Oh Siena!

In my desperation to ‘’save’’, I enlisted the help of my good old trustworthy travel agent to get me the cheapest possible tickets to Rome.

She found something from Emirates, ‘’if you don’t mind a transit in Dubai, ‘’ she qualified. KLM was fully booked and others were way above my budget.

I saw the itinerary and somehow, it must have been bravado and stoicism that caused me to agree to the awful flight schedule. That was early July.

I had an ‘’awakening’’ last evening. I finally found some time to check out the train and bus schedules from Rome to Siena and had a rude shock. The train ride from the airport to Tiburtina, Rome’s city centre bus station, plus bus ride from Tiburtina, plus all the waiting and connecting time, will take at least another five hours.

The rude shock further awakened me – my cheap Emirates flight will mean I will leave Singapore at the unearthly hour of 1.40 am and arrive in Dubai at 4.50 am and wait for five hours before I catch the connecting flight to Rome. By the time I arrive in Rome in the afternoon and wait and catch the train and then the bus on Sunday, and then take a taxi from the bus station to my residence, I would have spent at least 35 hours waiting, connecting and traveling before I arrive at night, half dead. How to find my away around the campus (another half an hour from my residence) and sit for a placement test the next morning at 9 am?

Of course, I could have arrived a day or two earlier to ‘’rest’’ and familiarize myself with the city, but heck, that would be incurring more expenses on accommodation.

Another round of desperation. I searched for more flights – Cathay, Air France and Luthansa all fly to Rome, but with again terrible hours and connections. No direct flights. And they are expensive too. The only consolation is you get to transit in a more civilized airport. Singapore Airlines is out of my league obviously.

It was only this morning that my travel agent managed to get me a Thai Airways flight. I flew TG in 2005 when I went to Perugia. I hated the ‘’service’’ and discrimination (the air stewardesses have learnt a lot from their SQ sisters, if you know what I mean!), not to mention the atrocious way they handled my lost luggage (for both on the ground and follow up claims).

Still, the hours are the most decent, and wow, the price is lower too, thanks to some latest promotional gimmicks that came with a host of restrictions! One other catch: I got to fly back one day later. Thank goodness I have one more day of annual leave to spare. Best of all – I get to miss the dreaded video call on 31 August – yahooooooo!

So, hey, things are shaping up – I got my student visa (after some hell with HR about health insurance), my flight schedule is now more decent and as a result I managed to coordinate the train and bus timing.

So, Siena here I come. I can’t wait to savour your lovely pici, baccala, panzanella, ricciarelli and chianti classico !

Why do you breathe?

In about two weeks’ time I will be in Siena for my one month language programme. I could not hide the fact of my departure from my colleagues anymore. There are no secrets in this open-space concept office, everyone can hear every word you say as you make calls to do all the paper work arrangements.

I was trying to put off the ‘’questions’’ that I will be facing, you see. The kind of questions tactless relatives ask and make you wonder how to reply with a witty but cutting remark, when we meet once in a while at wedding dinners and Chinese new year. (ie, ‘’Why are you still single? When are you getting married’’)

So this time, I didn’t bother to prepare any witty replies. HR asked me, ‘’why go away so long, getting married ah?’’

Others asked, ‘’why you study Italian? Why do you like to study language so much?’’

I just smiled and kept quiet. Believe me, I was very tempted to ask in response, ‘’why do you like to go to noisy places like pubs and karaoke when you want to talk and catch up with friends? Why do you like to watch TV? Why do you like to smoke? Why do you drink so much alcohol? Why do you eat so much deep fried food and then later complain that you are too fat?’’

Yes, yes, you might as well ask me, ‘’why do you breathe?’’

To hell with the calls

The video call dragged on and on. Madame C's voice droned and droned. Where did she learn to talk so fast, so much, and non stop, without pausing to think or breathe? It was a good 20 minutes of preaching, pontificating and condescending comments.

My blood vessels were bursting.

Then I thought, hang in there, this will be your last call, until 31 Aug, when we resume our weekly video call after the famous French summer break. Surely you can bear with this for a little while – just tune out, and think of your 99.9 per cent confirmed trip to Siena…

After the call, I was truly rewarded with my perseverance. An email in my inbox – ‘’we are pleased to inform you that you have been awarded for the scholarship n.171…’’

To hell with video calls and conversation monopolisation. Italy, here I come!