At home with RIta.

Life in Transit.  With every change that comes I learn more and more about myself and about life.  Some of them are things I wish I didn’t have to learn.  This morning I woke up early and checked out of my hostel.  I went to the metro station where I took the metro for TIburtina.  When I got there I had to find the bus that went to Siena.  Dr. Noble had told us to watch for gypsies here.  I felt paranoid because I had locked up all of my stuff; my backpack donned my padlock and my suitcase had a little combination lock on it as well.  I looked around but I had no idea where the bus that would take me to Siena was and to make matters even better a little gypsy girl came up to me and begged me for money.  I’d like to say that I’m a pro at the whole Italy thing but in reality it was as scary as the first time—well m

aybe not AS scary but quite.  So I went back into the metro station and asked someone that looked like the knew what they were doing where the bus station was.  He gave me directions and I headed there.  AT the bus stations there were like 3 different ticket counters and they were spread apart so I had to go around till I found the right one.  Then I saw that they were only taking cash so I had to walk like 10 blocks before I found an ATM.  Then I had to walk back the whole time watching out for gypsies.  I really think that I was a little more on edge than necessary.  When I finally bought my ticket I still had like two hours to wait for my bus.  I sort of just hung out and listened to some music.  I realized it was Sunday so I switched my music for something a little more Sabbath appropriate.  It felt weird to not go to church and to be out in Rome.  The bus came, and then it was a 3 hour bus ride to Siena.  I didn’t know where the bus would stop and if It wasn’t for this nice lady sitting next to me then I wouldn’t have gotten on the right stop.  I got off at the main train station where I was supposed to meet Hilary, the other girl doing here internship here from BYU.  I had to wait another 2 hours for Hilary’s train to get in.  So by this time of the trip I hadn’t showered for 

3 days and I was in the same clothes that I left in…it was getting pretty scary.  Those whole two hours I just sat and thought about everything.  It was kinda cold and all I had was a thin sweater that I could hardly stand to smell anymore.  Anyway, when Hillary got there she was so surprised to see me because she had decided to take the bus to Siena that was going to leave her in a different spot and she had sent me an email telling me all of this but I hadn’t gotten it.  Fortunately when she got to Pisa she saw that the train was going to be faster so she ended up taking that after all.  And I was there to see her in!  I was so happy to see her because she’s 19 and this is her first time away from home.  I remember when I came as a 19 year old; I was so frightened.  I’m glad she’s here; we need each other, I think.  This whole time it feels so weird being alone, I keep looking for my companion as if I were still on the mission.  It’s kinda weird.  So when I saw her at the train station I just gave her a big hug.  She was glad that I was there too.   We found a pay phone and called Rita.  She answered right away and told us she would be right there to pick us up.  I was grateful to her and glad that we didn’t have to take a bus.  Rita is super nice.  She was really friendly when she picked us up and chatted the whole way to her house.  She lives in a little suburb outside of Siena.  It’s really pretty and there is lots a green and even a little vineyard surrounds her house.  Everything here is green, I love it!  She speaks with such a Tuscan accent, they don’t pronounce any of their ‘c’ so all of her ‘c’ are just aspirated and they sound like ‘h’.  It’s great.  Her house is quite spascious.  She’s got an upstars and a downstairs.  Our room is nice and we have everything that we need.  I took a shower right away and Hilary took a nap.  After I unpacked I took a nap also and then Rita woke us up at 7 for dinner.  Dinner…that was an experience!  Rita had made a lot of food and the whole time she just tried to shove more and more food down our throats.  It kind of reminded me of my mission.  Apparently Rita has hosted students from the Dante Alighieri school for about 10 years.  Sometimes she has even up to 4 students at the same time.  Right now this is another girl; her name is Martina and she is from Germany.  Martina is here for only two weeks and she goes home on Friday.  Martina’s Italian is very limited and it was funny watching her just nod and say yes to everything that Rita asked.  I kind of had to help out a couple of times.  Hilary’s Italian pretty good, she can follow along pretty well and I only had to help out a couple of times.  Now its about nine o’clock and it’s off to bed because we have to get up early tomorrow and report at the school.  Goodnight!