I created this small list of interesting notes about Rome:

• Whoever said Italy is the fashion capital of the world was certainly NOT talking about Rome. Half the people look like early 90’s rejects from American fashion, the next 25% are tourists who just look cheap, and only the last quarter have managed to maintain my faith in Italy–because they all dress like Armani models.
• Speaking of models, Italy has kept up its end of the bargain and delivered on the gorgeous women. They’re funny about it, though: if you look for one, you can’t find her, but as soon as you give up a whole group of beautiful raggaze will appear out of nowhere. Wonderful.
• Situation dictates an incredible amount of Italian dialect; for instance, the word prego can mean “thank you,” “come again?,” “after you,” “what would you like?,” etc.
• Toilets here have the flush mechanism implanted into the wall behind the unit, and there are two buttons: one for light loads, and one for, uhmm, heavier ones. The walls and doors of public stalls are also floor-to-ceiling for complete privacy.
• If you’ve ever ridden the eBus coming back from 6th street–or any other bus completely overflowing with people–then you know what it’s like to ride the bus here every day. For an hour each way. Or more. With stinky people and annoying tourists. And no air conditioning. Perfect.
• Flip the light switches up to turn the lights off. Down to turn them on.
• Traffic here is amazing: any rules or regulations are more like guidelines, actually not even that, and it appears that just about anything goes on the road. Everyone seems to have a certain understanding, though, and it all works out. Riding a moto is incredibly fun, because you can go in the opposite lane, up on the sidewalk, in between stopped cars, etc, and nobody bats an eye. My kind of driving.
• Despite the thousands and thousands of vehicles on the road, pedestrians always have the right-of-way. You can walk across any crosswalk–or “magic zebras,” as I call them–and all traffic will immediately stop for you. I love to walk up to Piazza Venezia, seeing a group of tourists fearfully looking at the constant circle of six lanes of traffic, and just walking out into traffic and watching their eyes pop as all vehicles either completely stop or just simply avoid me. It’s great.
• One annoyance is the purchase of personal hygiene products. If you’re planning on traveling to Italy, I highly recommend that you bring everything you will desire, because they probably don’t have it here. Even if they do have your favorite brand of whatever, it will cost you two to four times as much, not counting the exchange rate.
• Guys are extremely obvious when checking out girls and couldn’t care less if they notice or overhear their rude remarks. I’ve been called a gentleman a half a dozen times simply because I’m not a creep. On the flip side, girls are much more forward, although no one seems to mind this (including myself).
• Nobody owns a drying machine. Hang-drying your jeans takes the laundry cycle from an hour to almost a full day.
• Restaurants charge extra to sit, but tips aren’t expected. They also won’t give you a cup of free water. This is ok, because there are ancient drinking fountains all over the city with continuous cold, clean, drinking water.
• A lot of the food here is exquisite, don’t get me wrong, but often I find myself craving some good ‘ol Texas grub. There is nothing here like American restaurants. If you see something that looks like American food or even has the same name, the taste is completely unsatisfying. Even items such as beef, ham, and chicken all taste different.
• Don’t even get started about pizza! It may have been invented in Italy, but America certainly perfected it. I have eaten a wide variety of pizza since I’ve been here and have yet to find one that tastes better than the local pizza shop in Austin. Deep dish is completely out of the question.
• Gelato, however, is another story. The flavors are sooo good and taste so real, that I feel like I’m in the Willy Wonka factory every time I go. The strawberries taste like strawberries. The snozzberries taste like snozzberries!

For any negatives that I’ve listed Italy provides a hundred wonderful things to make up for them. The countryside creates a sense of speechlessness and is every bit authentic to the postcard images that you may have seen. Historic Rome is impressive during the day and magical at night. The girls walk with a confidence that comes from their beauty as well as their spirit. I could go on forever. Italy needed barely two weeks to make me fall in love with it.

Oh, and Laura Bush is coming to my school tomorrow. Arrivederci!