I miss Rome

I miss Rome.

I miss walking past 2500 years of history everytime I stepped out the door. I miss being able to hop on the 8 tram down Viale di Trastevere, passing covert historical sites to wind up at the very obvious historical site of the Area Sacra at the end of the line. Not to mention being able to board a bus and find myself at the base of the Coloseum or the foot of the columns of St. Peter's square. I miss the feeling of awe every time I crossed the bridge on the 23 bus on my way to SpeedColor to get film developed or to pay an outrageous price to have my slides converted to digital pictured and put onto a CD.

I dislike driving now, for some reason. It bothers me that in order to get anywhere I want to go, I have to drive. I can't just show up at a bus stop and be able to get anywhere in Appleton I want to go. In order to use the buses, I have to know which buses stop where and where the buses go before I get on. And I can't just board a train at the Appleton train station and wind up in Oshkosh half an hour later. ....actually, I can't board a train at the Appleton train station at all.

I'm annoyed that I need to remember this thing called an ID if I want something to drink; and I can't seem to find a $3 bottle of good wine anywhere, let alone at PizzaBoom, street level right below my apartment.

But it's nice to be home for the holidays.

Blog Revival

...So it's been nearly a month since I last wrote anything at all.

I've been home for almost a week.

I think it's about time I finish my Parisian experience, Munich, my football outing, heartbreaking loss, and final moments in Rome.

Side Comment

Today in my Modern Middle East history class we were discussing the first Gulf War. Prof. Walston made a comment on Bush Sr.'s decision not to proceed to Baghdad because Iraq was such a mess, it wouldn't be possible to get out once the US went in. Walston's comment prompted his own side comment which referenced a skit apparently nobody in the class had seen. So the British professor, one of the biggest sticklers for references and unattached pronouns, pulled up YouTube in the middle of class to show us this.

Slow as a Snail

...but delicious too.

it's taken me a while to get this up, but here's Paris:

Friday Nov 16, left my Roman apartment at 8:30 am. Grabbed breakfast. Hopped a Bus to Termini. Grabbed an €11 train to Fiumicino airport. Arrived at the airport 10 minutes to 10 for my 11:15 flight to Paris.

Arrived in Paris sometime before 2p. Takeoff had been slightly delayed. The RER B train that goes from Charles de Gaulle into the city wasn't running at all due to the metro strike. The buses from the airport were still running, however, only at 20% of what they normally do. The buses that ran into the city were €14-17. However, however, the information desk told us to take a different one because it went to the Opera which was "closer" to where we wanted to end up. It was "only" €8 a ticket.

The ticket machine wouldn't accept our credit cards. There were no slots for bills, it only accepted change. (What machine selling nothing cheaper than €8 doesn't accept bills?) Rob didn't have any cash on him. I only had 20's. So i went back inside the airport to try and make change. Each place I went to was only allowed to give €5 in change. ...so after stopping at the currency exchange booth, a cafè, and a book store, plus a €1 coin from Rob, I finally had enough change to purchase two tickets ...tickets we never validated, and tickets nobody ever checked to make sure were validated. So we had our transportation back to the airport paid for as well.

The Opera building the bus brought us to is the opera in Paris. We wanted to be by the Bastille, where there's modern theater. This must be what the guy at information was thinking of. ...but after waiting another half our for the bus to show up and a 40 minute ride into the city, we arrived at the opera at quarter to 4 with a 2 mile walk ahead of us. (...so much for information)

By the time we were settled in our hotel room, it was already dark. We missed a chunk of the day we thought we were going to have. We headed out. Each grabbed something to eat along the way. And walked to the Louvre. Fridays after 6pm the Louvre is free for people 18-25. Saw the Mona Lisa, Statue of Venus, and several other paintings and statues whose names i don't know. Some I recognized. Many I didn't. We covered the museum pretty quickly. Hit two floors in half the museum in an hour and a half. We were about to head over to the other side of the museum that houses all the Egyptian and Mesopotamian stuff. But they were already kicking people out. The museum that supposedly is open until 10pm closes at 8:30, apparently. So i didn't get to see Hammurabi's Code, but at least saw the Louvre for free.

After the Louvre, we proceeded to walk to that big, metal, radio tower they have there - that one that's named after the guy who designed it. ...Gustave somebody... I think they built it for temporary use and forgot to take it down, so we decided to take a look at it.

Afterward, we decided to see if the metros were running at all. To our delight, not only were they running, but one could walk right through the turnstiles without having to pay for a ticket. Operating and free. Best strike I've ever. Just had to be prepared to wait anywhere from 10 to 20+ minutes for one to show up. And also had to be prepared to deal with availability of personal space comparable to public transportation on La Notte Bianca. But our first experience on the Paris metro was pleasant. We waiting no more than 10 minutes, and it was empty enough that we didn't have to stand.

Saturday we caught our free breakfast and headed out to see more of the city. Attempted to catch a subway to the vicinity of Notre Dame. After waiting 20 minutes, and watching many French-speaking folks come down the stairs, wait, and slowly trickle back up the stairs, I wasn't about to waste anymore time waiting for transportation. Even if I had to walk, at least I was seeing the city. Rob, stubborn and not wanting to walk, said lets wait until (specified time that amounted essentially to another 3 minutes). 4 minutes later, I got up to head out. Rob, stubborn, still didn't want to walk. I, stubborn, decided to walk anyway.

Apparently, 2 minutes later, the subway came.

Just kidding. Actually, 2 minutes later Rob decided to head up the stairs and walk as well. Thinking he was going to follow, I stalled as much as i could allow myself to. Constantly looking back, but didn't see him coming. So off to Notre Dame I went. We both knew we were going to Notre Dame, so I figured I'd either meet him there, or call him if I didn't.

I had an enjoyable walk down Rue de la Roquette, around the Bastille, down Boulevard Henri IV, across one fork of the river to Ile Saint-Louis and over to Ile de la Cité where Notre Dame sits. I spent maybe 20 minutes taking in the Notre Dame, snapping photos. Didn't see Rob, so I called him. He had wound up walking "20 minutes" the wrong direction. Found himself at Place de la Nation. Walked back the way he came, attempting to get his bearings and decided to take a cab. I found him at the Notre Dame 10 minutes later. We took in the outside, then inside, then back outside to wait in line to go to the top. The line didn't take very long. 10 minutes maybe. But it was chilly enough to make me run across the street to grab a hot chocolàt and a warm, sweet crêpe.

From Notre Dame, we headed to Sainte Chapelle which sits on the same island. Neither Rob nor I had even heard of it before we saw it in one of the pamphlets Rob grabbed at the hotel, but the inside was even more impressive than Notre Dame. I swear my picture doesn't even do it justice. I urge you to do a google image search, find the most amazing picture of it, and that might allow you to just begin to imagine how breathtaking it is.

After catching our breath back, we crossed the Seine once again and headed north so see some 4- or 5-story medieval tower Rob wanted to see. It turned out to be more of a history lesson than anything. Something I wasn't particularly interested in. There's too many Louies in French history for me to really care. The tower amounted to little more than a cool spiral staircase with a room hanging off the side of it at each floor. While I wasn't really interested in what happened at the tower, I did discover my apparent photographic obsession with stairs.

