GL 350, Week 5

                I still cannot manage to wrap my head around the fact that we have less than three weeks here in “Rome home.”  I have been through so many experiences since this journey has started, and I can only imagine the times I still have yet to come.  This week is one that I have been looking forward to for a while.  I have grown up hearing about the Vatican, and this week we have the privilege to see it all.   I am looking forward to the experiences that I am about to take part in this week, and I am still laughing at myself for one that I had this past weekend.

            Ever since we first arrived here Danilo, Professor, and Mike have been telling us what to do and what not to do.   Sometimes they even throw in an old story about previous students and their experiences if it relates to a certain situation.  This past weekend, Katie Dodds and I definitely had an experience that will be a lesson to all future Romers.

            Instead of traveling to a different city this weekend, Katie and I decided to stay in Rome.  Late Friday afternoon we decided to head to Albano because we needed to pick up a few things, thinking that we would not be long.  We were only there for an hour or so and we would have had to wait a while for the train, so feeling adventurous we decided on the blue bus instead.  What a mistake.  Instead of taking the bus back to Villetta, we accidently hopped on the bus that said Velletri.

            We were both sitting for about fifteen minutes until we finally decided that we were headed in the wrong direction.  We were not sure if we should exit at a busy stop or stay on, so we decided to ask a few Italians near us if the bus would eventually head back to Albano.  No one seemed to speak English that well, but they seemed to understand when we asked them, and they did not hesitate to say yes.  Katie and I decided that we would stay on the bus, almost positive that we would end back in Albano. 

            After an hour bus ride we ended up in a small city named Cori.  Everyone had exited the bus and the bus driver turned off all the lights and slowly began to drive away.  Katie and I became nervous and instantly went to talk to the driver.  He did not speak English, and he seemed very upset when we said, “Albano,” and did not hesitate to open the door and kick us off.  We ended up going to the first place we could find, and that was a small place called Desire Bar.  As I mentioned, this was a small city so no one spoke English.  The two women that happened to be working could see that we were in trouble, and they were nice enough to bring out their laptop to use Google Translate in order to communicate.

            After a few hours of trying to come up with a solution to arrive back home, we ruled out buses and taxies.  So that only meant one other option.  Mike sadly had to drive an hour to pick us up.  Although we were scared and frustrated during the time, I cannot look back on this experience and be glad that it happened.  Not only does it make a great lesson for future Romers, but it something that Katie and I will always be able to look back on and say, “Hey, remember that one time when we ended up in a different Provence in Rome?”

            This story can relate to our conversation in class about The Smiles of Rome.  Last week we stated that America is constantly lending out a helping hand which makes Italians believe that we have some sort of hidden agenda.  This past weekend was the opposite.  Instead of neglecting us when we needed help, the two women that were working did everything in their power to help us find a way back home.  They called for taxis, looked up bus times, and even let us sit in the bar until Mike arrived because it was cold outside, and yet they wanted nothing in return.