== Alicia ==, 23, is a native Roman and my new friend; she is also my best friend Brandon's first serious girlfriend. They met at a club in September here in Italy while Brandon and I were just settling in to our abroad life; despite some basic relationship hurdles (including the not-so-basic fact that he is leaving to go home to New York in December) their relationship has gotten increasingly serious ever since. *Roman Life* Like many Americans her age, Alicia lives in her own apartment with one other friend. However, like many Italians her age (especially males!) she sleeps at her mother's house almost half the week. Her mother lives across town, but Alicia makes it a point to eat meals with her often. Many of Alicia's male friends, despite their being financially independent, actually fully live with their parents; they are part of a growing trend called "Mammoni" ("Mama's boy"), about which I learned in my Italian class at Penn. Alicia drives a very typical-Italian Smart Car around Rome. She spends her mornings eating breakfast with Brandon (she's actually a huge fan of McDonald's, though you would never know from her tiny figure!) and then heads to school. The Italian university system is very different from America's; the semester has just started for Alicia at her specialized college for interior design. Though many Americans would assume that a school like this for a particular topic for students over the age of 22 is a graduate school, for Alicia, it isn't. Instead, this is Alicia's version of college. To make extra money, Alicia and her friends work as promoters for nightclubs. Most of her friends attend specialized schools similar to hers; one friend is actually doing a month-long program in New York's Marymount College. Unlike us Americans who are taking every opportunity to travel while in Italy, Alicia and her friends have not been to many nearby cities or foreign countries. Alicia just went to Florence for the first time with me, Brandon, and our friends, and her friend attending Marymount was nervous for her first time in the United States. *Taking it All in* Still, Alicia and other Italians are, in a way, much more cultured than U.S. students in that they are very skillfully multi-lingual. Alicia speaks almost perfect English and is able to appreciate and fully understand English media. However, she has never studied the language in school, and instead says, "It is much easier to learn if you just listen to people speaking English around you." Because Alicia's father lives in Spain, she is also very good at Spanish how many of us, despite our foreign language educations, can honestly say we are fluent in three languages, especially without formal schooling? It has been fun to experience Rome with a real Roman so close to my age. She has provided me and my friends with experiences we would probably not have had; she picks out trendy restaurants not written about in guide books, and gets us an in at the hottest discos. Hopefully we will all be able to one day show her our lives at home! Read More