((snail crossing)) ..._@/”

from the tower we hopped on the free subway, made a connection and walked a couple blocks, then up a massive set of stairs to the Sacré-Cœur. Briefly checked out the inside, which is quite impressive for the height and amount of open space. Then we went around the side to pay our €4 to get to the top. (I forgot to mention, all entrance-tickets were anywhere from 1/3 to 1/2 off because we are in the fabulous age range between 18 and 25. ...it's so good to be young.) We probably spent an hour up at the top. We took in an amazing view of the city for about half an hour, and then waited another half hour when we realized how close we were to sunset.

After sunset, we found dinner. My first sit-down dinner in Paris. and it was great. expensive, but delicious. Rob and I split a 1/2 liter of wine and a half-dozen escargot. I ate a very thick, juicy steak; green beans; and sliced potatoes (resembling potato chips while still retaining their potato factor). Rob got desert, so I got myself another hot chocolàt (my third of the day. first one was at breakfast. second one, of course, at Notre Dame). My dinner total: €26.

This was just across the street from the restaurant where we ate.
I found it fitting.

After dinner, we continued down the street to the red light district to get a glimpse of Moulin Rouge. We then hopped a (free) subway to Arc de Triomphe. Snapped our pictures and strolled down Champs-Élysées, doing some window shopping before catching another (free) subway back to our hotel.

Traffic Jam

..._@;" ..._@/"

we started off Sunday with breakfast as usual. We took the free metro all the way across the city to catch a quick glimpse of the Arc de Triomph by day. We also intended to see the tomb of the unknown soldier that sits under the arch, but we forgot entire once we arrived. From the arc, we tried to catch a metro over to the Eiffel Tower for an up-close, daytime viewing of that as well. After waiting nearly 20 minutes for the metro, watching the underground fill up and empty out with people a couple times, we gave up and walked it.

Photo shoot featuring a bunch of metal, and off we went. Now I was on an assignment to track down a little shop called Olivier&Co. It was on Rue Cler near the Eiffel. We made our way a few blocks at a time: over, then up, then over some more, until we finally came upon the street.
Somewhere between "up" and "over some more":

"Why is there a line coming out the door of that bakery?
...And why is it wrapping around the corner?"
"I dunno. Let's go find out."

Rob got a baguette. I got a baguette and a croissant for a pre-lunch snack. it was probably 11am at the time. The baked goods were, well, good like the term suggests they should be. I don't know that they're around-the-corner good. Maybe they were still out-the-door good, but at any rate, I had fresh bread to hold onto and warm my hands for the next half hour. Olivier&Co was closed. I hadn't realized it was Sunday until that point. Sorry Tim&Karen.

Eventually we came upon Les Invalides. Rob and I checked out the giant tomb of some short guy. I think Napoleon could fit in his tomb several times with room to spare. After viewing the tomb, we checked out the war museums, which housed guns and memorabilia from the World Wars. ...well, also from the 18th and 19th centuries as well, but that section of the museum was closed for remodeling. The World Wars were enough to keep us busy for a couple hours as it was. At about 330 we finished the museum and headed over to the Pantheon. ...I was unaware there was a Pantheon in Paris as well. ...In my opinion, the one in Rome is sooo much cooler. But I wouldn't actually know. By the time we got there, entrance to the Pantheon had closed. It stopped at 330. And it closed completely by 415. which was when we showed up. We had walked past Jardin du Luxembourg somewhere just before 400. After turned away from the gates of the Pantheon, we were turned away from the gates of Jardin du Luxembourg. Entrance to that closed at 4.

I watched some French kids play soccer in the street for 5 minutes, and then Rob and I went to try and find the latin quarter. The area supposedly known as the latin quarter seemed more Greek than Latin. Greek restaurants lined one or two of the streets. But we settled on French food again. Dinner this time was even more expensive. The total bill was 77 Euro (darn American keyboards. ...I miss my Euro sign and the fabulous Alt Gr button. [it's practically a second shift key]). My portion was in the thirties. ...32 maybe? I devoured my own half-dozen escargot this time. Followed by a bowl of French onion soup. ...couldn't resist. Rob, again, was determined to enjoy desert, so I splurged this time. A cup of hot chocolat (I miss my easy access to accented vowels too) and an apple cinnamon crepe. The crepe was almost like an apple pie. Though it was more apple sauce than apple pie filling, there were slices of apple here and there, topped off with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. ...delicious. And leaving my mouth watering. So once again, I'll have to leave the return trip for later...

The Apprentice

I'm back from Paris. What a story. But it'll have to wait. I'm a little short on time.

I walked into my apartment at 2:30p yesterday for the first time since leaving for Paris. Just in time to unload clothes from my backpack and reload it with books and notebooks.

Like I said, I'm short on time. I leave for Munich tonight after class. So the Paris story will have to wait. But there's a picture for a teaser.

All I really wanted blog about is my photography professor. What a busy/exciting time in his life. He became a father for the first time last Friday. In addition, he and another photographer from the agency he's with produced a book for ActionAid. It just hit the shelves. I'll be missing the book signing tonight though. Not enough time.

His agency also sold the same story to MarieClaire magazine (published in the italian Dec '07 issue).

Also, some of the photos were published online by the biggest italian newspaper La Repubblica. See who I'm learning from. His photos can be seen in their online gallery. Lorenzo's are the ones in color. His assignment was education and the environment in which ActionAid operates. His colleague's photos are black and white, on Cambodian prostitution and AIDS patients.

Travel Time

Just a quick update: AS Roma offered refunds for the tickets to Sunday's called-off match. The game will be rescheduled, but not until mid to late december when we're already gone. So we got our money back.

I'm now off to Paris for the weekend. I return Monday morning in plenty of time to go to my Monday classes (the first of which isn't until 3:30p). I'm in Rome Monday night and here for my Tuesday classes. Late Tuesday night I'm off to Munich for 5 days, coming back Sunday. Skipping my one Wed class and my two Thursday classes.

In the spirit of Paris, I feel like I should tack on 5 extra vowels and perhaps an "S" or "X" to the ends of my words. As far as pronouncing letters, it's almost as if the french have the laziest tongues in the world. ...But then how do you explain a french kiss?

All Thai-ed Up

Last night, a group of 10 of us went out to a Thai restaurant. It was fantastic. Some of the spiciest sauces I've ever had. I had rice and some sort of spicy jumbo shrimp - served with their eyes still looking at me. I hear it's normally difficult to eat them like this. messy to peel or whatever. But they must have been well prepared, because it was quite easy. Other than detaching the meat from the rest of the body, it was not any different than eating normal shrimp back home.

They brought out several appetizers "on the house," along with an apparent all-you-can-drink supply of wine. The 10 of us went through numerous bottles. And then they brought out two big bowls of fruit, then candy. Gwen ordered Malaysian crepes for desert. They tasted almost exactly like a Cinnabon. Definitely to die for. After desert, along with maintaining our supply of wine, they brought out the "serious stuff" as they called it. Shot glasses for everyone, along with our table's own bottles of limoncello, whiskey, and something that unfortunately tasted exactly like ouzo.

The total only came to €17 per person. I don't know how they came to that total or what they actually billed us for and what was actually on the house, but considering my dinner was €12, I figure a €5 "cover charge" is worth the bottles of wine, hard alcohol, desert and appetizers. Great place, great service. And we didn't even have a need to hit the bars after dinner.

Go and Get Your Riot Gear

I tried but failed to get my hands on a newspaper today. I stared at one over breakfast at the bar this morning. When I went out to get my film developed, I stopped at several newspaper stands but they all only carried foreign papers like the Süd-Deutsche Zeitung, USA Today, along with French and Spanish papers as well. But none of the Rome newspapers.

