Miscellaneous notes...

Hey everybody! I didn't do much of anything today worth blogging about (just went grocery shopping and studied for my class), so I'll just post a few pics and write a few miscellaneous facts. Pictures first:

This is the entrance to my apartment, sandwiched directly between Caffeterià Emo and a hairdresser's shop. Doesn't look like much, but we call it home.

The view from our bathroom window!

The Vittorio Emanuele Monument. I visited it Saturday by accident! It was built in the early 20th century to celebrate Italy's unification in 1870 and named for her first king. This picture does not even begin to capture how huge this thing is. I must admit that, despite its modernity, I am very fond of this monument. The view from the top is amazing, too.

Italy's tomb of the unknown soldier, at the Vittorio Emanuele Monument. If you don't act reverent enough around it, the polizia will blow their whistles at you, and escort you out.

Random observations:

• Italians don't wear hats. I actually didn't pack a hat for this trip because I wanted to see what Roman women were wearing and follow their fashion. But when I got here, it soon became apparent that "following their fashion" means skipping the headgear. I don't know why, but neither the Roman women nor the men ever wear hats in the summer. Maybe they think they're dorky. In any case, if you see someone in a hat of any kind, you can instantly label them a tourist.
• One of my favorite local foods is called an arancino, which is a fried snack usually served as a primo piatto, or first course (what we might call an appetizer). It looks like a really round fried cheese stick, but it has spiced rice, mozzarella, and tomato sauce on the inside, sometimes with Italian sausage too. Arancini are soooo good, and Italian in origin. But they're expensive: at your average pizzeria, it's 1€ for just one small one.
• So you're hot and thirsty...how about some effervescent mineral water? Here in Rome the bottled water is often carbonated and so packed with minerals it tastes like dirt. Blech. So if an Italian asks you if you want your water "with gas," say no!
• One thing I have to get used to here is the fact that Italian keyboards are laid out differently than American ones. The letters are in all the right places (thankfully), but the symbols are all over the place. The key where you would expect to find the apostrophe gives you this: à and the key for the semicolon gives you this: ò and so on. The symbols above the numbers are all different, too. Quotation marks are above the 2. It's getting easier, but I still forget sometimes, so if you see me write something like "my roommateàs sunglasses," that's why.