So far, I've only really talked about what I've done here, but I'm sure some of you are interested in the difference in their culture and the ways they do every day things.

One thing we've noticed that we do really differently is the way we shop for food. Everyone here seems to shop every day, so food is never sold in bulk. There also don't seem to be any big families (which might partly be because we're in the city). Because I have six roommates, we shop for a lot more people than the average Florentine, so we stick out even more.

Packaging of food is not like it is in America. Like I said before, quantities are smaller, but bottles are also taller and skinnier. Milk is sold in rectangular paper containers sort of like quart cartons, but with caps. Eggs come as 4, 6, or 10. Mozzarella comes in balls. I haven't seen any cheese except parmesan sold in blocks.

Shops all have tiny store fronts and then expand in the back. Stores, restaurants, and pubs are usually on the first floor with apartments and hotels above. The apartments and hotels have their entrances on the ground level, too, but only take up a small portion of the ground floor, enough for stairs and maybe an elevator. Then the ground floor stores, restaurants, and pubs kind of sprawl into the rest of the free space in a sort of weird, serpentine, cavernous way.

The cars are also really different. The streets are tiny and the cars literally park bumper to bumper, so all the cars are teeny tiny and the front wheels must be able to turn completely sideways. We even saw a one seater car. I've started taking pictures of cars because they're so fascinating. The police cars look like little mice or bunnies because they're tiny and then they have two blue lights (and sometimes a third white one) that look like little ears. I'll put an album up on york soon if anyone's interested.

I haven't eaten a traditional Italian lunch yet, so I can't say too much about the food. They don't eat much breakfast, but they take several hours to eat a several course meal in the middle of the day. A lot of the shops shut down during that time so everyone can eat. Then they eat a small dinner much later than we do at home.

It's warmer here than in America, but the Italians still bundle up as if it's freezing. Scarves are a big thing and they don't really have brightly colored coats and backpacks as much as we do. Style is much more muted and sort of a dressed up casual. Patterns aren't a huge thing either. Boots, solid colors, scarves, and nicer dark-colored coats are the norm. I haven't really seen any Italians wearing baggy clothes or sneakers, either.