Autumn is All Around Me

A week or two ago, I guess, autumn began cropping up all around me: the smell of it, something Ive never been able to put my finger on, the sight of changing colors and falling leaves, not to mention the weather which is getting increasingly colder. The air is crisp and cool so that I brace myself a little bit in the mornings as I walk to my Tuesday/Thursday 9 AM class, before the sun has heated everything up. Ive now officially seen a woman standing in direct sunlight so she could receive the most warmth...its not summer anymore, thats for sure. Vendors seem to love this time of year and all of the stands are out everyday, not just Fridays and Saturdays. Gelato seems more and more to be inappropriate and Im dreaming of cozy blankets and hot chocolate (s'mores, too, but I have to wait for home to make those).
The thing that strange about autumn in Rome is that you notice some things that are really similar to what youre used to - the feel of it and the internal sense that its that time of year - but some things which are really different. At home, there are traditions that come with the season, but here, its the feeling without the action. I think that next autumn when Im able to do the things I normally enjoy doing this time of year, Ill appreciate each thing more than I ever have before. Its funny how we take for granted the small things we always do. For example, in Italy, no one carves pumpkins and there arent party stores decked out in Halloween this-and-that. There are chesnuts on the streets where you can stop and get some warm and roasted, but there arent caramel apples, small county fairs or country bonfires. Everything is different and, as you think of the traditions that are important to you either consciously or subconsciously, think of how no one elses are exactly like yours: no one else opens presents on Christmas quite like your family, or sits down to Thanksgiving dinner just like you do, or decorates cupcakes for Valentines just the way your mom taught you. What you have, the accumulation of your entire life worth of years stacked upon years, no one else has, and no one else lives life the way you and your family do. Its a special feeling to recognize that you really are very tied up in those traditions and in the people you share them with.