I’m about to go insane…I’m jumping [ON] this train.

Yesterday was our last free Saturday before the study abroad ends, so a few of us decided to go to Assisi for a nice day trip. Right? No!

The day began ominous when I had to wake up before seven, and Audrey and Eliesa were late waking up. I vowed to always be late when meeting those two after that! This left Abby and I alone to fare for ourselves like little lost kids. So we headed to the train station so I could get a ticket. We bought some water there, and were looking for a magazine when Abby said “…I could always get a DVD,” that’s when we noticed it said “Hard” underneath them. Out of sheer curiosity I wanted to see what DVDs they had for sale, maybe in English. I don’t know if the DVDs were in English or not because they were straight up Porno films. I mean I suppose it doesn’t matter what language it’s in, probably not much talking! Abby and I were in hysterics that they just displayed these, I mean where’s the curtain to separate the Adult section fro the rest of the movie store, am I right?!

By some miracle, Audrey and Eliesa made it right after 8am…we were literally running to catch the 8:06 train. Made it to the train bin, realized we had to confirm our tickets! Elies and I ran frantically to find the machine but the conductor said he’d just sign it. All aboard the train! We sat down and had a lovely SIX HOUR travel time to Assisi, when the trip should have been no more than 2!

The 2 stops where we changed trains took over an hour in each city before the next train. We enjoyed Chiusi and Terontl as much as we could without going to far from the stations. We get to Assisi, thinking, it took 6 hours here, so we’d basically have to turn around now to make it home on time. Since that wasn’t an option, we decided to take the 5 o clock train, leaving less than 3 hours in town.

We took a cab to the center, with a little bit of ill feelings all day thinking about the different scenarios risking the trains on a Saturday and later at night. Saw the Basilica of San Francesco, which was pretty, passed too many monks for a day, and enjoyed the beautitiful view of all of Umbria. And we tried calling our professor, who was unavailable, as usual.

Our cab driver came to get us at 3:30, we got our professor on the line coming down, and he said he would let us call our families. The audacity! None of us got a hold of our families, and so we waited for our train. Abby ironically said “Ideally we’d get to the the two stations and a train would be there just as we got there.” She spoke too soon.

We get to Terontl, check the board for the times to Chiusi, all the while a woman is in front of us with a rolling bag, the girls quickly find the time for the next train, while I’m counting on my fingers to figure out where I need to be looking [damn military time, I have to use my thumb to count from 1 o’clock = 13 o'clock]

Right when I get to 18 o'clock on my ring finger, the woman in front of us booked it to the train that was right there, that's when we realize we NEED that train. Literally someone springs the door open, Eliesa and the woman by us ask a man on the phone if the train is going to either place they said and he says “Si!” no knowing if he meant yes to us, her, or the fact that Chiusi means close, which the doors were closed. Abby and Eliesa get on, Audrey and I, trying to get on the train, HOWEVER, Audrey bought a beautiful, and gigantic bowl, which she had in tow and kind of prevented me from getting my big self on the train…it starts moving in the midst of us getting on. I’m pretty sure I blacked out for a second in my mind trying to get on this train…it was either that or the fact that the bowl was in my face as I’m running with the train to get on and I’m being pulled up by some girls!

We made it on, in disbelief not even knowing if it will take us to the right stop. We are laughing, nervous, and sit in the closest proximity to each other. We get to Chiusi after I sweat out some nerves, and as Audrey is struggling with the door, as she did in Torontal, a got a premonition of the a repeat at the last stop…Abby and I book it off that train, running like Olympians down that station. We get two bins over, wrong train! We go back underground to the next bin for Siena, and like a movie, the doors close right as we get to the top of the stairs. I yell, “NOOOOO” and hit the door, and then the conductors were still outside at the other end, I felt slightly stupid looking a fool just then! But they say come on, so we get on the train. We get aboard and serisouly sit and laugh about how we pulled this stunt off..and that if we had one more person with us, "no child left behind" would be null and void because they would have had a nice night in Chiusi!

After 6 hours to Assisi, we made it back in about 2, just in time for dinner. The perfect end to our stay in Siena. I hope Rome doesn’t bring this much excitement.

Fading by thoyt16