I'm here!

     After a 7 hour flight from D.C. and 2 hour flight from London, and 5 hour trip to Siena from Rome (which I had to maneuver completely on my own) I am finally in Siena, Italy, the capital of Tuscany! It is so surreal that I am here after over a year contemplating this trip and what it would be like. Even though it hasn't fully sunk-in yet, I am nevertheless incandescently happy to be here. I was so lucky to make it here after my adventurous trip here; first of all, my layover in London was about an hour, and I wouldn't have made it if a steward on the plane didn't reseat me in first class right by the door about 30 minutes before landing. I was literally the 2nd person off the plane out of hundreds of waiting people, and I would have been one of the last to get off if I had stayed where I was sitting! Heathrow was quite chaotic, and we had to stand in infinitely long lines. Luckily, the attendants put me in the fast line when they saw my ticket and saw how little time I had until my flight in Rome left. Without their help, I would have definitely missed my flight and been stuck in Heathrow for who knows how long until the next flight to Rome! Once I got to Rome, I blasted through immigration and customs; the immigration officer just looked at my passport than glanced at me, then stamped my passport, and since I didn't have anything to declare in customs, I just went straight to the exit! From Fuimincio airport in the outskirts of Rome I took a train all by myself which took about 45 minutes to the last stop, then got onto the metro (underground) after lugging my 50 pound suitcase and enormous backpack along behind me for 20 minutes in large crowds of staring Italians. I then took the crowded metro to Rome's Tiburtina bus/metro station, and figured out where the buses left for after about 20 minutes of going up and down the elevator to look! It didn't feel like I was in Rome, because I was still in the suburbs of the city, even after the long trip from the airport! After buying a bus ticket to Siena at the "Bigliettiera" (thank goodness all of the ticket attendants spoke some English!) I waited for about 45 minutes for my bus to come by the gate. The bus ride to Siena took about 3 hours and I passed the time by staring at the beautiful Italian countryside and sleeping in small intervals. Finally, I got to Piazza Gramisci and I got off the bus and grabbed my luggage. Then, the directions which IES gave me (which were pretty sparse to start out with) tells me that I can find a taxi stand right in the Piazza, but there are no taxis to be found. By this time, it is about dinnertime and the sun was setting. I decided to stand by the side of the street to hail a taxi (which I've never done before), yet none drove by, so I started to panic because the check-in deadline when we had to be at the IES center was fast approaching. Finally, after about 45 minutes of standing by the side of the road with passing Sienese staring at me, I saw an empty Taxi drive by and I waved my arms desperately at him. Once I was in the taxi, I saw that he spoke no English, whatsoever. Luckily, I have the address of where I was going, so after showing him, we were on our way. Upon arriving at the IES center, I was warmly greeted by 3 staff members including the center director. They are all local Italians who are fluent in English. I was the only student there, and it seemed as though most of the students had already checked in and were already in their apartments and homestays. After getting some orientation paperwork and signing a few papers, they called a taxi for me which took me to my apartment which is less than a block from the famous Piazza del Campo where they have the world-famous Palio horse race every year! I can see the bell tower from the window of my room, and it is so beautiful! One of my roommates was there to greet me outside the apartment, and once I got inside I met all three of them. They all seem really nice and I can't wait to get to know them better! Once I got settled, we met up at the IES center after walking there and went to a little restaurant for a welcome reception. The food was excellent, even though it was a light meal, and then we had a toast, which was also very good!