Italy: The silver lining

So, you know how they say "tomorrow is a new day, it will be better" and "this too shall pass." Well, this week was probably one of the worst weeks of my life... I REALLY hope this next week goes better.

My right foot was pretty much completely healed up by Monday, so I was very encouraged by that. Then, as I was walking out of my voice lesson, and thinking, and listening to music (Obviously a very bad combo for me) I stepped onto the sidewalk and instead of landing on the sole of my foot I landed on the outside of my ankle (the left one). I really thought that it was broken for about 30 minutes. I sat down, crying and trying to breathe, and about 7 or 8 Italians were on the street and saw what happened but did not come to check on me... how very nice! (that comment is dripping with sarcasm, of course) After I realized that it was just badly twisted, I walked home very slowly. The rest of that day was spent in the bed hoping for the pain to subside.

The next few days were rough on walking. I was getting really concerned because it wasn't seeming to feel any better and Oktoberfest was coming up for the weekend. However, Wednesday night came and I felt much better and thought that Oktoberfest would not be so bad after all. Thursday came, and I developed a cold. Not just a minor cold but one that made me feel like crap all over. I decided that I was going to go to Oktoberfest anyways because I had paid for it.. and after all.. it was just a cold.

The ride to Oktoberfest was 8 hours on a bus. Anyone that knows me, knows that me on a bus for 8 hours is a REALLY bad idea. I did take some motion sickness medicine and we were traveling at midnight so I figured I would be able to sleep through all of it. The third hour of the trip, I woke up, and got sick everywhere. I couldn't make it to the bathroom and did not have a bag. That was embarrassing and that meant one set of clothes was going in the trash. Everyone was really nice about it, though, so I did not really worry about it for the rest of the day. We arrived at Oktoberfest at 8 in the morning on Friday and I felt fine there. I spent the whole day at the festival and had a great time. We did not get on the road back to the hostel until eleven pm and it was another hour drive. I finally got to bed at about 2 but then we had to wake up at 7. I thought about telling my group that I was just going to sleep in and meet them there later but I decided I may as well go even though I was exhausted. I felt fine for the first 30 minutes of the bus ride back to Oktoberfest... and then I got sick again. This time I had a bag but of course it busted on me. I was so humiliated and I could not stop crying. I cleaned everything up, but I was absolutely disgusting and I was on my last pair of pants. The bus driver could not speak any English but after everyone got off the bus he came up to me and hugged me until I calmed down. He was so nice. I was glad to have someone there that actually made me feel like it was okay. I then walked to the train station, bought a ticket to go back to the hostel and to go back to Firenze, Italia. I got on the train, went back to Augsburg (the city I was staying in) and searched for a taxi for about 2 hours and then finally got back to the hostel. Showered, packed, and slept. Then I went back to Firenze. The train ride was about 9 hours and it was a sleeping train so I took my very last phinergen (not sure about the spelling) and slept the whole way. I made it back to my apartment a little before 7am Sunday morning. I was so glad to be "home."

I hate to say it but this week was so bad that I really do not remember anything good about it. I am sure that good things happened, but at this moment in time I cannot really think of any of it. I am glad to be starting a new week and I am sure that this week will be better. At least I am in Italy... that is the silver lining to everything from this week.