I lost everything I own, only to learn that I had gained much more.
Maybe I should start from the beginning. You might want to save this story for a rainy day when you've got nothing to do. Well anywhere here goes...
I was breezing through my Shakespeare final about
The Tempest, mindlessly writing about all the in depth meanings and relating it to modern times, when it really hit me the once I finished, I was off to
Italy and Greece for the next ten days!
Michelle,
Mourin, Lauren and myself flew into
Milan and landed fairly late into the evening. I climbed into the front seat of a Mercedes Benz Taxi and started my best attempt to converse with our driver in Italian tongue. I managed pretty well, and we were at our hostel in no time. The next morning we went out into the city to see as much as we could before catching the train to Venice at noon. As we walked past the shops, there were giant steeples appearing in the skyline. When we got closer we were staring up at "
il Duomo" which was the grandest church in all of Milan. It looked like Cinderella's castle times a million. A group of African men approached one of the girls and started a conversation. Soon the other girls joined. I did not become fully aware of what was going on until a strange man started
tieing a bracelet on my arm and chanting something in a language that was unknown to me. One of the girls screamed "run" and the second that this man let go of my wrist we took off running to the train station.
Once we got on the train, we had a three hour ride ahead of us. For those of you who have seen
EuroTrip, I'm afraid to say that everything in the movie is quickly becoming a first hand experience. The girls were all passed out and I was quietly reading. There were a few British boys sitting next to me talking to each other when a drunken Italian man entered our cabin. No one saw him coming from behind us, but then the train wobbled a little and the strange man was flung on the laps of the boys next to me. He giggled a little and then said "
Ciao." He continued to hop from seat to seat until he finally left our Cabin. I couldn't sleep as we drove through Verona because the distant landscape was glimmering through the windows. We finally reached our stop and we quickly got our luggage and made our way to the doors.
Mourin and I hopped onto the platform, and then the train doors slammed behind us. Michelle and Lauren frantically banged at the window. We all pushed buttons and yelled for help. Some men tried to open the doors, but it was hopeless, and a few seconds later
the train pulled away with them still in it to the next destination. We had no phones and could get no help from anyone at the station. We did have an Itinerary that one of the girls typed up so if worse came to worse we figured we could just meet at the hotel. We waited for an hour and then decided to try and find the hotel ourselves. We hadn't gotten too far when I heard the other girls screaming my name.
We took a taxi to the most adorable family hotel. It was a bright yellow house with blue shutters. Our room had a little balcony that wrapped around our whole room and the sun just poured in thought the windows. We had to take a bus into
Venice, and then a water bus to get to all the different Islands. We went to
Lido and walked around the most delightful small town. We stopped and got the biggest scoop of the most delicious
gelati I have ever had in my life. From then on the girls decided we would have
gelati at least twice a day while in Italy. I taught the girls how to say "where is the beach?" in Italian and eventually we made it. The water and the sky were so blue it looked like a water color painting. Seashells swirled all through the sand and it was just perfect.
Next we took the water bus to the famous
San Marco Square. There were vendors selling the most delicate
Carnivale masks everywhere. Bird seed vendors were at every corner as the drew people in to become part of the pigeon friendly environment. People flocked to the center of the square to entice the birds to land on them. Not me though, I stood and took pictures of this horror show. Until I discovered there were some of my fellow classmates in the middle of this mess. I sucked it up and went to talk to them. Of course, once they caught onto my fear of birds the new game became "how much birdseed can we get on Jenna without her noticing so the
birds will attack her" There are pictures, I'm sure you'll enjoy them.
We were walking along the canal when a bunch of men in black and white striped shirts and sun hats with a ribbon started calling after us to take a
gondola ride. We made a deal with the one of the guys and began our elegant tour of the canals. We made him sing to us and then an accordion player serenaded us in a nearby gondola. We weaved our way thought the narrow canals and looked at historical beautiful landmarks. We passed a boat a of Jersey boys and did the typical jersey "
hhhheeeyyyyyy" real loud and obnoxious. Then they pointed out the boat of Jersey Girls coming up behind them and of course we exchanged jersey girl squeals. We passed under bridge after little bridge and eventually made it back to the dock.
