Spring break kick off 3/25/10
1:00pm Today begins the first day of spring break. I will be traveling to four different countries all by myself, meeting friends in each location. My first stop is Brussels Belgium. I am leaving from Pisa Airport which is about an hour and a half away from my apartment in Florence. In a few minutes I will be heading to Firenze Santa Maria Novella, train station to catch a bus to Pisa.
4:00pm I finally arrive to Pisa after waiting for hours at the train station. By the way, my time at the train station was nothing short of interesting. I spent an hour searching for the Teravision bus stop. Finally, I found it, and as I found the bus stop, a 5ft 4in tall slightly bald, Sicilian man who appeared to be in his late forties apparently found me.
“ Ciao bella. Come ti chiami?,” (Hello beautiful. What is your name?) he asked in a low voice, attempting to be sexy I guess.
This is going to be fun. I thought to myself. Chuckling under my breath, I respond, “Buongiorno singor, mi chiamo Vittoria. Tutto bene?” (Good day sir. My name is Victoria. Is everything good?) I made sure to be as formal as possible.
“Tutto bene. dove stai andando?” (Where are you going?) He asked.
“ Vado visitare Belgium,” I stated.
He knew absolutely no English, and I only know very little Italian so we had spurs of very brief conversations. I sometimes enjoy the fact that my Level of Italian is entry level. It makes the conversations that much more interesting.
After hours of random conversation, the bus finally arrives. Offering to hold my bags for me, my new friend led me on the bus. “ No gratzie,” I said. “I got it.” One thing the study abroad program always tells us, is to pay close attention to your bags. Now, I am sure he wasn’t going to run away with my belongings, but hey you never know.
I sat down, placing my bag in the extra seat. Attempting to stall, I intensely searched for my journal. I look up and who do I see staring at me, my new Sicilian friend, patiently waiting for me to finish my search so that he could sit.
After finally realizing he wanted to sit next to me, although the bus was over half empty, I moved my bag to the ground and down he sat. My initial thoughts were, “Why on earth must you sit next to me, when there is nearly an entire bus full of empty seats?” but then I thought, “Hey, what harm would it do me to let him sit next to me. If something as little as me allowing him to sit next to me, has the ability to add to the well being of his day, why not?” We sat next to one other. I guarded my belongings in between my legs, and put on my iPod. We arrive to the airport after a little under two hours. I tell him to enjoy his time in Sicily and we part.
This is a sign that I am growing up. Four months ago, I would have looked at him like he was crazy and politely asked for some privacy. Honestly. Life is too short to be mean to people. I think that it was cool he took the time to get to know me for that short period of time. You never know peoples situations, and how something as little as “hello” may be able to add to their day.
11:00pm
Today was an interesting day. So I already wrote about the 40 year old man that I became friends with at the train station. Now on to the second friend I made at Pisa.
I get to Pisa hours before my flight. Not 2 hours before, but 4 hours before. (Hey this is my first time traveling the world alone so I want to assure that I am on time for everything.)
Any who, I sit next to this guy (who appears to be my age) watching the Michael Jackson This is it movie. He sees me peaking over and offers to share his headphones. I say” aww gratzie.” We share headphones until it's time to board the flight.
Finally we get on the plane and sit next to one another so that we could finish the movie. I know very little Italian and he knows very little English, but from what I understood, he was going to Brussels for his sisters wedding.
We get off the plane and I show him the location of my hostel and asked him if he knew how to get there. He had no clue. I asked him if he was taking the train to his sisters house and he told me his sister was coming to pick him up. We get to baggage claim and he leaves.
Two minutes later he comes back in to tell me his sister has offered to give me a ride to my hostel in Brussels. I was a bit skeptical at first, but then I thought, hey I'm about to get in a car for a taxi for 50 euro with a complete stranger, why not get a ride from someone I have taken the time to know for hours. Plus, I do know little Italian and no Brussels language.
We get to the car and I meet his cousin and sister. They were both Italian and they both spoke very good English. We had really good conversation in the car. They took me to see this street where prostitutes served as window displays. It was quite disgusting to watch the women degrade themselves as the men chose which prostitute they wanted. After , they took me to eat a typical Turkish meal. I had a vegetarian pizza like dish. The cousin suggested I tried the Turkish milk so I did and didn't like it to much. It tasted like a bitter yogurt. He told me the Muslims drink it with salt. After we left they took me to my hostel to meet my friends.
One wise thing the guy told me yesterday was to be careful who I trusted. Everyone in the world is not that trustworthy. I really took a risk and trusted they would get me to my hostel safely. It was a good risk though Certainly worth it.
No comments:
Post a Comment