The first day of class is always the worst and the best day of the entire semester. It's the worst because you have to do introductions, talk about the syllabus, and stare blankly at the professor when they try to teach us as if we had magically known the reading ahead of time. But then again, it's kind of great because there is no pressure. I'm not expected to know the answer, no one is going to call on me, and it's OK if I don't know what's going on. No one else does either! My classes are fine and seem interesting enough although honestly I am sure they know we aren't here to learn anything for our majors and the classes are just a formality. For one, we don't have classes on Fridays unless we have a far away field trip so they know we are mostly here for travel and enjoying Rome. Most of my classes have on-site lectures meaning I get to have class in the Vatican museum analyzing artwork and the next day I could be taking a tour of the forum and talking about archaeology. Even though the classes don't seem as intense as what I'm used to, I'm sure I'll learn more by being on-site than I would watching slides in any class at Wooster. It's a great deal!
My main adventure today was getting to Stazione Termini to buy my train ticket to Florence this weekend. I got on the bus by school and rode all the way there without any problems until... the stop before Termini. Every once in a while ticket collectors get on board to make sure everyone has a validated ticket. If you have a ticket and it's unvalidated it's a 50 euro fine but if you don't have one at all it is 100 euros and they actually walk you to the atm if you don't have the money on you. Thankfully I had my ticket but they didn't even look at it! If you don't seem nervous about what's going on they don't care. However, if they see you trying to get off the bus, they will get you. The ticket collectors get on at the last possible second so anyone trying to escape will get caught. This was my first experience with the ticket collectors and it was exciting!
Three south-east Asians were trying to escape but got caught... RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME!! They tried to explain (in Italian) that the ticket machine was broken so they couldn't buy their tickets (the ticket machine wasn't broken and even if it was, they sell bus tickets for one euro EVERYWHERE). They tried to convince the ticket guys that they were only on the bus for one stop and that they weren't aware they needed a ticket (after they had said they tried to buy a ticket on the bus...). When we finally got to Termini the Asians tried to get off the bus by pushing the collectors and other bus riders our of the way and running away. The ticket collectors had apparently seen this before and demanded that only the front doors be opened and they blocked the Asians in a row of seats so that they couldn't get off but everyone else could. It was quite exciting and I was happy I could be entertained by understanding the discussion about the tickets. At one point one of the Asians said, "Do you speak english? I don't think you understand." (in english) and the collector responded "No, No, ho capito tutto." meaning I understand what you are trying to do and it's not working and then gave me a sly smile. It was hilarious. I don't know what happened after that because I got off the bus.
On my way back though I saw the same ticket collectors writing up a couple more south-east Asians. I guess they have a problem with the Asians riding the bus for free because they couldn't have cared less about my ticket. They didn't even look to see if it was validated. I could probably go the entire semester and use the same pass and no one would care. But of course, I am too afraid to break rules...especially strict Italian rules that could cost me 100 euros.
I did get my train tickets though. Now all I need is a hostel in Florence and I'll be all ready for my next adventure.
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