Submitted by Isabelle on the 2019 spring semester study abroad program in Rome, Italy…
I’ve gotten used to bagging my own groceries, and men with machine guns standing around everywhere, but there’s still other parts of living in Italy that I haven’t adapted to. Washing my clothes, for example, is a huge hassle. The washing machine takes two hours, and then you have to individually hang up every piece of clothing on a rack to dry and it takes two days. It has become clear to me that unlike America, Italy values the planet above convenience. Though at times annoying, if everyone in the United States followed this example, I’m sure our ecological footprint would be much smaller. I’m also not used to the cars here yet. They drive on the street very close to pedestrians, which freaks me out. Cars and people are kept much more separate in Delaware and New York. If cars and people shared the same road in New York, I think a lot of people would get run over.