After class, I asked the guy at breakfast bar, in italian, where I could buy a paper. He told me to try Stazione Trastevere. But they were all done selling papers. Either they didn't have any left, or they were closed, or both. I didn't really understand the Italian response I got, except that I wasn't going to find a paper.

Anyway, pictures from la Republica can be found there. A brutally (google) translated article from Il Messaggero on the victim and incident that sparked the riots can be can be found here. From the same paper, also brutally translated by google, is the article on the actual events of the riots.

Personal note: fortunately I didn't get anywhere near the events. Therefore, no pictures of my own to post.

Update

In lieu of the soccer match, we headed out to Abbey Theater (sports bar) to watch the Packer game. The Packers destroyed the Vikings 34-0.

In the meantime, things started getting a little more out of control regarding the soccer match.

Change of Plans

A group of 8 of us bought tickets to go to an AS Roma soccer match. I haven't been to one yet, and I'm determined to see a match before I leave Italy. We all bought €25 tickets earlier in the week. ...I'm not going anymore.

Rob ran downstairs to PizzaBoom to grab a beer before we were about to leave. Roberto at PizzaBoom told Rob the match was canceled. Thank You PizzaBoom. That guy is so in the loop that he knew the match was canceled before the breaking knews article surfaced on the internet. We finally confirmed his story 5 minutes after we first started searching.

11/11/2007 6:29 PM
BREAKING NEWS: Roma - Cagliari Called Off
Tonight's Serie A game at the Stadio Olimpico between Roma and Cagliari has been called off following the tragic death of a Lazio supporter this morning.

Twenty-six-year-old Gabriele Sandri was killed by a stray policeman bullet after a fight between Lazio and Juventus Ultras at a motorway service station in Arezzo.

This afternoon's Inter - Lazio clash at San Siro was subsequently postponed as a result, while Atalanta versus Milan was abandoned after just eight minutes following crowd trouble in Bergamo.

There had been rumours that Roma against Lazio would also be called off to avoid the risk of retaliation attacks on the police
and this has now been officially confirmed.

As we speak there is currently a march taking place in Rome's Piazza Euclide. Around 200 Lazio fans are carrying candles to mark the death of Sandri

(Goal.com)

The Silver Lining

This week has just flown by. I remember Monday, first day of classes back from break, thinking on my way to school how it felt like it was mid-week. Yesterday rolls around, and somewhere in the 5 hours I between classes, I realized I only have one class left before my weekend begins. It felt like only moments before that I was on my way to my first class of the week.

Got my midterms back this week. I was so confident when I walked out of my Middle East midterm. I thought I got no less than a 95. Prof. said he graded them quite brutally. I wound up with a 92.5 :-)

Italian will probably require a little more effort to remain in the A- range. I'm just clinging to it at the moment. Photography... well, I have no idea if anyone has any grade in there at all so far. But I have a pretty good idea how I'm going to do.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

If I were to describe the stage we're at in Rome right now, I'd compare it to midlife crisis, maybe. Now that we're at fallbreak+5, it's started to sink in for everyone that we only have 5 weeks left. We had been in a routine of going out to the same places in Rome, and we were past the initial excitement to explore Rome. Now we're once again filled with enthusiasm to find new bars we haven't been too, and see all the sites we still need to see.

Today, Gwen, JD, and I attempted to find Appia Antica. We made it to Porto San Paolo and walked from there. Turned out to be a bit of a walk, but it was nice. We stopped at the Catacombs of San Callisto. Neat place. We saw a mere fraction of it. I guess it covers 33 acres, and goes 4 levels deep. We only went down to the first two levels, and covered no more than 1/2 an acre.

When we were done, it was late afternoon already. Thanks to the hour fall back a couple weeks ago, it meant we had no more than an hour left of sunlight. But it was a beautiful day, and the best time for great light, as you can see by the picture.

Seeing Red

I had no clue this happened until I got back from break.

EuroAdventures

Taking it from the top.

Friday Oct 26: Woke up early to buy tickets at Termini at 8am. Needed to get to Florence because that's where the Greece trip was departing from. If we had enough people from Rome, we would have had a separate departure from here, and it would have saved me €33. (Turns out we actually did have enough people from Rome. EuroAdventures just didn't know that, because a certain 4 people didn't put that information in the comment box like they'd been instructed to.. at least we got a bus direct to Rome on the return). I got back to my apartment around 9am. It was empty, with the exception of Eric. Justin had left for Florence the night before. In the couple hours I was gone, Rob, Craig, and JD left for Barcelona. 10 minutes after i got back, Eric left for Florence with his family.

It was a day full of peacefulness with a rare moment or two of loneliness. The 4 MTVs, VH1, and 3 or 4 Italian music video channels kept me company most of the day. ..Along with USA Today's Thursday 4-star and weekend 5-star sudoku, laundry, and packing. Early bed time.

Saturday Oct 27: Up at 5:45am. At a bus stop by 6:15. Termini by 7 to catch the 7:30 train to Florence. Arrived in Florence around 9:15. Had 45 minutes to kill. Didn't need to be there until 10am. Found an ATM and snagged quick cornetto con la crema and peach juice at a little italian bar across from the train station while the girls pulled an America and enjoyed a magnificent morning meal at McDonalds. Left at 10:30.

3 and a half hours later, we arrived in Ancona; hopped on our overnight "ferry" (never been on a cruise, but that's really what it was). Enjoyed a delicious gyro, a beer, and a few card games. Slept in a reclining seat. Woke up every 2 hours and repositioned, but i didn't care. I was on my way to Greece!

Sunday Oct 28: Woke up at 7:15 to the annoying PA system on the ferry announcing (in at least 5 different languages) that we were pulling into port. I thought we weren't arriving until 8:30 and had my alarm set for 7:30, thanks to the end of daylight savings time, we were an hour early. That meant we got in to Igoumenitsa early enough to catch the 8:30 ferry out to Corfu that we otherwise would have missed (or hadn't been planning on taking to begin with).

A little over an hour later, we were docking at Kavos. Boarded a bus for a short 20 minute ride and we'd finally arrived in Agios Gordis at the infamous Pink Palace after 24+ hours of surprisingly fun and relaxed traveling.

Corfu:

Sunday Oct 28: We were greeted at the Pink Palace with a shot of ouzo for everyone. Most people didn't like it. I didn't think it was bad. I was probably one of few that took it without making a face afterwards.

Got our rooming situation sorted out. Most people already knew what they were doing. I, however, was essentially traveling solo. I knew people on the trip, but for all practical purposes, I was traveling solo. Wound up rooming with a pair of guys I just met for the first time. They're also studying abroad in Rome, but I can't remember every seeing them. Worked out well though.

After getting settled, I spent the next several hours on the beach/hiking with the girls I knew (or, maybe, thought I knew). Two of them had found a trail at the end of the beach, so I ran back to my room, grabbed my camera, then we went exploring. Not that I had any difficulty on the trail, but I probably wouldn't recommend hiking in flip flops. Only one girl had brought shoes to the beach.

Came back to the Pink Palace mid-afternoon. I was starving. Hadn't had much of a breakfast (just a quick snack between ferries). Had a decent burger and fries. Actually, the burger was good. But the ketchup for the fries was a little different. Can't beat restaurant quality burger for only €3.50 though. Killed time before dinner. Ate with James and Sean and the 3 good-looking girls they knew from school. Decent dinner. Fun night.

