Rome
June 2013

I had just left the place I was staying at and headed for the Metro to go into the city/new place. I get there and see there gates are closed? Strange, head to the next one and realize the LED sign saying Strike! On just the line I need!

But no worries, bus is along the route. Luckily I realize I am on the right side of the road/direction. I get to the stop and ask a man about how to get to the city. He speaks on Italian so somehow we manage to understand each other. I really don't know how this always happens. I have learned a lot this year through hand signals and basic words...surprising how long these conversations can go.

So, when he tried to explain as much as he could he asked the other lady who was waiting at the stop if she spoke English. She said she spoke Spanish too, I told her the one Spanish line I know (ok there are more..) but this didn't help.

More people arrive, some don't bother to wait, one girl takes a taxi others just start walking towards the city.

So we waited..and waited..more people came..a lady..a lady with a baby..a guy talking on his phone nas trying to hitchhike after waiting..3 buses passed with deposito! I was ready to just grab a taxi. After waiting over an hour and 15-30 minutes a bus came! We all sighed with relief, I was ready to say Mamma Mia right here..and guess what. It is packed! Like a can of sardines!

But no way the lady and the man from the start we try to get close to the door. Then the man grabs me and the lady and people from behind start to push us in. But we are on the edge of the bus, the doors cannot close. There is a man telling the people in the back to move back more. We made it! The poor lady with her baby/carriage did not or the others.

I have not stood this close to people in public since 2002 after World Youth Day in Toronto. It was hot,  you could not even fall over because there was just no room to fall over and I had my bag. The people that were at the stop waiting for us we collected along the way! They had walked so far from the stop! There was also the smallest, cute lady ever.

There was also some ladies that began to fight with each other, one slapped the other one over the head. I just kept laughing because I had no idea what was going on, everyone was just yelling and talking. There was a lady who kept banging on the glass to come in and even the bus driver yelled back at her, there was just no room! There was an old man who started to talk to me. The man from the bus stop and I looked at each other, he knew I knew no Italian. But I kept replying, si, si back to this old man. After he realized I could not speak.

In the end I made it to the city. Ran off that bus and onto another bus, a bit packed but not as crazy. Did not pay for any bus fares and made it to my appointment, sweating like crazy in a leather jacket.