Inaugural reception for Singaporeans living in Italy

I was invited to an inaugural reception yesterday evening, among  a number of other Singaporeans, living in Italy.

It was hosted by Ambassador Loo Choon Yong (I first met him in 2009) to introduce the newly appointed Consul-General, Dr Nicolo’ Marzotto.

By the way, while there isn’t a Singaporean embassy, (as the Singaporean community living in Italy isn’t that large) there is a consulate where you could do bureaucratic matters such as passport matters and overseas voting.

The reception was held at at Il Palazzetto, which is located near Piazza di Spagna.

In all honesty, I felt uncomfortable there in the beginning as it was a very formal event (we were all in lounge suits) and I was surrounded by people of a different league than I am so I felt really awkward and flustered and didn’t know what to say. I was regretting in coming and told Cart that I really wanted to go back home.

But I’m glad that I stuck around longer as I got to meet a number of really friendly Singaporeans there. Such as Elizabeth, a passionate fashion student who came all the way from Firenze to attend this event, as well as Sindy, who has lived in Rome for only a few months and seems to be adjusting well here.

There were also a number of other interesting Singaporeans there whom I really enjoyed chatting with, but I didn’t take much pictures with, as the lighting was dark. There was one lady that has lived in Rome for the past 7 years but this was the first time that she’s met any other Singaporeans!

As the event drawed to a close, we exchanged contacts with each other before we left (I gave out my card, as usual hehe) to keep in touch.

Some of us adjourned later to a restaurant nearby called La Rampa which by the way, I think is the prettiest restaurant that I’ve ever been in, in Rome.

I loved being here. It was decorated to look as if we were outdoors in a piazza, so where we were sitting, there were flowers and vines on top of us and all around the walls there were faux windows and steps and doors. It was so charming.

With what I’ve tasted though, I’m not such a big fan of the food here and I think that there are better food in Rome.

My gnochetti alla sorrentina wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t anything to shout about.

Cart’s pasta with pesto was bitter, probably because they mixed the branch into the mixture instead of just the leaves. Speaking of which, Eu Chai found an interesting ingredient in a pesto he bought in Singapore.

I’m not an expert on Sachertorte, but I didn’t enjoy eating this. Look at the cake, it’s not at all dense and you could easily squash it to 1/4 of the size.

My biggest disappointment was in the tiramisu which was highly recommended on Tripadvisor and Foursquare. Just no! I didn’t like this at all! What happened? Was the chef in a bad mood?

Nevertheless, what more than made up for the lacklustre food was the wonderful company that I was with. I spent most of the evening chatting with Nicolette, who’s been living in Rome for about twenty years and she’s one the loveliest person I know. She has this calm and regal demeanour that I admire and wish I could emulate 🙂

And next to her, the blurry guy is Eu Chai, who is such a fascinating person to talk to. He has loads of stories and interesting experiences and isn’t afraid to give his unbiased opinion about what he thinks on something. By the way, he’s a tour agent so if there are anyone who wants to hire him, please contact him 🙂

There was also the charming Seema who is always interesting to talk to (I didn’t get to talk much to her as she was sitting at the other corner of the table) and new friends Alex, Sam and Dario.

(See how very pretty La Rampa is?)

I feel very comfortable talking to them and feel blessed to have met and know these lovely people. In the end, I had a pleasant evening after all 🙂

Sidenote : By the way, I also have to add how pleasantly surprised I was when so many came up to me, telling me that the recognize me from my blog and how useful Marina’s Bloggariffic has been for them. Feels so nice to be appreciated! I felt like doing cartwheels!

Another sidenote : Something interesting I found out from the meet yesterday is that new immigrants are required to fulfill points in a two year period before they are given a residence permit.