People like lists, right?

Here is part one of my list of funny things in Europe.

- Italy has quiet hours after 10:30. If you make noise, neighbors can call the cops on you, and you can get fined.
- Your washing machine is in your kitchen. It fits a pair of jeans, a sweatshirt, two t-shirts, 3 pairs of underwear and 3 pairs of socks. Then! It will take 2 hours to do one load of laundry. You load it, figure out how to use its infinite number of programs, set the temp of the water.. then you press start and it fills up and sits for 20 minutes. Then it spins once every 15 seconds for the next hour and a half until it decides to spin out. Your clothes are clean at the end though lol.
- Bus > Truck > Car > Vespa > Bike >>>>>> Person. Also, you can't hear the buses coming because they're electric or natural gas. DO NOT CROSS THE STREET UNLESS YOU HAVE THE "OK TO CROSS" SIGNAL, OR YOU WILL GET HIT. And it will be your fault.
- It is not only socially acceptable, but socially encouraged to buy condoms out of a machine located on many corners.
- Italian porn is on during the day and is free.
- Bacteria.. doesn't scare the Italians. They don't like to keep things cold (..milk.. meat.. etc). They also don't have antibacterial hand soap or dish soap. And clearly there's no dishwasher.
- Along the same lines, people who handle your food (especially raw meat) don't wear rubber gloves. Which is alarming because of the next thing on the list....
- Bidet (bih-DAY). Worst invention ever. I don't understand them, I will never use one.. and our apartment has two of them.
- The country shuts down from 1-4 so people can nap. No lie.
- No such thing as mouthwash unless you want to pay 8 euro for it. 3 oz of peanut butter costs almost 6 euro.
- You pay to use public bathrooms. .80 euro.
- Electricity and gas are pumped in from Switzerland and Germany and it is RIDICULOUSLY expensive. And! Italian electricity circuits blow all the time. We had a hair dryer, two computers, and 3 rooms of lights on and the entire apartment went dark.
- Showers? They're hot, but you basically can't be in there for more than 5-8 minutes or your bill goes through the roof. Especially with 7 girls in one apartment.
- It is illegal to have your heat on for more than 10 hours a day. And they'll find you. Oh, will they find you.
- I can get deported if someone stays in my apartment. You have to register with the police as an inhabitant of your apartment and if someone reports that people other than those registered are staying there, the person hosting them can get sent back to the country.
- There are big, stupid-looking bins everywhere for your trash. There is no "curbside pickup". This isn't Applebees. They're funny though.
- Street sweepers not only sweep but wash the streets down every night. They'll hit you too.

I'm sure there's a lot more, and I really should start writing them down as I think of them haha.

New pictures will be up soon! <3