wool castle

Friday we had a roommate dinner. Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness. Through out the course of the meal we each consumed (in the food, not plain) one 8 oz. bar of cream cheese EACH. Gross. Then we napped—a lot. At 1200 we got up to leave our apartment at 130 to dance at Domus. I know I said I didn’t like Domus very much but it IS a little fun . . . Bettylou and I have a fun game, choosing our victims. I was the victim of a very nice young man who will appear later in the blog (he kind of rescued me, Swati, Bettylou and Katie (a girl from Umbra that we met)).

Spoleto. Oh my goodness. One of the most memorable, stressful and hilarious day of my life in Italy, no doubt. The best part is every time Swati, Bettylou and I have tried to really this day, we are the only ones laughing, crying. I will do my best to share this splendid disaster.

We went to bed around 5. I woke everyone at 1030 the next morning. We got to the train station smoothly. Got to Spoleto, no problem. GReaT! The reason we (I) wanted to go to Spoleto was to see the modern art Museum and the huge Calder sculpture outside of the bitty train station. I am not even Calder’s biggest fan but he seems to follow me everywhere. HE follows ME. At the train station there were little packs of sugar with the sculpture on it. I wanted to steal some for my friends but got scared. Bettylou and Swati stole some for me, but I did not. And I lost them. Grr.

Fun day. Walked along a bridgey thing over nice hiking areas (twas cold), took tons of fun pictures. I love them.

Great day.

Train time. Buckle up. OH, WAIT. I always for get this part. My friend that I made the night before, he text messaged me the next to say is this your number. I wanted to say no, have a nice life. I do not make friends in clubs. Luckily, I was cordial. Contact was made which will save us later. THANK GOODNESS. Every time I type “thank goodness” I think of Wicked (Mommy, molly, Casey, Daddy, appreciate this).

Okay, okay. Train Station. We meet Katie, she goes to U of R. We get on the train. The right train. Hmm. Oh, the train ride is so nice, long. We are tired, make dinner plans back in Perugia. We will be home no later than 9. OH, Swati left her book at the station in Spoleto. Sad. Train, roll. Chit Chat. Fine. Hmm, it has been a while. My goodness. Why do we keep ZOOMMING past so many stops? Gosh, that doesn’t look familiar.
Darn it. BL and I went and asked a man sitting on the train. He looked at us and said we are on our way to Ancona. This is when Kate stops giggling and panic mode (but controlled, just very tense) SETS IN. Okay, fine. Get off at the next stop. NO NO NO someone says, get off at Ancona. Fine. We land at Ancona. I sprint ahead (its about 9 now) to the info office--talk to them. Run to the ticket office. Closed. Sprint back to info office. Go to the auto things. Run back. Schedule. Orario. OH no. NO. Okay, we were supposed to change at Foligno, 30 mins outside of Perugia. Fine, get back to Foligno (which we accidentally call FOligono ALL of the time). NOOOOOOO. The last train from Foligno to Perugia leaves at 952. IT’S a 2-HOUR RIDE!!! NOOOOO!!!! Fine. Breathe. RUN to Internet café. No luck. Bus to Perugia from Foligno, haha no.

Pause.

Breathe.

Think.

Shoot, oh, shoot. I know. I know. DARN it. I have a semi solution. Poop. GRR. The nice boy we met the night before. The one who text messaged me during the day. The one who wanted to take me out to breakfast. He is from Folgino. Shoot. Good thing I did not break of that contact . . .

I text messaged him and asked him to look for the bus schedule for me. ALL in Italian. He (I figured out later) speaks English but spoke only in Italian with me because I asked him to. Grr. He messaged back and offered to drive us. DARN IT!!! What does one do? No other option. Fine. thank you, He messages back and says he will bring two cars for all of us. I started crying on the train (while laughing, kind of). NO, not two cars. One is PLENTY. Thank you, we will see you at 1130. AHHHHHH! This the very short version of the inner and outer turmoil. I was going crazy. This is all. Breathe. Its okay. Momma, I was safe, I promise!

This whole train ride was full of me freaking out, laughing HYSTERICALLY, flipping out more and then, I kinda, I cant believe I am blogging this. I cant. I had to go potty. Bettylou walked with me. I was so shaky and upset. We opened the door to the bathroom and I lost it, we lost it. We died. You could pretty much see the tracks through the seat. Can you imagine the rest of the story? Please do. I can’t type it.

Okay, pause.

We landed at Foligno. Time to encounter clubman. I was still really mad that I had to ask for his help. He was so nice. So gentlemanly. Everything went really well. Before we got in the car Swati made a list of questions to ask him. I told them that in the case of a lull in conversation they WOULD loose their lives. My favorite. Oh my. I about died. I was actually having a fairly normal conversation with him (I asked if we could speak in English, which he speaks fluently, I didn’t know, I was just too stressed to speak in Italian). Any ways, Bettylou suddenly said .. Oh, wait.

Aside--We have an obsession with Vespas, getting a ride. Our latest mode of attempting to procure a ride is for me to ask for a cigarette from guys with helmets. . . We haven’t done it yet an I wont smoke all of the cigarettes (again, that’s for my Momma).

So, Bettylou suddenly says, “Hai una vespa?” I lost it. In a good way. Wow. I lost it. So random. So innocent. So blunt. So wonderful. I love Bettylou. Wow.

I am tired now. Are you tired too? You should be. That was a lot.

I am being safe and smart and surrounding myself by those who are safe and smart. No worries.


the wool castle is a bad translation of the name of a fortress at spoleto.