Italia

In Transit: Italia

The first thing I noticed when I stepped off the plane in Rome was the humidity. It was warmer, and there was significantly more moisture in the air then there had been in London. This is also a very busy airport. There are people going every direction, all the time. Due to my changing plans and unusual circumstances, I had to go through immigration, pick up my bag, and then go check in again with a different airline. The first part of that was easy, I managed to get in a fast line and just breezed through. My bag however, must have been one of the last off the airplane. After all of the trouble I’ve had over the past couple of days, the wait for it was making me nervous. While I watched, I thought about something my brother said before I left, and tried to decide on a name for my bag.  This is what she looks like, she's on the bottom:

Right now I’m torn between Tulip and Hope. Opinions?

Anyway, after that I finally made it out, and then found out that my airline doesn’t check anyone in more than two and a half hours before the flight, and I was 5 hours out. So, I found a place to sit down, stay cool and wait. After playing around for about an hour and a half, I decided to get some lunch. From where I was sitting, I could see what looked like a good place, so I went up and first observed. It was crowded around the counter, and I speak next to no Italian. Also, the Italians do not queue well, so I had to assert myself, get up to the register, and I just gave the woman the name of the slice of pizza-thing that I wanted. Thankfully, that was enough, then and when I went to tell the man behind the counter what I wanted. Two of the few words I do know in Italian though, are gratzie and prego, so I was able to thank him properly when he handed me my food.

I was more than a little pleased with myself as I went to sit down. Also, the food was fantastic. I’m not completely convinced it was worth the 5.30 that I paid for it, but then again, I am in an airport, and at least I did manage to order it myself! 

Slight Change of Plans

While there are significantly more pleasant places to be than the waiting room for citizen services at the US Embassy in London, I’m also quite sure there are many much less pleasant places to be as well. It’s well lit, with large windows, and children playing and saying adorable things. Due to a bizarre and unfortunate turn of events I found myself here today applying for an emergency passport. Mine disappeared somewhere between the first security check and boarding my flight yesterday. It quickly turned into a long, stressful day; I missed my flight, and despite repeated checks of all of the security gates and everywhere I went in the five minutes between going through security and realizing my passport was gone, it didn’t turn up. I had to go through immigration as a special circumstance, with only a copy of my passport. (And thank goodness I decided at the last minute that morning to keep my boarding pass from Charlotte to Gatwick as a souvenir! That turned out to be the document that made my passage through immigration possible, as it proved my story that I had been in England, and therefore could return) Then, I had to wait for over two hours as my bag got rerouted and rerouted before finally getting to me. I was exhausted, stressed out, and so incredibly relieved to see Suzanne & Valerie when I came out with the arrivals gate. Through the whole ordeal though, there were so many bright spots: the security agents who personally checked every lane, the British Airways woman who escorted me and rerouted me free of charge, the baggage me who personally assured that my bag got to me, the other British Airways woman who rechecked everything for me before I left, and of course, Valerie  & Suzanne who, in the midst of getting Val ready to move to France, came and got me, and helped me figure it all out.

Even getting where I am today was an adventure. Last night, after the whole ordeal at the airport, I e-mailed the consulate to get an appointment, according to protocol. I was terrified I either wouldn’t get an appointment, or wouldn’t be able to make it in time since the Hyde’s house in Weybridge is at least an hour from Lodnon proper, plus I had to have passport photos and proof of travel to show at the Embassy. It was another tense morning getting ahold of the Embassy and British Airways, then printing my reservation from the library, hectic train and tube rides, a slightly sketch place to get passport photos (and after all that, it was definitely not the best picture of me), and then almost not finding the embassy.

But now I’m here (or was when I wrote this originally) and it looks like I will indeed get my emergency 6-month validity passport (I did). My first flight for tomorrow is set, Heathrow to Rome, but I will miss my original flight from Rome to Oviedo. Hopefully I’ll be able to rebook that once I get back to Weybridge later (Also accomplished).

