International Banter

Top Country Categories

So in my worldly travels over the past four or five months, there have been many new experiences. I have eaten a lot of food, met a lot of people, drank a lot of alcohol, stayed in a lot of places, experienced many different cultures, seen many beautiful women, seen a lot of weird shit, etc. This post is a list featuring the top city/country for a particular category. You may find this very interesting/boring or maybe even useful for planning a trip to a country based on the following given this is just my own personal opinion. These are going to be pretty random categories in an even more random order. Just a heads up. Without further ado...

Best Food:
Italy
runner-up:
Greece



Best Weather (while I was there):
Greece (everywhere)
runner-up:
Italy (hit or miss.)

Worst Weather:
Amsterdam, Netherlands
runner-up:
Paris, France

Best hostel I stayed in:
Mina Studios in Mykonos, Greece
runner-up:
Funny Farm in Interlaken, Switzerland



Worst hostel I stayed in:
Boat hostel in Amsterdam, Netherlands
runner-up: Jacob's Inn in Dublin, Ireland (rip off)

Best nightlife:
Dublin, Ireland
runner-up:
Amsterdam, Netherlands/Munich, Germany

Worst nightlife:
Venice, Italy

Best beer:
Munich, Germany
runner-up:
Dublin, Ireland



Worst beer:
Italy

Amalfi Coast (Sorrento, Capri, Positano, & Pompeii)

Rhineland (Heartland) - Beirut

This was it. This was my last trip while abroad. I decided this would be as fitting as any as it would keep me in home study country of Italy, take me to the Southeastern coast which enters a completely different domain of Italy, and it was going to be nice and warm. I have enjoyed the warmer excursions. After some advice from my family and friends back in O, I decided that this would be a fitting last journey despite it's price. I did this trip through Euro Adventures, as I did Switzerland and Venice Carnevale. They come recommended from Fr. Bruno and do a great job. The guy who runs it is a class act and extremely personable.

So we left for Sorrento around 7:30pm and got in around 12:30-1am. It was a long bus ride, but it was made shorter by the fact there were movies on playing on the bus and I was one of about 8 or nine guys. Okay, so that was good and bad. There was a group of about 7 of us from ISA on this trip, including my roommate Andrew's cousin, Adam. Once in Sorrento, we were all cashed and immediately made we to the bungalow that EA had us staying in. There were 7 of us dudes in the one bungalow. We really didn't get to know the other guys that well as we kind of had differing schedules and we knew how to party. Anyway, we crashed that night and got ready for our excursion to Capri the next morning.

In the morning we all made our way down to the bay area and rode a ferry that took us to the island of Capri (C-ahh-pree in Italiano). Once we got there, we had the option of hiking to the highest point of the island or to just chill until we the cruise around the island was offered at 2:30pm (which we all knew we wanted to do). Most of us had gotten our fair share of hiking in the last weekend in Cinque Terre (10 miles of treacherous terrain), so it was a no brainer for us that we wanted to stay back and check out the island and the beach. So after walking around the island for a bit, we decided to go chill on the beach until our boat tour around the island. So we relaxed on the beach had a few drinks and admired the fantastic views and took in the amazing weather we were blessed with. So we did start to have a few drinks around 12pm, but then again it's 5 o'clock somewhere, eh Jimmy? So after chillin on the beach and jumping of this weird rock, we headed back over toward the docks and got ready to go on the boat tour. I have failed to mention to this point that Fr. Bruno actually accompanied us on this trip as well. He joined us on the boat tour and the craziness ensued. The boat tour was absolutely gorgeous. Riding us around the island we took in the breathtaking scenery with the fresh sea breeze wisping past our ears and the kiss of the sun glancing down on our cheeks and shoulders. We continued to have a few drinks and occasionally our driver would stop the boat to let us jump off and refresh. During this time, being the males we are, we decided to throw this random ball that we had found on the island into the air and jump off the boat and attempt to catch it. Now this is by no means out of the norm of any boat trip to your local suburban lake, but one particular throw was a bit high and carried over into one of the other cruising boats that was also full of students. Of course they held the ball hostage until our next stop until they proceeded to make the same mistake we did. After recovering our ball, perhaps due to a little a liquid courage we decided to razz the other boat a bit. After thinking the 10 seconds or so of taunting the other boat, Fr. Bruno proceeded to back us up by starting up the chant, "Your boat sucks!" Even though I know Bruno to be quite the character, I was caught quite off guard by his provocation. The rest of the boat tour was fantastic as we checked out all of the grottos (white, green, and blue), while only the blue is one of the 7 natural wonders of the world. As we came into shore, we hopped back on the ferry back to Sorrento and made our way back to the bungalows. On the way back, we decided to make a pit stop for margs with Fr. Bruno. If you are given the chance to have a marg with a priest (especially one as cool as Bruno), you take advantage of it. That night, we went and walked around Sorrento a bit more and checked out one of the bars that EA personnel recommended to us, The English Inn. This place was pretty cool, as you go inside there is a bar on the main level but then you climb the stairs and are taken to a beer garden outside. It was neat-o.



The next morning came around 11am and we decided to check out one of the nearby cliff villages, Positano. Paul and Adam decided to rent vespas while the rest of us took the local bus. It was about a 45 minute trip with spectacular views on the way there. Positano wasmy favorite place from the weekend. As you can see in the pictures, it was absolutely beautiful. Everywhere you walked in the city gave you an amazing view of something. It amazes me how Italy has all these little gems of locations that are relatively unknown to many people. The weather once again was perfect. The day pretty much consisted of walking around Positano, a little more beach time, and just taking in the stunning vistas. I saw what was probably one of the most beautiful sunsets I have ever seen while in Positano. It ranked right up there with the ones I get in my backyard back home in SoDak. That evening was pretty similar to the one before except we sat down for a nice seafood dinner and rode vespas around the city of Sorrento. More bar action and we called it a night.

The next morning, Fr. Bruno took a group of us to the ancient ruins of Pompeii. After a short train ride there, we checked out the ruins and received a partial guided tour from Bruno. The ruins were pretty amazing and it was astonishing to think about how long they had been around what sorts of things those ancient rocks had seen. That kind of stuff is all over in Italy and never ceases to amaze. Nothing I have seen as far as ancient architecture goes can compare to the ruins vastness. It was a sight like none I had ever seen. After walking our way through the ruins, we hopped on the train and made our way back to Sorrento to get on the bus to head back to Florence. On the bus ride home, I couldn't help but feel the first of several bittersweet feelings that my trip was coming to an end. After taking my last trip, it had really hit me how close I actually was to making my way back home. Nevertheless, this was an absolutely amazing trip and it was a fitting last journey.