There characters all dressed up in the most eccentric attire to entertain the people passing by. I think I'd really fit in with these people! I stopped in a book store and got an Italian aid to help with my grammar. Then we searched for a good restaurant to stop in. As we passed each little
ristorante there were bins of live crabs, lobsters, and other fish on ice. The food was looking pretty scary. We finally stopped in a place where I could translate the menu for the girls. I had amazing spaghetti with (real) tomato sauce and claims. Then chicken and salad. yum. Yes Venice was definitely my favorite place on the whole trip. Absolutely magical.
When we got back to the hotel, the owner told us that we were leaving too early to take the bus to the airport for our flight to Rome, so he offered to schedule us a taxi. We gave him all our flight information and he booked that taxi to pick us up at 6:30. We were all up early and took the way overcharged jerk taxi to the airport. We go out and wondered inside. For some reason the flight schedule only had a flight to Rome at 10 AM and ours was at 8:30. That's when
Mourin was like... "maybe we're in the wrong airport," and Lauren looks at a sign and screams
"We ARE in the wrong airport!!!!" We run back outside but the place is deserted because it was too early for anyone to be there. We split up and scrambled for help. Information pointed out a taxi phone on the ground floor. Luckily the other airport was half an hour away because we had exactly half an hour until check in closed. I got in the front seat of the taxi (again) and explained to the cab driver we were very late ( in Italian) and we took off accelerating at 170 km/ hour! We made it there just in time, and an hour later we landed in
Rome.
Mourin's third cousin, Emile, his son, Andrew, and Andrew's friend David, Picked us up at the airport. All of them are Egyptian Roman, and spoke very little English. They took us to our
four star hotel that faced the entrance to
the Vatican. Our room was gigantic complete with complementary slippers and a gorgeous balcony. We got a good deal on it because Emile is friends with the owner because he has a very famous restaurant on the same street. They walked us down the street and there was
San Pietro Square! We made our way through the crowd of people to this little circle that Andrew pointed out. He explained that the surrounding building was made in a perfect ellipse and if u stood on that circle the row of columns (that was four columns deep) looked like one single column all the way around. It was an awesome piece of architecture. It got even more crowded and there were people holding flags and yelling everywhere, especially when a red velvet blanket was draped out a high window. A few minutes later
the Pope waved at all the people and began to speak for a while. We went into the San Pietro Basilica and wondered around the enchanting church. Then we went down to the tombs of all the passed Popes. After that
we climbed 550 steps to the top of the dome. It was INSANE, but the view was totally worth it. We could see all of Rome and the smallest, most sacred country in the world, The Vatican. It was stunning.
We walked back down the street to Emile's restaurant where we met he's sweet wife Lucy, and his trendy daughter, Christina. No one was there because everything closes mid day for a three hour "siesta." They served us "water with gas" (yuk) and wine (double yuk). I had Christina sneak me a coca cola light. We started off with sauteed potatoes, and then pasta in a orange sauce ...literally made with oranges.. It was so good! For the main course we had a the most amazing steak I've ever had with spicy sauteed spinach. For dessert we had a fruit cup with
binoffe cream and
tiramisu. It was so delicious. The coolest part of lunch was that
we had three languages going at the table. The girls and I talked in English,
Mourin talked to the family in Arabic and I talked to them in Italian. So not one person ALWAYS knew what was going on, and we had to rely on each other to translate every conversation. The funniest part was when a word was said and is was not recognized so someone else would say it in another language and see if it was better understood. Emilie saw that I was drinking soda and said I was the only one that really looked Italian and I should be drinking wine, the girls laughed and just kept saying No vino per Jenna!!! It didn't matter because its custom to sip on a shot of alcohol after dinner to help with the digestion process... oh boy.
