Day Seventy-Two.

• Blah, blah, blah usual.
• Religions again. Veronica's Veil.
• Didn't sit down for lunch with the girls at Akash because I wanted to study for the Italian test (did I mention we had one today? No? Well we did.) so I turned in a voucher and got focaccia at the focaccia place we walk by but have never gone in. It was decent.
• Studied.
• Italian test--did ok, I think.
• Gym.
• Shaved my legs! Oh yeah--you wanted to know.
• Mad Men.
• Split a pizza with Kate and supplemented the dinner with yogurt (healthy?).
• Started watching Some Kind of Wonderful but it was awful so I watched Duplicity (Clive Owen is so pretty!!! And that accent! Swoon!).
• Bed.

And now, what you've all been waiting for!

Note: I had hoped this would be funnier but I decided to go with things that are more useful/interesting to know rather than funny. Sorry!

What Italians/Italy Are/Is Really Like:

• very European in dress meaning fashionably and expensively dressed--they spend a lot of time, effort and money on their appearance
• everyone under the age of 25 looks 5 years old than they are
• everyone over the age of 25 looks 5-10 years younger
• on average, the men are not as attractive as one might think with the exception of Sicily
  **note: I spent most of my time in Alba which essentially has no one between the ages of 19 and 30 so I might have a flawed impression**
• they love Timberland and Converse shoes
• they listen primarily to English/American music with Beyonce, Lady GaGa and REM (can't explain this one at all) heavily featured
• shops close from 12-3, prime shopping time for us since we don't have class--it's extremely obnoxious
• most shops close on Sundays and Mondays as well...
• awful toilets--sometimes just a porcelain hole in the floor
• they love cellphones and are one of the largest markets for them, each Italian having between 2 and 4 cellphones, on average
• it is (apparently) not rude for a teacher or tour guide to answer a cellphone call in the middle of a class or tour
• in the North, it is just as rainy and overcast as one would think London to be
• they love the "colors" black and purple and primarily only wear clothing in those colors
• they eat dinner around 9-11ish, starting a little earlier (8ish) in the North
• the make out in the middle of the street/sidewalk at all times of the day
• peeing in public (granted, behind some obstacle) is accepted?
• 70% of the men are as aggressive as one would think and that same 70% fits the idea of the "guido" to a tee
• they are curious and talkative but usually shy about using English--most fear they don't speak it very well
• it is almost unthinkable to have a child not eat a meal with his/her family so most workplaces and schools close between 12-3 for lunch and everyone goes home to eat together
• Saturday is usually a work/school day
• they drive like manics in their little cars
• they are absolutely shameless photographers
• they love to stare unabashedly at you, preferably from a vantage point like a balcony
  

Well, that's about all I've discovered so far. Maybe I'll add to the list by the end of the trip--only one more month left! This is a good thing, but not because I'm unhappy here. In this next month we have some awesome plans (Florence this weekend, Morocco in two weeks) and I'm looking forward to them! But I also miss everyone and I'm ready to come home.

Until tomorrow! Florence plans yet to come.