2005-10-15

Update! Oh boy!

Hi Hi Hi Hi Hi

Well, I-m on day number two in Roma.

I have SO much catching up to do.

On the 13th, I left Florence [I met a great girl named Tousula] and headed to Assisi, which everyone I had met had been raving about. They LOVED it. So, I treked it that way for a day trip on a whim, between getting to Terni.

I-m going to abridge this story, which will crush Patrick's heart, but if he would like to tell the story properly, he can write an entry himself. Actually, I would like to see that.

ANYWAYS.

So I got into Assisi, it wasn't anything THAT special, I thought. I was actually pretty disappointed. I hadn't eaten anything all day and it was about 2 in the afternoon. I was mega craving some pizza. I finally found a place to eat pizza, and I walked in. I asked for a table, and the waitress had to go and talk to the owner before I was allowed to actually go in the place and be seated. I could tell something was off, but it wasn't until I sat down and discovered that... well... I was the ONLY non-nun. Thats right. The place was FULL of Nuns. Just everywhere.

The only other people were this German couple, who gave me this knowing nod when I walked in restaurant. They left pretty much as soon as I sat down.

Not having ANYTHING to do, I just sat there, me and some nuns, laughing to myself at the situation at hand. Finally, I had the idea that listening to some music might be brilliant, so I pulled out the old iPod. Well, about three songs in, I stumble upon some delightful ganster rap I got from Teresa... oh my god. I felt like I was sinning and all the nuns knew it. I quickly shut off my iPod and simply sat, wanting my food to arrive as fast as possible. When it actually did, I ate as fast as I could, as the nuns slowly filtered out. I forgot to mention, this place? SO CLASSY. Like, white linen, shined silver, everything. The waiters were unbelieveably well dressed.

When the nun crowd finally started deminishing, I still felt out of place in my travelling dirty homeless outfit, but I was a little more comfortable. Just as I thought that, a huge group of priests arrived and sat down. And not only priests, oh no, but a plethora of monks, friars, people dressed like Friar John in Robin Hood, and various other people attired in robes and rosaries.

As I left, I looked at the name of the restaurant....

'My Monastary'.

DAMMIT.

ANYWAYS. Continuing on with the longest day, ever.

I get on a train from Assisi to Terni.

The wrong train.

I finally get into Terni at 830 at night, 6 hours later than planned and try to navigate my way around this surprisingly large city. I get myself on a bus, the driver doesn-t speak English, so I kind of establish where I need to go.

The pamphlet for the hostel said a 15 minute bus ride out of town.

45 minutes later, I'm still on the bus.

The driver tells me to get out, and I find myself at the bottom of this... place.

I'm lost. What the heck? it said it was 150 m away.

I'm back in Medeval times. This place is located in a medeval villiage called c... something, and there are NO payphones, NO internet, NO cars, one restaurant, and the streets are all so steep I couldn't fathom it. Like... they were like the bottom of Spokane St. in Rossland. And I had my backpack. And I hated life. And it was late at night.

I find a guy to help me find my way to the hostel, which took entirely too long and was up entirely too many steps.

Oh man. Just a disaster.

SO YESTERDAY....

haha. I went into Rome, my first day in the big ol' city. I met a woman from Alberta and a mother and son duo from Poland who were travelling together at the hostel, so I kinda tagged along with them for the day in Rome. I'm with them again today.

We saw the ruins and the Colleseum, the Trevi fountain, the Medici estate and park, the Pantheon and did ALOT of walking.

The day was good, although, I have to say, I-m almost disappointed in Rome. I just... expected it to be different. The history is amazing, but other than that, there's nothing really here for me.

Oh. BEAUTIFUL day yesterday AND today! It's been brilliant!

AND! Patrick will be so proud. We rented bikes last night and rode around--- Not only did I get back on a bike, but escaped mutilation free!

You can now sleep easy. Things are glorious.

Today, it's Vattican City and the like, which I'm really excited to see. After that, I think I'll just hang about for the day and tomorrow, I leave for Cinque Terra... if I can find a place to sleep. IEEE. It's a little stressy right now.

By the way, I said this to Mom last night. I have to say that when we were in Italy last, I appreciate my Dad sooo much. Oh man. With these people, I'm the only one that knows ANY Italian, and man oh man. So tiring. It's just like, constant, 'what does this mean?' and talking and suddenly, I have to do ALL the talking and translating. it's exhausting!! Eating out someplace and reading the menu for four people is HELL. And then when the bill gets messed up, oh, boy, even worse. So, Dad, thank you. I appreciate what you did!

So, all in all, things have improved greatly, I've met four really really great people and had alot of fun. I'm excited to get back travelling on my own [who thought i'd say THAT?] and get back up to the north again.

I'll tell better stories next time and give sweet details, I've just got so much to say right now and so little time! But I thought I'd let everyone know I'm happy and healthy and Rome isn't as scary as I thought it would be. You just have to keep your wits about you!

Love and miss you all!!

love, nicole 11:56 a.m.

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