Day 1

Hello from Italiaaaa!

I am finally here! 20 hours of traveling, four airports, and two sunrises later and I am finally settled into my humble abode - kind of...

I realize it is probably ridiculous to dedicate a whole post simply to my day of travel, but trust me, it's worth it...

My trip started at approximately 1:30 PM on Monday when I was finally seated on my first flight to Amsterdam. I was sitting in the aisle seat in the column by the window and people kept coming on the plane but no one was claiming the window seat next to me. I thought it was strange when no one showed up when the plane doors were closing and the seat was still empty, but I wasn't about to question my luck. I was in the process of thanking God for giving me an empty seat to sprawl out on and finally sleep when in bursts the hot mess express. I kid you not it was the type of entrance that you only see in the movies - that dramatic. This fourty-something year old lady with bleach blonde hair and braces storms down the aisle panting - meanwhile I'm praying that she is not about to claim my extra seat when I hear this voice say... "Looks like I'm your mate!" Thanks a lot, God...

So my hopes of having a restful flight went out the window when my "mate" sat down. Right when she sat down, she starts to tell me all about the whirlwind of a morning she had. "Oh but don't worry, I promise I'm not a chatty Kathy!" Yeah right lady. She says this and goes on to tell me about how on top of everything else, she had to pack up her husband's stuff because she was kicking him out because he had been cheating on her. "I'm just so unlucky with men! I really thought the fourth one would be different!" Oh yes, you read that correctly. Since age 19, this woman had gone through 4 husbands - for a variety of reasons including cheating, jealousy, clinginess, etc. I got the whole story...every single detail...

Anyways, once the flight took off, I used the tv in front of me as an excuse to tune her out for the majority of the flight. That is, I tried to at least - in between her half-hourly bathroom breaks where she would pack up her stuff, look at me with this grin on her face, and shrug her shoulders acting like she felt bad making me move literally every half hour...

Besides the half-hourly bathroom breaks, the first flight was fairly smooth - except for when we flew over Greenland! Good lord I literally thought I was going to die. Granted any form of turbulence scares the living daylights out of me, but it was actually pretty bad. At one point I was questioning why God would send me on this adventure to Italy if he was going to have me die before I even made it to Europe... Yeah, sorry I'm dramatic. 

Once we landed, I got off that plane as fast as I could, seeing as my connecting flight was in an hour somewhere in this foreign airport. And let me tell you, it was a good thing I got off the plane as fast as I could because the Amsterdam airport is crazy! It is longer than the Portland airport - which says a lot - and just madness! There were shops, restaurants, and people EVERYWHERE! It was crazy! I mean, not all of it was bad crazy; let's just say there are some pretty attractive people in Amsterdam and I am looking forward to visiting sometime soon. 

Compared to all of that, my flights to Rome and Florence were fairly uneventful besides the fact that anytime I wasn't on the plane, I was paranoid that someone was going to pickpocket my backpack and steal my wallet and passport. Besides that, the only somewhat noteworthy thing was that on my flight to Rome I sat next to two other students who were studying abroad, so that was strangely comforting being able to converse with them about the eventful trip, the anxious-excited feelings we were having, and how exhausted we were.

By the time we finally landed in Florence, I was beyond exhausted. I was just counting down the minutes until I could get in bed. However, that wait turned out to be a lot longer than I had anticipated...

As we were waiting for our luggage, everyone on my flight was slowly but surely getting their stuff one by one and leaving...everyone except me that is. I was waiting and waiting...and waiting for my ONE suitcase (I had to emphasize the one because I was pretty proud of being able to fit everything I needed for three and a half months in one suitcase) until I was the only person from my flight left standing there and a flight crew worker came out, looked at me, and shrugged his shoulders. Just my luck. At that point, I was already exhausted and emotional (lack of sleep plus that time of the month is not a good combination) and now this. The oncoming tears were stinging the backs of my eyes but I held myself together and went over to the lost and found desk where there were surprisingly four other kids from my program having the same problem and filed a claim for my missing suitcase. They said that my suitcase will likely arrive sometime the next day and they would bring it to my hotel. Now, that's just what they say. All I know is that it is currently the next day and I still don't have my suitcase... So, let's hope I don't have to wait much longer...

Anyways, after that whole debaucle, I made my way outside to the taxi line and literally just handed the cab driver the address and prayed that he took me to the right place because I was about as talkative as a mime considering the day(s)' occurrences and the language barrier. 

After about 20 minutes of some of the scariest driving I have ever experienced, the cab driver pulls over and points to a hotel. Nowhere on the hotel did it say "Hotel Nazionale" so I gave the driver a confused look and showed him the address again. At that point, he got out of the car and went over and pointed to address on the side of the hotel. I didn't know what I was supposed to do so I paid the driver and hesitantly walked into the hotel. When I got inside, I asked the front desk worker if it was Hotel Nazionale to which I got an annoyed sigh and explanation that no, this was 22A; 22B was down the street.

So, I picked up the few items I had with me and made my way down the street until I saw the Hotel Nazionale sign. Once I finally made it to the hotel, I was introduced to the manager and escorted to my room. Thankfully my roommate hadn't arrived yet, so I had the chance to set my stuff down and literally just cry. I let myself break down for about five minutes before I wiped off the tears and forced myself to go into the lounge and socialize.

After a few hours of socializing and picking at food, it's finally time to go to bed.

So, goodnight everyone!

Let's hope the rest of my travels are not nearly as eventful (well eventful in the negative way) as this adventure was...

Ciao for now!

Sincerely yours,

Just Another Original