Mmkay- I left off on my last blog when I was about to go to lunch. The first course of that meal was pasta di lenticchie (pasta with beans, which I wouldn’t normally like probably, but like I’ve said before, I like all of the food in Italy). Second course was spinach and really, really thinly cut butterfly pork chops, and for dessert I had a manadrin orange (I’ve decided that they’re my favorite fruit. At first I thought they were my fruit of choice because they are the easiest to peel with a fork and knife, but I’ve now come to the conclusion that they really do taste the best). At the meal I sat next to Begonia’s friend…she’s Spanish and is in Naples with Erasmus and has been here since October. She told me how much my Italian has improved since the first day we met (my first day here), and it was so nice hearing that instead of- What Italian have you learned? Can you speak yet? Why don’t you know how to speak Italian yet? It was nice talking to someone who understands what it’s like to move to a country where you don’t speak the language (although her language is much closer to Italian, so she’s not struggling quite so much). She was really nice, and I love talking to anybody from Spain, because it’s fun talking to someone who gets excited when you say a couple of words in their language.
After lunch, Elisabetta told me that I will be giving my powerpoint about my life in the States on Tuesday. Also, in a different conversation, she told me that Zuzu will be baking a cake today (I didn’t know we were ever allowed to use the kitchen! This is very exciting news! I very much miss cooking/baking.), and I asked if I could bake American chocolate chip cookies to share during my presentation Tuesday, and she and the girls were very excited about this. I hope they turn out alright… every time I bake cookies, they always come out just a little bit different, and since I’m making a batch of about 60, I really hope I don’t screw up the dough. Also, I hope the ingredients here are the same…that could be a problem. Also, I wont be able to read the packages…I hope I don’t use salt instead of sugar or something….
Soon I will be leaving to go to Paris!!! (but just Rome tonight. And I’m going to try to go to sleep as soon as I get to Rome, because I have to be up at 4 the next morning to get to the airport on time!) I got a train ticket to Rome from Naples for 10.5 euro!! Elisabetta told me to never look away from my suitcase, though- apparently the cheap train that I picked is for poor people (like me!) and they will steal from you if you give them the opportunity. She was sort of nervous for me, which makes me sort of nervous… but hey, a new, Italian experience! I’ll just wrap all my limbs around my bag, and I’ll be good to go, right? That should be a nice position for 3 hours (the more expensive trains are only 1 hour… that’s how many stops my train makes..).
(WARNING: If you don’t like hearing people complain, stop reading this blog post right now, and move onto the one about Paris. Very frustrating events have occurred, and it is hard to tell about them accurately without a sufficient amount of complaining. I am very sorry, it is not what I would have chosen to write about, but I’m not the one running this show.)
Alright, it’s later. I cannot remember what I did that afternoon or what I had for dinner that night, but I remember that at dinner, I told my roommate who had the expensive internet key about what mine cost, and she got very skeptical and didn’t believe me and insisted that I had been ripped off. So that night was spent showing her my receipts and information, etc., and her calling the company, making sure my plan was okay, while I sat and watched, nervous as confused. She never did tell me that it was okay until I asked her an hour later if I got a good deal or not- she responded with a frown and a yes.. I’m not exactly sure what all was happening there, I just was really frustrated with the inability to communicate and understand what was going on. She also took my cell phone and went through a very complicated process of setting it up, and didn’t believe me when I told her that I knew how to set it up… we are not very good at understanding each other. After everything was set up, it said that the balance on my account was 0, even though I paid for 20 euro to be placed on it. When we gave up that night, I was very tired and sick of technology and the Italian language.
The next morning at breakfast, I was thinking about the huge list of things that I had to do before I left for Rome early that afternoon (go to the phone company to find out what was going on with my balance (~40min of walking total), finish this blog, post this blog, finish and email out my powerpoint, try again to check into my flight from Paris to Naples, pack, shower, eat lunch, get to the train station, and buy a ticket for the train to Rome), when I found out from one of the girls that the metro was not running today because the workers went on strike…
So this launched a whole new set of frustrating conversations- trying to figure out how I can get to the train station, if it was just the metro that was on strike, or the trains as well, if the metro in Rome was also on strike (it was), do I take a bus, or can I somehow find what trains are still running? My roommate (who I do not communicate well with) told me that she was taking a taxi to the train station in 2 hours, and that I should go with her so that we could split the cost of the cab, and she could speak to the ticket office at the train station to either get me a ticket for a train or a bus. But of course, understanding her plan took up about 20 minutes of my precious 2 hours..
