Okay, so I planned on writing an entry today anyway, but due to a series of crazy events I was unable to until now. And instead of rewriting it all out for you, I'm just going to copy and paste the e-mail I wrote to my parents discussing it all. Yes, I am that lazy.
Dear Mom and Pops,
I realize you called me today, but I have an epic reason as to why I was unable to answer. So I kind of had a very lazy morning today and didn't get up till 11. I tooled around for a bit and cleaned up the kitchen to include disposing of the garbage. I wrapped it up only to find that one of the girls cannot properly dispose of garbage and thus liquid was dripping from the bottom. I didn't realize this until I had stepped out of my apartment. So I ran back in, grabbed a second bag to cover the bottom and dropped out in the dumpster. I came back inside I started to clean up the liquid in the hallway, leaving the door open a crack. Unfortunately, gust of wind came in and shut the door, locking me out and everything, my phone, keys and money inside. This is only the beginning of the story so you should sit down if you haven't already.
After knocking on every door in the building, I finally came upon a nice Sri Lankan Buddhist who was kind enough to take me in for a few hours. He spoke little English and perfect Italian while I spoke a little Italian and absolutely no Sinhala or Tamil. Communication was difficult to say the least. We tried to pick the lock for nearly an hour with two screwdrivers and another key even removing the plate the lock was on. Let me just say, I will never worry about the security of this apartment. That lock, only one of the seven we have, was not gonna budge. So I borrowed some money from the Sri Lankan Buddhist (his name escapes me at the moment), and ran to an internet cafe, where I was lucky enough to find Nicole, roommate, who was in Venice online. I explained the situation to her and she gave me Lucy (our landlord's number). Of course, Lucy's out of town. She told me this only after raking me across the coals for locking myself out. "Why did you leave without your keys? Never leave without your keys. Don't do that again." I didn't have the energy to rehash the actual reason I was locked out, so I apologized profusely for my stupidity. And it being Sunday the school is completely shut down on. So no help there either, but Nicole said she would be home at 8 though so I only had about five hours to kill at this point.
The Sri Lankan invited me back up to his house and fed me this delicious curry dish, that I have to get the recipe for, and a glass of coke. We discussed many things to include yoga, food, vino (which he deosn't drink but hoards) and he even showed me some Sir Lankan pop music. (Very entertaining). He was, as he liked to put it "an honest man" (pronounced with a hard "h"). He was incredibly kind and genuinely sympathetic to my situation, but he had to go to a soccer game so I had to hit the road.
Not knowing what to do without money or a phone, I went to the Duomo. Churches are about the only things free in the city. There I ran into four Australians touring around Europe. We started talking and discussing the city and rehashing our life stories. They ended up inviting me to go with them to watch the sunset on Piazza Michealangelo, which is across the ponte vecchio up a hill and I will take you there because the view of the city is phenomenal and you can't miss it. We stayed up there for a few hours playing cards, drinking vino and shooting the breeze.
We trotted back down to the city and caught up with a wine tasting festival going on where we parted ways. Nicole just got home and was able to let me back into the apartment from which I am writing this email. I'm completely fine and safe. And despite a possibly terrible situation, this has been by far the best day I've had here yet.
Ciao Ciao,
Elizabeth
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