When it Rains it Pours

As I have alluded to earlier in my email, I did indeed have an auspicious start to my lovely holiday. Monday night I had quite a bit to do, and had to leave before the crack of dawn, so I only took about a 2 hour nap. I left the flat at 4am, even though I wanted to leave before that, because I was waiting for the rest of the kids leaving at that time. Because I didn’t leave right away I missed the 4:12 bus I needed to get to Victoria Coach Station. So I had to wait for the 4:42. Because I missed that bus, I missed the first shuttle to the airport, at 4:50. So I had to wait for the 5:20. Now, none of this was a big problem, because the shuttle is advertised as a 40 minute ride, and I would make it in plenty of time to check in for my 7:20 flight. However, the shuttle is mis-advertised, and it took an hour and 20 minutes. Check in closes 40 minutes before a flight, so my check in was supposed to end at 6:40. And I got to the airport at 6:45. I then learned that the flight was a 7:10 and I missed check in by 15 minutes, not 5. I then proceeded to try to get another flight, but I realized that somewhere between getting on the first bus and arriving at the airport I lost my mini wallet that had my bus/metro card in it, my credit card, my Indiana State ID, my FIE student card, my Imperial College Student Card, and my international student card. Basically it was stellar. And it was also 7am. I had no pounds because I had changed it all to euros the day before, and no credit card and I was stuck in some airport on the outskirts of London. Not the best situation. Clearly I start freaking and crying, and not knowing what else to do, I called my parents at home. Now keep in mind that there is a 5 hour time difference, so it was 2am there. I had to call the house multiple times before they woke up to get the phone. I felt so bad waking them, but I didn’t know what else to do. My father basically was incredible, and insisted that I continue onto Rome and we would work everything out. So he gave me his credit card info, paid for the ticket transfer fee, and helped me on my way to Rome. One thing that was kind of a problem was that the new flight was at a different airport, so I would have to take another bus, and that it wasn’t until 5pm. So instead of getting to Rome and seeing some of the sights and playing with my friends for the day, I got to hang out in an airport. So I got a bus for 10am, and spent the time in between running around the airport trying to find out if anyone had found my things and turned them in. No such luck, but a girl can try. The bus to the new airport was for 10 past 10. It never showed. So a bunch of other people and myself waited outside in the cold and rain for over an hour for a bus that never came. And I didn’t have a jacket. Eventually a bus came along, but we couldn’t get on it because the driver had gone over her driving hours, and wasn’t allowed to drive any longer. And then another bus came, but he and the over-hours driver stood around and chatted for a good 15 minutes. None of us were amused. Especially since they didn’t let us onto the bus before they had their visit. Oh no, we had to wait outside still.

We finally got on the bus and then to the airport, and I had to wait around for 3 hours before I could even check in for my flight. You only have about an hour and a half window to get checked in here, because they don’t let you check in until 2 hours before the flight, but close it 40 before take-off. Also this airport didn’t let you take more than one carry-on onto the plane, so I had to check my bag that I wasn’t planning on checking and they charged me 10 freaking pounds for it. Again, not amused.

I finally make it onto the plane and the flight was 2 ½ hours, plus a lost hour because of the time difference, so I didn’t land until 8:40pm. Then I had to take a bus to the main bus station in Rome, and then another bus to where Lauren lives. It would have been really simple had I arrived before 9pm, because the metro would have been running, but Italians are lazy and the metro closes at 9. So I had to take more buses. These buses are not nice buses like the ones in DC that tell you what stop is next. So I had to ask, and it was interesting not speaking Italian, and people around me not speaking English. I even asked the bus driver where the stop was, and he said I missed it, that it had already passed. Now, I’m not positive that’s what he said, but he shook his head and pointed behind him over his shoulder, so that is only what I can assume. So I jumped off the bus at the very next stop, and I was at the back of the Vatican. So that was cool….only I didn’t know what it was at the time. A nice Italian kid about my age tried to help me but he didn’t speak English, and I don’t speak Italian. We discovered that we both speak broken Spanish, so we tried to communicate that way, but soon he was hailing a random person on the street to help out. This girl spoke good Spanish along with her Italian and we got a little more accomplished. I also whipped out my phone and called Lauren and made her talk to the Italians, because she presumably knew the area and could find me, and she speaks broken Italian. Well it sort of worked out, but we called over the girl’s friend who amazingly spoke fluent Italian, fluent English, and fairly good Spanish. And then Lauren found me, and the kids were like, “Wanna come out with us?” It was totally cool and I had made friends despite the language barrier and being a retarded foreigner. Sadly we turned them down because I had had the day from hell and needed food and sleep.

When I got to Lauren’s apartment I found a dinner waiting for me because she had cooked, and it was burritos, Chipotle style. Now clearly it wasn’t just like Chipotle, but it was still good and I was completely thrilled that she was so thoughtful. And basically she hugged me and tried to make my life happier because of my intense day, and soon we were sitting and chatting and having a fantastic time. I knew I missed her, but I really didn’t realize how much until I saw her. It was fantastic.

I’ll tell you about my Roma adventures in the next blog entry, as this one is long enough already.

Ciao!!