Preparation

Today, we just barely dodged a near catastrophy... Jamie was on the brink of not going to Italy. "Why?", you may ask. Well, we have permanently "misplaced" her passport. Something, as you may know, is essential to leaving the country. But need not fret, we have ordered a new one, and, on the bright side, the passport will be coming in a mere 2-3 days before we are flying. Just in time--don't you think? So as you could imagine, my mom is pretty stressed right now. But other than that we're pretty much ready to go. Oh who am I kidding? Nothing's ready. The house is far from being packed up, more clothes shopping is yet to be done, the house-sitter still has to be given all nessesary directions, and our technology, newpaper, mail, etc, must be suspended. So buckle up and bare with me through these stessful last weeks. But for now, well... Ciao.

"Thing I've learned in Italy #4,#5, & #6": Driving

4) Roundabouts appear to be a legalized form of gambling... with one's life.


5) Speed limit signs are merely suggestions. Please don't take offense by their ideas. The implied suggestion seems more to be "do not go below this limit".


6) The most dangerous place in all of Italy is not down some dark alley at night; it's merging onto a highway. Seriously, whoever designed the Italian on-ramp was either into population control or a form of Darwinism (survival of the fittest). In the U.S. I'm sure the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) would be all over this...