Monday Oct 29: All breakfasts were included on the trip (as were dinners, by the way), so I made sure I was up in time to catch that. Eggs 'to order' (not really to order, but they were made fresh. Each day was a different style. Breakfast #1 was scrambled with tomatoes and onion), plenty of toast n jam, and tea, for me.

Also included on our trip was a cruise around the island ..that may or may not have had the adjective "booze" in front of it. Actually, there were a surprising number of Americans that weren't drinking on the cruise, but that was probably smart. Cliff jumping and swimming in a sea cave probably are not best when combined with alcohol. I refrained from any until after both stops. ...in addition to the jumping and swimming, we stopped at a beach only accessible by boat. (the couple hundred foot cliffs along the beach kinda sorta prevent any road access..)

Got back. Showered. Dinner. Pink Toga Party at the Pink Palace. Dips in the swimming-pool-sized jacuzzi broken up by dips in the sea. Saw people lose their dignity. Questioned whether or not others even brought theirs to Greece. Called it a night.

Tuesday Oct 30: Once again, made sure I didn't miss breakfast. Eggs over easy. Ironic considering what I'd witnessed the night before, now that I think about it.

After breakfast, it was time for a 'quad safari' - 6 hours of driving an ATV around the island with a guide. James, Sean, and crew did that the first day, so I was going with the 4 girls. I held off on day 1 because, in the event that weather wouldn't be good enough for a cruise, EuroAdventures was going to pay for a quad safari instead.

The ATVs were awesome. Stopped at a scenic beach. Stopped atop a mountain for lunch, overlooking the entire south half of the island. headed north, up to another mountain where there was a church at the top. Went off-roading a little. Atop a third mountain. A lot more off-roading. Eventually making our way back to the Pink Palace.

Once back, Christoph, our guide, offered to buy all 6 people a shot of ouzo and a drink at the bar. But it turned out I was the only one willing to take the shot of ouzo. The first one must have scared everyone away. After the shot and drink, Christoph offered a second shot of ouzo. Then another. I guess he was going to buy me the shots he would have bought for everyone. 2 drinks, several shots, and an hour later, i headed up the stairs from the bar to my room (my room happened to be right above the bar). I was fine in the bar. Fine on the stairs. Got in my room, decided to shower because I smelled like exhaust. Got in the shower, and all that alcohol hit me like a brick wall. By then, Sean was back in the room. I got dressed, got some fresh air on the balcony, then went to sit on the edge of my bed, waiting for the 8:30 dinner time. It was 7:50.

7:50 - James hurries into the room. "Pack your stuff. We have to leave in 10 minutes." We weren't supposed to leave until 11pm or so. EuroAdventures had the same trip the week before, and the last ferry from Corfu left around 1130, so thats what everyone was expecting. Turns out this week, the last ferry was at 8:30... Surprise! No dinner. They scrambled to get sandwiches for everyone. Sean was nice enough to make sure I didn't forget any of my things (but I had it all already). Grabbed my passport from the front desk. Hopped on the bus. The adventure that was the Pink Palace was over. ...I'm never drinking ouzo again.

Athens:

I woke up, after our short ride from the Pink Palace to the ferry, to people getting off the bus. I was a bit surprised when I realized the bus was parked on the ferry. I had no idea it was coming with us. In recovery mode, I had one of the girls buy me some bagel chips. Hour later we were docking and boarding the bus again. It'd be an eight hour bus ride to Athens.

Wednesday Oct 31: Pit Stop. I woke up somewhere around 1:45am. We stopped for half an hour at a greek truck/bus stop for 'dinner' ala carte since, well, bagel chips and a sandwich really don't make a great dinner. Back on the bus, I woke myself up several times with head nodding. Even though we were only had half capacity so everyone had two seats each, I couldn't get into a comfortable enough position to keep me asleep through the bumps. Arrival in Greece: 5:30 am.

Naturally, not everyone's room was ready. The other group of 3 guys on the trip were lucky enough to get a room. So the other 3 of us crashed on the floor in their room. On my way passed the desk, i was handed a package. At 5:45am in a transitional recovery/pure exhaustion state, it took me a second to realize why I had a package. My parents managed to track down my hotel and drop off their international phone. Slept for another 4 hours. Then called Home for the first time in two months. Talked to my parents 5,000 miles away from the rooftop bar of my hotel while staring at the Parthenon.

Found out EuroAdventures was giving a walking tour of Athens at 11am. James, Sean and the girls were still sleeping/resting, so i was with the original 4 again. Saw the changing of the guard in front of the Greek parliament. Cut thru a corner of the national gardens without really seeing it. Stopped at the Olympic stadium for the first modern-day games (1896). Onto the Temple of Zeus and Hadrian's Arch. Then the Acropolis. From there were were on our own. I explored the Acropolis for a bit with the girls. Got in free with my ISIC (international student ID) card (normally €12). I'd post pictures, but the most impressive views came later.

After the Acropolis, we checked out the Plaka shopping area. Back to the Hotel. Free internet and nap time for me. Slept two hours, then got ready for our group dinner. Dinner was at the (supposedly) oldest, most famous restaurant in Athens. ..dont know the name. All 25 of us at a big table. No menu. Naturally, dinner began with a shot of ouzo for everyone. I managed to choke it down. Then they just brought us dish after dish after dish for everyone to share. Two of the bread dips were very tasty. Tzatziki was really good, but liked the eggplant-based dip even more. These were followed by meat-stuffed dolmades (stuffed grapevine leaves). Absolutely delicious. Probably my favorite. Ate 3 of them. Next up was moussaka (similar to lasagna, yet not at all). Also incredible. If not for the dolmades, moussaka would've been my favorite. Not to say that it was all downhill from there. The final 3 dishes were good as well, but moussaka and dolmades - amazing. The next two dishes were essentially the same, just different meat - pork and lamb - cut like it would be served in a gyro, with onion and triangles of pita. Actually, very much like a gyro, but without the tzatziki and tomato. The last main dish was eggplant cooked with garlic, onions, peppers and seasoning. It was ok. Not a big fan though. Desert was yogurt with honey. ...not much of a fan of that either. ..too plain for me. But overall, a phenomenal dinner.

Thursday Nov 1: Wow. First November already? First day of November and I'm enjoying sunny Athenian weather in the upper 70's. Couldn't ask for more.

Grabbed Breakfast. As always, made sure I didn't miss it. Explored Athens with James, Sean, Emily, Lesley, and Vanessa. They hadn't been on the walking tour the day before, so we hit the Olympic Stadium again. Got better pictures this time around anyway (day before was actually overcast. Today was bright blue sky. We strolled through the National Gardens for at least an hour or two before hitting the stadium. Nothing too special, but it's a huge, peaceful park. On our way back from the stadium, we saw 20 policemen in riot gear waiting on the sidewalk (happened to be right by ruins of a roman bath). As we passed them, 3 more police buses pulled up. A couple blocks later, we saw a big rally/protest. Apparently the Greek government wants to raise taxes another 3%, from 19 up to 22%, according to our bus driver.

The gang went back to take a nap. I wasn't tired, so I hopped on the internet, and then went to try and see some temples I hadn't gotten around to seeing yet. I headed out around 4:45. Made it to Hadrian's Library. Found out all the archaeological sites (also free with my ISIC card) close at 5p. I wouldn't be making it to the roman agora/temple of hephaestus. Instead, I decided to climb the highest hill in Athens. Took me probably half an hour to get over to that side of the city and climb it. Broke a sweat, but I was racing the setting sun. ..I won. Made it just in time for sunset over the acropolis. Then I waited another half an hour for the lights to come on.


