rain.

just a couple of things.

a. twice today i went to take a shower and gave up, deciding it wasn't worth the hassle. literally the water comes out as a trickle. yesterday i washed my hair in the sink. more water pressure. really i might as well stand outside in the drizzle.

b. dog poop is really a public health hazard here. you can't take your eyes off the sidewalk if you hope to avoid it. i thought it was just a major issue in bologna, since people used to complain about it constantly there. but it's just as bad in palermo. seriously, doesn't one single person in palermo feel a duty to pick up after their dogs?

c. there's always extreme traffic in palermo. and it's a headache every time you need to cross the street. they don't stop for pedestrians unless forced. they will literally leave you standing at the crosswalk for hours if you let them. hell, i don't even know why they have crosswalks. in crossing the street, confidence is key. you have to just step out in front of traffic and give them a look like, "go ahead, i dare you to hit me." it's vital that you not hesitate, because if they sense doubt they will hit the gas and try to scare you back onto the sidewalk.

d. i realized i forgot my little screwdriver to tighten up my glasses with. i brought it last year when i came to italy.. it's really frustrating that i forgot it this time. it belongs to that rather large category of random things you absolutely can't find here. i'm still looking for index cards. and surprise surprise, it's impossible to find anything that resembles a map of america.

e. i felt my first stabs of homesickness today. maybe you could tell.

when i was in bologna, we talked about the various stages of being abroad. i remember hearing about it from older students before i left, and then my classmates' experiences seemed to confirm it. it was pretty universal: there's the initial period of novelty and excitement, when all of the little cultural differences are fun and charming. then comes the second stage, the homesickness stage, when all you can see are those little differences and they make you feel slightly alienated. you find yourself cataloguing all the little ways in which your new adopted culture is inferior. but once you get over that hump, you can move onto the third stage, where you take in the cultural differences and appreciate them, where you grow and learn and adapt and carry on with regular life -- or at least it feels like regular life, until it's over, and then you look back and realize every moment of it was precious and amazing.

so i've officially arrived at stage two. which means stage three will be here soon enough.