Apparently in Italy--or maybe just Florence, I'll have to do more research on this one--when it rains, people stop what they're doing, and I'm talking about EVERYBODY, even the tourists. People stop what they're doing and they stand under the eaves of shops and buildings and wait for the rain to pass. Now, as this was our second day in Florence, my roommate Lauren and I had no idea. We had just finished up our placement exams for Italian, and we had to make it back to our apartment by a certain time to meet with our landlord. It was mandatory that we all be there from 5pm to 8:30pm and we couldn't leave until our landlord showed up and told us how to work everything. Of course, our placement exams ran long, and we had but 10 minutes to get from one side of the city to the other. So, naturally, we were in a hurry.
As soon as we stepped outside to walk home, it begins to downpour. It started out as just a light misting of rain and then BOOM, it downpours. We were the only ones walking in the rain. Literally, the ONLY ONES. We had people take pictures of us running through the piazza, and people laughing, making comments. All I could think about was, in America, we don't stop for the rain, we don't wait for it to subside. If its raining, we walk faster. Not in Italy my friends.
Me and Lauren learned something new that day, and now we know to stand and wait like everyone else the next time it rains. Or check the weather and bring an umbrella. That may have been the smart thing to do.
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