Preparations and the Decision to Travel to Italy.
Trip Start
Feb 2007
1
4
Trip End
Feb 2007
Aix en Provence,
France
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Shortly after my arrival in Aix en Provence though, I made several phone calls, as did IAU's housing coordinator, another staff member at IAU and Camille that my carte sejour was ready. So I took a weekend trip to Dijon in order to fetch it, which didn't go too well at all. I did get my carte sejour but it was a "temporary" one and also I had to inform the Prefacture in Aix en Provence that I had now moved down there. I was furious and disappointed once again. I had finally gotten my carte sejour, but once again by the time my carte sejour expired after my February vacation I would not have been out of the running if caught. At first, one of the staff members at IAU suggested to me that I forget about reapplying for my carte sejour and just mention that I was finished with my studies and traveling around. It actually would have worked and would not have been illigal at this point, because I only had three more months to go, and one can stay in France for three months and travel in and out of the country without a carte sejour, so I probably would have been okay. But I changed my mind. Something inside was telling me to go to Aix's Prefacture and reapply for the damn card so that at least I could get a receprise, which would act as a temporary carte sejour, thus meaning I could travel and also I wanted to do the "legal" and right thing, and the only way to do that was to repeat the process again. So, with the help of the IAU staff I finished up the paperwork and handed it in and a few days before I was due to leave for Italy, my receprise came in. I was so happy that finally I was going to be able to leave France and continue my travels through Europe, yet also visit Italy, a country that I have always loved my entire life.
Why did I want to go to Italy so bad you ask? I know for a lot of people, not just me, Italy is this mythical, beautiful, romantic country with great food and the people to match which was part of my reasons for going, but it was more than that. I have always been facinated with Italy's art, music, culture and of course, history. I am a huge history buff and I love the arts because of my music background (but also too because of my parents: both of my parents love listening to music and going to art musuems and my mom did ballet so I also have an interest in dance as well, though I'm not a dancer myself) and Italy has some of the best (or arguably the best) in Europe or for the world in that matter. Also I was greatly interested in the food, since like a lot of people I'm a huge fan of Italian food as well, but I also love to cook and eat in general, so a chance to go to one of Europe's gastronomic Mecca's was up my ally big time! Also, most of my family members had Italian-American friends and from them we have learned recepies, culture, etc and so my facination with Italy goes back to my family's own facination and love of the country through their Italian friends.
As to where I wanted to go in Italy, I had no idea at first. There's so much to see and do in Italy, that deciding where to go initially was difficult. I wanted to go to Rome, but Rome has always been a dream of mine and I wanted to see more than one destination because I was in Europe for a short time and I only had 10 days, and I would have wanted to spend all my time in Rome and not go anywhere else, so I decided to drop Rome for this trip (sad, huh). Also, I wanted to go Milan, but everything looked very expensive in Milan so I didn't go for that. I also wanted to go to Southern Italy, but I had heard too much about the mafia down there and their strong control so I figured that I wouldn't be going south of Rome either. Finally, I settled on three destinations: Florence, Bologna, and Venice. I think my reasons for picking Florence and Venice are obvious: because they are among the most beautiful, intriguing, historical and artisitic places and as a first time traveler to Italy I figured this would give me a good place to start to give me a taste of the country. As for Bologna, I picked it because it has a lot of history, because it's unique in regards to the fact that all the buildings are red and also because it's the capital city of the Emilia Romagna region, Italy's unofficial gastronomic capital. As a foody, I couldn't resist but to go.
Despite the whole carte sejour/receprise drama, I was able to make all of my hostel and hotel books and bus reservations on time. For my trip to Italy I decided to travel by Eurolines again because it's cheap, efficient and easy to use. I decided to leave from Aix en Provence to Florence, and I made arrangements to leave Italy from Venice to Lyon on the return trip. I would come home via train from Lyon to Aix on my return, which I reserved thsoe tickets ahead of time as well.
Finally the day came for my departure: I packed all my bags a few days before and gave Camille a copy of my itinerary. She and I decided that it would be best if she dropped me off at the bus station rather than I take the bus for better timing and to save my energy. Finally the big day arrived; my classes ended and it was time for me to go to Italy. I can't really describe to you now the excitement that I felt then, but I was definately looking forward to this trip. Tomorrow was going to be a big day and the beginning of a long, 6 hour journey to Italy, but I was ready for it. I was ready for a change from traveling through France (even though I do love the country dearly) and I was ready to explore more of Europe. Hopefully everything would go as planned, but I wouldn't find that out till tomorrow evening....
