you live and you learn

sorry for my absence the past few days, i have just been doing a bunch of low key things i didn't think anyone would care to waste their time reading. i have been jotting down a few cultural notes however, based on questions people have asked me and things i have seen around that i think are pretty interesting and unique to italian culture:
1. there are fresh, spring water fountains continually running along the roads (picture right). they are apparently extremely efficient and clean drinking water that is free for the taking which is really nice! especially since you have to pay for tap water at restaurants, these things come in handy. fun fact: if you cover the bottom where the water comes out the water redirects and comes out of the top like a regular drinking fountain (which is a bit messy if you ask me but the italians seem to know how to do it just right and not end up soaked... or maybe its just me)
2. during one to four everyday almost everything (except for the one gelato place down the street) closes so that the owners can take a nap/grab lunch. which is a pretty awesome concept, sometimes inconvenient, but i find if you plan on things being closed and they happen to be open it ends out working out pretty nicely. i also have found i take a nap almost every day at this time for lack of anything else to really do (when i dont have class that is)
3. the floors are numbered differently, which actually makes a lot more sense. what would be the first floor in america is the ground floor, then what americans would call the second floor is actually the first. im pretty sure this is because there are not many basements because of how old all of the buildings are, but i was in one store that listed the lower floors in the negatives (-1 was the basement). but i guess there are never really that many underground levels anyways. either way, i think its pretty convenient until you get in the higher floors and realize that the sixth floor is seven flights of stairs...
4. my residence hall has a cannon (no joke, literal cannon) that goes off everyday at noon. the entire building is pretty modern in decor (literally everything is from ikea) but it is made entirely out of marble, so you can hear everything. so, when the cannon goes off, i swear to god the whole building shakes. now, no one seemed to what to clarify what the cannon actually means (i wanted to know if a cannon ball shot somewhere or something... there is apparently a jail two doors down from me... just learned that yesterday...) but i have not found the answer to that or the cannon as of yet. so i will just have to let you know.
5. doing the wash takes 3 hours. on the shortest cycle. and there is no drier. allegedly this is more "environmentally friendly" because it uses less water during the course of the cycle, i am personally skeptical, but with the heat and the amount of walking i have been doing lately, my clothes seem clean so i guess it works out, but out of all the prior things i mentioned, i think this is the one i am happiest not to have... unless there is a cannon ball that really fires somewhere... which i doubt... but hope.

anyways, that is all for now. i do have some exciting stuff coming up this week! i am taking a cooking class wednesday and have my first on-site class tomorrow! i also think coming soon i will have a post about what its like living with 8 other people.

finally, i just wanted to thank everyone for their positive feedback so far about the blog, i know there are a variety of people who read it and i just wanna say thank you to everyone! believe it or not i can track how many people check my page daily and it always makes me happy when i have a lot of readers!! grazie e ciao!