So, new questions- do I have time to both pack and shower? Is it necessary that I go into the phone store today, or can I go in Monday? If I don’t go, will I be able to contact Jenn when I get to Paris? What am I going to do in Rome, away from the train station because it’s not the safest part of town, while I wait for the metros to start running again, since I will now be there way earlier than planned? How will I find my way around Rome without being able to speak Italian? Can I show up at the B&B 6 hours before the time that I told them to expect me? Is it necessary that I check-in online for my plane ticket, or will it be okay if I just show up to the airport to check-in? Did the purchase of my ticket even go through? Will I be stuck in Paris? How do I figure out what my bag weighs once I’ve packed it? (must be under 10kg for Ryanair) How am I supposed to pack and shower right now when I’m not allowed to be in my room for another half hour because the maids are cleaning?
With all of this uncertainty, the surprise, my sudden lack of time, and frustration from today and the night before with communication… I cried again. It’s always when I don’t have enough time to cry that I do.
So anyway, everyone was telling me not to cry and were asking what was wrong- so I was trying to explain what was going on to every person in the dining room, hallway, stairwell, etc., and trying to politely tell them that I’m in a huge hurry and don’t have time to be comforted. I finally made it back to my room and tried to pull myself together, while my roommate explained to the maids that it was okay to not clean our room today. I showered and packed as my roommate searched online for a bus that I could take (I am very grateful for all she did to try to help me, and for all her patience with trying to explain things to me). When I was done with my shower, she told me that there was a bus for me to take, and that we were leaving in 10 minutes.
I was very grateful that a plan was in place, but I still hadn’t been able to figure out my phone or what to do in Rome once I got there, so I was uncomfortable with the plan, but I was going to go with it and see what happened. I went to Elisabetta’s office so that she could help me try to figure out my plane ticket situation during my last 10 minutes with internet, and I saw that she had the schedules up on her screen for the trains that were still running and would be leaving that afternoon from Naples for Rome! When I saw that I had the option to leave later, I jumped on it- I went and thanked my roommate for all her hard work and apologized that I would be making a waste of her time, but there are too many things that I still need to do, and I need to leave later. She was understanding. So then Elisabetta and I went through the task of sorting out my trip for the day, and found an acceptable train (one of the 22 euro ones instead of the 10.50 ones- so I felt like I would be slightly safer on this train… and it would be a shorter ride!) which would be leaving in 4 hours, and I would only have to kill about 3.5 hours in Rome before the metros there (which I needed to get to my bed and breakfast) started running again.
The next task on my list was to sort out was the issue of the balance on my phone, so I found Begonia and we went together. When I got there, I had just received 2 new text messages, saying that my balance was no longer 0, but what it should be… so we looked like idiots, but it was nice to have that sorted out, and we had a nice walk. On the way back, I bought her and myself frozen cappuccinos from a café near the Villalta and it was wonderful.
So now I was feeling more relaxed, was all packed and washed, had my phone sorted out, had my route sorted out, and it was time for lunch. However, lunches at the Villalta usually last an hour, and I needed to leave in about half an hour to give myself plenty of time to get to the station. I told Elisabetta that I probably needed to leave before lunch was over, and she said no, no, I would have plenty of time. So all during lunch, I kept asking: So you’re sure I don’t need to leave sooner? and- Where am I supposed to go in Rome to kill time again? and- You’re sure I don’t need to order a cab now? and- The cabs usually come right away? (I was really nervous about getting that cab- Elisabetta wanted me to order it after lunch (when I was supposed to be leaving in it…), but I figured that since the metro is down, all the cabs would be busy..) Anyway, I asked enough questions to get Elisabetta to excuse me in the middle of lunch so that I could go call a taxi, and she sent a girl with me to help. It was a good thing I pestered her- it took calls to about 5 different cab companies to get a hold of one that could send one when I needed it. So we went back, finished lunch, I gave my goodbyes, tried to repeat back the names of places that I could visit in Rome near the station, and went on my way.
