Living in Italy 101
Obviously living in another country and on another continent will have some big differences than what I am use to; however, some of these differences were a little weirder, bigger, and surprising than others.
So far, I have learned that...
-If you order a latte, you're going to get a glass of milk
-Don't order a cappuccino after lunch (I don't know why, but just don't, you'll get weird looks)
-Don't look for spaghetti and meatballs on a menu, it won't be there
-Don't sit down for a meal if you're in a hurry, you're going to be sitting there for hours no matter how hard you try
-Try your best to finish all of your food
-Don't turn away food
-You have to ask for service from your waiter, otherwise they're going to walk around and not take your order or give you your check
-Don't tip
-Don't expect salad dressing, only oil and balsamic
-If you're looking for ketchup or peanut butter, don't...if you somehow find it, it'll be more expensive than your rent
-Toilets apparently don't require toilet sets, and sometimes toilets in general (you will find holes in the floor at some places), and if you're lucky enough to find a full American looking toilet, you probably have to pay to use it
-Don't hail a cab
-You not only have to ask for bags at grocery stores, you have to pay for them, and bag your groceries by yourself
-You have to put on gloves to pick up produce at the super market
-You have to weigh your own fruit and vegetables and print out the price sticker
-If you don't do the following things above, you will be aggressively yelled at by the cashier
-Running outside here is not popular. If you do it, you will get weird looks, people will not move out of the way, you may get hit by a moped, car, or bike, cobblestone is just so hard, etc
-Dinner lasts 2-3 hours
-There is no bar close, so you don't have to go home at 2 am anymore
-Wine is the cheapest thing you can buy here
-I miss having a dryer for my clothes
-Coming to Italy from Wisconsin is good, the love of cheese is very similar and you don't have to go through dairy withdrawals
-Take-out and to-go food or drinks are hard to come by
-Be nice to the waiters and become friends with them, they'll give you free drinks and food
-People in Italy are very slow moving
-Italians do not normally wait for anything, if you say you'll wait for a table, they may come back with free wine (it's happened before...)
-Italy's gluten free food is better than regular American food
-Go to the produce stands on the street corners, the fruit and veggies are extremely cheap and the straight out of the ground or off the tree, it's the best
-You can't get free water at dinner
All in all, pretty much anything you do will be wrong or give off that you're American...I'll continue to try and learn their ways and blend in as much as possible...
So far, I have learned that...
-If you order a latte, you're going to get a glass of milk
-Don't order a cappuccino after lunch (I don't know why, but just don't, you'll get weird looks)
-Don't look for spaghetti and meatballs on a menu, it won't be there
-Don't sit down for a meal if you're in a hurry, you're going to be sitting there for hours no matter how hard you try
-Try your best to finish all of your food
-Don't turn away food
-You have to ask for service from your waiter, otherwise they're going to walk around and not take your order or give you your check
-Don't tip
-Don't expect salad dressing, only oil and balsamic
-If you're looking for ketchup or peanut butter, don't...if you somehow find it, it'll be more expensive than your rent
-Toilets apparently don't require toilet sets, and sometimes toilets in general (you will find holes in the floor at some places), and if you're lucky enough to find a full American looking toilet, you probably have to pay to use it
-Don't hail a cab
-You not only have to ask for bags at grocery stores, you have to pay for them, and bag your groceries by yourself
-You have to put on gloves to pick up produce at the super market
-You have to weigh your own fruit and vegetables and print out the price sticker
-If you don't do the following things above, you will be aggressively yelled at by the cashier
-Running outside here is not popular. If you do it, you will get weird looks, people will not move out of the way, you may get hit by a moped, car, or bike, cobblestone is just so hard, etc
-Dinner lasts 2-3 hours
-There is no bar close, so you don't have to go home at 2 am anymore
-Wine is the cheapest thing you can buy here
-I miss having a dryer for my clothes
-Coming to Italy from Wisconsin is good, the love of cheese is very similar and you don't have to go through dairy withdrawals
-Take-out and to-go food or drinks are hard to come by
-Be nice to the waiters and become friends with them, they'll give you free drinks and food
-People in Italy are very slow moving
-Italians do not normally wait for anything, if you say you'll wait for a table, they may come back with free wine (it's happened before...)
-Italy's gluten free food is better than regular American food
-Go to the produce stands on the street corners, the fruit and veggies are extremely cheap and the straight out of the ground or off the tree, it's the best
-You can't get free water at dinner
All in all, pretty much anything you do will be wrong or give off that you're American...I'll continue to try and learn their ways and blend in as much as possible...
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