My Bag is Packed

The First few Days

Well, I know that all my loyal readers (all four of you) have been waiting to see what I put on the blog about Italy. I arrived and it is as beautiful as I remembered it to be. The flowers are still in bloom and the grapes are starting to ripen. The weather has turned HOT. Everyone says that last week they were wearing jackets in the evening but I am having a hard time believing that. Right now I have the air conditioning on in my room.

The trip over was uneventful except for my plan to get an upgrade. I asked the man at the ticket counter in LR if I could get one and he looked at me like I had lost my mind and said there was no way he could upgrade an international flight. Now, I happen to know that just in May someone standing at that very computer offered to upgrade a Harding student on the international flight. So, he was just blowing me off. Then when I arrived in Memphis I went immediately to the ticket area behind the security (because I did not have enough time to go outside the security to the main ticket area) and asked very sweetly what were the possibilities. The lady there looked at me with distain, and here let me say that I looked pretty good, nicer clothes and makeup and all that, but she just turned her little snotty nose at me and said that if I wanted an upgrade on frequent flyer miles that I would have to go to the main ticket area and I would have to have done that 3 hours before the flight. Then she said in an even snottier voice that if I wanted to purchase a First class ticket that I could go there and purchase one for $3000 to $4000. What a witch.

So, I got on my coach ticket with three yelling babies within four rows of me. The gentleman sitting next to me was quite nice and did not want to sit and chat. We did have a short conversation over our airline meal and he told me that he was on his way to present a paper at a conference in South Africa on economic development in Africa. I told him that I have a friend interested in that but I forgot to give him David J’s contact info. He asked why I was going to Rome and I told him about HUF. He said that he thought I was a teacher (should I be worried about that?). When I told him that I taught speech-language pathology he got very excited and said that he has a friend in the government in Nigeria who wants to bring speech pathologist to Nigeria. So, we exchanged business cards and our new master’s program may have a clinical site available in Nigeria. I only slept for about an hour and a half…planes are too busy for me to sleep.

The arrival and meeting up with the students in Amsterdam was so easy. We got to Rome on time with the strangest bit of airline food I have ever seen…I think it was risotto with some chicken, but they called it exotic chicken salad.

We had a long wait for our luggage at the Rome airport. After about 45 minutes everyone had their bags except two. One was Michael Kee and the other was the one person we all knew would have trouble. After another 10-15 minutes of filling out forms and fighting off Italian women who didn’t have their luggage either but were refusing to wait in line, we discovered that their suitcases were still in Detroit! That was not good news. I am very sad to report that the bags have still not arrived three days later. I think that our university attorney should start a lawsuit or something.

Traffic was bad and our two and half hour bus trip to Scandicci turned into three and a half. And let me say that the food where we stopped for supper was not bad at all. Other student groups have complained but they are just whiney babies.

I was assigned the Loft room. For those familiar with the villa, it is just up the stairs from the faculty dining area. It is a cozy little space but I don’t see how Dan survied it without banging his head on this twelve in square beam in the middle of the room. I know that he is much taller than the ceiling in this room.

So, we are all exhausted and I have had 1 1/2 hours of sleep in 36 hours and they try to get me to fill out the Visa forms for the government. I was so punchy that I messed up three forms (Italian government does not like messy forms!). I finally has to say that I would do it the next morning.

Wednesday, we oriented and went on our Scandicci walk. Of course, Mario’s Café was a stopping point. We took the first of 750 group photos that we will take this semester. Then we walked down in front of the Superal and down the street toward the bus 16 stop and had gelato. My first flavor choices were fior de latte and choccolatte. YUM! Then we turned the students loose and Leslie Teague and I went back to the Superal for shop a little (no shampoo carried on the plane and checked suitcase was full of books). Guess which student set off the alarm in the Superal while she was looking for the bathroom?

Tracy came and picked us up so I still didn’t walk up the hill…It will come. I will be in pain. But wait until I tell you what Robbie made me do on Thursday!!!! That will be in the next post. It’s evening Tea Time so I must make my way downstairs to tea and cookies.

I will add photos later when the internet connection gets repaired!

posted by BW @ 10:44 AM