6 trains, 2 days and 2 cities.

CHOCOLATE

This weekend I DOMINATED the Italian train system. Trenitalia 0 – 6 Camila. Well, sort of. Laura and I ventured over to the train station to take a train to Perugia for the chocolate festival. We thought we had to change trains half way but it turns out it was just a longer stop on our journey. We got to Perugia, on time. Success. We then took the CHOCOtrain up to the city center where the Chocolate fest was. 

Perugia

There were people EVERYWHERE. I know this festival is famous but I did not expect this many people. We made our way through the mases, got our chococard and started venturing around. Time to get chocolate wasteeeedd! Laura got a chocolate kebab at one point, we got some samples with our ChocoCard and some chocolate covered fruit and bought some stuff. After a while though, the crowds were a little much. We took some pictures of the amazing view in Perugia and then headed back down.

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 Now is where train domination starts. Laura was going back to Florence while I was going to the small town of Ferrara to visit a friend from CISV, Cri. Perugia is south of Florence  (towards Rome) and Ferrara is north-east of Florence (towards Venice) so I knew I had a long train ride ahead of me. Good thing I had stuff to study for midterms.

Ferrara with Cri and her friends!

 I got on the first train, which was the same one as Laura but I got off in Arrezo. There I waited for train #3 of the day to head to Bologna. This train was about 10 minutes late. I only had 15 minutes to change trains in Bologna so I was starting to panic. We finally got to Bologna, about 15 minutes late. GREAT. I ran to the terminal of my next train hoping this train was a little late. Well, be careful what you wish for, because you JUST MIGHT GET IT. When I got to platform 7, where my train was departing from the screen said 30 minutes late. I though, baller, didn’t miss it. Well, 30 minutes turned into 45, that turned into 1 hour that turned into 70 minutes. I was starting to freak out that my train would never come and started to look for other trains that stopped in Ferrara, but I only found 1. It left at 22.20. I decided that if my train was not there at 10, I would get a ticket for the 22.10 train. It was only 4,90 euro so it was not a HUGE deal. To add to my panic, the Bologna station is, kinda scketchy. Not the place you want to be alone at 10 pm. Luckily I met a lovely Italian couple that was going to Venice (same train I was getting on) so I sat with them waiting for the train (and eating a lot of my Perugia chocolate). The train finally arrived at 9.55 pm. So 3 trains later (4 in one day, total) I was finally in Ferrara with Cri!

Ferrara

            Ferrara was amazing. It is a small, medieval city that still has a Medieval palace standing and the walls that surround the city. When I arrived, we stopped at Cri’s house, droped off my stuff and went out. Her friends were having a graduation party at one of the clubs and we had a blast. I loved dancing to some Italian music, and funnily enough oldies American music (as in Grease, the twist and YMCA). The next day I had Cri’s favorite meal, which her grandma grandmother makes for special occasions (don’t really know what it is called) and then we rode a bike around the entire city. Gorgeous. I defiantly think Ferrara is a hidden gem in Italy. I wanted to stay a little longer but since I have so much studying to do, I figured I should probably go back. Once again, trenitalia thought differently. The direct train at 6.30 that I wanted to take from Ferrara to Firenze was full (which apparently never happens in Italy…. So naturally when I wanted to take it its not an option) so I had to take a later train that involved me switching trains in Bologna, again. This time though, all trains were on time and at exactly 9.00 pm (the scheduled time) I was back in Florence. So 6 trains, 2 cities, 2 days later, and 1 amazing weekend I was home. To finish a lovely weekend I had some Pizza Spera (best traditional naples style pizza in Firenze, I hear) with Laura and headed home. I studied for a bit and was taking a (rather long) study break when BOOM. Internet just died. I decided it was the universe telling me I should not be procrastinating on FB and YouTube, but stidying.

Well, now this week is midterms and then FALL BREAK.