I knew something was wrong because, as I lay in my bed that morning, light was coming in through the window at an unusually early hour. I reached across my nightstand to grab my phone and, to my horror, it was 9 a.m. I knew that I had set my phone’s alarm to 6:30 a.m., but I had heard nothing. I leapt out of bed in a panic, but knew there was no way I could make it to the bus stop in time to meet up with my classmates. By now they had already boarded the bus to Florence.

I quickly scrolled through my contacts in WhatsApp and made a call to Dr. Longacre. After coming to my senses, and realizing there was no way he would receive my call without Wi-Fi (a necessity for WhatsApp), I called my friend, T. He just so happened to be at the school’s office and acted as a medium between me and the secretaries, who got me in touch with my Art Appreciation professor, Rebecca, who was leading the trip to Florence.