As far as my abroad posts go, they aren't quite done. Though my journeys are done, I still have a few posts left and a wrap-up in mind. I know that just made your day. Till then, I currently have 2 finals left and 3 days to take it all in. Arrivederci!

Cinque Terre

So this was my last excursion through my abroad program, ISA (International Studies Abroad) and my last chance to be with the majority of people in my program. The ISA ladies had this one all planned out for the most part, so all we had to do was show up and bring monies for food.

We all met in front of Santa Maria Novella (the main train station in Florence named after the famous cathedral right next to it) and got on a regional train to Pisa and then switched trains in Pisa to make our way to Monteresso, one of the five villages (hence "cinque" = italian "five") and the one our hostel was located at. Once we were settled at our hostel, everyone had about an hour or so to grab a bite before we had the option of taking a hike through the five villages (Monteresso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, & Riomaggiore). Of course I am not really sure why you would come to Cinque Terre unless you planned on doing a little bit of hiking, seeing as how it is pretty much renown for its hiking and gorgeous scenery. So most everyone decided to hike and we took a train from Monteresso to the furthest village south, Riomaggiore. Once we got to Rio, we started the hike through "lover's lane". Lame, I know. Still, it was beautiful and after we got to the next village everyone started to break away from the group into smaler groups and do their own thing. I broke off into a smaller group of guys and we continued to hike. The views that were given to us on this hike were breathtaking to say the least. Cinque Terre is one of the most beautiful places I have ever been to.


As we continued to hike, we were about to come to the middle village that is Corniglia. To get up top to the peak of the cliffs in where Corniglia lies, we had to climb a brutal set of stairs taking us up the cliffs to the village. The hiking in Cinque Terre wasn't what I would call physically demanding, but you definitely need to be in some what decent shape to make it through all five cities. Some of the girls and people who aren't necessarily in the fittest of form (aka fat people), bitched about it. Once we reached Corniglia at the top of the cliffs, it provided some of the most amazing views of the coast. We decided to make a pit stop for gelato at this point and decided we wanted to find somewhere we could jump in the water and cool off. One of the guys who was with me had been to Cinque Terre before and told us he had found a little spot between Corniglia and Vernazza that he referred to as "the cove." So we let him lead us to this cove as we climbed down to where the water met the rocks. This cove was probably one of the coolest things that we did while in Cinque Terre. It was relaxing as we dove off a good-sized rock that was completely surrounded by water. After diving off the rock, we just layed on it soaking up the rays and letting the sun and the cool sea breeze beat us dry. Needless to say, it was a relaxing little pit stop and made the rest of the hike back to Monteresso much more enjoyable.


Once we got back to Monteresso, we made our way back to our hostel and refreshed a bit. We picked up a couple of bottles of home grown, Cinque Terre wine. Both were white wines, which I usually don't prefer as much as red wine, but in this case they were both spectacular. So we chilled in the hostel for a bit, sipping on the sweet nectar that Cinque Terre provided us with. We then decided to make our way to dinner to a little seaside restaurant. Cinque Terre is also renown for it's pesto sauce as it is actually the birthplace of pesto. So of course most of the dishes that were ordered were either pesto or seafood courses. All of the food was fantastic. After dinner, our group made it's way to a bar to have a couple drinks at. After a couple margs, we headed down to the beach to chill for a while. For the most part, relaxing on the shore at night it pretty calming especially with a little booze in you, but after a while the booze kicked it up a notch for a few of the people in our group as there contests of wrestling, "finger-jousting", seeing who could throw a large rock into the water the furthest, and seeing who could pick up and carry a dead weight person the best. Yes, as some pictures would reveal, it was an interesting night on the beach. It was a lot of fun as it was one of the last times all of us would find ourselves together in that large group.

The next day was beach day for those of us who had hiked the day before (which was the majority of us). We found a vacant area around noon on the main beach in Monteresso and basked in the sun for a while. The afternoon consisted lying in the sun, walking around on the beach, people watching, jumping into the water, and basically just chilling on the beach. It was an awesome afternoon of Cinque Terre beach action. It was a nice way to end a spectacular weekend on the Italian Riviera as we hopped on our 7pm train and made our way back to Santa Maria Novella.

Milan, Italy / Munich, Germany

This was quite an eventful trip. A lot, a lot of things went wrong on this trip. I mean so many things (though most were rather small) to where it was almost getting pretty ridiculous. Despite all this "bad luck", my trip to Munich was one of the funnest weekends I've had abroad.

So the trip started off great by me missing the train to go to Milan with my Fashion Marketing class. Nice. The worst part was that I packed and got everything ready the night before and was probably the most prepared for a trip I've been since being here. So once I finally get on a train, I'm only an hour behind them. Of course my train makes a little pit stop in Bologna. Yeah this pit stop ended up taking over 2 hours because of "mechanical difficulties". Eventually I get there and meet up with Kelsey and Kate. Kelsey is actually an old comrade of Lightweight's from page school back in high school. She is a great girl and has become one of both Kate and myself's good friends while abroad.

So we spent the afternoon in Milan checking out the more urban, fritzy lifestyle of the Italians. It was an interesting city and home to one of the most badass churches (can I say that?) I have ever seen. We got on a train around 6:30-7pm and made it to Verona. In Verona we had a long layover in waiting for our night train. During this time we entertained ourselves by "people watching". Much like an airport, the people watching in train stations is rather superb, especially late at night. We saw some interesting characters to say the least. We finally got on our night train around midnight and were in for a long ride to Munich. While I am very glad I experienced riding in a night train, I hope to never have to do it again. Cramped, hot, and tired, night trains are a lot of fun.

