So to start off, I have to tell you about my journey from San Diego to Siena.
Last Sunday, my family drove me to LAX. I got through security and found my gate without a problem. At the gate I met with 8 other students who were all traveling to Siena to study in the same program as myself. We all boarded the plane right on time. Almost 11 hours later we touched down in Zurich where we all easily found our way to the next gate for our flight to Florence. Everything was going unbelievably well until we got the the baggage claim at Florence. Everyone got all their bags except for one girl who was missing one of her bags. We waited for 30 minutes for the lost and found department to give her the appropriate paperwork.
This delay caused us to miss the 8:00pm shuttle bus from the Florence airport to the bus station. So we took the 8:30 shuttle, which put us at the bus station at 9:00pm. At this point, 3 of girls we were traveling with left us and went to their hostel they had reserved for that evening in Florence. The remaining 6 of us frantically tried to find the bus stop (which is adjacent to the huge train station we had been dropped off at) in order to catch the last bus to Siena at 9:15pm. Unfortunately we missed the bus due to the fact that we couldn't find anyone to give us clear instructions (in English) to the bus station.
At this point we decided to buy an open train ticket to go to Siena. A train was departing from platform 2 in 15 minutes. We hurry over to platform 2 but there is no on on the train. We then hear an announcement informing us that the train on platform 2 is a non-passenger train. At this point we believe we have no way to get to Siena and make our hostel reservation for the evening. But we soon find out that a train is leaving for Empoli (where we can get a connection to Siena) in 3 minutes from the opposite end of the train staion. We sprint for the train and barely haul all our luggage onto the train before it takes off.
At this point, a nice Italian man named Luchio (please excuse any incorrect Italian spelling) helps us put all our luggage overhead and explains to us (in very good English) that some trains and workers are on strike so some trains are unavailable even though you can buy tickets for them. This explains why we couldn't take the train from platform 2. As the train sped along, I realized that we had not validated (stamped) our ticket before jumping on the train - this can result in a heavy fine in Italy. So two girls go to get our ticket validated by a train staff member who tells them to get off the train at Empoli and get a bus there that will take us to Siena.
We start to realize that there are no signs or announcements informing passengers where to get off. I find a man who speaks only French and ask him where the stop for Empoli is. He informs me that we are about to arrive in Empoli in 2 minutes. There is a frantic rush as the 6 of us students all heave our bags to the doors and jump off the train. We are left alone at Empoli at 10:50 in the evening.
Empoli is a very sketchy place to be in the evening time. We pull our bags up and down stairs until we make our way out of the train station and onto the street. We can't find the bus stop so we ask some people at a cafe across the street. They point us to the bus stop but explain that the bus won't be there for an hour.
For some reason, Empoli is full of creepy old men who just stared at us as we waited nervously for the bus. At this point we had been traveling for somewhere around 20 hours. The bus to Siena arrives at 11:55pm. We board it and sigh with relief. We arrive at the train station in Siena at 1:30am. But we are not anywhere near the city center (inside the protective walls of Siena on the hill). So we all wait for a taxi. The only taxis running at this hour are tiny little cars that only have room for 2 people plus their luggage. So we split into pairs and arrive at the Pizza Gramsci.
We try to find a hotel (since we've missed our check in time for the hostel) but all are too expensive and we can't navigate the twisting cobblestone streets with our luggage. We find our way to the Piazza del Campo (Pictures at end of this post) at 2am, which is the heart of Siena's social scene. Unfortunately all the bars and cafes were closing. We all put our luggage down and decided to give it up and spend the night there.
In the Piazza del Campo we meet some interesting (and drunk) locals who offer us their apartments for the evening - but we, being paranoid and sleep deprived, decline.
We spent the evening talking there - no sleep. And when the sun finally rises, we go to check in with our program and undergo hours of waiting through orientation and paper work. Finally we are shown to our apartments and dorms at which point I shower and then reluctantly climb into bed (after discovering I was running a fever and was dizzy from the exhaustion) and then fall asleep for 8 hours.
When I woke up, I looked out my bedroom window and and could see a busy piazza full of people speaking Italian and riding vespas. "I'm in Italy," I thought, smiling. "Finally."
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