Saturday, March 1, 2008
A miserable day....
The airport was a very easy experience, but from there, it only went down hill.
When we got to the hotel around nine, Jereme's laptop bag was stolen within the first fifteen minutes! The hotel representatives wouldn't believe us at first, although we all saw the known suspect, and it was their fault for having us place all our bags in an unsecured room.
Nine hours later....
We finally have an informal police report and a new hotel. The new hotel is nicer and seems safer, but more people have to share a room together. We get to dinner, which is yummy, and then some of us inquire about making phone calls because we all have people wanting to hear from us back home.
Now, you might ask why we didn't make phone calls in the nine hours we spent hanging out in the first hotel's lobby. Well, it always seemed that any minute things were going to resolve themselves. No one wanted to wander too far from the hotel in case we had a solution. We didn't know it would be nine hours in the making.
Anyway, we go off to see some monuments after dinner. There was much to be fascinated by, and the old Roman monuments are marvelous when you think of how long ago they were made - in some cases over 2,000 years ago!!
We all started to get tired around midnight and started to head back. (Luckily, most of us got to take naps in the hotel lobby, although this is discouraged as a means of getting over jet lag and it is instead recommended to be in bed by nine.) At this point, it became obvious to me that the likelihood of me getting to call home was dropping by the second. My feet hurt like hell, and I'm going to admit it because everyone knows it anyway, I was crying almost the whole 30 minutes it took to get back to the hotel. I never thought I could possibly be so homesick, but every minute was like a stab in the heart. All I could do was think about what time it was back home and how worried Korey must be that I hadn't called him.
We finally realized phone calls would be impossible after getting back to the hotel and heading to Termini Station - the central hub of the train system.
Luckily I got to send Korey an e-mail, but it wasn't very satisfying. =(
Overall, today has been an overwhelming mix of emotions. Fear, confusion, anger, frustration, awe, sympathy, and excitement have all had their place. Hopefully, though, tomorrow will be better for me. I'll get to call Korey, alleviate some of my homesickness, and be able to get on to enjoying Rome. For now, I hope to get some sleep and that something gets settled with Jereme. =/ Even through my own issues, I feel worst for him.
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