USA vs. Italy

What I DO Miss About the USA

Organized Driving Rules and Standards: I will never call another American driver “crazy”. “Poor decision-maker” or “mechanically-challenged”, but never “crazy”. I have risked my safety being a pedestrian more times in the last two months than I have in my entire life.

Foliage/Yards/Grass: My love for buildings does not diminish my love for trees and parks. Rome, however, very rarely agrees with me on this one.

Children Dressed for their Age: Italian children dress better than I did when I worked at a nice business casual women’s clothing store. A four-year-old should not beat me out in the trendy department.

Mexican/Ethnic Food: I paid $23 at the only Mexican place in Rome for the best Italian/worst American Mexican ever. I did indeed. And it was amazing. It was a ‘reservations only’ place that said if we could eat in an hour (as we didn’t think you needed reservations for a Mexican place), we could eat there. We’re American; that, very obviously, was not a problem. We had 20 minutes to spare to wait for our check.

A Bigger Wardrobe: Wearing the same five shirts every week is getting old. I’ll no doubt be so sick of my tiny selection of clothing options here that I will toss most of it before I leave. The washing machine fades them so much anyways. They’d probably prefer the trash.  

Quiet Nights/Mornings: Italians don’t go to bed until 3 in the morning. They must be able to function with very little sleep because they are out and about every morning bright and early. Will I ever get it? Nope, ‘fraid not; being the party girl that I am and everything…

And the trashman coming down my street wakes me up every morning at the crack of dawn. All I hear is a loud cascade of glass bottles being dumped into a truck bed one household at a time. Makes me cringe every time.  

Being Polite: My lack of knowledge of the Italian language severely limits my communication skills. While I am usually extremely polite and talkative with a waiter or the person behind the counter, I find myself trying so hard not to insult anyone here that I say as few words as possible while trying really hard to smile and hand gesture my respectfulness. I have no idea if it comes across as that.

Hadrian's Villa

What I WILL Miss About Italy

Cafes: I will never be able to drink Starbucks again. The concept of charging people if they sit down at a table rather than using the more affordable option, the “walk-through” bar, is brilliant. Annoying, but brilliant.

Coin Euros: Finding change on the ground is a lot more significant when Euros come in 1 and 2 Euro coins rather than bills.

Walking Distance: Vatican – Thirty minute walk; Pantheon – Twenty minute walk; Grocery store – Three minute walk; Restaurant – Two minute walk; Gelato – One minute walk; Church – 20 second walk

Villa d'Este

My Gas Stove: I know I can get one in the US, but my brief love affair with this stove in my apartment will be hard to let go.

Fresh Pasta: Nothing can compare to freshly-made ravioli and tortellini. No one can do that quite like the Italians.

No Tipping: While I know the prices of everything is raised to account for this, it is a refreshing change to pay the amount that is on the ticket rather than trying to decide how nice you want to be to the waiter and his wallet. It causes worse service because waiters aren’t working for tips, but at least they leave you alone and don’t interrupt your meal.

Mountains: This has quickly become my favorite natural wonder. I could stare at a mountain range in the distance for an unrealistically long time period.

Trivoli, Italy

Major Monuments: How many times in your life has a professor presented a PowerPoint for class, clicked open a slide with an amazingly intricate and beautiful modern monument, and spontaneously asked the class if they wanted to go there for class the next week? Because the building was only a bus ride away. Because you are in ROME. How many times in your life have three out of the five classes you are taking for that semester had a site visit every week?

Yea, it’s awesomely convenient.

Hadrian's Villa