This Just In

Rome is full of things. Many of them are very, very old. I haven't even gotten halfway through the 100-odd pictures I've taken so far. (I decided early on to stop being self-conscious about being a lame American tourist and to simply snap a photo whenever I saw fit. Also, I really like my new digital camera.)

I still do not have free internets. The Italian strategy of doing things seems to be to promise to do them and then to not do them. I am reminded of a quote by Dwight Kurt Schrute: “Michael once told me, ‘Don’t be an idiot.’ Changed my life. From now on, whenever I am about to do something, I think, ‘Would an idiot do that?’ And if he would, I do not do that thing.”

The Italians, whenever they are about to do something, they think, “Would it take effort to do that?” And if it would, they do not do that thing. This is probably why they were not unified until the mid-19th century.

It should be noted that this reticence to do things seems limited to the Italians in charge. The people whom I've interacted with so far on a personal level have been kind and helpful.

Yesterday, I was cruising through Rome on foot wearing my Nintendo t-shirt (it gets kinda chilly at night) and I was stopped by two gaping native specimens. They were very impressed by my garb. I had some difficulty understanding them, because they seemed to be asking which 'bookstore' I had bought it at. Finally I just told them I was American. They then told me Italy was a great country.