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I want to talk about some minutiae for a minute; there are things during my tavels that I’ve noticed that either make me feel like a foreigner or just aren’t quite what I expected.

One is just diet. Egyptian food was extremely bread heavy, Cyprian/Greecian was all about the meat, and Italian was carbohydrates in pasta form. Spain is the first place where I feel like I’m actually eating well-balanced meals consistently.

The bathrooms in these countries all have little quirks too. In Greece, there is a trash bin and signs that say, “The pipes can’t handle toilet paper, throw it away in the bin instead.” This made the bathrooms smell slightly, and felt kind of unsanitary. In Italy, there are little cords in all the bathrooms with signs that say, “Don’t pull this! It is for emergencies only!” And if you do pull it, then an alarm sounds somewhere. It’s like the Italians are acting like every bathroom is in a nursing home with the potential for someone to break a hip. Finally, in both Italy and Spain there is this second little half-toilet with a faucet and no lid. I really don’t know what it’s used for.

I finally get the European love for mopeds and small motorcycles. The streets are so tiny that maneuvering a car is an often difficult and sometimes impossible task. And having a smaller vehicle also allows for some creative definition of “the road” - I’ve seen several motorcycles hop onto the sidewalk and zoom through pedestrians in order to get someplace.

There seems to be a lot of leeway given to parking as well. I’ve seen a lot of cars in positions that block streets or driveways or create a second row - the kind of thing that would get you ticketed and towed in America in a blink.

And learning to cross the road in Cairo makes it so you can cross the road anywhere.