Florence to Rome: Train Ride

Last thursday I was taking the train from Florence back to Rome and my huge luggage bag occupied 3 seats! The train started filling up with people and suddenly, mom called. While chatting on my mobile, someone asked if they could sit next to me and I nodded. Then I looked up and saw 3 girls stealing my bag! But then I realised they were only trying to lift my massive bag up into the luggage compartment above so they could occupy the seats! At the same time they were giggling and commenting how heavy my bag was! I was about to help them but my bag was already stowed safely away and I could only say "Thank you very much!" They giggled in return and one of them said "That's ok!" And I made 3 new friends that day =D

I couldn't remember all their names so I gave them nicknames: Miss Personality, Lollipop and Sophisticated Lady. Miss Personality was the friendliest of the lot; she wore thick framed glasses and had a big, goofy smile. She's 18 years old, about to enter uni and speaks English, Spanish, Italian, French and Hungarian! Lollipop was the sweetest among the three (hence her nickname), and her name was the only one I could remember out of the three girls' names because it was easy to remember; Maria-Julia. She was studying for a test, reading and highlighting from a textbook about two famous poets in Italy. One of the poets was very poor; when he was little, he had a mother who wished all her kids would die because she reckoned they'd be happier in Heaven. The other poet was a womaniser, flirted with a woman who fell in love with him, then went for another. Maria didn't talk about what happened in the end when the first woman found out, she just told me, "Don't be like this guy. He's horrible!"

Miss Sophisticated Lady was blonde, looked like a supermodel and was from Stuttgart, Germany. She was the quietest of the lot, but she did have cool clothes. In the end, we reached Rome, took photos (Miss Personality wasn't there though, she had gotten off earlier at another stop) and Maria exchanged hugs and told me that by fate, we might meet on the train again someday. Wished I'd gotten her email. D'oh!


Left to right: Me, Maria Julia and German supermodel