1/31/10
So here I am, sitting in a hotel room, in Florence Italy. I don’t have internet access right now, so im writing this up to post later. My last 24 hours was hectic to say the least. A 10 hour flight from SFO to Amsterdam, followed by a 2 hour flight from Amsterdam to Paris, and then another 2 hour flight from Paris to Florence obviously has drained me. Technically things went really well, the only hitch being that my suitcases wheel broke. It still works enough, but makes a horrible “thunk thunk” sound that started getting on my nervous real quick; and also coming out of Florence and trying to find my way to the train station from which I was going to find my way to the hotel was really bad. There wasn’t a person around, ive never seen an empty airport before, and the one person I was able to talk to didn’t speak English. Eventually I found the shuttle that would take me, but instead of being 8 Euros like I was told it would be, it was 23. Real bummer, but I had no choice. And then the Taxi driver wasn’t very happy with me, I think because I wanted to make sure I was at the right train station and was asking too many questions (like, 3…).
Anyways, I’m here now which is all that matters. There is this overwhelming sense of being completely alone, I guess because I am. I mean, its not like there is a soul around that can come help me right now, the only fall back I have is my ATM card. So obviously this feeling, coupled with the fact that I haven’t spoken to my family for what feels like an eternity led me to want to call home real bad. But then, of course, it costs a euro a minute to call home. Sorry Dad, but this was a moment when I really needed whatever it is moms have that you don’t. Here’s the best part though, after talking to my mom I started feeling that all too familiar feeling of anxiety and dread start to whelm up inside of me, the same beast that has been haunting me my entire life. So you know what I did? I went out on the town. I walked back to the train station, and then through the mall, all the way to the Duomo. To put it nicely, this part of Florence that the hotel is in feels no better than any other slummy city ive been too. Its not bad, a nice hotel, but everything feels dirty and modern. But, as I got closer and closer to the Duomo everything started changing. The shops got older, the streets changed from asphalt to cobble stone, the energy increased. It almost felt as if I was walking back in time. And then after staying there for fifteen minutes or so (a long time considering it was 34 degrees out, and ten o’clock at night) and started to head back, but for some reason I started the wrong direction. Next thing I knew I was standing outside of the Uffizi. And then after that I walked the Ponte Vechio. Needless to say, by then I wasn’t thinking about home. It was all exactly how I remember it. Closer than I thought it would be honestly, I guess I doubted my memory. The good news is that the guy that im sharing this room with isn’t hear. The bad news is he isn’t hear and im going to bed, which means he will be waking me up soon. So it goes.
Tomorrow I have to get up early for breakfast and then orientation. After which we are all going to be given our apartments, so here’s trusting God that that will all work out.
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