The Journey to Siena

The journey here was a long and tough one. Here's what I learned along the way:


I will never take Portland Airport for granted again
Other airports are giant, confusing, and slowwwww...

Compliments can come at the most unexpected times
I get off the plane in Paris, and I head to Customs, which is this big scary desk in which very serious and official-looking employees check your passport. The woman takes my passport, looks at it and then me, and proceeds to tell me something in French. I must have looked confused, because she turned to her co-worker to confirm what she told me. At this point, I know something must be wrong with my passport, so naturally I'm a little concerned. She then turns to me and says in broken English, "Nicole Kidman? You look like her." I sighed with relief and thanked her for the compliment.

Billy Joel is apparently universal
On the bus to downtown Florence, "In the Middle of the Night" came on, and it made me smile.

God sends us good people to help us out
There was one point when I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to make it to Siena. I had taken a bus from the Florence airport to downtown, and needed to get to another bus station to catch a bus to Siena.  I asked four different people, all of which who gave me different answers in broken English. I was exhausted, confused, and in a foreign country by myself. All I could do was lift up a prayer and I am absolutely positive that God sent Jeanine my way. She was an American who has lived in Italy for 20 years, and she helped me find the station, buy a ticket, and made sure I got on safely. I almost broke down in tears as I thanked her for all of her help.


Lines on the road, if they exist at all, are merely suggestions
In Italy, no one follows them anyway.


Despite some bumps in the road, I made it to Siena. The first night was hard; the combination of jet lag and homesickness really got to me. But I know I'm here for a reason, with many more lessons to learn.