The first two days in Rome have been very exciting. The first thing that I noticed was that we were not required to do anything through customs other than get our passport stamped. No extra bag search or declaration of what we had with us. The drive from the airport passed through land that was more rural. The landscape reminded me of the American west, with its sparse trees and dry grasses. This was why "spaghetti westerns" were filmed in places like this.
There are trees in Italy that I had never seen before. Some grow very tightly, long, and tall. Others have a single plain trunk that reaches up and then sprouts small leaves only at the top. Then there is a large abundance of sycamore trees here. I thought sycamores were native to the Americas, but there are old world species too. These ones could be an imported variety though, because they look exactly like the ones back home, only healthier and larger. They are trimmed so they grow upward, and there aren't telephone poles running through them.
One of the highlights of Rome so far is the public drinking water fountains. They are constantly running with fresh cool water, and there is generally one every couple blocks in this part of the city. They are very old. Some come out of the sides of buildings and drain into marble troughs. The water is refreshing, and perfect when walking around the city.
An interesting fact: the European Union has put a production quota on high fructose corn syrup. It started in 2005. The pop here (or soda if you prefer) is largely the same brands one finds in America like Coca-Cola, Fanta, and Pepsi. However, they are made with cane sugar or fruit sugar. The EU did this to ensure fair agriculture and growth of agriculture. Recently in 2011 though, the EU altered the quota to allow more production of high fructose corn syrup as demand increases.
The buildings in Rome have smaller rooms than ones in America. The apartment I'm in is actually abnormally large for the building I'm in. Italians walk much farther than your average American. The apartment building I'm in is about a mile and a half from campus (I'm told that distance anyway). This is considered very close walking distance in Italy, though I'm sure some Americans would not consider this to be close. It is also in a very expensive part of Rome, where most of the housing is passed down through families. There are also "no lines in Italy". This was the first thing we were told about Italy by Gianni, the student affairs assistant. There is no such thing as a line in the cafe to order food for example. You just have to make sure your presence is known, and to not be concerned about leaving space between yourself and other people. Many people ride smaller/older cars or motorbikes of some kind. Gas is about twice as expensive here as it is in the US. I've taken a metro and a bus so far, and they were very smooth and more spacious than their American counterparts.
There are markets and small stores to buy food in. I've gotten some good advice so far about where the best places to shop for food are. I'm going to try to use Italian as much as possible. Other people who have been abroad were correct; as soon as people find out that Italian isn't your first language here they immediate try to speak English with you. It does make practicing Italian a little more difficult, but I'm going to keep it up. I hope that maybe the people I speak with will have a higher opinion of me if I try my best to use Italian.
I've experienced so much already, and it's only been my first 2 days here. Here are some videos of my experiences so far. Forgive my unpracticed Italian. The shots of the view at sunset and of the highway and garden are from a small part of the Villa Borghese, which is like a large park that overlooks the city.
