June 2

As planned, everyone was up and downstairs with all the bags by 3:45 a.m. while everyone else at the Denza was fast asleep, but that is when the FUN BEGAN!

Just as the entire month had been an exciting adventure, so too was our "escape" from the Denza. Franco arrived to pick us up but was unable to open the locked gate as planned because someone the night before had broken off a key in the very heavy padlock. We were unable to find a night watchman or a phone number so Jane started knocking on doors of the Polish graduate students we had met, only to find out from one sleepy student that there is no night watchman. In the meantime Jason and Nick roamed the huge, and muddy campus looking for alternate exits and Martina searched for a number to call, but to no avail.

The only recourse was to pull our bags down the long driveway to the 10-foot high 19th century cast iron gate (with spikes on top), hoist our bags over, and then climb over ourselves. So our team of adventurers did just that - with a lot of muscle from Martina, Nick and Jason; and Jane, with a little boost from her team. The bags were now laden with gifts and books we had received, gifts we bought, and lots of dirty clothes so getting them over the fence to Franco proved to be quite a feat! The adrenalin sure was working that morning and it's a good thing. Once we were on the other side, a light went on in the gatehouse, an angry woman came out and proceeded to argue for 10 minutes with Franco about what we were up to - trying to get out, not in. Apparently she saw us but was too afraid to come out in the pitch dark and instead called the prior about us. He told her just to go back to bed!!!

So off we went to the airport and were there in plenty of time for the plane at 7:15 a.m. for Rome. We all just chilled on the plane from Naples to Rome but coming in to Rome was exciting because we flew right over the coliseum and the "Wedding Cake" - the memorial to Victor Emmanuel. Once we found our Philadelphia-bound gate in Rome, Martina decided to go off for some last minute shopping which provided more exciting times when she was not allowed back to our gate without a boarding pass. She solved that by retracing her steps and getting a boarding pass at check-in. So all is well that ends well.

The 8 hour 40 minute flight from Rome to Philadelphia was uneventful (for a change) included movie watching, sleeping, reading, and just plain relaxing as we prepared to greet our families and significant others at the airport!

But wait...one last bit of excitement! Jason's large bag with work clothes and shoes was nowhere to be found. He filed a claim. Let's hope he gets it quickly!