You should have seen our faces when we landed in Italy. We were giggly and joyful American girls, exhausted from our first week of classes and ready for 5-day trip. The plan was to get to the station and wait it out since we got in around 1 a.m., and our train was around 6:30 a.m.
Needless to say, the enthusiasm died rapidly as soon as we finished obsessively taking pictures of the beautiful train station and realized the McDonald's across the street was closed. And the man at the train station wouldn't let us in and told us, "This is not a hotel."
Hello, cold hard floor. Thus, we were homeless for roughly 6 hours.
There were quite a few obstacles. We found a lovely place by the door and settled down, all of us still in a pretty good mood. But then the pigeon happened. Amber and I were peacefully sitting with our backpacks when we heard a plop...right in between us on the floor. That bird had to have been aiming. You would have thought a bomb dropped. All four of us screeched and grabbed our things like we had realized we were sitting in poison. Now, for the challenge of finding a pigeon-less home for the evening. We did find one, but a very creepy man with a cigarette kept moving closer to us. Our home moved once again, this time to a place with our friend the cockroach. At this point, there wasn't much to be done except stand with our stuff and contemplate how terrible life would be as a hobo.
Eventually, we did fall asleep, all hugging our backpacks and wishing the stupid train man would let us in. Luckily, there were about 25 other people spending the night outside the doors, as well, so we didn't feel as scared as we probably should have.
But our problems weren't over yet. Our ticket wouldn't work, and we quickly discovered that Italians are not so friendly and actually quite brusque and loud. We also couldn't find bathrooms for several hours, despite following signs in circles, and when we did find them they were first gated off and then when they did open we realized you had to pay 50 cents. That is one of the dumbest things I have discovered about Europe so far-paying to use the public bathroom. Really?
Our train finally came...I say "finally" as if we were waiting for years, when in reality it was only about 6 hours.
Now, you are probably thinking, "It's good that Alex spent a night in a train station. She has been a spoiled American for far too long."
I should be thinking, "Wow, I am so blessed and lucky to not have to sleep on the streets every night."
But what am I thinking? "I hate pigeons. I hate creepy men. I hate cockroaches. I am never sleeping in a train station again."
I guess I was kind of put in my place. Kind of.
You can sense your grumpiness in your writing! Guess you really don't like pay toilets!
ReplyDeleteGlad you were with a group and that you weren't the only ones out on the street.
Love, Mom
It's clear you don't think so, but this is hilarious. That is really silly you have to pay for public restrooms. Couldn't you go into a restaurant and use one of theirs for free? Maybe they aren't taxing enough in Italy to supply water to the bathrooms, so the 50 cents pumps enough water so you can flush and wash your hands? Kind of doubting that's the case; they'd have to charge you to use the bubbler too. I'm glad you had to sleep in the train station. Not because you've been a spoiled American for too long, but because it's an experience. How many people can say "I slept outside a train station in Italy with a cockroach friend?". Actually, probably a lot of uninformed tourists, but oh well. Thanks for keeping up with the blog, it is so appreciated! I'm sure you'll love having this in the future as well.
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