We took short naps and then Andrew and David took us to the most famous shopping strip in Italy. We climbed the
Spanish steps and stood at the top where Tom
Crusie and Katie Holmes got married and look down on the most beautiful square in the city. David then took us to HIS family's restaurant where we met his mother who made us four different kinds of pizza (that's a WHOLE pie per person) . The was accompanied by wine and followed by five different kinds of desserts. Then the boys and their sisters drove us to the beach. The boys and I played football (aka soccer) on the board walk while the girls wrote in the sand. It was just so much fun. The thought they were so good, but I gave them a good run for their money. On the way home the boys sisters taught me a few popular Italian songs and dances as we drove past the Colosseum which glowed through the late night darkness.
The breakfast buffet at this restaurant was absolutely unbelievable. The color of the different juices were so bold and bright, there was all American breakfast food, and Italian food, and the jams were make with crushed fresh fruit and oh the
Nutella!!! I also had the best cup of cappuccino ever made. After our feast we went back to the room to get ready for the day. Andrew called the room and told us to look outside. I walked out onto the balcony and it was like all my childhood dreams came true. There were hundreds of people grouped below me, it was like being royalty! It was fifteen minute walk to the end of the line of people waiting to get into
the Vatican, but instead we sat on the front porch of the restaurant and Andrew said to wait til 12:30. Sure enough the line just disappeared and we walked right in!!!!!!! Inside were rooms and rooms of enchanting art. Halls of sculptures, rooms of tapestries, walls of painting, ceilings of delicate detail, historical artifacts, it just never ended. Finally we reached the
Sistine Chapel. Everyone was told that it was to be silent inside and there were to be no photography. We entered the sacred room and were immediately overwhelmed by what our eyes were taking in. The walls looked like real tapestry hanging from the wall. The front wall, by the crucifix, was a gigantic mural of the ending of the world. The ceiling was breathtaking and my eyes scanned the artwork and finally focused on the creation of Adam and the
touching of the hands. Indescribable is all I can really tell you. People were snapping pictures everywhere and there were quiet whispers that filled the room as the guards yelled QUIET and NO PHOTOS the whole time. We stood there for a while and finally exited. Afterwards
Mourin said " I just want to look at a blank piece of paper right now." It was just so overwhelming.
We went back the restaurant right next door and sat down to begin our three hour lunch. We started with seafood salad, then the most amazing mussels I've ever taste in my life. This was followed by rice covered in a cream of crayfish (this was definitely my favorite). Then we had tortellini with mushrooms and clams ( i just passed off the mushrooms). The main course was five different kinds of fish. They brought them out on a platter and cleaned them right in front of us (aka skinning them and dismantling the head). I ate sea bass, crayfish, squid, shrimp, and fried calamari. For dessert we had fancy
gelati and of course our cleansing shot.
Later that night, they took us to this GIGANTIC park with was straight out of a fairy tale. It had the most beautiful view of the city and it grew dark. There were all sorts of old statues and bikes and fountains. It was just so pretty. Afterward we went back to the hotel to change for a night on the town. When we got back to the restaurant, they had MORE food waiting for us. We had
Spumante Vino (which was actually really good wine) with some noodles cooked in eggs cream and bacon ( we begged them for only one course so they gave use the heaviest possible dish) The after shot was some kind of orange liquor with ice chips it was just like dessert. Then we had strong Egyptian tea which was so amazing. After that, the boys took us on a walk. They gave us a tour of numerous fountains in the area and tricked us into thinking this little fountain under construction was the famous
Trevi fountain. We threw fits and they laughed when they told us they were lying. We took pictures in front of that
Pantheon and then FINALLY made our way to the
Trevi Fountain. We walked down a dark ally with a bright glowing light at the end. As I turned the corner my jaw dropped as I stared up and the most fascinating fountain I have ever seen. It was ginormous. We all threw coins in to make sure that we would someday return to Rome and just sat on the steps for a while.
