Rome in 24 hours (2018)

In November 2018, for the first of the 2 times I could do it, I applied for a job at the Italian “Universal Civic Service”: the Italian government gives you a 1-year job around Italy or in an Italian Embassy or Volunteer Association around the world, but only if you’re between 18-29 years old, and I was already 27 years old and 3 months away from getting my Degree. I applied for a job in a Volunteer Association in New York, and I had the job interview in Rome in a random morning of mid-November.

I organized everything by myself: plane tickets, hotel, train connections. I found a 4-star hotel (the Hotel Ripa Roma) for a HUGE discount. The room was gigantic: 3 rooms with 2 couches, king-size bed, deluxe bathroom, terrace.

The day before the interview, after lunch, my mom took me to Oristano’s train station, I took the train to Elmas Airport and embarked on the plane to Rome. Oristano-Rome: 3 hours in total. Plus the train from Rome’s Fiumicino Airport to Trastevere. There was only one problem that put me in full PANIC mode for the rest of the day: when I embarked on the plane, I turned my phone off, and I didn’t remember the default PIN nor the PUK.

I arrived at the hotel and searched for a solution to turn my phone back on: I wanted to contact my mother to search the codes in one of my drawers, or to contact one of my aunts to contact my mother. I could use the hotel’s phone, but I couldn’t remember any phone number except my own. I searched for our and my aunts’ house’s phone numbers on the telephone book I found in the hotel, but none of us had a house phone anymore. The receptionists were very nice and understanding, and they told me I could use the guests’ computers at the hotel entrance. I still searched for phone numbers, until I remembered I was on FaceBook (back when I was still on it). I went on Messenger and immediately contacted my mother, who was worried sick and gave me the codes in 2 minutes. Finally, I turned my phone back on and changed the PIN.

After the panic, I relaxed a little in the gigantic room, then went to the hotel’s restaurant and took a nice dinner.

The next morning, the interview was at 9 A.M., 1 block away from the hotel. I prepared in time, arrived at the place in 5 minutes and at 9 A.M. precisely, we started our interview. Yes: “we”, “our”. The interview was a group interview: 7 people in total (we were the twelth group in 2 days), 3 “rounds” of “questions”. We had 2 rounds of questions in some kind of game style in group and an individual non-private interview. At 11 A.M., our group had finished and another group started.

I went my way (didn’t get selected for the job, by the way), and I tried to contact my great-uncle who lives in Rome, but we kept missing each other. He called me back when I was already on the train back to the Airport. He said he would have gave me a room to stay for the night, but I didn’t want to disturb him. After a quick lunch at the Airport, embarked, phone off, Elmas train station (phone back on), Oristano’s train station (where mom was waiting for me). I departed from Oristano and arrived back in exactly 24 hours!