10/7/10 El Aeropuerto

I left the house at 9 with my backpack full of everything I would need for the weekend.  I met Emily at the University to double check that we had the tickets and passports etc.  I suffered through my Literature class… I was too excited for the trip.  We left after class and took the train to the airport from Sants Estacio.  The train goes outside the city, but our metro pass still works to get there.  We got to the airport earlier than we expected, but better safe than sorry.  We ate our boccadillos, went through security and then looked in the shops for a while before camping out at the gate.  When the plane started boarding, we realized that it was going to Valencia.  The gate had changed and somehow we didn’t realize.  We made it to our new gate in a different wing.  Being late wasn’t a problem, because the flight was delayed for about a half hour.  Finally we boarded and took the flight.  As we were landing, I could see the sun setting over the Italian countryside from my window seat.

            We were nervous about navigating the city in the dark and because we didn’t speak the language.  First we had to take the Leonardi Express Train into the city.  Apparently there are two different trains, one train takes an hour to get to Termini Station in the city and the other takes a half hour.  Of course we took the longer one.  We sat across from three Italian women.  I understood about 25% of what they were saying.  Some words I could pick up because they are close to Spanish, plus Italians talk with their hands, so that made it easier to understand them.  We finally made it to Termini Station, which was huge.  It is the hub for all the trains in Rome.  We had written down directions to the hostel and our first step was to leave from the right exit of the station.  Once we did that we had to find Bus 310 and take it 6 stops to the hostel.  It took us a while to figure out the whole bus thing.  It was kind of stressful because Emily’s friend was meeting us at the hostel at 7:30 and it was already 8:30, plus I have never had to use a city bus system.  A police officer told us to buy a bus ticket at the newspaper stand.  Then we walked through tons of busses to find the 310 bus.  We finally got on and at the first stop, we were really confused.  Emily read the sign and it was the stop we were supposed to get off at, but it was the first stop instead of the sixth stop.  All of the sudden, we heard a voice say “Emily”.  Emily’s friend Sofia saw us on the bus and grabbed us to get off.  We were so happy she was there to find us.  She said that she was getting ready to leave her number with the hostel and go back to her dorm. 

            We checked into the hostel.  It was a tiny hostel with about 5 rooms.  There was also a lounge area with a computer, a few tables and a small kitchen.  For our first night, we were booked in a mixed quad.  We left our backpacks on our beds, taking everything else important with us (money, passport etc), and went to find a place to eat.  We were starving by that point and Sofia took us on the bus to the downtown area.  We walked by the Pantheon and on some side streets until we found a nice restaurant.  We ate outside, surrounded by groups of friends and families eating together.  I ordered saltimbocca alla Romana (Veal with ham, olive oil and spices) because I had read on Wikipedia that it is an Italian specialty.  Wikipedia’s recommendation was great and I savored the meal, wiping up every last drop of sauce with a piece of bread.  We walked around for a bit afterwards.  We got gelato and then ate it on the steps of the Trevi Fountain.  The fountain was smaller than I expected, but it was still really nice.  I threw in a coin over my shoulder.  We then headed back to the hostel for the night.