Some differences between Italy and home

• Graffiti is omnipresent. And it is ELABORATE. Works of art on the streets, metros, sides of centuries-old buildings. Very rarely obscene. Lots of nice messages to girlfriends and such: "ti amo maria!"
• Bidets. If you don't know what these are, imagine a water fountain that you straddle after going to the bathroom, and there you have a bidet
• When eating out, you have to physically search out the waiter to finally ask for your bill. He will leave you alone for hours. It's rather nice actually- restaurants here tend to make you feel rushed and in general we have a tendency to leave before we've hardly swallowed the last bite of food.
• Stray dogs are rampant. They're cute too, not that mangy looking. 
• Children ride motorcycles. and who ever heard of a helmet anyway? Maybe this is just in Naples, a city which defines chaos, really- they are one and the same. But there's something about the whole lack of safety laws that makes everything seem so charming and quaint, rather than gasping at the impropriety of it all.
  
• Nutella. There is no peanut butter to be found in italy, and most of europe as well. Nutella reigns supreme- cocoa hazelnutty goodness.
• Laundry hanging outside. I don't think the italians like clothes driers. And really, the clothing on the line looks lovely floating in the breeze.
  
• PDA. Italian is the language of love and yikes, the italians know how to love. Especially walking with their lovers down the street. Who said stopping for a passionate make-out every 15 feet ever hurt anyone?
• Cigarette smoking is still quite fashionable. You can find it inside restaurants, shops, heck- inside everywhere. Even the pizza chef does it while he tosses the dough in the air. Makes the health nut inside me squirm.



• Red OJ. The orange juice...it is red. Apparently they have something called "blood oranges" over there. Blood is also red, hence the color of the juice. what? Anyway, it freaked me out the first time I saw it. [it would freak you out too]
• Italian men. They are different from other men. They wear their hearts on their sleeve and their shirts two sizes too small. They love women. During my time in Naples, I was given free sodas; I was whistled at, winked at, and blown-kisses at. Boys took pictures of me with their cell phones, asked me to go to the "disco", and yelled "bellisima!" All in all, it was most flattering. Until I realized- wait a minute- these are italian stallions. Amore is what they live for, and they are scary good at trying to get it.
  
• Naked people. Turn on basic TV anytime after 7 p.m. and you're prone to realize there's no such thing as too much gratuitous female nudity. Here a breast, there a breast. Breasts for everyone! There were channels where women would sit there topless and men could call in and just chat with them. Not about anything in particular, just the weather or what have you. Point is, Life's a [Nude] Beach.