My first view of America after almost 6 years of European landscapes (exceptfor2weeksinTexas) was descending from out of the clouds over New York, en route to the JFK airport. I think the first thing I saw were suburbs, because there were yards and small roads leading away from houses. Individual houses, not apartment buildings.

My first thought was a deduction of the incredible wealth of Americans. Individual houses?! With yards!? In Italy there are very few separated houses with yards that are affordable. This is true especially of southern Italian cities--even the house I lived in, with several working adults and outside pets, had a small greenish brown area the size of a postage stamp (landscaped to death, too).

Lots of people don't realise that just because Americans have space does not mean space is money. Land is much more expensive in Europe, and there are different ideas attached to owning it. Let's not even go into the quality of the houses on them . . . when America is destroyed like Rome was destroyed, there will be no ruins to excavate.

Then the flight attendant came down the wide aisle of the commercial airplane and tried to give me free soda. Soda is so expensive . . . but in America, it is cheaper than water, and no longer comes in scarred glass bottles except in the country.

And then the plane landed, and nobody clapped.