The Many Disasters leading up to Firenze Day Trip!

It was another rainy day in Roma...luckily the locals knew how to react with rain compared to the recent snowfalls. However, rain didn't stop owners from closing their bars and small shops. Libby and I were stuck inside like kittens scared of the rain. It was a little boring and since all our friends and housemates left for the weekend, we decided to book train tickets to Florence, Italy for the next day. Unsure of what we were doing, we ventured into the rain to find an 'internet cafe' or 'internet laundromat' to print our tickets (rumor has it you are able to show your ticket via phone if it is a smartphone/android but we didn't want to take the chance). Getting lost (it tends to be a recurring theme), Libby wanted to give up and instead meet our friends downtown for dinner. Knowing we were within a few blocks away, we kept searching. I called the place but someone isn't too helpful when you have no idea what they are saying and vis-versa, "Ok, the man said the street and it was Via San-something. Lets look for that. He also said by the police station I think." We knew nothing about a police station or headquarters near by but we took the chance at a Via San Francesco and we arrived at Il Massello where we paid for internet and printing. 
We went back to our apartment and decided to chef up some homemade pizza, then went out to an AUR 'Welcome (back) Party' at On The Rox, which is a restaurant/bar in Tescaccio. We thought it would be worth it to call a cab, but Google informed us it was in Trestevere, only a ten minute walk away! By this time, the rain turned into sticky snow and it was a beautiful night walk. The party special was that On The Rox was only housing in AUR students with a door special of €5 shot at the door and a free drink of your choice. Arriving with a few nerves, we realized that it was not going to be an excluded night. Libby and I planned on staying for an hour or two because we had to get up at 5AM for the bus to catch the train...however, we met some new friends and ended up walking back around 2:30AM.
"No time to sleep, lets just research Florence for sights," and that we did. At 5:05AM we left our apartment to walk to the bus stop that was supposed to take us to the termini after 15 stops. Waiting with an Italian man who was also going there (He didn't know ANY English), we were all getting antsy. 5:30AM, our bus never showed. 5:43 no bus. 5:48 no bus. "Taxi rip you off, no bene." The man did not want us to get a taxi because it would be overpriced since we're Americans but without another choice, we flagged one down. Watching the seconds go by, we had 13 minutes before our train took off. The taxi driver was driving soooo slow due to the weather (It wasn't bad-but here in Italy, a leaf falling from a tree will stop traffic for hours). With 3 minutes to spare, we ran out of the taxi (He asked for a ridiculous amount of €30 but we gave him €20), asked a policeman where our train was....and we watched it take off along with €17.40 (My ticket price). 
We could have either given up, got a taxi to bring us back home, or buy one for the next hour. Purchasing another ticket, Libby bought a horrible blueberry muffin (that she thought was chocolate-chip for a long time) an a coke that was only filled up half way. In conclusion, the workers were either not good/nice morning people, or didn't like Americans.

Finally, we jumped on the train at 6:35AM, and waited for it to leave at 7:12. 

Continuation of Trip- next blog)