We awake the next day and went to our awesome breakfast. The buffet had a table of packaged pastries in the corner and the girls (who I've learned are terrible kleptomaniacs) brought bags to breakfast and pretty much cleaned them out. They really have no shame. They didn't have any of our credit card numbers so it was only our good names on the line as they stole pillows and such from the hotel before checking out. These girls think they are too good for everyone and that the world is in debt to them... especially me. Which I don't' understand. I booked all our flights and the hostels so... really they are on this trip with ME not me with THEM. But they felt the need to tell everyone that I was their translator and tour guide... not their friend. Needless to say at this point I've realized I'm on my own on this trip, but that's okay. I'm a tough chick.
Later that day, Andrew drove us and dropped us off with David who took us to go inside the Colosseum. The size was phenomenal. It really was a treasure to be inside. We actually passed the same Regent's kids we saw in Venice on the steps of
the Colosseum and then we ran into another group of Regent's kids on the second level! It was pretty nuts that it really is such a small world. Afterward David took us back to his family's restaurant. His mother served us the most amazing spaghetti with (real) tomato sauce, mussels, clams and calamari in it. Then salad and a gigantic plate of Fried Shrimp (like fresh off the boat) Fried Calamari, and small fried fish that looked a little bigger than anchovies. Everything in its natural form... only fried. David didn't skin a thing.. He bit right through the shell off the shrimp ... only pulling off the head. He did the same with the small fish, but then pulled the spine from his mouth. It was the craziest thing I've ever seen anyone to eat. We looked at each other and said
"When in Rome...." and began to chow down. It actually wasn't too bad. A little to salty for my taste and the eyeballs were a little too much for me. The girls swallowed a few unwanted bones as well. For dessert we had
Nutella Pie (
yummmm!)
Flaun, and
Tiramasu. When David returned us to Emile's restaurant they had lunch waiting for us there too! I knew that would happen. We couldn't eat anymore though, so we just had some amazing Egyptian tea. We said our goodbyes and departed for the airport. The sunset was absolutely stunning as the sky filled with pinks, blues and purples that I've never seen before.
We arrived late into the night at the
Athens airport. The girls were very grumpy because they wanted to be back in their four star hotel being fed, so it wasn't exactly pleasant as I was ordered to sit in the front of the cab (again) and explain to the cab driver where we needed to go. We stayed in a
10 euro a night hostel right next to the train/metro station. There wasn't really any warm water. The girls referred to the shower and a gas chamber, as it was just a very dirty room with a hose in the middle. The rooms were
bright orange and definitely had
ants. The beds were comfy and the blankets were warm. I actually thought it was a good addition the the experience, but to the girls it was a riches to rags horror story.
We slept pretty late into the day and went out into the city of Athens. It was much colder then we all anticipated, mostly because of the chilly wind. We wondered aimlessly for a while and didn't find much, just a different looking city. Everything was in foreign letters, and the people there are very odd. Men looked at us like they'd never seen women before. There was a constant honking as we walked down the street and men were always looking us up and down and yelling things in Greek. They are all very touchy too. Several women grabbed me and just started a conversation in a pleasant tone. The problem was I had no clue what they were saying. We asked several people, but
we could not find the Acropolis. One of the Travel Agent we asked gave us a map and even explained it. He also told us that if we wondered near
student Square we were asking for trouble. He said the are many protests and the police constantly break up big brawls. He said much tear gas is used and people through bottle on fire and things and the explode. He said if you go near there you
just run.
Lovely we thought. We climbed up a hill that led to a residential area of quaint little houses. The view was really amazing too. There was a home made sign that said "Acropolis" and we were all a little confused. There was a rather large building with a Greek flag on top, but it definitly was not the Parthenon. We found the
Archeological site of Olympus and thought maybe that was the Acropolis, but then we saw the sign... We gave up our search and headed home.