The taxi was 12 euro, which is pretty unfortunate because my trip to the station would have been free with my monthly metro pass, but I made it to the train station on time. I found the ticket desk and fought my way through the line (otherwise I would have been nudged completely out...it was mayhem at the station because of all the cancellations). When I got to the desk, the lady told me that the train I needed was sold out! (I was pretty frustrated because I was planning on buying my ticket online earlier that day, but Elisabetta assured me that there would be plenty of seats and that it is quite alright to buy a ticket at the station.) I asked if there were any other trains running to Rome today, and she said yes, for 60 euro. I really did not want to pay that, because I had only been planning on paying 10.5, and I had already dished out 12 for my trip today, so asked if there was anything I could do. She told me that I could go visit information. So I did.
At information, I tried to tell the man about my situation, but his English wasn’t great, and it didn’t matter how many times I told him that the train was sold out, he just kept saying “geet oon il tren, geet oon il tren. Oon il tren.” So, I went to go get on il tren. There was a man behind me that spoke English who had been in line with me at the ticket stand, and he said that he thinks we can just pay for our ride while we’re on the train, and that he was just going to get on his and make them kick him off. It was good to have some reassurance, thanks God! He was very nice, and we talked a little while about what we were doing in Naples and parted ways.
So I found my train and walked to the very end, figuring there would be more unoccupied seats at there because less people would be willing to make the walk (it was quite a long train). I found a seat and got myself all situated, pulled out my book and my water bottle, put my luggage above me, and was ready to go, when a lady with a ticket came and said- you’re in my seat. So I quickly grabbed all my things and headed to the other end of the car and found a different seat. Soon after, a man came up and sort of nodded at me, and I said sorry, figuring I was in his seat, and began to gather up all my stuff again. He said- No, no! By you! He just wanted to sit in the seat next to me. He spoke a little English and I was able to figure out that he didn’t have a ticket either- so now I was feeling really reassured. We tried talking a little bit while we sat there for 45 minutes as the train filled up. Eventually, an announcement came on saying that everyone who actually has a ticket needed to move to a different train. I was thinking- well, shoot, it almost worked… And only about half of the people on the train got up and left! I guess it’s really hard to come by a ticket on strike day. As soon as all the people with tickets were off the train, it started to go! I was pretty confused as to why the people who had actually bought tickets were the ones who had to move trains, if this one was going to go out anyway, but I was okay with it.
The train ride was actually really gorgeous. We went along the coast the whole way to Rome- with giant mountains on one side of us, and the ocean on the other. I was finally reading Playing for Pizza, and it was pretty funny, even though it was making me crazed with hunger from the way he describes food. Every time I looked up from my book, there was something interesting or beautiful to look at, but I was really enjoying to book, so it was hard for me to focus on either. Finally, one time when I looked up- BAM! Aqueducts! ..One of the coolest things I’ve seen in Europe yet (I know for most people, that seems pretty sad, but I’ve studied the aqueducts in several classes now, and it was interesting to finally see some!) We were already in Rome!
I was getting really pretty nervous about this day’s travelling before I left the Villalta because of all of the uncertainties, but now that I was actually on the way and had conquered the trip to the station, as well as the trip to Rome, I was feeling more confident about being there, alone, and needing to kill several hours, while remembering how to get back to the station. When I got off the train, I confidently went off in search of the metro station, because I figured it would be a good idea to know where I was supposed to be later, rather than passing my time, then realizing that I have no idea where I need to go. It was a good thing I decided to go ahead and search when I still had plenty of time, because the train/metro station was very confusing. Rome does a poor job of using signs for direction.
I walked around the metro part of the station for a very long time before I finally found someone to ask about where I was supposed to go, and it turns out that I did not need a metro; I needed another train. (As I was wandering, I passed a McDonald’s several times, and checked the menu…6.5 euro for a McChicken!! You can get almost 8 and a half McChickens for that in the States!!) So I went back up to the train section, used one of the nifty little electronic ticket kiosks, and bought the ticket that I needed for only 1.7 euro! Also, my train was leaving in only an hour...the trains started running again earlier than I was expecting! And the best part- when I dug into my pocket to pull out money to purchase the ticket, I realized that I never had to pay for my ride to Rome!!!! Boom!!
So for my hour that I had to discover Rome, I headed out and walked around several blocks surrounding the train station. I found a museum right away, and went inside before I realized that I cost money. Luckily the bathroom was on the side before you had to pay, so I made use of that. I peeked past the barriers and saw some beautiful statues before leaving the museum to discover more.
One thing that I discovered is that I turn rather pink in the face when I’m nervous… I also discovered that all of the roads in Rome are cobblestone, and I liked them very much, but they sure made it awkward to roll my suitcase behind me, so I picked it up and carried it most of the way.
