Well, after a seven hour plane ride on which I sat with Milton from Office Space (umm, esscuse me but umm I think that your umm drink is uhh on my half of the armrest. . .blow the plane up…), a half hour train ride, a one hour wait at the horribly confusing Roma Terminus, another hour and a half train (which I nearly missed and then kept falling asleep on, nearly missing my stop), I arrived at il station treno di Spoleto! It only took me half an hour to figure out a way to get Luca’s cell number out of my computer, as my cell phone and my camera both ate it. Since my laptop was dead from the flight, I had to finagle my way into using the power at a not-very-hospitable local hotel. That done, I called Luca, who was in the middle of his lunch. Within 15 minutes, however, he whisked me away to the absolutely drop dead gorgeous Castello di Poreta.
This place is far, far more amazing than I had imagined. It’s stuck into the side of the mountain, about a quarter of a mile straight up from the town. The only picture I had ever seen did not show much, and what I missed in the picture was multiple beautiful patios, amazing views, and, most importantly, a very well stocked kitchen (with nothing in it to hit my head on, surprisingly)
My room is off the storage area, but is perfectly adequate.
I’ll be working with Luca to get wireless internet up and running, but until then I have to use the front desk computer for all my internet needs. It seems I’ll also act as resident techie, as the front desk computer is absolutely crawling with viruses and spyware. My favorite!!
It seems that there are about 3 employees, not counting Luca and his wife, Donatella(or Donatellas parents, when they come in). Luca and one of the other employees speaks English, but Donatella doesn’t speak a word, which should be fun, because she is the one I will be working with the most.
When I was trying to get Luca’s number back at the train station, I had called my house collect, hoping for one of my parents to be there so I could get them to look up the number. I called three times, and the charges were denied each time, to my frustration, and theirs. I did not know that they were even there, but evidently they were, and thought I had been stabbed at customs or some nonsense. Well, right when I was about to take my nap, one of the English speaking employees came running around the castle shouting “Andreah!! ANDREAH!! Youh fatha is on the phone!!” So, I got to talk to my parents for a few minutes, and assured them that I was, in fact, not stabbed or otherwise in trouble. Luca said he would arrange a way for me to get a cell phone and a phone card so that wont be a problem any more.
It is currently 5:20 AM, and I’ve been tossing and turning for hours. I neglected to mention that yesterday, I took a “nap” at about 3 PM and was supposed to wake up for dinner at 7. Well, I woke up at about 10 PM, and everyone had left. Oh well, at least I have breakfast to look forward to.
It just got cold and foggy. . .I’m in a cloud.
Andrew Baber is a