Home sweet home

I have finally made it home.  It is surreal to me that I woke up (early!) this morning in Italy and I am now about to crawl into my bed at home.  As the day began, it seemed so bittersweet to be saying goodbye and thinking about finally being home....as the day went on, it just became bitter!  The bus picked us up at 4:00 am to head to the airport.  The ride was a good 3.5 hours, so I took a little nap.  This nap would prove to be very beneficial once we arrived at the airport and chaos ensued!  We frantically unloaded the bus, only to realize that one of my rolling bags was broken and the pull bar pulled completely out (not helpful, bummer #1).  I ended up deciding to just carry it (probably weighed around 40ish pounds).  I thought it would not be long until I made it to the check counter...WRONG!  This began the crazy dash to our terminal.   Turns out we were dropped off at the wrong terminal and needed to catch a trolley, which was a short walk to catch but we had to lift our luggage onto the trolley (Sarah, Alexis, and I struggled together to get all our pieces on).  Once we arrived at the trolley, we entered the first line.  I'm not sure what this line was for except to check passports and then usher us off to another line.  This was the Delta check counter (keep in mind this bag is getting very heavy and I am also rolling one and have the 2 carry on bags).  The Delta counter lined moved fairly quickly and I was soon at the front.  As I checked in I was informed only emergency exit seats were available for my second flight (I would soon find out that only 3 of the 5 UAB people actually had seat reservations for that flight).  Then it was off to the security line.  This is where first class helps to pay for itself because they have a different line.  Regardless, I made it through security without any problems and was off to the terminal.  Once inside the terminal we searched for a drink and a small snack (which turned out to be a good idea because the food was scarce on this flight....11 hours....).  We loaded the plane...it was then I realized that I had lost an expensive set of earphones...bummer #2.  The plane took off and my seatmate and classmate Brie realized her glasses had fallen out of her lap...bummer #3.  When we were allowed, I crawled (yes...crawled) on the floor of the airplane looking for her glasses.  One the positive side, I did get to pull the seat cushion (aka flotation device) out and the inflatable life jacket...something I hope to never need to do.  People from the rows in front of us and behind us were crawling around as well.  About 20 minutes later, someone from 6 rows back said, "now who lost some glasses"... they had traveled all the way back to the wall during take off.  The rest of that flight was pretty uneventful.  Once in Atlanta, the customs race began (let's be honest, this could qualify as bummer #4 because it is such a pain to have to get your luggage, especially since mine was broken, thank goodness for the cart).  As you go through customs, you of course have to go back through security (so there goes my water bottle.... bummer #5).  The shining light of this day was that all of our group made the early flight.  A few were trying to convince themselves that staying around for a couple of hours might not be the worse thing, but luckily it never came to that.  No issues during this security check and we were off to grab lunch at Wendy's.  We made it to our gate and rested until our flight.  I think I slept most of the flight from Birmingham to Atlanta.  The final test was whether or not the luggage made it to...and guess what...mine did!  But now the other piece of luggage is broken and the pull bar won't come out (bummer #6).  A few of the other UAB students had to wait around because their luggage didn't make it.  So here I am finally at home, sort of unpacked, and about to crash in my bed!

Jessica and I are sad to be leaving....

Rome Airport 

our disgust with the waiting and walking..

Vino Santo to close out the trip