planes, trains, busses and walks...

Ciao!


Well, here are I am. Sorry it's taken me a while to get this blog going. Our internet doesn't always work, especially in my room. As I'm sure you are anxious to hear how things have gone, I won't delay any longer.

Sunday, August 30th my parents drove Rachel, Jordan, and I to my roommate Jessie's house in Minnesota. After we got there, we had a relaxing afternoon and evening. Monday began crazy. The 4 of us scurried around to finish last minute packing and errands. After weighing our bags one last time and rearranging a few things, we left her house around 12:45 PM. We proceeded to the airport. Check-in went fairly well. We got our tickets, checked-in our luggage, and went through security without any problems. It was stressful at first, but I made it through all that. We boarded our plane eventually for Detroit. I had a window seat next to Jessie and the other 2 were across the isle from us. I've never flown before and I have to say, it was awesome!!! The flight was smooth and most of the time I just watched out my window.



We arrived in Detroit around 6:00 PM Detroit time (5:00 PM Iowa time). We made our way to the next gate on the moving walk, which was fun. :-) Our flight to Rome wasn't until 7:45 PM, so we had quite a while to wait around. While waiting, it already felt like we were in a foreign country because half the passengers were Italians returning home. We boarded our international plane, which was much larger, but they were fixing the brakes so the air conditioning was off. It was so hot and stuffy in there for nearly an hour while we waited! Once the brakes were fixed, we took off for Rome! The 4 of us were together in the middle row. We were served a snack and a dinner (not good at all). We tried to sleep on the plane. I was not successful, which made for a really long 8+ hour flight As we neared Rome we could see dry and hilly land and old farms/buildings. We landed around 10:00 AM Rome time (4:00 AM Iowa time). When we landed they didn't bring the plane up to a terminal or anything. They let us out down steps from the back and the front (like the President)...we felt famous. The group of us just stood in a huddle waiting for directions. haha

It was very hot!!!! The 4 of us met up with 2 other fellow classmates, who were also on our plane, and we waited for a shuttle to the airport doors. All the passengers from our flight squished into 2 shuttle busses. It was so hot, sweaty, and packed with people and backpacks/bags. We were dropped off at the door of the airport. From there we made our way to the immigration lines with our passports. I made it through successfully! No going back now...

After getting through, we followed signs to baggage. To be honest, the area of the airport we were in was not as big as I had expected. It gave the impression of a basement, which made it a bit creepy and gloomy feeling. There were a ton of baggage claim areas. We looked around for others from our flight and read a computer screen to find out where we needed to go. Eventually we figured out that we had to go to #8. Oh, and the airport doesn't have air conditioning, so you can imagine how hot, sweaty and gross we all were. We waited and watched the same luggage go around and around for at least an hour and a half, maybe longer. Ours finally came!! We piled all our packpacks and bags back on and pulled our luggage. Off to customs! Which by the way, ended up being nothing. There was a green sign and arrow for people that didn't need to request anything and a red sign and arrow for those that did. We didn't think we had anything to request, nor was there anyone to ask...so, we followed the green arrow and entered the outer part of the airport.

There was a large group of Italians standing there with signs yelling and looking for people they were meeting at the airport. We passed them and immediately were approached my an Italian man. I was in the front of our group so he talked to me first. He asked if we needed to get to the train station, to which I said yes. Then he asked if he could take us to it in his shuttle or whatever. I said no, but asked him which direction to walk to the train station. He told me to take 2 lefts and go up a flight of stairs and some other things. We continued walking, only to have this similar situation happen a time or two more. We made it to the stairs, but unfortunately the ascending escalator was broken. So, instead of hauling our suitcases and bags up a ton of stairs, we decided to follow the signs to the elevator. The 6 of us couldn't fit at the same time, as there were others already on it when we arrived. I was standing in the back of the elevator facing the door and Jessie was to the left of the door (this is important...really). Because...Jessie was standing next to a lady, and a man was beside her. As we were going up, I look over and see the woman's hand in a position to slide it up the flap of Jessie's shoulder bag. At first I didn't think I was actually seen it and I was about to give her the benefit of the doubt when my brain said, "you idiot! you're in italy, do something". So, I reached across the elevator and gently shoved her bag in front of her. The woman's hand pulled back and Jess caught my eye and pulled her bag in front of her. The door opened right after that and we got off. At this point we decided it would be smart to put our locks on our bags.

We kept walking and followed the signs to the train station. There were people walking everywhere. We went to buy our tickets from a ticket stand and we were sent to a different one. We bought our tickets, stamped them, and waited for the train that was to take us to Termini train station in Rome. On the way Jess and I sat across from middle aged couple from Scotland (I believe). They had amazing accents and were so fun to listen to! When we arrived in Rome we had to find where our next train to Florence. We couldn't find it on the board. Our ticket number matched a train to Milan. Unsure of what to do or where to go we looked around for train station workers. We spotted some and I was able to use my first Italian (parla inglese?). The man shook his head no and smiled at me. He looked at my ticket anyway and said, "Milano". I asked about Florence and the man next to him informed me that the Milan train stopped in Florence. Knowing this, we kept on walking and headed for the right track. To do this we had to go down below and cross underneath tracks until we reached ours. It looked and felt like a basement down there, kind of creepy. We waited for the train, finally sitting down for a break! By the way, we finally got a bottle of water when we got to Rome. We were sooooo thirsty!! 5 minutes before our train was supposed to be there, Jordan (thankfully!!!!) saw the computer screen change, telling us that our train was leaving from a different track. We grabbed all our stuff and ran back down to the creepy basement and crossed over to another track. Our train had just arrived and there were people getting on and off everywhere. We hurried to find the right car and we boarded.

By this time it was about 2:15 PM Rome time and I'd been awake for like 26 hours...I think. I'm so tired I'm having a hard time counting that right now. Anyway, our train ride to Rome was my real first look at Italy. The view from my window was great! It was about a 2 hour train ride and our first real sit down after getting off the plane. I tried so hard to stay awake, it was hard! We arrived in Florence, exited the train, and headed for the train station exit. From there we had to find a bus that would take us to our Villa. After wandering around for some time and asking several Italians (who all told us different things), we found a ticket booth and made our way to the bus stop. When it arrived, we piled all our stuff onto it...and there was a lot! The bus was hot and got more and more crowded as we made stops along the way. I'm pretty sure the local Italians hated us because of all our stuff....oops, making a real great first impression. We made it to the drop-off in Settignano without flaw. We got off the bus and had to walk down a cobblestone road. I'm pretty sure this wasn't the greatest on our suitcase wheels. We took some narrow streets, walked down a steep alley, and entered our Villa. As we were arriving, fellow classmates were hanging out the window waving at us. It was soooo relieving to have gotten there safe and sound with a fairly smooth trip. We were all exhausted, very hungry and thirsty! Thank you to everyone who gave advice on how to get there. It really did help!!!

The Villa is great and the people that work here are so nice. We can't upload pictures very well, otherwise I would put some up. The food is delicious...for the most part. We started classes and have explored Florence a number of times. I will have to write more very soon about the days that followed our arrival. But, that is all for now. :-D

I love and miss you all, hope everything is great in the states.

Buonanotte!
Anna