The next day we booked a scenic drive up to the top of a cliff called
Cape Sounion where the
Temple of Poseidon stood. We had two hours before we left so we tried to find a cafe to sit down at. The sun was shining and it was finally warm. We finally found a little cafe with umbrellas outside. The chairs were so dirty that your hand turned black when u wiped the seat. We didn't care. We just orderd colas and ice and relaxed until our tour started. The drive was almost two hours to get to the cape. The guide told us that much of Athens was built over so much of the "Ancient" part of Greece, no longer existed. We finally hit the coast and the scene was wonderous. The water was so blue, the trees were so bright and the mountains in the distance were grand. The whole ride there was intriguing with tons of white houses and rolling hills and islands off the coast.
We were mostly with rich older couples and Older women with there older mothers. They all were very nice and recomended somwhere cheap for us to get a good meal.. since we hadn't eaten since we left Rome. When we finally reached the cliff we climbed right the edge. The Colomn of Poseidon's temple stood behind our guide as she told us the tale of how
Agean threw himself into the sea over a misunderstanding and thats how the sea got its name! The lady was like "Nobody get too close to the ege... we dont' want to have to rename the sea," and then there was a chorus of "JENNA that means you ! " from the three girls I'm traveling with. We could see seven differnt island from the cliff. It was a sight that you could only understand if you were standing right there, at the point were the sky met the sea. It was crazy.
We drove back and had the bus drop us off near this resturant that the rich couples suggested we go to. We got served ten different greek dishes. Pork, meatballs, eggplant, beans, fried cheese, fried potatoes, Greek salad, spicy sausage, calamari and stuffed cabbage. I ate them all excepthe last one. It was diffrent for me, but anything would have tasted good at that point. I felt like a street girl as the girls asked for another loaf of bread and shoved the whole thing in their purse. sigh. We walked down through the shopping center. There are cats and dogs all over the place in Greece, tons and tons of them. Also, many things were very vulgar. Statues, books, playing cards, even whole stores had very vivid, foul pictures of people having sex or whatever. It was very uneasy. Some statues were very cool though because most items were handmade from this white marble that was made on one of the Islands.
It was getting late so we headed back to the hostel. The girls were out for blood as the continued to antagonize me. I told them to stop and they said they could do what they want. I told them they were being rather oboxious, and I would appreciate it it stopped. It didn't, but I just ignored it. Things seemed to cool down, until we were sitting around in this small hostel room planning our next few days, and they were all like... none of us really want you here... so you should just go to your room. I have never been so insulted and sulked in my room until I realized it was a blessing to finally get away from them. After a sobfest, I went upstairs to venture for other companions. I ended up meeting several interesting people. A ninteen year old boy from Canada that graduated a few years early and was backpacking alone across Europe, a group of Jersey girls studying in Rome, a group of girls from Texas studying in Vienna, and one girl studying in switzerland made up the group that I had gathered. We discussed the cultures and people we had come across in our travels. We talked politics and religion and how they differed not only in the united states but world wide. We discussed literature and travel of course. We called it a night and agreed to meet again the next night.
The next morning the girls ignored my existance, but I still said Good Morning to each of them. They were in bathing suits, capris and flip flops. They told me that they
were going to the beach, and yelled at me when I put on jeans and a t-shirt. I dont' know why they didn't understand that if its chilly inland... its gonna be colder at the beach, but whatever. They couldn't find the metro that they wanted to take, so I had to stop and ask, as usual. We took the metro to
Pieus, which is a Port. Granted there is water there, but I don't know what made them think that would take us to a beach in walking distance. The port was gorgeous with grand boats all over the place. I was enjoying our walk, but the girls did not seem happy that we had been walking along the side of a port for almost an hour and still no sand in sight. They flagged down a cab and told him to find a beach. He told us we should really go out to an island because it was safer. When we asked him to furthur explain he said that
we could get diseses from swimming so close to the city. I just stated to laugh. He dropped us off at this small shore which consisted of ground gravel and rocks and water. I was fine with it. Mourin was very unhappy and did not thing it was up to par. The other two girls feel asleep almost instantly from all the walking. I took in the gorgeous view for a while and then began to read Dad's copy of
Brave New World. After a few hours we stopped at Mcdonalds and scarffed down some food and headed back for the night. The girls congregated in their room and I met with my little group and more travelers later that night. We exchanged emails and blog site and unforgettable stories. It really made me realize how important it is to meet new people along my way. Not to mention I got tips about how to get into the Acropolis for free.
