Trains (July 6, Part II)

We got back to the train station at about 8:30 and got ready to buy tickets to get us from Florence to Rome to Civitavecchia. We found ones that left pretty soon, so we hurried to buy them. It was about 70 American dollars just for one way! Brittany bought hers, then it was my turn. Correct time, yes to Civitavecchia, one passenger, second class, finish and pay—SOLD OUT. Uh-oh… Brittany was the only one with that ticket. I looked at later times and the next one got into Civitavecchia at 5 am. Oh no. Some girls decided they wanted the first train, so they were going to pay about 125 American dollars for it. Not happening here! I scooted out of line to start brainstorming. We all ended up buying tickets for separate trains- one just to Rome, then we’d figure out the rest when we got there. We knew there were pretty frequent trains from Rome to Civitavecchia, and at least we’d be closer. Everyone bought their tickets. As we were going to our train, Brittany walked up to a woman conductor to ask for help. Apparently she looked flustered, because before Brittany spoke the conductor said “Tell me” like she was very welcoming and helpful. Brittany told her the situation, and in her words “You DON’T want to be alone in the Rome train station at night.” She said Brittany could pay 8 euros to get on our train. Problem solved, we thought. Well, we went to our correct train to get on and there was no conductor there. Brittany did not want to risk getting kicked off the train in a random place, so she refused to get on without paying the 8 euros first. She ran to the very front of the train (we were at car 7) to find a conductor, he told her she could pay on the train but she had to run because the train was leaving, she ran all the way back, hopped on an earlier car, and worked her way back to where we were. And just then the train started moving. We realized that we should have gotten off the bus tour and taken the train from Pisa. That would have been a lot less expensive, and also a lot faster. Oh well, we learned! Finally we were on the train.

All the girls were seated pretty close to each other in pairs, but for some reason my seat was in the very back of the very last car- car 7, seat 77. I walked all the way back there (the rest of the train was pretty much empty) and looked at my seat, next to an older man with gray hair in a business suit. He had a pile of newspapers on my seat. I held up my ticket and pointed to the seat and said that I think that was my seat, and when he looked up to move the newspapers I got an “off” feeling. Like, a big gut feeling. Just from the look. My instincts told me no, so I just kind of looked back up and slowly wandered to the front where my friends were. I sat down and said I would be joining them until they checked my ticket and made me move back. They asked if everything was okay, and I said yes I just got a weird feeling about sitting next to the man back there where my seat is. A little bit after the train started moving, the man stood up and walked past us, slowing down and staring a little too much at me when he walked by. I was staring straight ahead but could feel the stare, and the other girls confirmed and agreed that he was creepy and I shouldn’t sit there. About ten seconds later, he walked right back and did his slowing and staring routine again. Whatever, maybe he was just wondering why I didn’t sit there. Then again a couple minutes later, again. Got up, walked past, slowed, stared, didn’t even leave the car!, turn around, came back, slowed and stared, and sat down after staring from his seat some more. I could continue with the details, but they would get repetitive. Let me just say that I was passed and stared at about 14 times during the train ride. One time, he only walked as far as us, stared, then went back and sat down. And it wasn’t a confused, aren’t-you-supposed-to-be-sitting-back-there? stare, it was a creepy, worrisome, gut-in-my-throat kind of stare. I moved to sit against the window, as the other girls were freaked out by him too. One of the girls was worried enough that she wrote a note to drop if something did happen. It seems like an overreaction, but all of us were actually really worried.

When we got to the Rome train station, I bolted off that thing faster than you could imagine. The lady was right, NOBODY wants to be alone in the Rome train station at night. We bought our tickets, stared off some weirdos following us a couple of times, and got on our next train. And that’s where I am right now. I’m pretty sure I’ll kiss my bed once I get there!

Now I’m back on the ship feeling much safer. We met some Semester at Sea kids on the next train, and heard some even scarier stories from them. Two girls traveling alone were on a 4 hour train ride, and encountered a woman who said she murdered someone the night before, going into details and showing them the butterknife she did it with. She moved over to sit with them, without invitation. Then when they went through a tunnel, all the train lights went off and it was completely dark and she started cackling and laughing. They said they thought they were going to die- I think I would have too! She asked if she could sleep in their hotel with them, because she was running away to Rome for a month to hide where nobody knew her, then come back to her 5 year old daughter. Well, luckily the girls forgot to validate their tickets and had to follow the conductor to the front to do so. They took the opportunity to tell him about the woman and how scared they were, so the conductor called the police.

All of us SASers (there were about 20 of us by then) walked home, and I was finally back on the ship! Time for bed—Rome is waiting!

Happy birthday to my amazing boyfriend Patrick!