Sicily – “Day 1”

Thursday November 25, 2010 – Thanksgiving Day

Today started out like any other day in Italy.  Italians were getting ready for work, riding the crowded trams and looking forward to the weekend.  I, on the other hand, woke up with a smile on my face because I was going to spend Thanksgiving 2010 in Sicily with Nonno & Nonna Bono.  Thanksgivng 2010 – Sicily Style!

            I got ready, said Ciao to Cuyler, and got to the train station down the street around 9:00 AM to catch the train to the airport.  My flight didn’t leave until 10:40 AM, so I had plenty of time.  First of all, the train was severely delayed.  We are talking 25 minutes here.  Usually it is delayed only like 5 or 10 minutes, but 25 is unheard of!  The Italians were getting upset and started yelling, “Dove il tren?”  One lady asked me, and I replied to her, “Non lo so” and shrugged my shoulders.  She responded “Mama Mia!” threw her hands in the air and walked away.  Finally the train got to the station at 9:20 AM.  The large crowd that had accumulated piled onto the train and we were on our way, but not for long.  At every single station, the train stopped and then we had to wait 2 minutes for the doors to open.  Passengers would get off and on, and then we had to wait 2 more minutes for the train to be able to leave the station.  It was a very complicated process.  Cleary the train wasn’t functioning correctly, but leave it to good ol’ Tren Italia to keep it on the track!  So, finally, we made it to within two stations from the airport and all of the sudden one of the conductors is herding us off the train and onto a platform.  I asked him how I could get to Fiumicino Airport and he pointed to another train rolling up on a different track.  This was the train the that was behind ours the whole time which had caught up to us since we were moving so slow.  All of our passengers crammed onto the already packed train that had just pulled up and finally made it to the airport around 10:10 AM.  I already had my boarding pass printed, so I figured if I just hauled my cookies through the airport, I would make it in time. 

I ran through the skywalk – I’m talking an all out sprint for the terminal.  I made it, flew through security in a flash (well, security is kind of a joke in Italy) and made it to the gate.  I looked at the screen and it said, “Easyjet Palermo 10:40”.  It was 10:17, so I stopped for one minute to put my liquids and laptop back in my suitcase from security.  By the time I looked up, the screen was set to a new flight and the Easyjet employees were gone.  I looked around for them, but couldn’t find them at all.  Then, three Italians, one woman and two men, came up looking for the same plane.  The woman looked at me and asked, “Dove e il aeroplane para Palermo?”  I responded, “Non lo so” and showed her my ticket.  We couldn’t find it anywhere.  They flagged down some airport employees and asked where the plane was.  The employees used their phones to figure it out and when they hung up, they looked at us and said, “Finito!”  I knew then that we weren’t getting on the plane. 

So, I walked back down to ticketing with the Italians who started yelling at the Easyjet employees.  I stayed out of it since I didn’t know much Italian.  It was funny to watch though. Then, after a couple frantic phone calls to my cousin’s wife Marianna, I bought a new ticket to come to Sicily.  Marianna called her grandparents and told them that I wouldn’t be arriving that day, but I would be there the next day on the exact same flight.  The man behind the ticket counter felt bad that I missed my flight, so he didn’t charge me the usual 20 Euro booking fee on my ticket.  I called my Dad on the way home to tell him the story, and took the train back to the apartment.

So, I spent Thanksgiving alone this year.  I was really bummed at first and realized how much it sucked to spend it alone.  I went to the store after I got home and bought some chicken, tomatoes, and pasta and made a nice dinner for myself.  The apartment was completely empty.  All of my roommates had left on Wednesday or Thursday morning.  I was alone, which was kind of soothing in a way. 

I watched a couple movies, Skyped with my parents and Lauren, Skyped with Scotty and Marianna, and also with a couple of my friends from St. Norbert.  I kept myself busy and just relaxed.  I talked with one of my fraternity brothers from TKE and he told me he was alone on Thanksgiving too. He told me to put it into perspective and use it as an opportunity to look back and really appreciate holidays with family in the future.  He said now that I know how much it sucks to spend a holiday alone, I would never take them for granted again.  I agreed with him and it made me change my whole outlook on the day.  It was a good day, even though I wasn’t with family and had no turkey.