We got into Munich around 6am. We made our way to our hostel after some helpful advice from a friendly bloke working at a hotel near the train station. Once we arrived at the hostel, we found out we couldn't check in until 11am (of course). So we killed some time by picking up a croissant and coffee at a nearby cafe. We then proceeded to go back to hostel and crash in the lobby until our room was ready. Once we were done "napping" we decided to find the metro and make our way to Springfest. Munich's metro system is one of the best I've ridden as it's extremely efficient and clean. Once we got to Springfest, I came to the conclusion that none of us really had any idea what to expect. It's basically a huge carnival that specializes in beer drinking (as I find the Germans do in general). Not wanting to disrespect the local culture, we decided to find a tent and drink some delicious steins of beer. We found a table to sit at with this older German couple. They were great fun, especially the man with the incredible mustache. This leads me to elaborate on how friendly and fun the German people are. They are some of the friendliest, most down to earth people I have met since being in Europe. Extremely warm and courteous, they also know how to have a good time. Perhaps it was my blonde hair and blue eyes, but I felt very "welcome" while in Germany. I also found the German women to be exceptionally "warm", if you will. They also happened to be some of the best looking women I've seen while abroad.


After a while in the tent, we decided to unknowingly buy the worst cigars I have ever had and take a nice little ride on the ferris wheel. This provided us with a great view of both Springfest and Munich in general. After the ride, we met up with the rest of our crew from Florence and headed back to the tent. Yeah, we did our fair share of beer drinking in Munich. But for good reason. Not only is it the local custom to throw a 'few' back, the beer is delicious and the best I've ever had. After a few steins and great music from the jam band in the tent, I feel as though most people in the tent found their way on top of the seats at the tables. We had a blast in the tents.

After the tents closed, we met a couple very friendly German fellas who took Kate, Kelsey, and I to a local club. On our way to the club, I thought it was a great idea to slide down the railing down some stairs right outside of the venue. This was not one of my bette ideas. Once I reached the bottom, I found a tear down the seaming of my cords from just below my hip to my shin. I liked those cords too. Torn pants and all we decided to go in the club and had a good time. The German dudes we were with even bought me a beer. Cool. After overpaying the cab driver, we got back to our hostel and passed out.

The next day were all a little slow getting up. Understandably so, but we did get a great complimentary breakfast which helped start our day off on the right foot. It soon found the wrong foot. On our way to our next hostel, we stopped in an internet cafe briefly to print out our boarding passes for the plane ride back to Italy the following morning. Once we got online, we found out that our flight back had been cancelled due to this...


Damn you Eyjafjallajokull. So we had to figure out how the hell we were getting back to Florence the next day for classes. We decided that train was the best option so we went to the train station and got tickets for the next morning back home. At the time of purchase, we had no idea how lucky we were to even have the chance to buy tickets to get the hell out of there. We found out later on that we had paid more than necessary for the tickets (of course) and that trains were sold out everywhere due to the volcano acting up. Once we had the ticket situation under control, we spent the rest of the day checking out the city of Munich. Awesome city. Germany is awesome. Definitely want to go back. We decided to have dinner at the Hofbräuhaus brewery. This place was sooo cool. Beer drinker's paradise. The beer was delicious and served, once again, by the stein. If you have an appreciation for beer, or just like really good beer, you need to make your way to Germany some day. It spolied my taste buds. After the Hofbräuhaus brewery, we made our way back to the hostel for drinks at the bar inside. It was a cool bar and we got to meet out Aussie buddy, Steve. Though the girls give me shit that he was hitting on me, I think they were just jealous that he was buying me more beers than them. They got their share of jagerbombs though. After an interesting night at the bar with some interesting people, we cashed it in and called it a night.

The next morning we caught our train and made our way back to Florence. The tickets we bought didn't have assigned seating so I was constantly moving the entire train ride until I finally said screw it and rode in between cars right next to the shitter. It was a long ride home. On the bright side, I had an amazing trip to Germany with great friends and had gorgeous views of the Alps and Northern Italy on the train ride. I threw on a little Beirut once we got into Lombardia as it seemed only appropriate.

If you care to see just how many things went wrong on this trip, take a look at "THE LIST" Kelsey and Kate made on the train ride home. You probably won't understand a good portion of it, but it's still an entertaining read.

Ireland/re-uniting with Nystrom and her crazy posse

Ireland. I had pretty lofty expectations for Ireland after my dear friend Katherine had told me how much fun she had there a few weeks before I went. Also, one of my close friends back at CU has been studying in Limerick this entire semester and has told me some pretty great stories about it. So I was pretty excited to be getting into Ireland for a long weekend.

We flew into Dublin early Friday morning. I went there with three girls from my ISA program and planned on meeting up with Lindsay later that afternoon. We found our hostel right away as it was relatively easy to find; very close to the train station. For that morning and early afternoon, we walked around Dublin and checked it out, trying to get relatively familiar with the area we were staying at. A couple of us went to a park in the center of Dublin and checked out the beautiful greenery and abundance of Irish tweeny-bopper hipsters. I got some great pictures and met some good Irish folk.



We went back to the hostel and eventually met up with Lindsay. We decided to grab a bite at a nice restaurant down near the Temple bar. We had great food and great music as both Lindsay and I got our indie hard-on's as they played the entire self-titled Vampire Weekend album through all the way. After the restaurant, we went to the Temple bar and checked out a couple others as well. Lindsay and I decided to stay out a bit later than the three other girls as we continued bar/pub hopping. At this time I would like to address to how amazing Guinness is in Ireland. Back in the States, I really couldn't care less if I had a Guinness or not. It's fine, but nothing that special to me. In Ireland, Guinness is amazing. It is so smooth and the head is on the beer until the last drink. Sure it is filling and more like a tasty treat, but it has booze and tastes great. I loved the Guinness in Ireland.



Anyway, Lindsay and I eventually made our way back to the hostel after an interesting encounter with a drunken Irish man who was in what looked to be a nasty 4 wheeler accident. We had quite a few alcoholic beverages and had no problem passing out. The next morning we were blessed b our dear friend Sahr's presence. Herself and two of her friends were supposed to get in the night before and come out with us, but they got in too late and we were already passed out. Nevertheless, we met up with them the next day. Lindsay and I decided to part from the group and get a little breakfast since we got up a little later than everyone else. We then proceeded to walk around Dublin a bit more and check out a few shops. We grabbed some fish and chips and irish stew and a guinness at a pub, then met up with Sahr and co. and went to the Guiness Factory. The Guiness Factory was pretty cool. They like beer and I like beer, so we all got along. Plus you get a free pint at the end of the tour and if you are like me, you jacked the glass they gave you. Whoops. After the tour, Lindsay decided to go back back to Limerick to get prepared for our arrival the next day. That night, Sahr and I went out with our friends. We had a good time and I enjoyed spending time with her and getting to know her better.

