Uggghhhhh Traaaiinnnns

Me after a quick standing nap with all my stuff in the train. Never thought I'd be capable of sleeping standing up. Apparently I was wrong.

What a brutal day. And its only 3pm.

My internship is officially over, and now the real adventures begin!

This morning Miranda drove me to the train station, where my journey began with my giant suitcase (I would estimate that it weighs well over 100lbs) and 5 other (also weighty) bags. 3 brutal train rides later I was at the Rome Fiumicino Airport. God Bless all the burly young men who helped me along the way. To put things in context... when my suitcase was standing up on all 4 wheels on a perfectly flat surface, I still needed to take a couple steps and throw all my body weight into it to make it go anywhere.

At Fiumicino I took it to baggage storage where, for a mere 6 euros a day, it is out of sight and out of mind. The baggage storage guys were stunned. "Merda! How much piomba (lead) is in here!?". I told them I would be quite happy to never see it again, except for the fact that everything I own is in there.

Once back on the train bertween the airport and Roma Termini, I had a stroke of genius... moved all the heavy stuff into my rolling bag, and the light stuff (ie. clothing) into my shoulder bags. (Better late than never, right?). With that done, I was finally able to think about the fact that I'm headed to Palermo! How exciting!

In Rome, I dragged all my crap through the streets for several hours trying to find a place to recharge my SIM card. Long story short, it was an infuriating, unsuccessful mission, and I gave up and went for a late Indian lunch. And dragging a rolling bag through the uneven, cobblestone sidewalks of Rome is enough to make one suicidal. So now I'm going to go sit in the lovely train station (that was sarcasm) and read my book until my train comes at 9:30 pm at which point I'm going to lug all my crap onto one last train, pop a gravol (or 50) and nod off to sleep until I am south.

Ciao tutti.

Getting there... Frankfurt Airport

Since I've got some time to kill at the Frankfurt Airport I figured I'd update. I managed to squeeze all my stuff into my (now very overweight) suitcase, paid 2 arms and a leg for overweight fees at Pearson, had the best wings ever at the Caseys in terminal 1, and hopped on my fairly uneventful 8-hour flight to Frankfurt. I must say Lufthansa left a lot to be desired in terms of leg room...

Now I'm at my gate in Frankfurt after an epic journey through this terribly signposted airport. I also stopped along the way for the worst sausage and stalest pretzel ever. Last time I was at this airport I had the most dreadful Ostrich steak... but to be fair, it may have been a bit ambitious of me to expect good ostrich from an airport. Regardless, my Diet Coke, Yogurt-covered Pretzels, and Maynard's Juicy Squirts are keeping me satisfied, and the über-hottie customs agent helped to brighten my day as well...

I guess I'll also take this opportunity to elaborate a bit more on who I am and what I'm doing in Italy, mostly for the other YIIP interns reading this whom I have not yet met. I'm halfway through a communications & culture MA at York, with a focus on media and culture. I did my undergrad in a joint program between U of T and Sheridan college and graduated with an HBA in Visual Culture & Communications, with a minor in French. Also during my undergrad, I did some Italian courses and spent a summer in Florence attending a language school... which has led me to where I am today: interning in Italy!

My internship is with the Gori Collection of Site-Specific Art, located about 15 minutes outside of Pistoia, which is a 40 minute train ride from Florence. Most of what I know about the organization and my role there is from the website and some minimal communication with my contact there, so I'm not certain of what to expect! I do know that my job will involve giving lengthy walking tours of the impressive property and the fantastic art works there (and yes, I have to do the tours in both English and Italian... eek!). I'm super excited though, and I'm also pumped to meet the other intern I'll be working and living with, who arrives tomorrow from the USA.

Other plans for my time in Italy involve meeting up with some friends and family who will be in the area, soaking up the sun, reading for pleasure (feel free to give me book suggestions!), shopping, eating well, aaaand so so so much more!

For now though, I think I need to do some more Italian studying. A più tardi :)