Sono in Italia!!!
After almost 24 hours of flying, I am finally in Olbia! Just my luck, my trip started out to a hectic start!
I took a flight to Houston and from there I hopped onto the biggest airplane I have ever seen in my life!
I was a little nervous about the 10 hour flight, but for some reason it went by very quickly. I slept for a good four or five hours (I didnt sleep at all the night before, sono stata eccitata!) My seat was next to the window and there was no one next to me, so I just spread out and slept wonderfully! The coolest part about the flight was that they gave you a sleeping mask and a pair of cozy socks! I put those to good use. I watched two moves as well. The Holiday and The Persuit of Happiness. The next thing I knew, we were flying over England and getting ready to land! I couldnt believe that I was REALLY flying over London. It was absolutely gorgeous from the air. Everything was SO green. Eventually, the plane landed and I snapped this not-so-good picture of the first-class seats to show what an extra $2,000 can buy you! These seats reclined completely flat and they had foot rests, built in televisions...the works!
From London, I caught a flight to Rome. I had to rush to my next flight since I only had an hour to get through security. It was a lot of fun listening to everyones (excuse my lack of apostrophes, I cant find the button on this computer!!) accents. I had to restrain myself from speaking in my fake British accent! I am sure they would have realized I was a Jewish Texan pretty quickly!
From England, I flew to Rome and from Rome I flew to Sardegna. In the Rome airport, I had my first taste of Italian food! Although I have no idea what it actually was, it tasted amazing! There was some pretty tasty mazerella inside!
When I arrived to the Olbia airport, I immediately went to the ATM to withdrawl money. For some reason, it only gave me $10 and that was it! It told me to contact my bank. I obviously coulnt do that because I couldnt figure out how to work the payphones in the first place, so I ventured over to the travel desk downstairs and asked for help finding a hotel. Thank goodness the woman spoke a little bit of English and I spoke a little bit of Italian! Between the two of us, we were able to find me a cheap little bed and breakfast about 5 minutes away...and the best part was that it was about £10 away by taxi --- exactly what I had in my wallet!
The taxi ride there was fun. The driver said that I spoke Italian very well and that he had a cousin who lived in San Antonio. Small world! He dropped me off at the Hotel Centrale, which turned out to be a quaint little place.
(Looking back...I should have taken advantage of this!!!)
After I unpacked my things, I ventured outside to try to use an ATM again. My card still didnt work. I walked over to a payphone to try and use my calling card to let everyone know that I was safe, but I couldnt figure that out either!! I must have looked so silly to the locals. Eventually, I found some £ coins in the bottom of my purse and brought it to the internet cafe to see if it would buy me any time. Luckily, it bought me 30 minutes, just enough time for me to email everyone! I wrote to Andrew, telling him to contact my bank to figure out what was going on. Afterwards, I went back to my hotel and fell asleep. Around 5 in the morning, the phone in my room rang and the hotel attendant told me I had a phone call. Next thing I knew, my sweet Andrew was on the other line. I was so happy I almost started to cry. He told me that my card should be working in the morning. Thank goodness!!! After talking with him, I wound up watching the Italian version of the game show 1 vs 100 and also a dubbed version of Miami Vice until i fell back asleep. Around 9, I woke up and went downstairs for some colazione (breakfast!) Yum! There was a barista who made me a cafe latte, which was SO MUCH BETTER than any Starbucks I have ever had! I grabbed a few things from the breakfast table. I was very excited to see that they had CoaCoa flakes!
After I was finished with my food, I brought my dishes up to la ragazza barista. She looked at me confusingly and laughed! She grabbed the plates from me quickly and told me in very broken English that I wasnt supposed to do that myself. We both laughed and she patted me on the back a few times and said thank you. Usually, we bring our plates to the trash or hand them to the waiter in the states because it is polite! I felt embarassed that I did that here, but it was a funny moment none the less. I am doing well with my Italian, I suppose. I can usually understand it when people speak slowly. Most of the time they speak SUPER fast and I just stand there with a confused expression on my face. I have my trusty English/Italian dictionary to help me, though. The most common words I have used so far have been "Non funziona la macchina dei soldi. Puo auitarmi? Ho bisogna di cambiare i mei dollari per euro!" Translation - "The money machine doesnt work. Can you help me? I need to change my dollars for euro!" Ive got those sentences down pat!
After breakfast, I went to a few different banks and FINALLY I was able to take money out so that I can catch a taxi to the airport. Nicoles flight gets in around 3, so I will walk around this little town for a while and then meet her there. There is a driver that is meeting us near her gate to take us to the hotel we are staying at an hour from here!
I will post another entry from Nicoles computer, or one of the computers near the university Ailun. Until then, I will leave you with a few more pictures of Olbia that I have taken throughout the morning.
Wish me luck!!
Tara
