Italy

First impressions are similar to the last two overseas bases I was at.  Small community, away from the big army.  No smells to speak of, and the sights are just military buildings so far.  Lots of Italian which seems similar to Spanish, but different enough that I'll have to devote some time to studying it.  I'm still waiting to hear the standard Italian phone greeting so I can start using that instead of yo-bo-se-yo or bueno.

Gas costs $5-$6/gal unless you have military coupons which lower the price to US levels.  They work even at gas stations off-post.  Hooray army!  Unfortunately, Italy and Germany are the only two countries that do this, so any driving to France, Spain, etc will get pricey.  I'm going to look into Europass Rail and see if that's economical considering the amount of trips I would take over the next 6 months.  MLK day is coming up and I'd like to get started.  Maybe Rome or Milan.  

I just got back from the housing office where they have a computer database with pictures of apartments, descriptions, etc.  There are a lot of ways I can go with the apartment.  For 1080 euro/mo ($1500) I could get a three bedroom house out in the country, a big two bedroom 'apartment' like we had in Karachi (second floor of a mediterranian looking place), smaller two bedroom place in the middle of downtown with no parking, or a whole bunch of middling places with small garages/parking in the area that amounts to the suburbs of Vicenza.  No place stood out immediately, but I have 30 days to find a place, so I'll give it time and see if any more open up.  I'll go look at a few on Tuesday and take some pictures for y'all.  2 bedrooms is the minimum so I can easily house people that come and visit.  The housing office has a warehouse full of furniture and appliances that they outfit the place with, so I'll have all the beds etc I need.