Well, usually I would start off my posting in chronological order. I want to make this a little more interesting and coincide this posting with the title. Bear with me...this may take a while....here goes....
The Good
Rome is an amazing city. We spent 3 full days exploring the city, and we were able to see so much. Our first night in Rome, we managed to see very well known sites- The Spanish stairs, and Trevi Fountain. To add to the excitement of being in Rome, we were lucky enough to see two very intoxicated girls jump in the fountain, and then to their surprise, be arrested by the "not so nice" Italian police.
We were also able to see the Vatican on the last Sunday of the month. This is when everything in the Vatican (a completely separate COUNTRY then Italy) is FREE! After walking through the Vatican for hours, we were standing in a small shop looking a rosaries, when the lady behind the counter nonchalantly said, "Oh. The Pope is blessing everyone in about 10 minutes. But it takes about 20 minutes to walk there." We paused, looked at each other, and began running. Sadly we were literally 30 seconds late. I'm pretty sure the Pope had JUST closed the window when we got there. But nevertheless, it was cool to see the crowd and all the aspects of the Vatican.
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| The famous Acorn |
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| Vatican Museum |
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| The Pope's Window, as I like to call it. |
Overall, the food was great, the shopping was excellent, and the weather was rainy, but warmer then Vienna....On Monday night, my friends went out, and I stayed in to interview for a position within my business organization (BUSINESS COUNCIL) on the executive board. I will notify you of the results of this interview in "THE UGLY." So stay tuned....
And, that's about it for the Good.
The Bad
Besides the fact that Italian men seemed to be very fond of my complexion, the Italian people were not as nice as I expected. I was on the search for a nice pair of Italian leather boots. Upon finding a pair, I decided I still wanted to look around more before committing to them. The owner of the shoe store snatched them away from me, and made short comments about how "you people" meaning Americans, always do this. I didn't find a pair anywhere else I liked, so I returned to the store 30 minutes later to find out that "he had sold the pair of shoes..." I called his bluff and ultimately ended up with the pair, so I was happy in the end. He told me, "If you find a good pair of shoes, you buy, you don't think." Imagine all of this in a VERY HEAVY ITALIAN ACCENT.
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| "AHHHH..." the angels sang.... |
The food was good, don't get me wrong, but it wasn't as GREAT as I expected it to be. Also, like I said the weather WAS warmer, but it did rain the entire time we were there, aside from one day. But before you continue reading and put me in the category of a complainer, let me get to the ugly....so you understand my negative associations with Italy.
THE UGLY
OH Italy, Oh Italy....so the night before I left, I looked at my boarding pass that I had printed out a week prior to the flight (Ryan Air....THE WORST AIRLINE EVER, allows you to check in over 7 days before). On this boarding pass was printed the name, "Kelly Kelly." Now to my dismay, I realized that my name is "Kyla Kelly," and that an issue may have developed. I quickly checked online to see how I could change this.
Ryan Air's dumb rules:
- After checking in, you can't make any changes.
- The gate closes 45 minutes before the flight even takes off. (this rule will be more relevant later)
- Changing your name on a boarding pass (BEFORE CHECKING IN) cost 150 Euros.
So, I decided I would play stupid at the airport and see what would happen. I went to the checkin counter, and acted normal. The lady made a call, crossed out my name so it was right, then stamped it so that I could go through security. She explained the issue but said I was all clear. Great, right? No, not really. I asked her what I should do about my boarding pass on the way back. She said, "You should be fine, but if you want to double check, you can ask my colleague at the information desk."
So I did just that. Upon talking to this "Very kind man," he took my passport and both boarding passes (INCLUDING THE ONE THAT I WAS ALREADY APPROVED FOR), and told me I had to pay 150 Euro in order to change my name. I explained to him that I was already approved for this flight, but he denied me access. He said he would give me the boarding pass and passport back, but I would be greeted by security at the gate. So I paid.
THE REALLY UGLY
I want to start by saying that most European countries give college education for free!! Well, the Italian students still aren't happy, and decided to protest and literally shut down the ENTIRE CITY OF ROME for a couple of hours the day we were suppose to fly out. After our shuttle bus was missing (due to the fact that traffic was at a stand still), we had to catch a 70 EURO cab. This cab driver was AMAZING. He sacrificed NO ONE....except this group of four young Italian women....he stopped for them LOL. He got us there in the exact time he told us he would, and we ran into the airport, cut the check in line, then the security line, and dashed to the gate, only to find out that the mad REFUSED to let us on the plane. He was nice however, he let us watch our plane leave the terminal and take off...BUTT HOLE.
We headed back to the city to see what we could do. We ended up buying a train ticket back to Vienna. We waiting in the rainy, crowded city for about 6 hours an embarked on a 14 hour train ride back to Austria...It was an experience. Oh, our train was delayed to due to the fact that the Italian SWOT took over the train station for the protest.
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| Yeah...it was that serious. |
Amidst, all of this "bad luck," I found out I was awarded the position of Vice President of Operations for the University of Illinois Business Council...sounds official, doesn't it? :-) Out of the darkness, there always seems to be a light!!!