Went to dinner with the gang at Hard Rock. Satisfied my craving for BBQ ribs. The actually weren't that great. Which probably helped quell my craving even more. Spent the night, after dinner, at a hookah bar, hanging out until 4am. Got back to the hotel at 4:30.

Friday Nov 2: Woke up at 8am after 3.5 hours of sleep. We were leaving Greece at 11am. I still wanted to hit the Roman Agora and temple I hand't been able to make it to. Showered. Grabbed my camera, and hit the streets. Glad I made it there before I left Greece. Temple of Hephaestus is probably the most intact ancient building in all of Athens. This thing dates back to 415 BC and it's still (almost) entirely whole.

Got back to the hotel, grabbed breakfast, packed, and boarded the bus for a 3 hours ride to port. Slept most of the way. Killed an hour and a half at Patras. Boarded our overnight ferry around 5:00.

Of all the situations where I've unexpectedly had to use German, I think breaking up a fight on a ferry from Greece to Italy tops the list. We'd been at the bar/club on one of the upper decks of the cruise. A guy and girl on the trip went down to the sleeping room early (to save money, we only had reclining seats in a giant room, not sleeping cabins). When they went down, they apparently woke up this greek-german asshole, who told them to shut up. All three of them then went to sleep. No problems. ..yet.

About 45 minutes later, the rest of the gang called it a night and went downstairs as well. I don't think we were being excessively loud, but we were talking a bit and it was loud enough to wake up the crazy german-greek again. He woke up and looked over to see the few vocal people, who'd just come down, standing around sean and vanessa (who'd actually still been sleeping). The guy became enraged quicker than the incredible hulk, stormed over, passed the people who were actually standing around talking, goes over to sean (who by this point was at least in some semi-conscious state) and cups his mouth so forcefully that it actually looked like he was taking a swing. In the process of his swing, he also grazed vanessa's head. That was ultimately the determining factor betwen sean just wanting to get some crazy guy off his back and wanting to kick his ass.

I have no clue how I realized the guy spoke german. I'm not sure if I heard him say something in german, or if it was just a random word-vomit on my part, assuming english wasnt the guy's native language, and he happened to respond to it. In the scuffle, a younger guy who worked with the crazy german-greek, woke up and bolted over to the scene to help pull his colleague away. James took on the task of calming sean down, which took half an hour and ultimately required vanessa denying the guy ever touched her. In the big mess, I held lesley back and calmed her down. Under the influence, she thought she could actually fight some 40 yr old guy. Then i made my rounds.

Spoke briefly (in german) with the colleague, who was a really nice guy - and said he's worked with the crazy guy for a while and he's always been an asshole. Made my way to find james/sean/vanessa to make sure everything was ok on that front, and finally i tracked down the crazy german-greek who'd disappeared to the bar. I let him know that 1) sean was actually still kinda sleeping when he was attacked, 2) it was likely the people that had just entered the room that had awakened him this time around, and 3) The biggest reason sean was so pissed off was that vanessa had been hit in the process.

This prompted a tiny apology, as he never meant to touch her and would 'never do that,' followed by a story of how he hadn't slept in two days, as if it somehow justified attacking a sleeping person. I persuaded him to sleep in the smaller of the two rooms, right behind the bigger one, because nobody was in there and he wouldn't be disturbed then. Then I continued talking with him (in german) for a full hour to make sure he'd calmed down and to give time for everyone else to calm down and fall asleep so there wouldn't be issues when he finally went back down. Found out where he's from, where he lives, what he does. Talked about studying in Rome. And Germany. And somehow (no idea how), we also got on the topic of Palestinian Arab-Israeli issues. ya know, the standard get-to -know-you topics.

Saturday Nov 3: Morning was a bit awkward, with an exchange of glares between he and Sean when we walked by. We finally docked in Ancona somewhere around 1pm. Then we got a 4 hour bus ride direct back to Rome. I finally got back to my apartment around 5:30. My EuroAdentures experience was done. What a crazy week.

Greek Philosophy

I really feel like I'm wasting my time blogging while I'm in the center of the ancient philosophical world, but i feel the question I'm about to ask merrits my blogging.

It's a shame I feel so far removed from the ethics class I took my first semester in college. I need help deciding what details I should disclose upon return to Rome. I already know if I decide to share a certain story, that I will censor many of the details myself. However, the story begs the question which school of philosophical thought to follow. What I do remember from Phil 105 is that every single ethical theory had its flaws.

Is it better to do the greatest good for the greatest number of people (whereby I share absolutely nothing, as the story really wouldn't benefit anyone, only truthfully taint a persons reputation), or is it better to tell the truth in all situations (meaning I should really share my story, because keeping it quiet allows a person to continue with a false reputation and allowing that to continue could arguably be as dishonest as lying)?

Rephrased: If a tree falls in the forest, but only two people actually realize what happened, does one become responsible to tell others if the second person won't because s/he cut it down?

Fall Break

Until further notice, I'm in Greece.
I should return Saturday Nov 3.

continued..

I just realized i never got around to the "scrambled brains" part of the previous post. It's quite simply referring to my midterms. I have 13 credits on only 3 classes. 7 of those 13 are tied up in my intensive italian. There's still more i need to study for italian, even though i took the midterm yesterday. I think it went just fine though. I was expecting much worse.

Tuesday morning at 9am was my Modern Middle East midterm. That class feels like my only real class here. Not that italian isn't a real class, but I'm in Italy, so it feels like ..an assisted living program, of sorts, more than anything. Anyway, I would have been much more relaxed going into my Middle East midterm had i started studying on Sunday like i told myself i was going to. (Instead i lounged around all day Sunday after walking the entire day in Pompei on Saturday.) So i didn't get around to studying for the Middle East until 8pm Monday night. But between 8p and 1.30a, i got 4 hours of studying in, along with a dinner break and a 30 minute distraction break. ...Still wasn't done though, got up at 7, started studying again at 730 until i left at 830. I was relatively worried going in, because the Prof. was quite vague about the format and about the content as well. ..but I think i knocked that exam out of the park. I literally felt like a huge weight was off my shoulders when i walked out of the exam. I was, most definitely, physically carrying the tension, but i didn't notice until it was gone. Next time I'll start at least a day earlier. ..or more, depending on my final exam schedule.

Even though I didn't have class til 330p Monday, I didn't start studying until 8pm because i spent Monday finishing up a roll to finalize my photography midterm. We had to take our 15 best and somehow connect them in a sequence. i think i mentioned that before. ..So i didn't completely waste Sunday. I spent Sunday shooting homeless people, but I couldn't find the one in particular i was looking for. So i finished the roll Monday morning. The guy I wanted - I'd seen him every single Monday morning on my way to getting my film developed. And I found him again this week. He was perfect. The final addition to my sequence (along with 3 other pictures I shot on Sunday). I was really amazed how much one guy on Sunday opened up to me.

