So you know how I said everyone had their own stories about the snowstorm? Well, I have one, too. Actually several, some of which belong to my friends from Rome, but I don't think they'll mind me sharing them...
First, I tell you mine, and build the suspense for the craziest snow story. I was in Roma taking the GMAT on Friday morning, and after I was done, I grabbed a panino at the best sandwich shop ever (200 Gradi--as recommended by my friends Laura and Jason), and it started to SNOW! Snow in Roma is even less frequent than it is in Firenze, so as you can imagine people were going nuts. It was so fun, and I walking back to my friends' apartment from the test center, so I saw the Vatican, Castel Santangelo, the Tiber and other really neat places becoming a winter wonderland. I wish I had had my camera to take pictures, especially of the river with the snow. BELLISSIMO! I even stumbled upon a Mercato di Natale (Christmas market) in Piazza Navona. But after a long morning of testing and a couple hours of walking with my heavy backpack (complete with 2 days wardrobe, laptop, GMAT prep books and work materials..), I was ready to take a bus the last 4 k to Piazza Bologna from Termini. So I waited for the right bus, and hopped on, happy to be warm and sitting down, and ready to be at the apartment drinking warm tea in about 15 minutes. 45 minutes later we had gone 3 stops and were not moving in traffic. Needless to say, even if I had gotten off the bus then and ran to Piazza Bologna (impossible with my stuff and boots), I wouldn't have made in time. So I got off the bus and walked back to Termini and took the next FrecciaRossa ("red arrow" in Italian) train to Firenze. These Freccia trains are high-speed, so you get places in record time. Usually. To get to Roma from Firenze takes 3.5 hours in a car, and only 1 hour and 40 minutes on the train! Plus, when you aren't in a tunnel, it is a beautiful trip. It took us 3.5 hours to train to Florence. We stopped many times and other altavelocita trains passed us for some reason. Chi sa? But I must commend my fellow travelers--no one was complaining too badly and there was a great sense of comraderie. Well played, italiani! Even when we found out the central train station in Firenze was closed and we were going to have to stop at another one, people didn't freak out too much. The station change actually worked wonderfully for me! I was planning on heading to my friend Marti's house anyways, and she lives less than 10 minutes from the secondary station. Perfetto! So I trudged over to Marti's, happy to be back home and ready for a fun time with friends. Turns out Sarah (photographer of the picture I posted of the snowy Duomo) was snowed in down there too! So we had fun waiting for out Roman friends together...
So we waited...and waited...and waited... We did a lot of things to pass the time: skyped various family members, ate a delicious ragu and polenta dinner, watched a movie (which coincidentally also had a huge snowstorm in it), looked at the awesome pictures Marti and Sarah took, baked for the Austria trip, talked, and (this is awesome) MADE SNOW ICE CREAM! It was delicious! And super easy. I'll post the recipe tomorrow. And we took a nap from 3:30am to 5am.
Yes, a nap from 3:30 to 5 in the morning. Our poor friends arrived at 6 am after driving for 13 hours! Mamma mia- che casino! But they were such good sports about it and had many funny moments to tell us about the next morning. Or I suppose it was the same morning...anyways, they slept for several hours, and we had a yummy breakfast, and then they went to Austria, and I walked across town to go on my phototaking excursion that I posted about below!
So I guess the point of all this is that everyone has a good storm story, and as long as you remain good-natured about the whole ordeal, it will be an awesome memory in years to come. I'm sure none of us will forget this snowstorm!
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