Moving In

The students and faculty who departed from Montgomery yesterday morning are now in Citerna after a grueling journey. Also with us is Faulkner student Sarah Chowning, who met us in Detroit yesterday afternoon after flying from Indianapolis.

Our flight from Detroit to Amsterdam was nearly eight hours long, and most of us did not get much sleep. We arrived around 6:00 a.m. local time (late), and fourteen of us (the Montgomery departures plus Sarah) had to make a 7:05 connection to Rome. We almost missed the flight because of the long delay at immigration and customs. Then we had a scare at the gate when the KLM staff nearly refused to let Richard, our 11-month-old son, onto the plane with us! Apparently we were missing some important document for him that the travel agent did not provide us. However, we were finally waved through the gate and allowed to travel to Rome with our family intact.

Providentially, all our luggage made to Rome. Jonathan Edwards met us outside the baggage claim area and took us to the bus that was to take us to Citerna. Our driver spoke no English, and Jonathan remained at the airport to meet the next group that was scheduled to arrive around 1:20 p.m. (mostly the Memphis departures), so we were left in the care of a man with whom the only possible communication was my pidgin Italian. For some reason the three-hour trip took almost four hours, but we finally arrived at the Hotel Sobaria between 2:00 and 2:30. About twenty minutes later we were served our first lunch, which was wonderful. Then everyone dispersed to unpack, explore Citerna, and/or recover from jet lag.

We expect the next group to arrive in the next hour or so. A final group of four should arrive later this evening. Tomorrow the real fun begins! I hope to get our first group photo posted in the next couple of days.