Though I didn't necessarily understand everything he said, between his broken English and my very broken Italian, I got to know him pretty well. He turned to the street after living with a girlfriend 13yrs? or he's been on the street for 13yrs after he got into a huge argument with his girlfriend and her mother. ..not entirely sure which, but by the condition of his teeth, I'd guess the latter. The guy now lives on the street with his dog. Sure he had an open beer next to his bag. And i know he felt guilty about it because he attempted to justify it, saying at least at least he wasn't drinking whiskey or vodka. Maybe he was just a good salesman, maybe he was honest, but he said he puts his dog before himself. It was obvious, without him even saying a word, that he loves his dog - just how he interacted with her and how he looked at her. I'm sure the guy had some food of his own in his bag. Probably more beer as well. But that aside, i was still very impressed when he pulled out 4 cans of dog food - 3 of them being massive. If they'd held liquid, I'd guess they'd have been at least a liter. Maybe even a liter and a half. Sure, he's probably never gonna make anything of himself. I can easily see him being one the street the rest of his life. But I did buy into his feeling about his dog.

I sat there for about half an hour. Took 12-13 shots of him, and him with his dog. And gave him a pretty good payday for his work in helping out my midterm. €3. It'll probably buy him 2 more cans of dog food.

...and a beer.

Burnt Bodies and Scrambled Brains

Went to Pompeii this weekend. Wasn't really on my list of things do do, so i opted out to save money last time when half of my roommates went. JD's sister was visiting, and Pompeii was on her list of things to do. Since JD had already been, Rob and I went with to Pompeii.

Nice place (if i'm permitted to say that about a city annihilated by a volcano). The preserved bodies aren't in nearly as many buildings as i thought they'd be. ...First of all, Pompeii is rather large with multiple distinct neighborhoods. The bodies are pretty much confined to four or so areas. It's pretty fun to explore a deserted city though. Great place to bring a camera as well, whether or not one's intent is actually to see the city. Some of the areas reminded me very much of a photographer's set, except the objects and backgrounds were real. ..I felt like I should have been getting my senior pictures taken all over again.

...If you couldn't tell, i loved shooting there. There's several other shots i want to share, but won't be able to fit in this blog. I wound up with something like 260 pictures from Pompeii by the time we hopped on the return train. After deleting bad shots and duplicates, I still had 190. Deleted another 12 or so upon returning home. Total count from Pompeii, 178. That helps explain why I'm having such a tough time deciding which 4 pictures to show. I've even decided to limit myself to the horizontal pictures for format's sake. I felt the group shot was necessary, but now I'm disappointed in leaving out some fantastic vertical shots. ...But by now, you've seen the final cut I'm about to make.

Sorry for the Delay

Midterms.
more later.

..So I heard..

All of the following are separate stories i wanted to share. Even though i could have saved them and posted one at a time, in the even that i had nothing else to write for a day - i figured i'd tell all so i dont forget. The only thing they really have in common is i either overheard the conversations, or i possibly should have rephrased them. ...you'll figure it out in a bit.

First should be a continuation of my Pisa post. I was just running short on time when I first posted Pisa. Anyway, as i was riding the train alone back to Rome, I woke up to a conversation between two couples in italian. I think one of the couples was actually some nationality other than italian. ...i think that's the only reason i understood the conversation. ...because the italian couple would repeat things sometimes as many as 3 times. The non-italian couple was trying to figure out how to get to St. Peters from Termini (Rome's main train station). In turn, the italian couple responded with "Adesso è San Pietro. Poi Trastevere, e poi Termini." ...lucky for the St. Peter's-seeking couple, the train was stopping at a small station right behind St. Peters. then it was stopping at Trastevere Station. ...Trastevere station?? that's two blocks from my apartment. Nice. I didn't have to deal with buses from Termini to get back home. I just hopped off at Trastevere, and was home less than 5 minutes later.

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i overslept my Italian class on wed. it was all i had to do the whole day, and i missed it. I almost felt worthless, missing my only obligation that day. Today, the moment i walked through the door, she asked where I had been. I'd had a long night. At about 2pm, i felt I needed a nap, or there was no way i woulda made it through my 3:30-5:00 Italian lecture. ...so I took a nap. Right thru Italian lecture. I'd set my alarm for 2:45, but either it never went off, or i was in such a deep sleep that i never heard it. I know i didnt unconsioucly turn it off and fall asleep again, because my alarm was still in the 'ON' position. I woke up at 5:20. I guess i really needed that nap.
"Preferisco non dire" would probably have been a better answer to my professor than "ho dormito lungo...."

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"I really wanna shoot a homeless person"... with a camera, for my photography assignment. I was one the tram with Justin, talking about out photography class. We have to put together our 15 best pictures for next week, as our "mid-term" We take use stuff we've already shot, re-shoot pictures if we liked an idea but needed to improve the shot, or shoot new stuff. But whatever we use, somehow we need at least one element in each picture that connects it to the next one. When we were walking to get our film developed on Monday, we passed by a homeless guy, and there was an element of the background that would make the shot a perfect fit in my sequence. I've seem him in the same location a few times, so I hope I can find him there again. ...but to avoid strange looks from people, maybe next time i should make sure there aren't any American students around next time, unaware that we were discussing photography...

Photogenic Shoes

After a comment i just read in an email from my mom, I've decided to post a picture i shot for this past week's photography assignment. ...I'm also procrastinating in preparation for a presentation i have to give tomorrow. ..But I like to think of it as just "taking a break" ..even though i'm only a quarter of the way done.

Anyway, enjoy:

I Crush Tourists

...So i obviously went to Pisa over the weekend. I made a day trip on Saturday with most of my roommates. They continued onto Florence for the night and much of Sunday as well. In an effort to save money, i found a train back to Rome from Pisa (I've already seen Florence). The return trip was only €16. Pretty good.

Pisa was nice, but it's definitely just a day thing. Half a day there is perfect. Gives you enough time to shell out €15 to a "non-profit" org. to climb to the top of a tower that should have fallen over so long ago (must be expensive to preserve the tower. All of the other sights in Pisa aren't more than €15 combined). Anyway, i shelled out the €15 and took my touristy pictures. Making fun of some tourists that walked right in the background of my picture, Craig maneuvered to make it look as if I was crushing the tourist, rather than kicking over the tower. I ended up getting the classic pictures as well, but i think crushing the tourist is better than either of the two...



P.S. I'm once again in a phase of lacking posts. So i cheated on the date. More later. ...i hope

MTV influence

No class today. Friday. So i was doing my daily sudoku in our USA Today. I'm 100% on Mon-Thurs. But i'm about to fall to 2 for 4 on Fridays. I'll take another look at it later. A couple-hour break helped last time.

Anyway, i was distracting myself with some MTV while attempting my sudoku. I looked up from the paper to see this music video. Got me thinking about a lot of things, one being the recurring question of what I'll wind up doing with my camera. I have no idea what I'll be doing or where I'll end up in 10 days or 10 months, let alone 10 years from now. What will I have chosen? For what reasons? ...will I have even chosen by then??

"There was ... Music Still on MTV"

One of the many great features of Italy is MTV. That might sound more like a taste of home than a European product, but it's not. Music TeleVision in Italy actually shows ...music, believe it or not. And it's not like America where there's music for an hour during the day (most of which is actually talking, and features only 30 seconds of each music video). Here it's always music. ..and 4 MTV channels. MTV hits, MTV Gold, MTV Brand new, and MTV pulse.