The next day, we got on a bus and made our way to Galway. The bus ride there was long, but gorgeous. The Irish countryside is really unrivaled in its beauty. The bus rides were actually some of my favortie moments in the trip. We stayed in Galway for most afternoon, really just walking around and checking everything out. It was cool, but I didn't like it nearly as much as Dublin nor as much as I was about to like Limerick. We hopped on an evening bus to Limerick and got there around 7 or 8 at night. We caught a cab to Lindsay's campus and started meeting her roommates. This is where my true Irish experience began. Lindsay's roommates were characters to say the least. She lived with one other girl and the rest were dudes. Real Irish bros at that. They like to have a good time, to put it lightly. Extremely friendly and very generous, I had a great time with Lindsay and her friends. Lindsay and the girls I was with did a nice job making dinner after which we decided to have a few drinks and check out a club the Lindsay had recommended for the evening. So we checked out the club and it was pretty cool, though I couldn't but have slightly bad taste in my mouth right away as they charged all the dudes 5 euro to get in. But it is what it is. Okay, so we were all dancing and having a good time and then some shit went down. Long story short, they turned on AC-DC and just don't know you are supposed to dance to it. Of course, coming from America, I do so I proceeded to start a 'polite' mosh. By this I mean, I was far from belligerent and was not trying to piss anyone off. Well the bouncers (all 25 of them there) didn't like it and gave me the boot. Ha. I waited outside for the rest of my crew to come outside and we made our way back to Lindsay's place, with a quick pit-stop at a local fast-food joint. We got back and a few of us decided to have a few drinks and just chill. Well we were chillin, but Gavin, one of Lindsay's more meat-headed roommates proceeded to slug on a handle of cheap vodka and start shattering bottles. Lindsay made it very clear to us that this was a very normal tendency for her roommates to break their alcoholic beverage bottles once they are done with them. So I was ready for that, I wasn't however ready for him destroying the front of their microwave with his fist. Yeah, that took me off-guard. The rest of the night was pretty weird, but cool. I ended up passing out on one Lindsay's couches.

The next day, we grabbed lunch with Lindsay and parted ways. We caught a bus back to Dublin and made our towards the airport. I had a great time in Ireland. I really liked Limerick (stab-city) a lot and found Lindsay's campus to be very beautiful. I wish we would have spent more than one night there. I did my worst job of getting pictures on this trip. I really dropped the ball getting a few of me, Lindsay and Sahr. Oh well. Lessons learned. I would love to go back to Ireland. I feel like it will definitely happen again some day in the near future.

Paris/Versailles, France

Nantes - Beirut

Easter weekend was fast approaching and I had just gotten back last Sunday night (March 28th) from an incredible 9 day trip to Greece. I was still kind of playing "catch-up", if you will, with life. My sister, Rachel, and her boyfriend Andrew got into Paris on Friday morning and I planned to meet up with them later that evening. I got into Paris about 6:30pm and had to take an hour long bus ride into the main part of the city. Ryan-Air (the cheap airline that all the students travel with in Europe) flies into all these small ass airports that are located out in the middle of nowhere and it takes a costly bus ride to get into the main city in that area. Once I finally got into downtown Paris, I realized that the easiest/quickest way to meet up with Rachel and Andrew at our hotel would most definitely be a cab ride. So I coughed up and grabbed a taxi and took it to our hostel. It was great getting to see Rachel (and Andrew!) as I don't get to see her enough as it is because she lives in Washington D.C. and I am usually in Omaha, NE or Chamberlain, SD. It had been a pretty 'roller coaster' past week for me to, so it was great to see some familiar faces since I've been abroad and family at that. We decided to grab a bite at a nice little restaurant that was near our hotel. It happened to be an Italian joint (of course), but nevertheless it was really good. We also had our first of several crepes with nutella at this place.

The next day we woke up early and decided to make it to Versailles, which is just outside of Paris. After a short, 40 minute metro ride into Versailles, we were greeted what seemed to be the Easter tourist special in Paris/Versailles that weekend. There were quite a few people standing in line to get into the palace at Versailles, but surprisingly it really didn't take that long at all. The palace was beautiful, pretty much everything you would expect from a palace that played host to Louis XIV, XV, & XVI located in one of the most historic and wealthiest parts in all of Europe. Rich people had it pretty sweet back in the day. I found it rather comical that Louis XV was such a partier and even hosted parties in his bedroom in the palace of all places. Not sure as to what exactly those parties entailed, but I'm sure your imagination isn't too far off. The hall of mirrors was definitely the most iconic area in the palace and pretty amazing. After the palace, we decided to briefly look around the gardens located behind the palace. You could literally walk around those gardens for days they are so vast. They were pretty magnificent and I couldn't help but be reminded of one of my favorite childhood stories/movies, The Count of Monte Cristo. I had no problem envisioning a french masquerade ball being held there back in the day.

After Versailles, we grabbed a sandwich at a place located pretty close to Notre Dame cathedral. Notre Dame cathedral was pretty fantastic. Definitely one of my favorites I have seen while Europe (and trust me I have seen my share!). Andrew pointed out to us that the best view of Notre Dame is actually from the side/behind it. It was a beautiful church and once again the history of the Catholic church astounded me. After the cathedral, we walked over toward the Louvre. We sat outside of it taking pictures and decided that we needed to find the place where we would be doing the wine tasting seminar, so we decided to put off doing the Louvre until tomorrow (Easter). So we found the wine tasting place after some 'clever' navigating and fund that it actually took place down in a cellar. The wine tasting was fantastic, as was the guy who hosted. I felt as though I actually learned quite a bit and got to try some fantastic French wines, including a champagne. There was one wine that really stood out to all three of us as our favorite, but I cannot recall the name of it so maybe Rachel or Andrew could help me out with that. It was fantastic though. Maybe my favorite wine that I have had. The wine tasting was great and we all walked out of there having our fair share.

After the wine, we decided to make our way towards the Eiffel tower. We decided to walk and it ended up being a pretty decent hike, but in the end it was well worth it. The Eiffel tower was stunning to say the least. I am kind of glad we decided to do it at night as the ambience that it gave off was rather gorgeous. We eventually got in line to go up to the top and it goes a lot higher up than you might think. The Eiffel tower was the biggest surprise for me that weekend as I had actually underrated it going in and was taken by it after viewing its grandeur in person. While in line at the Eiffel, we met a couple on their honeymoon that had been here the past two nights in line and had still yet to make it to the top of the tour. Hearing that, I was just glad that we made it up there. After the tower, we made our way back to the hotel and stopped for a kebab along the way.

