Arriving in Italy

For those of you who've been in the near vicinity of my person in the past year has probably heard my travel tales of woe. It was a rather long string of unfortunate events compacted into the space of about six months, so since then I've been rather paranoid when it comes to flying and airports.

Thankfully, this is not one of those tales. I got to Atlanta and through security with ease, and my flight left for Paris on time. I got to Paris, through security and passport control, and managed to find my gate with the help of a heavily armed French soldier and an extremely bored airport staff member. There was a two hour delay, thanks to technical difficulties throughout the airport, but since I didn't have to catch another flight, it wasn't that much of a problem. I even managed to find the shuttle to my hotel in Rome and check in and order room service.

The next morning, I took the Sulga bus to Perugia. Note to any future travelers to Perugia: if you have a suitcase of more than marginal size, get a taxi to your destination. Because Perugia is a hill, and their convenient escalators only get you so far.

My trusty suitcase managed to survive the ordeal.

I found a tourist booth with a map, and headed in the general direction of where I was told the university would be. I crossed Perugia's biggest square, got marked as a "turisti" by some curious passerby, and dragged my suitcase down a treacherous set of stairs. And just when I had given up all hope of finding the university, I looked up. And there it was. Right across the street.

Universita per Stranieri di Perugia

I entered and went to the welcome station. With the help of one of the few English-speakers on staff, they told me what I had to do. They gave me a sheet to fill out and bring with me the next day, and the times for the entrance exams the next morning. They even got on Google maps and showed me the street (really, a glorified alley) where I would be living.

My landlady, Carla, would not open the apartment to me until 6:30, so I had about 4 hours to kill. So I dragged my suitcase across the street to a little park, bought a pear, and called home. I read the section about Perugia in my guidebook. I watched people. I shooed away curious pigeons. That took about 30 minutes. So I wrote in my journal. I read about the entire region of Umbria. I ate some half-melted peanut M&Ms. Another 30 minutes. 

So I took my suitcase back to the university, where they were kind enough to store it behind a desk for a while. My load thus lightened, I went into a bookstore and bought a dictionary. Next door was a cafe, so I sat down, had a cappuccino and read. 

Sometimes boredom can taste really, really good.

After a while, I reclaimed my suitcase, returned to the cafe, and got a sandwich and another cappuccino for dinner. And, finally, it was 6:30. I went into the alley and waited for Carla to let me in. The internet didn't work, I didn't have a towel, I was exhausted, but the day was over. I had a room, I didn't have to drag my suitcase anywhere, I had a hot shower, and the view from my room was/is fantastic.

My room with a view.