Exploring Italy

Rome. A place where the city center seems to be everywhere. A place where real Italians are so rare that you would doubt you were in Italy. Thinking back to my Rome tour, the first thing that comes to mind is…a bus. That’s where my story begins.
At the first glance, buses in Rome are not that different from buses around the world. But as the old saying goes, “do not judge a book by its cover.”
Starting my Rome experience, I got on a bus to Vatican and occupied the only empty seat. Later on, an old silver-haired man entered the bus. Being raised by Central Asian customs, my body automatically took me up, and I offered him my seat.
Looking into the old man’s confused eyes, a quick thought of the fact that people in Rome weren’t used to offering each other seats ran through my head. He quickly thanked me and accepted my offer.
Few moments later, my eyes captured a warm continuous 32-tooth smile on the old man’s face. Alright, maybe it wasn’t 32, but that is not the point. The touching fact that one thing that is common in your country can get such a reaction got stuck in my head.
At the next bus station, with a big crowd, an old ticket lady entered the bus. My sunny mood suddenly got covered by grey clouds: I totally forgot to validate my ticket, which meant I could get a serious fine.
As if she were the Titanic, she started moving towards the end of the crowded bus, breaking through the people and moving them sideways with her brutal shoulders. Seeing an invalidated ticket in my hand, she yelled something in Italian with her tense face. The only thing my confused face could produce was a blink.
After a short awkward stare session, the muscles on her face suddenly relaxed. She grabbed my shoulder with her manly hands, smiled at me as best as she could, and said in the most fluent English I’ve ever heard in my life, “I am just kidding! Next time don’t forget to validate your ticket.” I smiled.
Arriving at the destination, the emotional state with butterflies in the stomach wouldn’t probably be enough to describe what I felt at that moment. That day, one thought would not leave my head: a warm smile in response to little acts of kindness is enough to experience tons of emotions at once. I explored the warmness of the whole Rome, but not in Vatican, and not even in the Coliseum. It was in an ordinary bus.
That day, I made a life-long travel note in my diary: If you didn’t interact with people of a visited city, consider you’ve never been there at all.