Cortona

Oh Italy... We get to the airport... guess who gets their bag last... oh yes... me. then we get on this rickity train that is taking us to Rome train station. After being told we had 2 hours in between trains we are rushed to the other side of the train station... up and down stairs with 70 pounds of luggage.

We get on the train... wrong one. We get off the train, run to another train, get on... right train. We are training through Rome and no joke it looks like chicago with all the graffiti on the walls. After a nine hour plane ride, we have a 2 hour train ride, so naturally we all fall asleep on the train. David, one of our instructors, runs in "GET UP GET UP THIS IS OUR STOP!!" Not only does it scare the crap out of us, but we bolt out of the train into the rain. I thought Boone rain was cold but it has nothing on this. We run with all of our luggage down to a shelter, more stairs.


Pac and David leave to get buses... it takes them roughly 1.5 hours. I choose the Pac Man Van because I know and love Pac and decide I'm safer there. False.

On the ride to Cortona, we back into a ditch... not a little ditch, I'm talking about a HUGE ditch. We get out of the ditch and drive around with no idea where we are supposed to be going. We finally arrive at the nunnery (Santa Margarita) and we attempt to check in except no one speaks Italian, and no one there speaks English.

Skip ahead, we go to dinner (deeeeeeeeeeeelicious) and accidentally leave three of our boys behind (and still hear about it). A group of us decide to go out and get a feel for the town. After a bowl of the most delicious gelato and a few stops at random places we stumble into a bar... The Bar... Blue Bar... B A R bar...

The cutest old couple you will ever meet ran this bar.. no english. We have a drink at the bar and continue venturing, but that little hole in the wall just keeps beckoning. So we go back and meet this man... Lorenzo. Lorenzo speaks english, and he is hilarious. Between the insults and the wildly untamed hair this might be one of the funniest men I have ever met. We continue to see Lorenzo, first at his resturant (accidentally) and then again every night at the blue bar.

Lorenzo and his boss Alessandro gave some of the girls a sweet deal at the resturant one night which lead to the funniest nights of my life. To go into detail would take way too much time and make me miss Cortona, so if you want to know feel free to ask. Thats all for Cortona, but I'll update on the Siena situation later.