ON TRANSPORTATION

Though most of the time I walk to everywhere here in Perugia (that at all times feels like hiking), there’s a lot to be said about the public transportation here. I have taken most of all, which includes train, bus, and mini metro (Jakartan friends, do not assume that mini metro here is like metro mini there haha!).
Mini metro is the newest of all, the rail was launched in January 2008. I took it with my American friends, and they said it reminded them of the capsules in the Incredibles movie. My Russian classmate said that when she first saw it, she was taken aback and said to herself, “Wow.. Perugia is high-tech!”—it is handy for her because she commutes everyday from Fabriano to Perugia (which I think takes about 2 hours by train), and then from the train station, she takes Minimetro to arrive to the campus. However, according to our Italian professor, the Perugians are divided into two groups, those who love it and those who hate it—the latter group is a lot bigger. It is because the establishment of it took a lot of money, but the route is relatively limited. So those who have paid the tax for it and yet do not have the privilege to enjoy it became angry.
The city buses are handy too… and a lot of time, people just don’t pay for it… I just realized that two days ago, when I had to go to the Agenzia delle Entrate (sorry I don’t know how to translate it, it’s an office where you can get some official documents done) to get my codice fiscale (national insurance number) with all my roommies (who are all, but one, Europeans, but I wont mention any name or country here), because the house owner really pressed us to do it asap. So off we went by a city bus, and when I asked them why we did not buy the tickets first and whether we would pay it directly to the driver later on (just like I had learned and had done faithfully before that), they just grinned and said nothing in the bus. And when we finally arrived, they just got off and I followed them (because they had stayed here longer so I thought, they must had known what they were doing). On the street, one of them told me that people just do it because they never check whether the passengers have the tickets or whether they stamp it in the machine or not. But I actually did not feel right about dodging out the responsibility (yeah, call me goodie goodie) because it is the Italian government who pays for my scholarship here. Anyway, on the way back, for some unknown reasons, they all chose to buy the tickets.
The stamping regulation is also applied for the train. When I took it on my way back from Florence, I had to run because the train would be leaving in a minute. Unfortunately, I forgot to stamp it (which they call ‘validate’ here), and had to run back to the machine for being afraid to be fined. Luckily I could hop into the train before it departed and was thankful to hear again and again, the threat of 200 euro fine for those who travel without the ticket or not have their ticket validated. There was also a scene I would not forget. From my window I could see a pair of youngsters smooching as they boy would leave the girl soon. The train conductor was trying to remind them that the train was about to depart but they ignored him totally. When the train finally moved, the boy ran and tried to open the door, which the conductor sternly refused to open. So, he just missed the train from smooching too long, and I had to chuckle to witness it—it was more stupid than romantic, I think.
The next day, when I told my professor about my travel (only the stamping rule, though), he said that next time I just don’t have to worry about it because they will never fine a foreigner for not observing the rule. And like my friend once advised me, if they ever try to, just pretend you don’t understand Italian and explain in English that you have just arrived there and know nothing about the rule.
Still about the bus, even since I arrived here, I’m always stunned to see how gorgeous most of the Italian bus drivers are. I really mean it! Some of them could easily come to Indonesia and get a role in the sinetrons (kind of Indonesian soap opera). I have this crazy wish to take a picture of each of them and compile them and then put them in an album on facebook—just to let my Indonesian friends see them and convince them that I’m not exaggerating. The last bus I took was when I went to Gubbio. As I sat in it and stared at the Tom Cruise looking driver, I thought about my wish and planned the words I might have to say to him to have a permission to take his picture. Maybe something like, “Sei bello, posso fotografarti?” (you are goodlooking, may I take a pic of you?)—but I was afraid that it might sound like a cheap pick up line. So I thought I might just say “Posso?” (May I?) and then click my camera and before he realized it, I would have gotten off and run.
Well, I did not have guts to do neither of them. In fact, when we arrived in Gubbio, all I could say was, “Grazie e ciao!” (thank you and goodbye!), with the camera still inside my bag.