I left Thursday after class to go to the airport to fly to London! I got in and met Aimee and we were off to the hostel. We checked in and ran into one of our friends from Stonehill. She had said how they had just been put into a weird room with some guy who like lived at the hostel and they had to switch rooms. Luckily, we were staying i
n a six person hostel, but there was only 2 of us that night. I was so tired and passed out! We woke up Friday and got ready and hit the town! We went and did all the typical London stuff which was very fun! Friday night we had 3 German roommates who came in, and must have had to go through 329048 zippers to get to the contents of their bags (yes, I counted). Then, they were worse in the morning! They decided a German pow wow was necessary in the room, which included slamming of doors. Needless to say we didn’t get a whole lot of sleep. Saturday we did pretty much the same thing by seeing more sites and doing a little shopping! We had rearranged the nights of the hostel a couple of times, so we had to change rooms on Saturday. We went to go to our new room, and opened the door to hell. The room looked like a college dorm room in a way…it had a refrigerator and half eaten food, a message chair..pictures of naked girls on the wall, and probably more, but one look and I was outta there. Aimee and I decided there was no way we were sleeping in that room. We asked to change, but they were booked for the night, so we deicded to go back to her school instead. We could have done that in the first place, but it’s a little more out of the way. So
we hopped on a train and we were off to her school, which was beautiful! She had such a nice room too! We watched *Flashdance* and loved it! Then we talked and went to sleep. We were up at 6 and I finished packing. We had to walk to the train station, and we started going but then she remembered the gate might not be open. She ran inhead, and it wasn’t, so she paniked. We had to walk (or run) the long way and she wasn’t sure if we were going to make it ontime. Since I had no idea where we were going I didn’t know if I should panic orr not. Finally, I told her we could run if that would make her feel better. So that’s what we did, we ran through Engam England. We made it to the train station and of course our train was about 10 minutes late. The next stop for me was the bus to the airport, and that’s when we parted ways. Of course there was a TON of traffic, but I finally made it to Heathrow. I wanted to just do carry-on bags, but Heathrow said no! So I got in line to check my bags, and of course there was only one counter open. So, when I finally checked in they said to hurry through security. But I had to stop for a laugh when the women in front of me was literally throwing a tantrum and insisted on speaking to the manager because she didn’t want her “designer” purse to touch the bottom of the conveyer belt. I made it to the gate and on the plane where I attempted a nap but the turbulence did not agree. So, we were suppose to land at 12:50 and I want to make the 1:05 train to Roma Termini, to get the 1:46 non stop train to Perugia. Otherwise, I had to switch trains and it would take an extra 2 hours. So, luckily we landed “early” but still had to wait for our docking spot. We got off and took a bus to the airport. If I had been able to carry on my bags I would have been all set, but I was nervous because my bag was checked. It was about 12:50 (ok so we were early) when i checked the clock while waiting at baggage claim. If there was one time I REALLY wanted my bag first, this wa
s it. And as luck would have it, number 4 baby! I grabbed it, and quickly walked through customs, while noticing it was 1:01. I knew if I was going to miss this train, it was going to be as it was pulling away which is such a slap in the face. So I sprinted down the escalators, across the moving walkway, and up 2 flights of escalators. I shoved my credit card in the machine, grabbed my ticket, validated it, and literally hoped on the train as the doors were closing. I spent the next 10 minutes walking the length of the train to make sure I was closest to where my next train was going to be. I knew I should have 10 minutes inbetween, but unfortunately I noticed 3 snails pass us, so I arrived in Roma Termini at 1:41, 5 minutes to get to the other side of the station and buy a ticket. I ran to the ticket machine to purchase, and since I had cash in my pocket I said cash, but apparently it didn’t want cash. So I had to void that transaction and start again. 1:43 and I was not at the right side of the train station. This time it liked my credit card, so I validated it and wobbled (with all my bags) to the train, and again was greeted with the doors closing behind me. oh life! I am very grateful that I made everything, but it was stressful!
