The Trek

Friday morning began the somewhat arduous trek to Siena.  Of all the aspects of my travel, this final leg gave me the most anxiety.  I had to catch a train to a bus and not miss anything or I would truly be S.O.L.  Alessio was sweet enough to company me and my numerous belongings to the train station in Trastevere.  After a short train ride I arrived at the central train and bus terminal in Rome. 

The first leg of the trip was over, but the tricky part had only just begun: it was time to buy a ticket.  After standing in an incredibly slow-moving line at the main ticket booth, I reached the front only to be told I was in the wrong place.  I was redirected to another line, which was made up of the smelliest French teenagers imaginable who kept on cutting ahead of me.  Despite this somewhat maddening experience, I acquired a bus ticket with 45 minutes left to kill before departure time.

As I emerged from the ticket booth a petit girl with white teeth asked, “Lucy?”  It was Eliza, another Spannocchia intern who I had planned to meet at the station.  We spent the better part of an hour playing the get-to-know-you game until the bus showed up.  The three hour ride lulled me into sleep, and every time I opened my eyes the scenery became more and more beautiful.

At last we reached Siena, perhaps the most beautiful city I have ever seen, it was breathtaking.  After we unloaded from the bus we crossed the street only to be greeted again by fellow interns all sitting outside a café with their luggage sprawled in all directions.  The cheerful bunch was sitting around drinking cocktails and making excited, nervous conversation.  We gladly set our things down and joined them.  Seven of the eight interns were now acquainted.

Finally the time came to meet our leader, Jessica, the program director for the interns at Spannocchia.  We picked up our things and walked the one block to our meeting spot, where we found the last intern Richard.  Shortly thereafter Jessica arrived and we all loaded into a big passenger van and took the half-hour drive to Spannocchia.