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I made it to Italy! The journey felt like it took forever — I left Buffalo on Thursday and headed to Atlanta. There I had a few hours to get food and move around before sitting down for the near future. The flight from Atlanta to Rome took just about 9 1/2 hours, and it certainly felt like it too. During the flight, I was sitting next to a woman from South Carolina who was incredibly eager to hear about the places I’ve traveled and to share stories of her own. I absorbed just about her entire life’s narrative over the course of the flight, but it was all interesting so I didn’t mind!
After landing, clearing passport control, and collecting my bag, I took a 30-minute train to the Roma Termini train station. By the time I reached the station I was on a high profile mission to find a bathroom. Let me elaborate: (or scroll down to just hear about Italy and skip the impromptu stand-up comedy session that is about to unfold before you) For the last three hours or so of the flight I was trying to find a good time to get up and use the bathroom while disturbing the least amount of people. Any time this was possible, we hit rough air and had to stay seated. Typical. That’s right— I went 9 1/2 hours without using the bathroom. Anyone who knows how much water I drink in a day understands how absolutely insane this all is. After getting off the plane, there were no bathrooms in sight near passport control. “It’s fine,” I thought. “I can make it to the baggage claim no problem.” Fast forward to said baggage claim: no bathrooms in sight (in retrospect I didn’t look that hard for one either). So I hop on the train that will take me to the station, assuming there must be one on the train. Well, there was, but it was at the complete opposite end from where I had looked, and I only saw it as I was getting off. So here I am inside the train station in hot pursuit of the nearest W.C. I got to it and stood in line for about 5 minutes until I was close enough to read the sign. It costs €1 to use the bathroom. I have approximately €0 on me at that moment. Sub-note: I had kinda assumed that I would remember all of the odd little differences between European countries and the US from my past trips. Evidently I was wrongo. I get out of line and started trying to find a different bathroom. I’m aware that this was a dumb plan. In the moment, however, it seemed perfect. Plot-twist-you-never-saw-coming: there was no other bathroom. I had walked to the absolute other end of the station and decided that I needed to find an ATM so I can get some Euros. Easy. Then I can afford to use the bathroom (what a crazy sentence that is). I’m walking along, looking for an ATM. Turns out the closest one was at the other end of the station near the bathroom in the first place. Awesome, it’s nearby so this will be simple. The plot thickens: the ATM only dispenses €20’s and €50’s. I need to break this twenty so that I have a €1 coin to insert into the turnstile. I also don’t want to spend a lot because I’m not very hungry. So I start walking along again. Nothing is catching my eye. [friendly reminder that I still haven’t gone to the bathroom in almost 11 hours at this point] I end up walking ~yet again~ to the opposite end of the station where I bought a cannolo. (Unscheduled intermission: the word cannoli is plural but we just ignore that in English. One singular pastry is a cannolo.) I get it wrapped up to-go and begin heading to the other end once more to use the bathroom with a wonderful €1 coin in-hand. I’ll do the math for you: I went from end-to-end of this train station 5 times. What’s the moral of this story? There isn’t one. But hopefully you were entertained and enlightened. Thank you for coming to my TED talk. *we will now resume regularly scheduled programming* Then, I hopped on another train to Florence (which is called Firenze in Italian). I finally made it to Florence, and walked about 20 minutes to the hostel I’m staying at. It’s really not that far from the train station but a 50lb suitcase and uneven ancient roads aren’t exactly playmates. I got checked in to the hostel, and it was fantastic. I’ve stayed in hostels before and this one knocks the others out of the park. (This is getting long so I won’t go into detail, because you probably didn’t come here to read about hostels in Florence.) After changing out of the clothes that I’d been wearing for what felt like forever, I headed out into the city. I went through Piazza San Marco, saw the line at the Accademia to see the Statue of David and decided not to pursue that option. So, I headed straight to the Duomo. Let me just say that I’m currently still trying to re-attach my lower jaw to my face from how stunning it was to see in person. I wandered around the area to see it from all angles before walking along to Piazza Della Signoria. There’s a look-alike Statue of David here so I’m satisfied with my Florentine Michelangelo sculpture experience. After this, I got myself a slice of pizza. It’s definitely different from American pizza, but not in a bad way. It isn’t as sweet and has a more savory flavor to it. I ate my pizza by the river with amazing views to look out upon. After this I walked to Piazzale Michelangelo, which got me some great cardio after having been seated for so much of the day. Along the way, I made a spontaneous decision to book train tickets to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa late at night, which would mean after running on practically no sleep, I would not be getting much more. But, my confirmation wouldn’t go through so I took it as a sign that I shouldn’t do it. I’ll see it some day! At Piazzale Michelangelo, I watched the sun go down and the city slowly begin to light up. The views from this vantage point were truly magical and I’m so glad I got to see it! After this I followed my path in reverse to see some places lit up after dark, and went back to the hostel. Tomorrow I’ll meet up with everyone else in our group, and begin our Roman exploration! ~Bonus Item~ as I'm sitting now on the train to Rome from Florence, someone just asked me entirely in Italian if they were in the right place. My response was rough but I was able to help them get to the correct spot!
2 Comments
Mom
1/4/2020 02:09:22 pm
Sounds like an eventful first day! So much culture and history to absorb. Enjoy it all!!
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Ann Munich
1/4/2020 04:15:31 pm
Alex, you must be exhausted! Sounds like an amazing first day. I have always wanted to see Italy. Please continue posting those awesome photos. I hope your experience is even better than you expected. Keep me posted. I’m on the edge of my seat!
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AuthorCiao! My name is Alex and I’m a senior in the Childhood Education program. I love experiencing different cultures, trying new things, and traveling; this trip will bring my foreign country total into double digits! I’m thrilled to be able to work with students of a different background than myself, and hope to go into TESOL in the future. I can’t wait to bring my Italian experience into my own future classroom! Archives
February 2020
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