Travel Travails
Blogger:
3L Jordan Hartsell
Today, I traveled with one of my classmates, Daniela Clark, from Florence to the Santa Chiara Study Center in Castiglion Fiorentino. Leaving Florence at 2:26, we began our train adventure in an attempt to get to our destination in a little under an hour. It was smooth sailing until we could not understand the announcement, as it was in Italian, and found out we arrived at our stop after the train had already come to a complete stop. We quickly gathered our belongings and rushed to the door just in time for us to see it close, trapping us on the train until the next stop.
Instead of risking not being able to get off the train again, we stood at the door until we arrived at the next stop, which was only six minutes away. We immediately got off the train at a mostly abandoned train station where we found a single ticket kiosk. We bought tickets for the six minute ride back to Castiglion Fiorentino, but the next train was not for another hour. Finding a bench, we sat back, relaxed, and enjoyed the country view. On the train again, we again chose to stand because we refused to miss the stop again.
Finally, we arrived in our correct city and looked at the directions to the study center and started the uphill hike. After walking for approximately 20 minutes, we took a short break where an older Italian man began speaking to us. There was a huge language barrier, but eventually we understood that he was offering us a ride to the center. We could not have been more grateful! He helped us load up our bags in his car, and we were off! We arrived at the center in 10 minutes, where he again helped us with our bags, but he refused to take any money we offered. We tried to show how thankful we were, and then completed our short walk down one of the skinniest streets I had ever seen cars on. Finally, we made it to the center in one piece and just in time for dinner!