women dancing to techno.
Too bad the gym cost 90€/month. We would have joined in a second.
