Things about Rome I didn't know about

Pros:
Pedestrians are allowed to walk however they want in front of cars
Strangers in the stairway or on the street will greet you
People indulge in ice cream and coffees all the time
No need for a mobile phone (yet)
Lots of people speak English
Product giveaways for students in the quad (like WW!)
SANDALS IN THE LAB

Cons:
A lot ambulances with their sirens on
Tiny hot water tanks
Hard to tell if an ATM takes Visa PLUS, but they are everywhere
Thin walls (like some Emory dorms)
Clean water but old pipes
Drying clothes consists of clothes lines and clothes pins


Updates since my last day in Rome:
My roommate Eleonara and I talked about the Mafia. My Italian phrasebook told me to avoid this subject among others, but she brought it up and showed me this book by Roberto Saviano called Gomorra that talked about the mafia in Naples. She is from a small town outside of Naples and lived in Naples for one year of college. She says that everyone knew what was going on but did not say anything, and Saviano and his family now have 12 police bodyguards.

Eleonara is soooooo awesome. Last night she bought a bottle of wine and invited four of her friends over to hang out. They are very nice and some of them speak English very well because they studied in London. On the weekends she also works as a bartender at a club so Simona, one of her friends who I met, and I are going to go dancing. She is also planning on taking me to Naples to see the city and her home town and to the beach at Ostia, Rome's port city. I could not have asked for a better roommate!

There are tons of smart cars here, but they aren't very safe, driving or parked. Eleonara used to have a car but it got stolen one night.

My insurance was approved today, so I got to handle the new rats that came in. They have to become especially accustomed to human handling because of my project on the effect of the environment. We are hoping to control for the stress of human handling. A lot of the protocols are very similar here as in the United States. I think we might recycle a lot less though. Anyway 60 animals coming next Thursday! In the mean time I will play with these guys.