We woke up and checked out of our hostel. They stored our luggage in the Kitchen for the day, which was their mistake because on the way out the girls swiped a loaf of bread. But anyway, we actually found the Acropolis this time. I advised the girls to stick to the fact that we were legally London students (which we are, but not permanently) Either way, European students are free, American students pay 12 euros... and that was not going to happen. The happiness wore off when we looked straight up and realize the hike we had ahead of us on this hot day. It was quite the adventure. We saw t
he theate of Dionysos, the Erehcheteion and finally
the Parthenon. The view from the top was the best we'd seen yet. It was very rewarding after such a hard journey to the top. It really was quite the accomplishment as I stood underneath the Greek flag waving in the wind and I looked down upon the whole city of Athens. We sat for a while, and then went back to the hostel, grab our stuff, and fly home, to
London. The flight was misreble. I sat bymyself in the row in front of the three girls and that was fine, but they just wouldn't give it a rest. So I sat up and just read the rest of
Brave New World for the next three hours. When we landed the girls were very cranky, and it only got worse as we waited in line for half an hour to go through customs. They yelled at me not to say anything stupid (that meant I'm not allowed be friendly back to people when they talk to me). It was funny beacuse they all got drilled with questions, but my lady actually remembered me. She said oh its the
moviestar from Regents and stamped my passport.
The girls frantically ran to baggage claim where they pulled off the last of the bags from the conver belt. They started to roll away when they turned around and yelled,
"come on take your bag" and for the first time in days I actually responded back... I had to... "
That's not mine." I replied. We looked everywhere, but my bag was no where. It was already past midnight when I got online for the baggage reports. I didn't have a local phone number, I didn't really know my adress and I didn't exactly have a support group waiting for me. I laughed through the tears as the woman at the desk could not track my bag
anywhere, and told me to call again tomorrow.
We just missed the bus home so we had to wait out in the cold for the next one to start the long hour drive home. When we finally got back to the college it hit me that
I really had nothing. No clothes, no soap, medicine, souviners, chargers, everything. Luckily I had an extra tooth brush and toothpaste to get me through the night.
I should have been more upset when I awoke the next morning, but I couldn't help feeling stupid for mourning what I might have lost, when I had gained much more over the past few days. I never thought I'd get to do the things I did, meet the people I met, and grow and leard the way I did. It really was probably the best experience I've ever had. I plan to return to Italy several times and see other regions someday. I love the adventure of seeing the world, but I also view it as researching for good film locations =) Europe is where all fairy tales and fantasies take place...
now I know why. I eventually got my luggage back and all is right in the world... well.. thats a stretch, but at least I have something to wear to class tomorrow. I got a B + on my shakespeare final, after this experience, I think I wouldn't have gotten an A . I wouldn't have to immagine how Shakespeare felt or what he ment.
I understand now.- "O wonder!
- How many goodly creatures are there here!
- How beautious mankind is!
- O brave new world,
- That has such people in't!"
- -Shakespeare's The Tempest
- ( the line that inspired Brave New World)
"Isn't there something in living dangerously? I don't want comfort, I want God, I want poetry, I want real danger, I want freedom,
I want goodness, I want sin." -Brave New World
I want the good and the bad, I want to experience it all. I want it all, for what fails to break me, only builds me up to a new level of understanding.
Pictures will be posted soon. I have
over 500 to sort through.
I can't wait to come home to normal loving people.
I miss you all.Love, Jenna
P.S. It was a real wake up call after using the Euro for over a week and then comming back to London to find out the inflation rate has increased and the rate of the pound to the dollar is over 2 now ! Ahhh!
