Sicily Day One: Friday March 13th

I couldn't even get to the pool this morning. The butterflies is my stomach left me uneasy and anxious.
Do I have everything I need? Clothes, underwear, shampoo, soap, toothbrush. The necessities.
Bandaids, Rolaids, ibuprofen, Benedryl, wet-naps, antibacterial, tide pen. The just-in-case items.
Notebooks, pens, pencils. The school items.
Alanna and I run to the store, I am in search of the perfect pens. They must be fine-tipped. It writes so cleanly, I am convinced the pen makes my writing better.
My suitcases are haphazardly packed. From corners of my room I've thrown in the necessities, the just-in-case items, and the school items. Shoes, socks, a different sweatshirt. I don't even have to organize them, I've packed so lightly that this basketball game of packing has been effective enough. I zip them, and grab my notebook with Kurtis' address and my favorite pen.

It's cold here in America. I quickly peel off my black leggings and swap them for a pair of dark blue skinny jeans that had been buried in one of the suitcases.
Better.
Alanna is ready first - nothing new.
I throw the rest of my fruit in a plastic bag with some water bottles and double check that we've cleaned enough.
With a deep breath and another glance in my room, I throw on my khaki trench, and hook my purse around the handle of my rolly-suitcase. Alanna and I let the door of the apartment shut behind us as we shuffle down the hallway and into the elevator.

We made the choice to walk to the other side of campus with our suitcases rolling behind us. My fingers were numb. When I pried them from the handles they were stuck and didn't want to move from their gripped position. I let the idea of warm Sicilia fill my mind. I just need to make it to the bus.

The class was waiting for us, gathered around their suitcases talking excitedly, giggling and taking pictures. Shortly after 11am we boarded the bus and headed for the University of Hartford, where we would pick up the people that would fill up the other half of the bus.

With their arrival packets of "What You Need to Know About Me" from each school were passed out. We read about each other, and admired self-portraits done by the painters and photographers of Hartford as they looked at some not-at-all-professional portrait pictures of our group. On both parts some were better than others and they were interesting to read, though I don't believe they aided in our knowledge of what each other was like.

Our bus was caught in traffic, and we were undoubtably going to be late to JFK. Murmurs of worry filled the bus, and students began pulling out their cell phones, eager to see if the flight was delayed.

It was.
A surge of relief.
Then just as quickly it was gone.
What about our connecting flight in Rome?
Rick - we don't call him Prof. Newton it doesn't suit him - soothed our fears, assuring us that flights go from Rome to Palermo all the time and we would simply be placed on the next flight. No problem.
Whew.



We sat in JFK for hours before boarding a later flight to Rome. At one point, Alanna, Caroline and I broke into our carry-ons and took over a wall of sinks in the ladies bathroom. We were washing our faces and redoing our make-up...and even washing our feet. But I'm sure it looked...curious...to anyone that just wandered in there to use a stall.
Some lucky ones slept through the entire red-eye flight. I did not.

On the plus side, Hunter stirred me as we flew over the Alps - I was in the center aisle - and I stood at the window in awe. They seemed never ending and majestic. All I could think was "This is only the flight...in a few hours, it gets even better."