The next day, we found a church near by and made it to mass. I have been to my share of mass in Italian, so hearing it in French was even more of a blur. Either way, it felt like mass and it was Easter Sunday. The plan after mass was to make our way to the Louvre and then it would be time for me to get on the bus and head back to the airport. Unfortunately for us, the line to get into the Louvre literally went on for miles. I did not have enough time wait in line and expect to be able to see all I wanted in museum and make my bus to get to the airport. So we took our blow to the chin and missed out on the Louvre while we were in Paris. Andrew told the Mona Lisa looked like a third grade finger painting anyway, so that made me feel better. The way I look at it, I sacrificed the Louvre for my soul as I did Easter mass as opposed to the infamous French museum. In all honesty, yes of course I wanted to go in the museum and see some of the masterpieces that are Van Gogh's Starry Night and what not, but I have been to so many museums since I have been here, at the time it was just kind of like, okay whatever. Besides going to mass on Easter was much more of a priority to me anyway and really the trip in general wasn't really about Paris for me. It was much more about getting to see my sister and Andrew and getting to spend the weekend with them. I was put in charge of what we were to do until I had to leave so I decided that we should dine-in at an authentic little French cafe getting coffee and crepes. I was a big fan of it and was glad we were able to have the French Cafe experience.

My trip to Paris was great. It was a short weekend trip and quite honestly I didn't have near enough time there, but I plan on trying to make it back at some point in my life. Paris was a beautiful city, rich with culture and history. It was definitely the most romantic city I have ever been to. The French culture fascinates me as it seems to be quite romantic in general. The language is beautiful. At the time, being in the most romantic city in the world wasn't necessarily ideal for me, but by the time it's all said and done, I will make it back there to experience the romanticism at its best.

Santorini

Let Go - jj

Before going further into this post, it should be brought to the attention of the reader that this post is entirely dedicated and intertwined with my my experiences in both a foreign culture and I suppose what some may refer to as an exotic location. With that said, Santorini was probably one of the coolest, most unique places I have ever been. What a beautiful place. When pulling into the port, I noticed that the city of Fira (though I had no idea at the time what city it was) sits high up on the cliffs of Santorini, far above the sea level on the port side of the island. As you can kind of tell from some of the pictures I took, once we arrived in Santorini we had to get in a bus that zig-zagged its way up the side of a cliff until we reached the top and were taken to our hostel. Once we got to our hostel, I was rather confused as the hostel laid right next a black sanded beach (which was extremely cool looking). What confused me was that I had not realized that we had slowly gone back down to sea level. I don't know, I was really confused for some reason.

Santorini is a small, circular archipelago of volcanic islands located in the southern Aegean Sea, about 200 km (120 mi) southeast from Greece's mainland. The largest island is known as Thēra (or Thira, Greek Θήρα [ˈθira]), forming the southernmost member of the Cyclades group of islands, with an area of approximately 73 km2 (28 sq mi) and a 2001 census population of 13,670. (via wikipedia)

Our hostel was very nice and it was extremely convenient that it was located right on Perissa Beach. On a random note, we did run into a girl from St. Cloud, MN who was also staying in the same hostel as us. She knew some of my friends at CU, so I definitely had "small world" experience while there. As you can see on the map below, Perissa Beach is located almost on the complete opposite side of the city of Fira. It would make for one hell of a long walk and we really didn't feel like killing half of our walking while there. So we decided to find some type of transportation while there. We found a local automotive rental place and decided to rent either a vespa or an ATV for 10 euro for the entire day. Seemed like a pretty good deal to us. So we did both, getting one the first day and the other on the next. It was definitely a good idea as it was a good 15-20 minute drive to Fira from our hotel at Perissa Beach. Once we got to Fira, I immediately enjoyed the vibe of the city. First of all, because we were there a little early on in the season, there were hardly any tourists anywhere we went. In my book, this is awesome. Frankly, for the most part, tourists (people in general, kind of) suck. The city of Fira is the capital of Sanorini. I would have no idea how many people actually reside there, but it there was definitely a lot of action there but it still had that small town feel. Every where we ate was fantastic and very authentic. We climbed towards the top of the city and took advantage of the breathtaking views by snapping a few photos. Fira was a very cool city and we ended up coming back there on our last day to grab a bite and kill a few hours before we got on our Ferry to head back to Athens.


On the second day in Santorini, we decided to check out a beach. The beach we had heard most about was simply referred to as the "red beach". This beach was located pretty close to Fira and was again a short vespa ride away. Once we got there, we realized how nice it was to be 2 of the 7 people that were on that beach at all during the time we were there. The beach itself was unique in that the sand and the rock surrounding the beach were red colored (of course) and really reflected the sunlight giving it a radiant appearance. The beach was super chill and we spent most of the afternoon basking in the sun, taking in rays and exploring the beach. Fun in the sun. To my comrade Pistol's request, the first song I jammed while on the beach in Santorini was played and posted at the top of this note. It was a relazing day at the beach, with beautiful views and perfect weather.

We got back on the atv and headed back towards the direction of our hostel, stopping at a local grocer to grab some food. That night we had a nice dinner at a restaurant located right next to our hostel. It was fantastic as we ordered several different dishes and split them all family style. The lady who served us owned the place with her husband and treated us extremely well and gave us free ouzo at the end of the meal. Ouzo is a licorice flavored aperitif that is widely consumed in Greece. I would compare it its taste to that of absinthe. Seems like it is very hit or miss with non-Greek people. Personally I enjoyed it but Caitlin was not fond of it. The owner also gave us a shot of some dietary cleanser that was served to us warm. Not sure what I thought of this one as it tasted kind of like Pine-Sol. Oh well, free booze and booze that cleanses. Have to drink it.


Santorini was an amazing island and quite possibly my favorite of the three places I went to in Greece. The perfect way to cap off my spring break in 2010. So relaxed. Hard to say it was my favorite because they are all three so different, but Santorini was definitely the most beautiful. I definitely felt like I got the authentic greek experience in the 9 days I was there and through the three places I traveled to. Going into it and planning the trip, the authentic experience is what I really wanted, so I was satisfied to say the least. Greece was a beautiful country with the most hospitable people you will meet. I loved my time in Greece and look forward to making my way back.

