Italians: Coffee and Cars; Mid-day Naps and Machine Guns

I knew coming to Italy was going to be a cultural experience. What I didn't know was how much of a change it really was going to be.
Let's start with the obvious. Kansas=small; Roma=HUGE! Kansas (as in the entire state) has just a few more residents than the city of Rome. My small town Kansas attitude just doesn't fly around here. You don't smile when you pass someone, or say goodmorning. No you keep your eyes glued to the ground only glancing up to make sure you don't get hit by traffic at the crosswalks. Which brings me to my second point.
Point 2: In order to drive in Rome you must be certifiably insane. I can't tell you how many times I've nearly been hit by a car, or worse, by one of those crazy scooters when walking through a crosswalk. This is not the only dangerous thing I've noticed about motorized vehicles in Italy. I don't know what kind of test they have to take to drive, but it must be long. I have not seen a posted speed limit and in most intersections there are definitely not lines to tell you which way traffic is supposed to go. From what I understand you just have to "know." I've come to the conclusioon that I would definitely not be fit to drive here.
My next cultural difference is although this is a city Italians definitely like to take their time. Along with taking their time comes the process in which you order and drink your coffee. First of all Italian coffee is simply a shot of espresso, to get american coffee you order an Americano and then deal with the dirty looks that you will recieve from that point on. Also on a side note, a latte is hot milk. If you want your latte like you order at Starbucks you should probably stick cafe in front of it. Now for how you get your coffee in the morning. There are probably hundereds of coffee bars throughout the city. I think I pass at least 20 on my 30 minute walk to school. So when you walk in to one of these various establishment you must go to the cash register order and pay and then hand your ticket to the guy behind the bar to make your coffee. Now that I write that all out, it's just like ordering at Starbucks, but there they tell you where to go and what to do. We had to figure it out the hard way here, a trial and error of sorts. Next thing you should know is that once you get your coffee you take it at the bar. You drink your coffee standing up with all the other morning bar-goers. And when you are done you simply leave. Can you get a coffee to go you may ask. Why of course not. There is not a single place, not one, in all of Rome that serves coffee in cups that you could take out of the restaraunt. We did discover the little coffee vending machines but it's not like your Venti White Chocolate Mocha with double espresso. No it's a small shot of cappuccino to get your day going, that's as close as you'll get to a coffee to go.
Moving right along, the third cultural difference is Time is Not Money. Italians like to take their time here. You sit down at a restaraunt you may wait 15 minutes before they take your order and then another 30-an hour while you wait for your food. When you are finished you must ask for your check (il conto) or you could be sitting there for the rest of the evening. Customer service is the least of their worries. They are doing a service to you by being open. With that comes the strange hours of operation. Most places open around 9 a.m. with the exception of some coffee shops. Everything is then open until about 1:30 or 2:00 at which time businesses close their doors for the afternoon siesta. Then everything opens back up at 4:00 and stays open until 8 or 9.
Finally is Italians with machine guns. It's not a strange occurance to see the Caberineri standing on the street next to their Range Rovers wielding very intimidating looking machine guns. Why I have no idea, but I do know it's different. Then again it is Italy!