Careful what you wish for...

Well as the saying goes...
I wanted snow fall in Florence. I wasn't ready to leave.
 LUCKY ME. WISH GRANTED.-In fact we got the most snow Florence has seen in 15 years. It was a wonderful gift on our last night....not so much for our last morning.
Envision roughly 2,000 study abroad students crammed together in the tiny checkin area of the CLOSED Florence airport. Sliding doors open, gusts of snow-flaked wind rushing into the tiny area. Literally could see my breath. Now imagine that scene for 8 hours. Enjoying 7 1/2 of them without any idea of how I was getting home or what line I was even in...mainly because there were none. Just flocks of sardine-packed students, each surrounded by their multiple over-sized suitcases.
At about 5 hours into the mayhem, a woman, obviously fresh one the scene, politely came up to me and asked where the line for Air France was. I tried to best not to scoff.
There were 2 people manning the desks as hundreds of sleep deprived students, who stayed up the night before, saying their goodbyes and expecting to crash on the plane, overcrowded personal space, begging for an alternative option. People were being shoved by the 100's onto buses to Rome, in hopes of having better luck.
After a lifetime of confusion and frigid exhaustion, I was given my new travel plans: Guaranteed flight from Florence to Frankfurt on Sunday @ 10 am (aka TOMORROW). Wait standby in Frankfurt in hopes of somehow getting ahead of hundreds of other students to board a flight to Denver. If denied, I receive 4-star accommodations and guaranteed booking for Monday's flight.....SELFISH. How dare I ask for a longer stay. And snow? Who am I? I was headed to the world's greatest winter wonderland.  Nevertheless, let's be honest. Florence may not have expected these adverse weather conditions, but what airport doesn't even keep a shovel for safe keeping? That was literally their dilemma. They had no means of clearing the runway. Come on Italia...

So after being told to go back to Florence, Claire and I decided upon Hotel Botticelli, the hotel my mother simply ah-dored when she came to visit. Thank god for her, otherwise we'd have no idea of where to stay. Obviously fatigued, we checked in, got some pizza, bought some wine next store (where I went on a school field trip as well as with Susie and my mom. An awesome hole-in-the-wall winery on Via Taddea right next to Restaurant Za Za where you can purchase DOCG top-quality wine straight from the barracks for 1-5 euros thanks to their label-less bottles!!! DEFINITELY RECOMMEND!) watched Reefer Madness (a hilarious musical Claire obviously introduced me to) and indulged in a long hot shower. Wake up call at 6: check. Cab at 7: check. Home by 6? HOPEFULLY.

All in all, this entire story can be summed up in 3 tragic words:
I. GOT. MEAPED.
(please see previous posts for definition)
...Here's to hoping for a successful tomorrow.
CIAO
xx