Mykonos

Ah, Mykonos. Of course when we were pulling into the Mykonos port, I had to play the indie jam by Fleet Foxes relating to this beautiful, mythological island. Have to say, the song is very suiting for the island itself. Once we pulled into port, the first thing you notice is all of the white buildings covering the island. Literally every building on the island was painted white. I can't remember seeing one that wasn't (and I feel like I would have remembered it, if it existed). Once we got off the ferry, the owner of the small hostel we stayed at came in her jeep to pick us up. On our way to the hostel, I noticed the landscape in Mykonos reminded somewhat of a desert in that it was pretty barren but with gorgeous valleys and greenery. I loved it. Our hostel was actually a pretty good distance away from the main port and city of Mykonos. I don't know exactly how kilometers transfer over into miles, but I do remember it being a hell of a hike. Once we got to our hostel, both of us were pleasantly surprised at how accommodating our host was. She felt more like my long lost grandmother than the owner. Mina Studios was the name of the place and if I ever go back, that's where I am staying and Mina will most likely pick me up then too. What a fantastic lady. The hostel is the quaint little joint with a lobby that is really more of a kitchen in a house. When you walk in, she offers you some sort of fresh new baked good she has just conjured up. Herself and her husband run the place. She showed us into our room and it was way nicer than I expected. I usually expect to get less than what I paid for in Europe, but in this case I felt like it was the exact opposite. From our hostel, we located within 5 minutes walking of three beaches. We ended up checking out all three and all three were spectacular.

The first evening we were there, we decided to walk on one of the beaches to get some photos and check out the area. It was beautiful and we were treated to a gorgeous Greek sunset. From there, we decided to walk into town to check it out and grab a bite. Well like I referred to earlier, it's a long walk from our hostel, which was more in what I would call the beach-countryside, to the main city in Mykonos. We eventually got there, though I felt the need to stop at a local grocer and pick up a tall girl of Mythos. This leads me to the next topic: Mythos.



Mythos is Greece's finest beer. I have to say I really wasn't expecting too much from beer in Greece. Maybe because Italian beer is just 'okay'. Well, Mythos was fantastic. One of the best beers I have had in Europe. It's nothing really special just your simple pilsner style lager, but it just had a really fresh, smooth taste to it. Only problem with this beer is that getting it outside of Greece will prove to be a problem. Damn.

That night we ended up having a nice dinner right next to the main port in Mykonos. We hung out around the town till pretty late into the evening and caught a cab ride back to our hostel. The next morning, we got up early and walked back into the city. We went to a couple local grocery stores and shops, just walking around and checking out the local scene. We talked to a store clerk who explained to us why Mykonos' no-named streets can be rather confusing. Back when they first were building the city, apparently the island had a pirate problem. So they built the streets and buildings in a rather crooked, slanted, uneven, confusing way. He also mentioned that pirates weren't the only ones who had problems with it, drunk people seemed to struggle with it quite a bit too. This probably makes it pretty entertaining for the locals in summertime as Mykonos is renown for its nightlife. While we were there, a lot of stores and clubs were still closed because it was very early on in the season. This kind of sucked because it wasn't the true atmosphere of the city, especially nightlife, but it was also really nice because nowhere we went in Greece was packed with tourists. In fact, when we went to beaches while were both in Mykonos and Santorini, sometimes we were the only ones there! Hard to believe really.

The rest of that day we spent on the beach. It was awesome, just chilling and going in the water when I got a little warm. Super chill afternoon at a beach in Mykonos? Why yes, thank you. If you readers know me at all, I have been called a pretty chill bro at times, so chillin' on greek beaches for an afternoon was alright with me. That night pretty much entailed some more of the same as the previous night. More awesomeness in food, drink, and atmosphere. I believe this was the night where we had the awesome calamari. Wow. Can't say enough about it. It will never taste as good anywhere else I feel like.

Overall, Mykonos was definitely the 'chillest' stop on our break. It was a gorgeous island, with great food, great nightlife, great beaches, and amazing hospitality. I can't say enough about the way we were treated by our hostel's owners. They were wonderful and most definitely enhanced my experience while there. Mina dropped us off at the port a couple hours before our ferry left for Santorini, so we grabbed a bite, picked up some postcards and hopped on the ferry to our next destination, Santorini.

Greece...Part 1: Athens

Long over due. Well on March 19th, my friend and I took a train from Florence to Rome at about 9am. There were actually a few people that 'said' they were going to do this trip with us, but everyone bailed and it ended up being just Caitlin and I. Our spring break then was to entail a 9 day trip to Greece, covering Athens and the Greek islands of Mykonos and Santorini. Our flight for Athens was the next day, so we decided to go down a day early and spend it in Rome. I had not been to Rome since the very beginning of my trip, so it was really cool to go back. Rome is just one of those cities that I feel like no matter how many times you go there and see everything, it never gets old. We tried to do nearly everything in one day and as impossible as that may seem, we came pretty close. The only things we really didn't see again were the Colosseum and the Trevi Fountain. We spent an extended amount of time in Vatican City which was what I wanted to do anyway. We stayed in a nice little hostel fairly close to the train station, so it made it easier to get up and get to the airport as soon as possible in the morning.



Our flight to Athens left on time and went smoothly. We got there around 1 or 2 in the afternoon. I just know that we lost an hour getting into Greece. Now let's talk about Athens' transit systems. This was one of the parts of Greece that I didn't like. That and the cost of this trip. But anyway, Athens transit systems suck and unless you reside there or have been there recently, you will be like us and have no idea how get around. There is really no way to describe the dysfunction and inconvenience that is Athens' trains that will do it justice. I will just give you an example. Pireaus is the name of the port city that is basically a part of Athens but is a bay area where all of the ferries get into and out of Athens. From our hostel, we had to walk to the train, get on a train, get off that train, get on a bus to take us to another train, take that train to another bus to one more train that finally took us to the port. All of this while we thought we would be able take one train all the way there, because that is what the map says in the train station and that's what the front desk worker at our hostel said. Yeah, nope. Athens transit systems suck. If you go, prepare thyself.