I finally feel like I can breathe again. I know I’m not out of the woods yet, but enough is settled that I finally feel okay. My passport is being processed, my flight is booked, and by tomorrow night I’ll be at my host family’s house in Oviedo, settled in one place. And another couple of bright spots: 1) I am still okay to go to Germany in December and 2) I’ll be able to convert my temporary passport to a normal, ten-year validity one free of charge upon returning to the US! 

Get Set!!

Tonight, my lovely mother planned and bought supplies to have a going-away open house so friends and family could drop by and see me before I leave for Spain! Me being me, I decided to have some fun decorating, and this is what our entrance looked like: (I love sidewalk chalk!)

The whole evening was a blast, with family and friends coming and going. Here is one of the pics, me with some of my church ladies, Mary, Julie and Charlotte. 

It was so nice to get to chat and catch up with people that I hadn't seen in a while. It fills me up for tomorrow, which will be laundry and packing and last minute errands as I get ready for my big day of travel!

Oviedo

This is where I will be in just under 3 weeks!

Packing my Bags!

As I write this, I am in the midst of the throes of packing. My apartment probably appears to outsiders like someone ransacked it, with the way things are scattered everywhere as I work through the process of both packing to leave for study abroad and also packing up everything I own to store in a friend's garage. I'm at the point, where I'm both super excited, incredibly stressed, and still slightly terrified. While reading this new book that I bought, Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed though, I came to the conclusion that it is okay to be terrified. It's all part of the whole package deal that this adventure brings, and the fact that I am scared does not change the fact that I can do this, and it is going to be wonderful and amazing. I can live with the fear and still continue to stuff my red travel backpack and put everything else into boxes. I can do this. T-minus 23 days!

7 Quick Takes Summer

I'm horrible about actually getting these on a set day every week, and summer is just summer so I don't have a term week to go by, so here are my quick takes from the past little bit

1) I am so thankful for the little things, laughter, being with my family, not really doing anything but it means a lot to me just to be here. Soaking it all in and storing it up.

2) Yoshi Story- Yes, it is played on the Nintendo 64, but I love it so much. I'm in the process of beating it again, and it is just great. Who doesn't love little dragons searching for eternal happiness by eating fruit and turning bad guys into eggs. Yup, this was a hippie game, no doubt about it.

3) Rosaires- I recently recieved a new shipment of twine to make rosaries with. I didn't think I could love our twine rosaries more than I did, but I do. This new twine is so soft and the rosaries turn out so so well.

4) Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis- This is the second book out of my summer reading shelf and I am thoroughly enjoying it. C.S. Lewis is so clear and his work is so thought provoking. I highly highly recommend it. My favorite quote so far "Christiany is itself an education"

5) Congratulations to my friends MJ & Ryan who got married today!

6) Outside-the weather here is amazing, it's super hot and sunny and I love it. I've been outside sometime every day, just soaking it in. Love love love.

7) HARRY POTTER!!!!! The final midnight release is Friday morning at 12:00 am. My brother and I have tickets for the show and I plan on dressing up. I still have my robes from when I was super into it when I was younger, and I'm making a Hufflepuff scarf. I'm super super excited, especially because I went to the very first midnight release and now I get to go see the final showdown at the very first showing!

Have a great week everybody!

Whoops. I guess it's summer now.

My dear loyal audience, yes, all seven of you. I guess time got way way away from me. If you really knew me you'd know that my entire first year of college went so incredibly fast. Several times during spring term I stopped and thought about how much had changed in a year and all I could do was shake my head and marvel. My first year was an incredile adventure and an incredible success. I learned so much about myself. I realized I can hold my own, in life, in classes, at a job. I made some amazing friends and learned that I don't always have to be best friends with everyone. I feel more like an adult now, although not entirely.

I'm looking forward to the next year so much. I have an apartment right off of campus, a new job as a tour guide and Multicultural recruiter for the University, a position on SALT (Student Activities Leadership Team) at the Newman Center, great classes, out-of-this-world friends, and an amazing community to come back to. Eugene feels like home.

I promise you all I will try to be more consistent with my blog posts, over the summer and then back at school this fall. It is more fun for all of us if I'm not quite so sporadic. Thanks for being patient with me though. And most of all.. GO DUCKS!