Take a picture, it'll last longer!

01/16/2009 Fiesole 10:06 p.m.
Today I had my first real encounter with the perceived creepiness of Italian men toward American women. Up until now I did not realize why the girls who went in previous years had so many stories about their encounters with Italian men. To me they seemed just like American men, but that was before today. The first encounter happened when Ania, Allyson, and I were standing at a bus stop at the Piazza di Michelangelo for about a half hour waiting for the next bus. It was around rush hour, so lots of cars were passing. It was so hilarious to see the head of each Italian man who passed by turn to stare at us as. It is not a subtle stare either. It is a full on, shameless, I don't care if you see me staring at you kind of stare. And these are not some hot 20 somethings, these are old Italian men with their long blackish gray hair greased back, wearing leather jackets, staring at you down their pointy noses. Creepy, right?!? But the story does not stop there. There was a carload of 20 something Italian men who slowed down to stare, and the one in the passenger seat pulled out a camera. This wasn't just any camera though, it was a huge SLR professional camera. We just burst out laughing and gave them a little wave. A little bit later a car passed, and the man actually slammed on his brakes in rush-hour traffic to take a closer look. I swear, sometimes I feel like an animal in a zoo or something! Italian men are just so enthralled with American girls. We think it is because we are much more outgoing than the Italian women. When we are together we laugh and talk and have a grand-old time, but Italian women tend to be guarded and less inclined to smile and laugh in public. Whatever it is that draws Italian men to us American girls, it is quite amusing to see their reaction to us. There were also some very cute Italian carpentry workers returning home for the day at the bus station who beckoned to us girls to get on the bus with them. We had just been saying how cute they were, but it was not until they called out to us that we noticed that one of them was missing a tooth. Of course the thought of getting on the bus with them did not even cross our minds, in case you're worrying. I just said, "No capisco," (I don't understand) as the bus doors closed on them, and they were gone for good.