There are two things to keep in mind in Italy. The first is to reduce asking questions to any human beings if possible. Most of the people do not know what they are talking about in this country unfortunately. Our handout from the previous program was incorrectly written. The discription of the transportation didn't even exist. The direction to a performance place had a huge mistake right from the 1st line. The worst is that after so many different tourists not being able to find where to go, the handout will stay the same probably for the coming decade! Help yourself by googling places online.
The second thing is that don't panic, because nothing will work anyways.
My philoshphy is to prepare for the worst, but to imagine the best. Although people may not know what they are talking about. Most of time, they are nice. They can be really direct, but it's just the way they live. Nothing should be taken personally. While I was deciding to buy a pair of boots. I asked the sales lady about the color. She told me that she can't decide for me and she has been extremely tired after a full day of work. My Italian plus her English finally made both of us realize that I was not making her decide for me, and she was just tired.
Some places charge you service fee unlike the no need to tip everyone talks about. However, if you tell those places that you are a student, sometimes, they take the service fee out from the check. Basically, wherever you want to go, you have to pay. When you have a global Eurail pass, there may be some discounts and deals you can get.
Men are forward in this country. Do not accept anything unless you are ok with what he expects in return. I accepted a map of Italy with a kiss on my cheek. My friend got kisses all over her neck after this guy agreed to drive three of us home. Apparently, we were out too soon to miss the show. And yes, the man is married with kids. The doorman of Santa Maria at Roma who let me take pictures without "offering 50 cents" asked what I was doing later. After the disappointment of knowing me going back to Milano right away, I gave him 3 hand shakes with "good luck" in return.
