It rains in Italy?!?

As I was packing for my adventure to Italy, everyone I talked to would tell me to "pack my rain boots!". When I arrived in Italy, however, I was pleasantly surprised by sun and very warm temperatures (compared to back home, at least!). Tonight, however, begins the descent back into cold temperatures. It is raining right now and it is very cold. The 10 day forecast is not looking promising, especially for those of us who had planned to travel but have now decided not to due to a chance of SNOW on Saturday. Sadly, though, this is the "normal" weather for this time of year and we just got extremely lucky to arrive during a "heat wave". I guess it's a good thing I packed those boots!

Besides the fact that it actually does rain in Italy, here are some other things I have learned about Florence and the Florentine people:
-Very few people actually drive, most just walk everywhere. And if you do drive, first of all, you're crazy (a class got canceled the other day because the professor got hit by a car on the way to class!), and second of all, you drive a very small, practical car (such as a moped or a Smartcar...or a bike)
-Dogs are allowed anywhere and everywhere. Restaurants, stores, bathrooms, and anywhere else you can imagine. Unfortunately I don't think they know what a pooper-scooper is.
-There is such thing as a bad pizza or panini. You've gotta know the good places!
-There is no such thing as bad gelato, only expensive ones.
-It's not "grat-ZEE", it's "grat-zee-EH", sort of. If you respond with "gratzee", your response will be "pregee". I think they like to make fun of our Italian
-They eat meals WAY later than we do! If you go into a restaurant at 6 or 7, you're basically screaming "I'm American!!!"
-Most of the Florentine people are very friendly and willing to help you out when you need it :)

Well that's all for now! I don't have a very exciting weekend ahead considering the weather, but keep checking back just in case :)