So, a bit of background to get started: I traveled with Natalie and Sabriye, but our friends Sam, Steph, and Kristen were also going to Rome for the same days as us and were on the same flight there. We spent four days in Rome, leaving by train for Florence in the afternoon. We took the train back to Rome heinously early on Wednesday for our flight, and by 5 PM we were back in Sevilla.
The trip got off to a rocky start, to say the least. On our way to the airport, Sam, who was already at the airport texted Steph who was coming with us to let us know that the flight was delayed. This seemed strange to us, since most of us are from Michigan and only used to delays due to blizzards. When we got to the airport, we discovered that the flight had been delayed from a 4:20 departure to a 6:55 one. Not ideal, but we hadn’t been planning on doing anything that first day anyway since we’d only be arriving after 7 PM. We waited around for a long time (spent watching I Love You, Man in the airport) and finally boarded the plane. Once on the plane, we waited some more until finally someone told us that they hadn’t actually diagnosed the technical problem with the plane that had initially caused the delay and they had to wait for the mechanic from Málaga to get to Sevilla, which would take over an hour. We then had to disembark from the plane and go back into the airport for further instruction. This resulted in going through security again and worrying that we wouldn’t be able to get on our flight. Needless to say everyone was freaking out a little bit. Thankfully, while we were in line for security round two, there was an announcement telling us that the problem had indeed been fixed and we’d be going to Rome that night.
In the midst of the chaos, some of us Americans were trying to stick together and figure out what was going on/what we should do, so in the process an American guy was talking to our group about what to do. As we headed to the plane, I somehow got in front of all my friends with this fellow, and he asked us where we’re from. Here’s how the conversation went down:
Random airport man whose name I later discovered was Dylan: “Where are you guys from?”
Me: “Most of us are from Michigan, but a couple are from New York. But I’m from Michigan.”
Dylan: “Oh, cool, I’m from Ohio.”
Me: “Oh. You don’t…happen to have any allegiances to any schools in Ohio, do you?” Going to give myself props here for being so civil from the get-go.
Dylan: (skeptically) “Yeah…I went to Ohio State.”
Me: “Oh. I go to Michigan. Nice to meet you.”
Dylan: “Really? Wow.” Or something like that. “What year are you?”
This is where it starts getting good.
Me: “I’m a junior.”
Dylan: “Cool. Are you ready to be done?”
Me: “Not right now, but maybe I will be by the time I’m actually finished. It’s kind of scary though.”
Dylan: “What, being done with college? That’s the best part!”
Me: “Maybe if you go to Ohio State.”
BOOM! Roasted. All he could say to that was “touché, touché” and sort of scoff while he repeated what I had just said to him. I have to be honest, I’m pretty proud of myself for that one, and that’s a story that my poor friends are going to have to hear over and over again because it’s just great. To show that I’m not completely heartless/prove that Wolverines are classy, I told him that the whole airport craziness was a good bonding experience, to which he replied that there were no hard feelings between us. Study abroad is helping me expand my horizons in so many ways. I made friends with a Buckeye during a 5-hour plane delay. And it was five hours, because the plane didn’t take off until about 9:30. We got into Rome after midnight instead of after 7 PM. But of course, this section being called Murphy’s Law and all, the universe wasn’t done with us yet…
We got to our hostel at about 1 AM, which we already knew wasn’t ideal from the Barcelona experience of getting there when everyone was asleep and having to make our beds in the dark and such, so we were already bummed about that. But when we went down to our room, we realized there were only two available beds, and three girls looking to sleep there. Problem. We went back up to the front desk to ask, and the receptionist discovered that a girl in the room had overstayed and was supposed to check out the day before. We expected that they might give us a different room for the night or something, maybe split us up and put one in another room while they figured out the situation, but instead the guy told us to come with him and we ended up getting our stuff settled as they kicked this girl out of the room at 1 in the morning. Awkward? Definitely. But they got her out, and Sab got a bed, and everything worked out, mostly.
That's the end of Part One because that's (pretty much) the end of our problems, though Murphy's Law does come back into play in Florence. You're probably wondering where all the fun stories about pasta and Michelangelo and Julius Caesar are. Don't worry, there are plenty of meals and stories about famous artists to come, and though I don't have much about Caesar, we did learn a lot about Nero and what a massive jerk he was. I just needed to cover all of the heinousness that occurred before we got to the actual trip. Tease? Maybe. But you're interested now, right? Coming up next, Part Two: The Lizzie McGuire Movie! In which I detail my jam-packed visit to Rome, the city in which the Lizzie McGuire Movie takes place, to highlight the relevance of that title. Sneak preview: lots of old stuff, lots of Catholic stuff. Lots of old Catholic stuff (i.e. the Pope). Get pumped. But who knows when it will be posted, because my friend Sarah is coming to visit me tomorrow (yay!) and the two of us are going to Paris from Wednesday until Sunday (double yay!), AND I have mountains of schoolwork to do now that exams start in about a month. Naturally. So, I promise to be working on these posts and to get everything up as soon as I can, so stay tuned.
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