Okay, negativity set aside, Athens was awesome. We were there for two full days so I definitely felt like we got to experience everything there. We lost two hours when we first got there due to the shitty transit, but ended up getting to our hostel around 4:30 in the afternoon. We went out and explored the city the rest of the evening. We had a pretty decent walk from our hotel to the heart of Athens, where everything worth seeing resides for the most part. First of all, it should be made clear that the heart of Athens is way different from the rest of it. Outside the heart of the city, Athens is kind of dirty. The buildings and streets just came across as dirty and unkept to a certain extent. It was rather underwhelming. Just another city. What I imagine the Dirty South in the US to be like, ha. The heart of Athens is so cool though. Once we got there, we decided to look around a bit and find somewhere to eat. There were plenty of options. Greek food definitely gives Italian a run for its money. I am not going to say which one I like better, but Mediterranean food in general is definitely my favorite. The gyros there are so good and actually pretty cheap. Sorry Pistol, but I am going to have to take these ones over those of King Kong's in Omaha. Heartbreaking, but true. All of the greek food was fantastic. Definitely spent too much money on it. So anyway, the rest of the night we walked around Athens at night (which looks incredible by the way), through all the streets checking out shops and what not and eventually making our way up towards the Acropolis. We couldn't actually go up to the Acropolis that night because it was closed, but we got high enough up to give us an awesome view of Athens at night. It was fantastic. It also seemed to be a popular place to take your girlfriend to swoon her and make out. Understandable, given the view. So yeah, that was a little awkward but nevertheless, I got my high from the view and that was good enough for me. We ended the night by getting a couple drinks in downtown Athens and headed back to the hostel. Greek television entails a lot more english than Italian, so we got to go back to our room after couple drinks and watch Catwoman. I know, awesome. Hallie Berry, what were you thinking?

The next morning we went up to Acropolis. It was flat out stunning. The ancient structures just towered above and looked over the city of Athens. Just thinking about how historic and old the structures actually were gave me goosbumps; as did the view from the top. Definitely one of the best views I have gotten. You can see the city of Athens (which is huge), the Mediterranean Sea, Greek landscape, and the layer of pollution that hovers above the city, haha. No, it was fantastic and I got some great pictures. The rest of the day we just kind of roamed around the city, checking out other sites like the Parthenon and what not. It was really cool and really chill. We ate more awesome food, checked out shops, and talked to the Greek people. Greek is a very difficult language, right up there with Latin, but luckily all of the greeks spoke perfect English. Greece was also home to the most friendly, hospitable people I have met yet in my time abroad. What an amazing culture. So friendly and just happy about life in general. They love America too, which is cool. Honestly though, very down to earth people. It was uplifting to receive that as I was a bit nervous due to the country being completely bankrupt and riots breaking out the past few weeks. All of my experiences with the Greek people were very positive.

The next morning we made our way to Pireaus to catch our ferry to the island of Mykonos. I already explained how wonderful our connection from Athens to Pireaus was, but once we got there we hopped aboard our ferry and made our way toward Mykonos. I really didn't know what to expect with the ferry, but it was some kind of combination between a nicer airplane and a cruise ship. We rode second class so we had airplane like seating, but first class was able to get a room and bed to sleep if they like. We were also able to get up and walk around and sit in a booth to get something to eat or drink if we liked as well. The ferry experience was pretty cool and I'm glad I did it, but it just takes a while to get from isle to isle. It was about a 4 or 5 hour ferry ride from Athens to Mykonos, but we left at 7:30am so we got there in time to spend an afternoon right away in Mykonos.

Amsterdam XXX (long overdue)

Amsterdam is a crazy city. I suppose now I should probably elaborate a bit. It may be the most interesting city I have ever been to. There is literally no place like it on earth.
I'll start out by clarifying a few things about the city. First of all, it's not 'all' about drugs and sex. Just a very high percentage. Ha, no but really it's more about just a really liberal lifestyle. Also, the city of Amsterdam has an enormous amount of history and culture. For example, the obvious things like the Anne Frank house and Van Gogh mueseum are historical resources and artifacts that have affected the world. Anne Frank was a very humbling, powerful experience. So many emotions go through your mind when looking and thinking about what occurred here all these years ago. Van Gogh museum was pretty awesome. I am a fan of Van Gogh's work and I think about it now, they must have though he was a pretty trippy son of a bitch back in the day. I can't even imagine people's reactions to some of his abstract paintings back in the day. Anyway, Amsterdam is a very historic city that has an extremely liberal outlook on life and modern culture influences.
Let's talk about weed. I had always heard that people just walk into "coffee shops" and order weed/hash. I wondered, is "coffee shop" some kind of inside term they use for places that actually sell it. Nope. People literally walk into coffee shops, get a cappuccino and roll a j. Or maybe just buy a pre-rolled guy or a even a gram for their piece. The point is, these coffee shops are littered through out the city and it is just a part of these people's every day lives. Agree with it or not, it is fact. Be it as it may, for the record, during my time abroad I have decided to embrace the cultures of these different countries, to a healthy(ish) extent. With that said, there is some pretty dank bud in that city for what seems (at least to an amateur as myself) a very reasonable price. Sky high. One complaint about the coffee shops, they need to get some better tuneage. With the exception of one or two, most of the music wasn't much to ride home about. Also should be noted for those of you who it may interest, though I didn't have one while I was there, the "space brownies" seem to take a little while to kick in. Ha, a few of my acquaintances found that out. As far as my experiences lie within this category, at least for now, we'll leave it as a leave your question for the author subject. Or perhaps a we'll elaborate later on.
The Red Light District. I had heard thing about it, but had no real understanding of it. Obviously I knew some things about it but I really didn't. I will do my best to describe it for you, but in all honesty it is best to just experience it yourself at some point in time. The Red Light District is oldest area in Amsterdam. The city itself lies on a canal system that leads into the sea. Obviously back in the day, sailors used these canals to come into the city and get what ever "things" they needed. Sailors were not the most reputable of people in these times. I have no idea how it came to be, but at some point prostitution was introduced in Amsterdam and it never left. It is completely legal and in case you didn't know/get the impression from the above paragraph, weed is as well. Back to the Red Light District. It literally lies in the center of the city and is pretty decent sized. In the day time, it is easy to walk into it without even realizing it. Night is a different story. You definitely know where the RLD is at night and when you are walking into it. At night, this place is pretty freaky. Especially if you have been in a coffee shop at all before you walk through it. Best to do it in a group. Don't get me wrong, I felt safe walking through it, it just feels a little bit sketch doing so and here's why...There are tons of great bars, shops, coffee shops, strip clubs, and what not and these are relatively normal. What's not normal are the prostitutes standing in the windows with a red light ambience creeping around the window pane with nothing but skimpy lingerie on. You just don't see that everywhere. The part that is kind of sketchy is that sure you have your normal tourists like us walking through just to check it out and what not, but you forget about the people who actually live there and 'take part' in some of these promiscuous activities. For example, we were walking by a window when a Mercedes comes screaming past us, puts on the brakes 15 feet in front of us, a man gets out walks in one of the red lit window-doors and closes the curtain. Yep. I will leave the rest up to your imagination. The RLD is not the same during the day, though I was very surprised to see those nice ladies standing in the windows even during the day. It was also interesting to note and think about the fact that most of the buildings in which the ladies are standing in the windows are very nice, old buildings that are really apartment complexes. So while you may have a hooker standing in a window for business on the street level, you also have whole families living their normal lives 4 floors above. This is the part of this city that just astounds me. Like I said, it's a completely different way of living and outlook on life. Agree with it or not, it was a fascinating experience and I am definitely glad I did in fact experience. It should also be noted that Amsterdam is a total "bro-trip". I don't feel as though I need to elaborate. I can also tell that while I was in Amsterdam I did not partake in any illegal activities. I promise.