Hits and Pulse are almost identical. Brand new is very similar, and Gold is mostly music videos from the 80s and 90s. The only bad thing about watching so much MTV is seeing the same songs too often. Most overplayed song: "Umbrella" (cover) - Vanilla Sky. (check it out on YouTube. It's quite hilarious if you've seen the original by Rihanna)

Other Italian favorites seem to be:
Mika - "Relax, Take it Easy" and "Love Today"
Old Man River - "La"
James Blunt - "1973"
Negramaro - "Parlami D'Amore"
Tokio Hotel - "Monsoon"
Along with many songs i'd heard on the radio in the states before coming to Italia: "Pictures of You"; "Shut Up and Drive"; "Wake Up Call"; "When You're Gone"; "4 in the Morning"; a pair of Nelly Furtado's songs; and of course the original version of "Umbrella," which is only played every 10 songs, rather than every 5 songs like the cover.
(and i'm not exaggerating, at least in reference to the frequency at which the cover is played. Rihanna's original might be a little less often).

for the curious few, this is the song my title came from

....and apparently 4 backstreet boys are back together under the same name....

Buona Notte

...I should be reading a chapter on Turkey and Iran during the inter-war period, leading up to WWII. But here i sit, typing away.

We had our first "family dinner" tonight. It was the first time all of the roommates sat down and at a meal at our apartment at the same table at the same time. Usually, we're doing our own thing, or pairing up and a couple people will share dinner, but this was the first time with the whole appartamento insieme.

It was more than just the 6 of us though. Gwen joined us, along with her Roman cousin and her cousin's roommate. ...actually, the dinner was originally a return favor from JD and Gwen for the dinner her cousin hosted for them. It gradually turned into a big family dinner. We had a multiple-course dinner. If i didn't know better, i would think i live with a couple of chefs. It was also an opportunity to practice our Italian.

It was mostly a night of listening exercises for me. My Italian is coming along rather quickly. At least the comprehension of the language. It would have taken me a while to piece together a sentence if I'd tried. But I understood more than i expected i would.

Flugtag

Sunday, Red Bull was hosting their "Red Bull Flugtag" in Rome. If anyone doesn't know what that is - it's exactly like some of the Red Bull commercials, where people are pushing their homemade gliders off a high platform to see how far they can fly. ...Generally, the people wind up plunging almost straight down into the water. ...the occasional few gracefully glide a few meters before meeting the water as well. JD, Gwen, Rob and I went out to watch.

..

It was fun, but got repetitive. Especially since we were sitting in the sun for about 4 hours. But it taught me a few things:

1) don't trust the weather channel for european forecasts. At about 10:30am i looked online. It was only supposed to get to 73°F and had a 70% chance of rain. The hour-by-hour forecast said light rain starting at 11am and continuing all day long. So i dressed in long-sleeves and pants.

It turned out to be a cycle between mostly sunny and partly cloudy. I felt a grand total of 5 raindrops the whole time. ...and that was while the sun was shining. 73° turned out to be more like 82°. Thanks weather channel. I've learned weathermen are usually wrong, but you couldn't even get a same-day forecast correct. That's impressive.

2) Flugtag gave me a taste for Italian crowds. I still haven't made it out to a soccer game, but i have a feeling for what it might be like. The definitely aren't afraid to express themselves. We arrives about an hour early, and sat on the grass, along with several other groups of people sitting behind us. Very close to launch time for the event, people started stopping and standing on the walkway, right in front of the plot of grass we were sitting on. This drew a series of whistles (like the crowd as a major tennis tournament when they don't agree with a call). The whistles quickly turned into shouting. Eventually some garbage started flying, including someone's mostly-but-not-completely-empty McDonald's milkshake. Eventually a guy from a group behind us got up to tell the few defiant people remaining to move. When they stayed put and gestured for everyone else to stand up instead, a second guy jumped down to the walkway. ...I know italians speak with their hands, but this guy's veins were popping out and he looked like he was about to punch one of the idiots who refused to move. ...eventually, the idiots moved.

3) Europeans still love Baywatch. I already knew this one, but i got to see evidence for it. After the teams sent their glider and a few of their team members into the water, the crowd was asked to shout either "Squalo" or "Baywatch" depending on the teams' performance. Squalo meant a diver in scuba gear, with a giant shark fin attached to his back, would swim out to assist the team out of the water (to the two-note tune from Jaws). "Baywatch" meant the team would be rescued by the boat that would pull glider aside. ..set to the Baywatch theme-song of course.

To break up the sometimes monotonous repetition of gliders falling into the water, there were a few parachuters to entertain the crowd. The first time was a single guy from a helicopter who, after making his descent, made a perfect landing on the reserved plot of grass right along the water. The second show was two pairs of skydivers who each went into formation. After formation, they individually landed on the take-off ramp. 3 of the 4 made perfect landings. The fourth landed on the 2-meter strip of safety net bordering the ramp.

Weekend in Roma

Armin came to visit Rome this weekend. I had a good college night out, Friday. Went back to a bar i'd been to once before - On the Rocks. The bartenders there are cool. Randomly ran into a couple people from my Italian class, one of whom speaks German. Betsy also speaks danish. The coolest bartender there also happens to be from Denmark. So while the three of us are having a conversation in German, she's ordering drinks/talking to the bartender in danish as well. Quite the international experience.

Sometime after 02:00 we headed out. By 2:30, we wound up at a bar that televises US Sports. Just in time to catch the top of the 9th inning of a great Indians-Yankees game. The bugs were already swarming. But i guess i'd just missed seeing the Indians tie the game at 1-1 in the bottom half of the last inning. The game went 11 innings. Cleveland loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the 11th. Hafner worked the count to 3-2. And Lisa comes over to let me know we're leaving. Granted it was 4am by this point, but the game, all 11 innings worth, could be decided on the very next pitch. ..i'm staying to watch this pitch.

Hafner knocked the next pitch into right field. Indians win 2-1. The bar went nuts. The night ended well :-) . Sorry Yankee fans. .....well, not really. Maybe next time you should spend the tiniest fraction of your $200 million on some insect repellent.

I woke up at 9am the next morning to see Rome. My alarm was set for 9:30... so back to sleep i went. I was awake 8 minutes later. ...apparently i only needed 4 hours of sleep...?? I had a decent Kater from the €10.50 i spent the night before. I definitely got my money's worth.

Saturday was my first time inside the Coloseum. We checked out the Palatine Hill first. The ticket for the Palatine covers the Coloseum as well, but since the Palatine is a lot less popular in comparison, we had to wait a minute, as opposed to the 40 minutes the line at the Coloseum ticket window would have taken.

I didn't actually see the Pantheon on Saturday. Rob and i checked that out mid-week a couple weeks ago, since neither of us have class until late-afternoon Mon/Wed. But i thought since i was showing the Coloseum, i could throw up a picture of the Pantheon as well...

What a Crazy World

At the 44th parallel, the world is approximately 21,400 km around. Which means i'm more than 1/3 of the way around the world from home.

Sometimes people wonder if, somewhere in the world, someone else is doing or thinking the exact same thing at the exact same time. Thanks to the internet, it's possible to find out.
Shout-out to Ron.
Yesterday, I hopped on AIM (AOL Instant Messanger, for the old folks who aren't familiar with the acronym) and was chatting with Ron, who was sitting 7 time zones to the west. Somewhere along the conversation, we made the exact same comment at the exact same time. right down to the second.

Also thanks to the internet, it took me a whole 10 seconds to show Ron a picture 7,625 km away. I remember when it used to take a few hours to download a song. ...shows what generation i'm from. I'm sure some of you reading this are thinking "i remember when songs came on big black discs, about 10 to each side." Nowadays one can fit 1000's in a pocket, thanks to the iPod.

Sometimes I'm not all here...

No Photoshop involved.
just a dash of creativity and simple knowledge of how to use a camera.

Brilliant!

