Classe turistica: Economy Class (euphemism for coach)

Airplanes serve many purposes. They act first and foremost as a method of transportation to those who are adventurous, then as a giant bedroom to those who can sleep anywhere, and, to those who cannot sleep in the cramped seats and uncomfortable positions required to catch any more than 2 hours of shut-eye, they are a venue for social gatherings. On the flight from Houston to Paris, as I was isolated from the remainder of my group in seat 35B, the large, 3-row, Air France plane served its third purpose. As I sat there only thinking of the lack of elbow space, dysfunctional TVs, and the fact that I was uncomfortably squished between two strangers, I had an epiphany. I am so fortunate. Why bother considering such trivial details when I was on my way to Italy and Greece for another trip of a lifetime, sitting in a seat that provided me with the opportunity to meet another 2 people out of the bajillion that exist. Make that 3, actually, if you count the sweet, French flight attendant Olivé who sat across from us for take-off and landing. By “us,” I mean Johan, Gene, and I. What a trio. On my left, Johan was a nice young father from a town 2 hours south of Paris. I assumed that we shared a language barrier, which made it extremely awkward when I attempted to get Olivé to translate something for me and Johan began to speak fluent English in response. Over the course of the flight, I learned that in early August, he, his wife, 6-year-old son, and 4-month-old daughter are moving to the west Houston area to be nearer to his Oil & Gas job, and his son will attend Awty International in the fall. He was very quiet most of the time, either reading his book, Innocent, or conversing with Olivé in French. What a beautiful, eloquent language! To the right (and almost Johan’s complete opposite) was Gene, a math teacher at a high school in La Porte, traveling with 7 students through EF (Education First) tours to the Greek isles. She was awfully loud with a boisterous personality and completely oblivious to the concept of headphones. Though the four of us were all very different, we all bonded over our TVs’ inability to function. Johan laughed in frustration, Gene complained [at high volumes],Olivé tried desperately to assist us, and I just sat there and observed the comedy in it all. What a strange concept that you sleep, eat, and go about your normal actvities (such as reading a book, listening to your iPod, playing a crossword puzzle, etc.) next to people who you’ve just met when you might never do that with someone that you’ve known for years. I love that aspect of travel: the intimate relationship you can share with a stranger simply by spending a microscopic portion of your life in their presence. Huh. All in all, it was an enjoyable flight. Then there was our 4-and-a-half-hour layover in Paris which included sleeping on any surface, snacking on anything available, walking around to take pictures (even if they were of "forbidden" cookies) and interesting dialogues with our chef-dressed friends down at Paul Café (Rachel, that one was for you!), followed by the 2-hour flight to Rome where Stephanie, Holly and I slept shamelessly the entire time.

We met our leaders Carolyn and David before our two brief train rides which eventually landed us in Florence where Masssimo greeted us and took us all out to a local gelato spot! YUM.

Now I’m on the third floor, rooming with Demeris and Erin in room 8 of some hotel with an extremely long wifi password. (No, there are not elevators; yes we carried our heavy-duty-50-pounder suitcases up 3 flights of stairs… ROUGH.) We have a quaint, little balcony, set up with a table and 4 chairs, overlooking the roofs of many other surrounding buildings, and I can’t wait to see the sun rise over the beautiful, adobe structures tomorrow morning. In this moment, though, I am exhausted. Ciao for now!