Italy 101: How to Avoid Blowing a Fuse

Since moving to Italy, I have had not only to adjust to the Italian language, customs, and values, but also the Italian living habits. It has been a fun and exciting experience presenting new trials and tribulations everyday. One major differnce has to do with our electricity usage. In our quaint three bedroom apartment, we have two very useful appliances that are not always present in most Italian households, a dishwasher and a washing machine.  I have to say that these two appliances are incredibly useful and save me time, money, and energy. I never understood the possible danger in using both appliances at the same time until moving to Rome.  

One of my first nights living in Rome, my apartment of six people ate a “family” like meal. Everyone cooked, ate, chatted, laughed, and cleaned up an authentic Italian supper together. With six people, we had quite an array of pots, pans, dishes and cutlery to wash. Instead of washing all of this by hand, we decided to make use of the wonderful dishwasher. We filled the dishwasher to the brim, put in some soap, closed the door, started the load, and that was that (or so we thought).

                 (Our little dishwasher packed and ready to run)

All of the sudden, all of the lights in the apartment went out and we were enveloped by darkness. After a few girly-high pitched yells and some incredibly fast Italian words shared between my two Italian roommates, one of the Italian roommates grabbed a set of keys and rapidly made her way downstairs to the break-room. After a few minutes all of the lights and appliances were up and running again. By this point we had realized our mistake, running the dishwasher and washing machine at the same time.

(Our Culprit: The Washing Machine)

One of our roommates had just started a load of laundry after dinner. Apparently our little apartment (like most Italian apartments) can not handle that much electricity usage at one time. Our Italian roommates explained the problem and just told us to make sure we only run one of the appliances at a time.  

Sadly, this has happened at least one or two other times, but we have also learned how to stop it from happening. We quickly pull the dishwasher door open before the cycle actually starts so we don’t lose power, but there is always the moment of anticipation, excitement, and fear that the power will go out again.  

I know this seems like such a silly thing, but at home I rarely think about running both appliances at the same time.  This has made me appreciate home just a bit more and it has taught me how to be more efficient with my habits. I try to wash more of my dishes instead of just throwing them in the dishwasher, something I’m sure my parents will appreciate when I go home to the U.S.

Article contributed by Anne Kerchberger begin_of_the_skype_highlightingend_of_the_skype_highlighting. Anne is studying abroad in Italy, experiencing the trials and tribulations of truly living as a Roman as well as traveling Italy to explore the regional differences of Il Bel Paese. Stay tuned for more of Anne's blog contributions to follow!