I think i've finally figured out the pictures on my blog - why some can be enlarged and not others.. If I center-align the pictures, it seems they cannot be enlarged. but there is no problem with the ones that are left/right aligned. ....To test my hypothesis: a toast to brilliance!

Oktoberfest revisited

no, unfortunately that doesn't mean i went again.
There are just a couple tidbits I wanted to share that I forgot to mention.

The first bit is just a meal i forgot to include in the giant Oktoberfest story. Saturday in the Augustiner Bierzelt, i enjoyed a delicious Bavarian dish for dinner - Kalbsbeuscherl mit Semmelknödel. ...Veal soup with a dumpling. Tasty.

The second bit could have - and actually would have - been its own entry had i not forgotten to mention the Kalbsbeuscherl. So i'll give it its own title, and you all can pretend it's a separate entry.

Homesick?

I know you'd love to think where this is going, mom, but it's not quite what you might expect. Don't get me wrong, It'd be nice to come home to visit for a weekend, but I'm also thoroughly enjoying my time in Europe.

I'm actually referring to a feeling that set in somewhere along the 11 hour bus trip back and lasted until sometime yesterday evening (until I had an "oh yeah, i'm in Rome" moment and regained my excitement for learning Italian). The best way to describe it would be homesickness. ...but is it possible to be homesick for a place that's not really home?

Germany was such a wonderful experience. I stayed in a home. Enjoyed cooked meals (hot breakfasts). I was in a place where i could understand 95% of what people were saying, rather than only 5%. It was easy to get around, and there was noticeably more of an American influence in Germany than there is in Italy (which is not necessarily a good thing nor a bad thing. ..just that much more of a reminder of home).

So call it what you will. I'm not sure if I can technically be homesick for a place where i've spent no more than 60 hours of my entire life. but that's kind of what it was. All I know for sure is that I can't wait to spend next semester in Germany.

Bilingual Transitions

It takes at least one conversation for me to adjust to another language:
After a smooth 12.5-13 hour ride from Rome to Florence, thru the rainy/foggy Austrian alps, to Munich, it was time to switch my brain to German mode. My first conversation (to find the cheapest way to get S-Bahn tickets for 4 ppl for 3 days) with the woman in the info. booth at the Hauptbahnhof went reasonably smooth. Only one hiccup. Answering a yes/no question, i nodded my head, "Si."

To confirm this "One-Conversation Theory" of mine:
Upon return to Italy (at 0:30 last night), my first italian encounter was on the bus this morning. I was standing near the middle doors of the bus. My stop was the next one. A man tapped me on the shoulder, "Scendi?" asking me if i was getting off. I turned around and nodded, "ja."

Gemütlichkeit

First, i need to thank the Tante Peggy Reisebüro for hooking me up with the biggest discount at the most amazing B&B i've ever stayed at.

I also need to thank Uwe and Thea, the owners of the B&B, for the 3 most delicious breakfasts of my entire first month in Europe. And for the shuttle service to and from the Eichenau Bahnhof Friday and Sunday mornings when we were carrying our bags.

please excuse any typos. I've switched the keyboard from italian to german, so i can get my umlauts instead of accents over vowels. The only problem is the german keyboard also switches around the z and y. Im trzing to catch all tzpos, but please excuse the ones i dont correct.

Oktoberfest:
it's all about knowing and meeting the right people.

Friday
Upon arrival in Eichenau, we were starving. Rob, being so cultured, wanted to find a place for a real German breakfast. The best place happened to be our B&B. Thea met us at the station, made some hot tea to warm us up and (not even knowing Rob's desire for an authentic German breakfast) asked if we would be interested in a real Bavarian breakfast. Our eyes lit up, so Thea said she'd be back in 15 minutes to get stuff for breakfest. Feeling guilty that she was going to run out, we asked if there was simply a place we could go buy breakfast, but she insisted. And thankfully so. The Weißewurst mit süße Senf was fantastic.

20 minutes on the S-Bahn. Made our way our way to the Oktoberfest grounds. It was still raining lightly, so the "just follow the masses" plan didnt really work. Twice stopping for directions, we got there with zero wrong turns. I felt like a tour guide. ..except i was only responsible for 3 other people. I guess i need a PR manager..

Arrived at 3:00ish. Walked past a carousel of drunk people. Grabbed a Bratwurst. Didn't notice many lines outside Beer tents. ...and by tents, i mean giant beer halls big enough to hold more than 9,000 people. Headed to the Löwebrau. Saw a crowd of people get let in, so we waited. We were near the front of the line, so we kept waiting... after an hour, someone from the inside came out to say they were completely full. At least by that time it'd stopped raining. So we picked another tent. Spaten. The line outside the Spaten didnt look nearly as long, but not wanting to risk standing at the front of a line for another hour, we grabbed a table outside.

We each had 2 liters. That was plenty to warm us up and put us in good spirits (if we weren't already). Walked around some more. Grabbed ein Bretzel. Had my first and only drunk driving experience. ...i hit a few cars. ...a few hit me. ...i think bumper cars are more fun when everyone is under the influence.

We left the Oktoberfest grounds at 10:00, and found a stand just north of the park selling 1/2 liters of beer. After a brief discussion, we decided to sit down. Good thing we did. We met three really cool Germans: Kai, Nina, and Armin. Armin would turn out to be the key of Saturday's experience.

Saturday
We slept in a little bit. Got up around 10. Had a traditional German breakfast (rolls, pretzels, etc. only with eggs instead of Weißewurst). After delicious breakfast and warm conversation, we finally left for Munich around 1:00. Got to Marienplatz around 1:30. Re-stocked our wallets at an ATM. The two girls were determined to find an H&M. ...not hard, since there were 4 right in the Marienplatz area. While they shopped, Rob and I kept walking, chilled at the foot of the Frauenkirche for a bit. At about 3:00, we decided to go to Oktoberfest to try and actually get in a tent this time. We'd planned on meeting Armin around 4 at the Augustiner.

He was already there when we arrived. But the Augustiner was already full. The girls called him and we met outside the main entrance. He walked us around to one of the side entrances, peering thru the window of door until he found one of the bouncers he knew. The bouncer kinda rolled his eyes when he saw Armin was dragging four people with him, but he let all of us in. Turns out Armin's grandma worked as a server in the Augustiner for 44 years. She's now 75, and this is the first year she's no longer working there. So Armin has connections.

I got to practice even more of my German with the old folks we were sitting next to. They've been coming to Oktoberfest every year for 30 years straight. They left around 7 after downing 13 liters between the three of them. Impressive. Even more impressive is that the only sign they'd had a lot to drink was the old man getting up to pee every hour.

When the two girls we were with went for a toilet break, i joked with Armin that we now had room for ein paar hübsche deutsche Mädchen. (no offense to the American girls, but with the departure of the old folks, i was looking for new company to speak german with). He laughed, but said one was actually her way.

he wasn't kidding. ...eine der hübscheste junge Damen in Deutschland.

Armin lives at least 30 minutes outside Munich, so he left to catch his last train around 11:30. So Kara tried to get us into a club, but both were full. Instead she showed us the city center by night. ...which unfortunately included a stop at McDonalds to satisfy the girls' cravings. It was a goal of mine to avoid McD's my entire time in Europe. ..and i still haven't had a bite. Drunk or not. We left Munich at about 1:30 to make sure we didnt miss the last S-Bahn at 2.

Sunday was a second day of beautiful weather. First time meeting Flora, another great breakfast, goodbyes, and a 12 hour bus ride thru the Alps back to Rome.