Good and Bad times at Italian Hotels

Since the beginning of the second term in November, so many of the AIS students were looking forward to the Italy trip since the Greece trip before it was a major success. For quite some time, there were some worries about getting the fees in on time and problems with visas, all of which were reflected on Mr. Yenshaw’s face during those gruesome months. Once all of the fees were paid and all the visas were returned (all were accepted) the atmosphere in the school was much jollier, and the days went by faster. I can still remember the night before the trip when I got home at 9:30 and was so overwhelmed with packing, yet I was so overjoyed at how fast things went by and that we were about 12 hours from leaving Egypt.

This trip, however, was much more effort-taking than any other trip I’ve ever been on. The fact that we would stay at three different hotels in three different cities, meant that we would have to be on extra guard to not forget anything. The fact that we would land in Rome and immediately take a bus to Florence meant that we would have had to had a strong lunch to keep us awake for roughly seven hours of transportation from Cairo to Florence. The fact that we all woke up around 5:30 that day, slept at around 11:00 and would have to wake up the next day at     6: 30, definitely meant that we’d have to be tougher than we’re used to in order not to drive Mr. Yenshaw crazy with complaints.

By the time we were on our way to Florence, Mr. Yenshaw received news that there had been an electrical problem at the hotel, and that we would have to stay in rooms of triples. None of us minded, in fact, it was actually more fun to be in triples than in doubles. The first hotel we stayed in was probably the worst one of the three, but arguably the most enjoyable one. The breakfast and dinner were less than pleasing to most students, but that just made the experience more memorable. The hotel was very strange and confusing on the inside. I think that everyone was on the same floor, but there were so many different corridors and halls, it was much more of a maze than of a hotel. The only noticeably bad things about that hotel were the cheap beds and barely edible food.

Two nights and several broken beds later, we moved onto Rome. The hotel in Rome was way more like a hotel and less like a youth hostel. The rooms were nicer and there was a safe in the room, unlike the one before it. We more spread out across different floors and rooms, but that didn’t stop us from causing chaos throughout the hotel. Our chaos was very minimal, but we still had lots of fun. After dinner, about half the people would go out for a walk, while the other half would stay. I was part of the second half, and had a very enjoyable time playing cards and other games. This hotel was better than the one before it in many ways. First of all, the food was noticeably better. Additionally, there was space in the lobby that proved very important for us. On the third day, there was a football game: Real Madrid versus Juventus. We set up one laptop and streamed the game while about fifteen of us were practically sitting on each other just to watch the game. What an experience that was.

The third and final hotel was a Holiday Inn and in terms of hotel, was the best hotel we stayed at. However, since it is a very big place with many, many guests, we were so stretched apart. We occupied floors: three, four, five, seven, eight, and ten – maybe even six – so that made it very hard for us to stay up late with each other. The last hotel was much like the second hotel, only fancier. Breakfast and dinner were the same. Pasta, chicken, and potatoes are what we had for almost the entire time were in Italy. There was also another football game while we stayed there: Bayern Munich versus Barcelona. Unfortunately, Bayern were hammered three goals to nothing. The experience of watching the game there wasn’t as fun or as memorable as watching the other game in Rome. The final full day we spent before leaving Italy was rather quite. No one wanted to leave. Although there were some things and people we missed in Egypt, no one wanted to leave Italy, especially the Earthly paradise that was Capri.

On the last day, we set out for Rome to catch our flight at 2:00. The bus was still very lively because many of us were playing cards. The airport that we were going was the victim of a fire the day before, so we were lucky it hadn’t shut down or cancelled our flight. After reaching hot, humid Cairo, we started reminiscing about all the stuff we loved about Italy and how we’d all love to go back. After I got home, I realized that I fell vulnerable to the one thing I was afraid of; I had forgotten at least one item in every single hotel we stayed in. Oh well.