I was planning on picking a café to get dinner at, but they were all over-flowing and intimidated me since I was alone. I ended up stopping at a little shop, which I couldn’t tell if it was Indian or Greek (the name was Indian and it looked like Indian food, but the kebab sandwich thing that I ended up getting tasted very much like a gyro. It was delicious!! It had lamb and fresh lettuce and tomatoes, and a sort of spicy sauce.). I also got a coke and was extremely thirsty, so I popped it open as soon as I handed the money over, and started to chug. The man behind the counter sort of raised his eyebrows at me, and handed me a couple of straws. I don’t know why they don’t let you drink from the can in Italy… I know in Mexico it’s not a good idea because the rim of the can is probably contaminated.. but in Italy? I think the straws are just a thing of fashion.
I was getting tired of being called to by the street venders, so I headed back to the train station to sit and eat my sandwich and drink my coke from my straws, even though it gets extra gassy through straws… I didn’t want to raise any more eyebrows. All of the tables in the train station require a reservation to be able to use them… so I went back outside and sat on a landscaping wall next to what seemed to be a gang. I felt like we were buddies. After a while, though, I got tired of them staring at me and it was getting harder to ignore, so I decided to hop down and head into the station to wait near my platform. My discomfort came with perfect timing, because when I walked into the station, my train was there! So I got on, found a seat, and continued to eat. As I was eating, the most beautiful man I’ve ever seen in real life (he looked exactly like Dan! … ), wearing a security uniform, sat down in the seat across from me in my group of four chairs. After a few minutes I looked down and realized that I had kebab spilled all down my front.
We passed more aqueducts and some cute countrysides, and arrived at my stop in less that 30 minutes. The directions I received from the Amarcord B&B were pretty vague- they exactly stated: cross the tracks, follow the other passengers, at the intersection go straight, turn right and you will see our sign. So I crossed the tracks- literally stepping down into the pit, walking across the tracks, and followed the other passengers, even though they were all men and they were leading me into an unmarked alleyway… There were plenty of little cross roads, but I didn’t see anything that would qualify as an intersection until we had been walking for about 10 minutes, and I was starting to get a little nervous because I was picturing an intersection right away, and I figured I must be following the wrong passengers. Also, the sun was starting to set, and I didn’t want to be wandering around here in the dark in the wrong direction, even though it was a cute little neighborhood. I was just reaching into my bag to get my phone to call the B&B, when I crossed a street, turned right, and saw the sign!!!
I followed the little signs to a cute house, walked up the steps, and started to read the directions in English for the B&B guests. They were pretty confusing, and as I was taking my time, standing there, trying to figure them out, a girl about my age walked up from behind me and said, “Hope?” Perfect! We went in; it was very nice. I gave her my passport and paid, and she took me to my room. I had 2 nice twin beds, an armoire, a TV, and a balcony! She told me what all the keys were for, but I didn’t really pay attention because I was fully planning on locking the door once she left, and going straight to sleep. Next, she helped me order a cab for the morning and left- the cab would come at 5.
The feeling of arriving safely to a nice (actually, it doesn’t even have to be nice- case and point- my room in London) room after a day of unsure travelling is just plain fantastic. I’ve decided that I have an abhor/adore relationship with travelling (stronger that love/hate), and I’m really glad I’ve had this opportunity to come and do all of this. Thanks, family, for letting me!
I laid out all my clothes for the morning in the order that they needed to be put on (I wasn’t giving myself any credit for being able to figure it out when I woke up since it would be 4:30), watched some Italian TV, and fell asleep around 9:30. I actually woke up in the morning a solid 2 minutes before my alarm, and had enough will power to get out of bed! I dressed, repacked everything into my little suitcase, pulled the blankets back onto the bed, splashed some water on my face, grabbed some breakfast (toast with Nutella, a couple of cookies, and chocolate milk), and headed out the door. I had forgotten to ask the lady the night before what I should do with my keys in the morning, so I left them on my bed with the door to my room unlocked. As soon as I got out to the gate, I realized this had been the wrong decision… I was stuck. I was locked out of the house, but into the yard by the huge front gate (with walls on either side of it). The only thing I could do was climb over the giant, spikey, rather dangerous-looking gate. So I tossed my suitcase over it and did just that. I was really, really glad that the taxi wasn’t there yet- it would have been really embarrassing having to do that in front of somebody.
I think the cafe was Turkish. It sounds like you had a doner! They're my favorite.
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