Culture Shock

Culture Shock - it really does exist!
I thought i would not feels this way, but i totally do. I feel like an alien. I don't know a soul in this small Tuscan village besides the 22 kids in my program. i lol i still am having issues opening and locking my damn aparment door....o geez. practice makes perfect.
i have yet to order a coffee, to intimidated.

ok one major American ignorance i had coming into this situation has been harshly shattered.
Italians, at least the ones in Siena do not care to learn or know much English. and if they do, they don't like speaking in it. I thought it was going to be fairly easy to communicate, not so.

but i am going to be taking my first language lessons and will be hopefully getting my language in shape if i ever will want to get anything done in this town! one main thing is i feel very uncomfortable and insecure in these 1st few days and i expect that to go on for some of these first few weeks.
but all the encouragement from friends and family makes me feel so much more confident!

i practice saying vorrei un cafe latte alot. i need to order coffee. it is cheap here, smells and looks amazing.

speaking of food. we had a three course meal @ a fancy restuarant this afternoon. pork wrapped in proscuitto, potatoes, lobster raviolli, bruschetta, polenta. mmmmmmmm.

the grocery stores here are delicious. all the products are so fresh! and not that expensive, great quality, of course.

i found an Australian pub in town tonight. Guess what it was called? The Walkabout Pub. No joke. this is definitely a good sign people.

the trip getting to Siena was INSANE. it really tested my self reliancy.
first was a plane trip from detroit to frankfurt. i sat next to a turkish couple who knew no english. they had come to the US for a month to visit their daughter who just graduated from EMU. Can you imagine! what a trip that would be. I told them congrats. Oh, the only way i learned this info, was because their daughter tyed out a sheet with all this info on it. also with translations of food names.
they laughed when i attempted to say chicken. the guy asked me if i was planning on going to turkey. i said greece would probably be the farthest east i could go. then he muttered something under his breath, probably anti-Greek. lol.
the frankfurt airport made sense but was an unending worm hole of passageways. i felt like was walking forever. when i go to the terminal, the gate changed, so i had to go find my new gate.
once i took off from frankfort to rome, i landed and got my baggage. then i had to find a taxi. one guy offered me 90 euro ride. hell no. the other, equally shady, offered 65. so i went w/ him. when we got to his "taxi" it looked like a nice car he was renting out. i asked him to show me his credentials, he laughed and raised up his neck tag card so i could see his Co. ID. still not connvinced but dying to just get to a homestay, i went along. The ride was fine and the guy was not shady. I assume he ripped me off on the price but i had to get to the bus stop in time to reach Siena.
at the bus station NO ONE knew english. i had lots of sign language. i got there 50 minutes early, just missing the 2 o'clock ride. I almost didn't make my 3.30 bus. I had to use the bathroom and figured there would be one on the bus. nope. i asked someone this info last minute. 10 minutes till the bus came i was FRANTICALLY searching for a rest room. i found a super shitty one. just gross. i then darted out and was being yelled at in italian. ????? i looked back scared and saw that i had to pay to use the restroom. What a weird concept - a public restroom with a price tag.
luckily i got to the other side of the platform just in time. i then had to put my 56 lb. beast of a bag under the bus luggage part. three Roman dudes were looking at me, laughing there asses off. they thought this struggle was hilarious. i looked over started to laugh back and then motion for one to get his ass over here and help me. they sent over a 14 year old boy and he helped me lift it.
on the 3 hour bus ride, i met Claudia. she is from a small town outside of Rome. she teaches arts and music @ a Siena kindergarten. she was an angel! she helped me find my way to the hotel I had to stay at w/ the program for the night before we got our apartment.

once at the hotel, i crashed. AMAZED that i actually did a 26 hour trip on my own and actually managed to get to my destination.

i am continually shocked but i still believe this is going to be the best experience and i am sticking with it. fake it till you make it.

- peace and love to all.