Italy- rome
the flight from paris was fine, but i flew ryan air so it was pretty annoying but you cant beat the cheapness of the flights. i suppose you get what you pay for. when we landed it started to get real that i was on my own. i didnt know how to find jr and she was in a different hostle. i wandered around a while trying to find my hostles address. Amazingly I found it right off and went in to confirm my room. Something got screwed up and they didnt have a place for me. Shit. its new years, all the hostles they called were booked, i dont know where i am, and i dont know how to find my friends. As i am about to cry, they offer me a place to sleep but not in a bed. Guess where i slept... In a pantry.
when i got settled in my cupboard, i went for a walk to try to calm myself down, because as you all know, i got frantic. so i just stared walking, and litterly ran into the collosium. Unreal. Its beautiful. when i tried to find my way back i got so so lost. but i asked this couple who were so nice and made sure I got to where i needed to go by taking me with them on the bus. people in rome on new years are crazy by the way. people were driving around and lighting off firecrackers from out their windows and throwing them into the street. after i got some food, i decided that i just shouldnt be out in a city i dont know by myself on new years. so I went back to my cupboard, and read the rest of the night out.
Yesterday when i woke up and got out of the hostle i had to find my second hostle not really knowing if i would find my friends, and not really knowing how to get there. i got myself to the termini and tryed to figure out how to buy a metro ticket, which is almost impossible to figure out because there are no machines for them like in everyother city. you buy them from the newspaper stand. it took me like 30 mins to find one and the language barrier is hard. but i got on a metro heading the right way and then i figured out how to get from the metro onto a train. i was doing pretty well. i got off at the wrong station but i ran into a different american which is funny because not only was it just him and i that got off at that station, not only was he a photography professor, but guess where he grew up... Forest lake. CRAZY. how does that happen! i dunno. it was really excellent to get to talk to him. and he got me on the right track again, and taught me how to ask a few important phrases in italian.
I got back on the train, found the right stop and was waiting for a bus. the bus was taking forever, and i didnt really know where i was going so i was considering taking a cab. This is when i made the stupidest mistake yet. this guy who was pretty old came up to me and asked me where i was going and i showed him the adress and he said come come with me i have car. and i was like cool taxi. when i asked him about roughly how much it would be he said Come i have car i take you. so i gave him my bag, he insisted, and walked with him toward the taxi little station thing and he walks past it. shit shit shit. into his like regular car. Fuck. so i get in cause he put my bag in there which is pretty much my life. and he starts driving. i am freaking out. he tells me he loves me i say no no. and he dropped me off in the right place and said come back and i take out out. go find friends and come back. so i jump out of his car, grab my bag from him and almost litterly run away. scarey, i think so.
by the time i got to the hostle i was a complete wreck. lol. i checked in and my friend jr came out of her room saw me and gave me a huge hug. fantastic. i met her cousin sarah who is really excellent and then i went and got cleaned up.
The hostle i am in right now is amazing. its on the medditarainian sea which is so beautiful. its clean and the people are excellent and i slept like a rock.
last night we went to meet some friends that helped jr and sarah on new years by pretending to be their boyfriends. it was 5 kids from the states 4 boys 2 sets of brothers, and a girl who was dating one of the guys. they were so nice and so excellent. we met at the spanish steps, went to dinner in this little italian resturante, walked around the parthenon and the trimini fountain. They were so nice and absolutly great people. we almost missed our train back because our hostle is about 45 min by train out of rome but they helped us get back to where we needed to be and made sure we were alright all of the time. it was so much fun.
so far thats it. ill let you know.
love, jill
when i got settled in my cupboard, i went for a walk to try to calm myself down, because as you all know, i got frantic. so i just stared walking, and litterly ran into the collosium. Unreal. Its beautiful. when i tried to find my way back i got so so lost. but i asked this couple who were so nice and made sure I got to where i needed to go by taking me with them on the bus. people in rome on new years are crazy by the way. people were driving around and lighting off firecrackers from out their windows and throwing them into the street. after i got some food, i decided that i just shouldnt be out in a city i dont know by myself on new years. so I went back to my cupboard, and read the rest of the night out.
Yesterday when i woke up and got out of the hostle i had to find my second hostle not really knowing if i would find my friends, and not really knowing how to get there. i got myself to the termini and tryed to figure out how to buy a metro ticket, which is almost impossible to figure out because there are no machines for them like in everyother city. you buy them from the newspaper stand. it took me like 30 mins to find one and the language barrier is hard. but i got on a metro heading the right way and then i figured out how to get from the metro onto a train. i was doing pretty well. i got off at the wrong station but i ran into a different american which is funny because not only was it just him and i that got off at that station, not only was he a photography professor, but guess where he grew up... Forest lake. CRAZY. how does that happen! i dunno. it was really excellent to get to talk to him. and he got me on the right track again, and taught me how to ask a few important phrases in italian.
I got back on the train, found the right stop and was waiting for a bus. the bus was taking forever, and i didnt really know where i was going so i was considering taking a cab. This is when i made the stupidest mistake yet. this guy who was pretty old came up to me and asked me where i was going and i showed him the adress and he said come come with me i have car. and i was like cool taxi. when i asked him about roughly how much it would be he said Come i have car i take you. so i gave him my bag, he insisted, and walked with him toward the taxi little station thing and he walks past it. shit shit shit. into his like regular car. Fuck. so i get in cause he put my bag in there which is pretty much my life. and he starts driving. i am freaking out. he tells me he loves me i say no no. and he dropped me off in the right place and said come back and i take out out. go find friends and come back. so i jump out of his car, grab my bag from him and almost litterly run away. scarey, i think so.
by the time i got to the hostle i was a complete wreck. lol. i checked in and my friend jr came out of her room saw me and gave me a huge hug. fantastic. i met her cousin sarah who is really excellent and then i went and got cleaned up.
The hostle i am in right now is amazing. its on the medditarainian sea which is so beautiful. its clean and the people are excellent and i slept like a rock.
last night we went to meet some friends that helped jr and sarah on new years by pretending to be their boyfriends. it was 5 kids from the states 4 boys 2 sets of brothers, and a girl who was dating one of the guys. they were so nice and so excellent. we met at the spanish steps, went to dinner in this little italian resturante, walked around the parthenon and the trimini fountain. They were so nice and absolutly great people. we almost missed our train back because our hostle is about 45 min by train out of rome but they helped us get back to where we needed to be and made sure we were alright all of the time. it was so much fun.
so far thats it. ill let you know.
love, jill