Planes, trains, and automobiles...well buses, actually

Getting to Macerata, Italy was a lot harder and scarier than I could have ever imgained!!

A picture of Me and Alli's room at the hostel in Rome

In able for me to get to Macerata, Italy, it was something like John Candy's movie, Planes, trains and automobiles. I took a plane with another girl in my program, Alli, who also goes to Ball State in Indiana with me. We flew to Rome, where we stayed in a youth hostel, essentially called The Palace. In order to get to Rome, we had to take a train from the airport (because the airport is just outside of Rome). From the train station in Rome, we spent a better part of an hour trying to find the street that our hostel was located on. All the while, we struggled with our baggage, and by the time we found it, we had felt as if we had dragged it all over the city.

We stayed a night in the hostel, and were almost afraid to venture out into this new strange country. We were able to grab a panini with the help of one of the guys who worked at the hostel who, I swear was Australian (one of my best friends is Australian, so I was pretty sure he was), though he said he was from England. I didn't eat much of the sandwitch because I found that I didn't really like it much, and I was just too nervous about everything.

I swear after that, I almost starved until we got safely into Macerata the next night, since I had no previous Italian, and Alli had a limited amount. We were very nervous when trying to venture out for food, since ordering and knowing what you're ordering is very overwhelming and scary when first arriving in a country you don't have much knowledge about. I couldn't read or speak Italian, so I really felt trapped at this point.

We left the next morning for Macerata. We had planned on staying two nights in Rome (since we had arrived 2 days before our program was officially beginning) but we were pretty scared to be in Rome by ourselves for much longer, so we left the next morning instead. Traveling with two bags and a carry-on each, getting around the streets and trains proved to be a difficult and sweaty ordeal. I had never wished more that I hadn't packed that second bag during all that traveling. Pack less than you think you need. You can always buy what you need later at a store when you get to your city! (this is a tip I wished I had really been informed of; it would've made the trip a little easier).

We had to take a train into Macerata from Rome. It was going to be a longer trip than I had originally thought. About 6 hours in all. The only thing at this point that I worried about was not getting lost finding the train station (we gotten lost when we first got to Rome and were trying to find the street our hostel was on) and buying the correct tickets for our destination. Both proved to be a piece of cake compared to the daunting task of getting my bags on a train once again! What was amazing to me was that as I was hefting my first bag from the platform up the train stairs, a little old Italian lady (with one bandaged hand, might I add) looked down at me from the top of the stairs, and motioned for me to hand my bag to her. She was so helpful, and all I could muster to thank her was a few very grateful thank yous....grazie, grazie,grazie!! This was just the first of the many times that Italians helped me with my luggage--there were three in all that helped me along the trip, and I feel that I could not have thanked them enough.

So Alli and I were safely and successfully on the train, waiting for it to leave for Macerata. The seats were in groups of four, two facing each other, and we had taken up all four--one for each of us, and one for each of our bags. It was quite the spectacle, and we both had a good laugh about it. Here we were, in a foriegn country-- obviously tourists--sitting among mountains of bags, while people were staring and gawking. It was the first time since I had arrived in Italy, where I felt I could laugh and forget my fears for at least a moment or two.

This feeling didn't last long, because as the train started moving, Alli tried to grab her backpack from the overhead storage, and to her and our horror, her bag was gone! We had been sitting there the whole time, and her bag had somehow been stolen. How could that have happened? We still wonder this now. In any case, we had bought our train ticket as one ticket listing two passengers, and it had been in her bag which was now gone to who knows where. We really hoped that we wouldn't be kicked off the train, baggage and all. We definitely couldn't get off the train to buy another ticket since the train had already started leaving. Luckily, when the train ticket guy came over to us, we explained what had happened, and he told us it would be ok to stay, but we had to get off at Fabriano, which was about 3 hours or so into our quest for Macerata. We rode the entire 3 hours in silence because of the shock and fear we experienced from being robbed earlier.

In Fabriano, we decided to take a train, per Kate's recommendation. (Kate is another girl in our same program who had already been in Macerata for 5 days). The bus proved to be so much easier with our bags, and it felt good to be the only ones on it. (no risk of thievery or gawking onlookers who spoke a rapid language around us) The bus driver even put our bags in the undercarriage storage that the bus had for us. Our trip was looking up. The bus ride was crazy!! Italian roads are teeny-tiny (which is why, we noticed, all the cars were very small) and the roads winded up and down and around rolling hills. During our almost two hour bus trip, it felt more like we were at an amusement park, riding a roller coaster. Though this was the best and most beautiful part of my trip thus far, it was still kind of a scary ride, which is why, for most of the trip, I held onto the hand rails in front of my seat, all the while admiring the views.

Just when I thought we would never get there, we reached an area which was nestled within a deep bowl of a valley. It accented the view up ahead of a giant mountain-like hill of which a picturesque stone city sat upon it in all its glory. I felt that music should've been playing when it came into view. Though I really didn't have any idea of where we were at that time, I had a feeling that I had just had my first glimpse of Macerata and where I was to live for the next three months. It was the pivotal moment where I finally felt it was real. My sense of calm and happiness only increased as we got closer to the city. I wish now that I would've gotten my camera out to take pictures as we drove closer to it, but the thought wasn't able to overshadow my initial reaction to such beautiful and dramatic scenery that was coming into a closer view, minute by minute.

Our stop was the last one on the route, and we collected our baggage from the young bus driver, and thanked him, grazie, grazie!! We found ourselves at a station which was both used from trains and buses. We walked into the enclosed building, looking for Kate who was going to be meeting us. While we waited, in came a swarm of young adults with bags and luggage that closely resembled our own. We assumed they might be some of the others from our program since they, too, had the confused look on their faces, and of course--the deadringer--were speaking English. English speakers!! We gravitated to the comfort of this reality and asked them if they were in the Macaerata program, for which they replied yes. Finally! We had found more people like us which equaled a little more relief, even though they were still strangers.

Kate arrived, and we were all one big happy study abroad group. Tired, but happy that we had finally arrived. We followed Kate and hiked (yes it was a hike...we climbed nothing but hills! and I won't even go into the pains of dragging my luggage, yet again, all over another city, but it was awful!) up towards the hostel that we were going to be staying the next two nights for our orientation. Although I felt good, even though I was hot and tired, that we were finally here, and finally going to start a grand adventure.

More on our orientation and the start of our program later...this was quite the long entry!