Interlaken, Switzerland

Two weekends ago I traveled to Interlaken, Switzerland. We left Florence on bus Thursday night around 7 and got to Interlaken about 3am. It was a long bus ride, but well worth it. I actually did this trip through an organized trip booker for students studying abroad. They did an excellent job with the weekend. Upon arriving in Switzerland Friday morning, we were all shocked to see how amazing our hostel was. It didn't seem like the stereotypical hostel, more like a 3 star hotel. When we got into our room at 3am, we were a bit disappointed that we didn't have a few of the mountains. Well in the morning when we woke up, we discovered that there were indeed mountains very viewable from the porch balcony of our hostel room. Nothing like waking up to the sight of Swiss Alps in the morning.
Friday morning we woke up relatively early and got a start to our day. We were treated to awesome toast and jam every morning while we were there. We usually made the most of it and tried to stuff ourselves seeing as how it was fantastic and free. In the hostel lobby, there is a huge St. Bernard dog named "Spliff". This thing was absolutely enormous. I just wondered how many small children it had eaten till I actually watched it for a while and realized there was no way this dog had done anything worse than slobber on a hands and pant legs. One of the hostel workers told us that Spliff could take us for a hike so we decided take them up on that. Spliff decided to call it off early, but the rest of us hiked around a decent sized hill that gave us breathtaking views of Interlaken and the Alps. The rest of the afternoon we decided to walk around Interlaken and check it out. It was a very tourist-oriented city, yet there weren't that many tourists to speak of, which was ideal. Interlaken was exactly what I pictured a Swiss city to look and feel like. Everyone is very laid back and in tune with the outdoors and their surroundings. Not to mention everyone there could speak at least three languages since Switzerland really doesn't have a language of its own. We finished out the evening by going night sledding. Now I really didn't know what to expect when it came to "night sledding", I mean I like sledding just as much as any other person who doesn't know how to grow up but I was a bit skeptical about paying 65 euro for it. In the end, it was a blast. They took us to a train in a small village just outside of Interlaken where we rode the train up to the top of the mountain. We were each given our own sled to go down the hill on and there were three different courses for us to do, each with its own difficulty level. Those sleds can flat out fly and that made turning interesting or in my case, useless. It was a lot easier to stay warm with a few beers and a bit of Jägermeister. Made the sledding interesting too. We ended the night by grabbing a beer or irish coffee at the ski house and headed back to the hostel.
The next morning I decided to go paragliding with a couple other friends. They took us straight up the mountain in a van to this really tiny village that litterally sat right on the side of the mountain. It was so beautiful. My paragliding pilot was a good guy and quite easy to talk to. He informed me that Interlaken actually means between two lakes, which of course Interlaken sits between Lake Brienz and Lake Thun. The paragliding itself was so relaxed and just mesmerizing. Once you have that initial rush of running of the side of the mountain and the wind catches you, it is just super chill with amazing views and fresh air. My pilot let me take the reigns over for a few minutes and eventually landed us in the middle of some park right in the middle of the city. The suburban landing took me for surprise a bit. The rest of the day we took trains and checked out a few more of the nearby swiss villages and grabbed some hot chocolate with baileys at a local joint. That night we all went out to a club and I experienced what I like to call a "Swisspter" aka swiss hipster. The swisspters were out and about that Saturday night and were all ages. Literally saw swisspters that were 16 and swisspters who were probably mid-40s. Whatever, they were all pretty cool for the most part. I find that a swisspter is basically the local ski bum who may or may not know how to ski or snowboard, but regardless wear their neon colored boarding gear with wayfarers at the night clubs. Probably experienced the worst DJ I have heard while I have been over in Europe on this night as well. That was probably the worst part of this trip, so I was able to deal with it especially seeing as how the Italian discotecas know what's up.
Sunday morning, I went canyon jumping. If you want to get a serious rush, go canyon jumping. Wow. We walked up the side of this mountain till we reached a crevice that was of course the canyon we would be jumping into. Right before we were getting ready to jump, one of the workers told us about a girl that literally shit herself while jumping off the ledge. So this was of course very reassuring to hear right before I took the plunge. Canyon jumping was different than bungee jumping in that you free fall for about 5 or 6 seconds and then the harness eventually catches your weight and you begin swinging through the canyon until you eventually come to a stop. As for the free fall, it seriously felt like you were just jumping and really had nothing there supporting you. It freaked my shit, but it was great. It was especially interesting doing this head first. I would do it again in a heart beat.
We returned for Florence around 4pm and eventually made it back. Again it was a long ride, but it was a lot easier to stand when you have the beauty of the Swiss Alps to gaze upon during the ride. Switzerland is possibly the most beautiful place I have ever been to. The natural beauty of the country is astonishing. It was different than anywhere I had been in Europe up to this point. What an amazing trip.

Siena & San Gimigiano

So I finally have a new post for y'all. Sorry it's been a while, I have been having major issues with the wireless connection in my apartment, but I think we finally have it fixed for good...hopefully. Two weekends ago, I went on a day excursion through my study abroad program to Siena and San Gimigiano. We left at 9am and got back around 7 or 8pm that night. Besides the small bit of rainy weather, it was an excellent trip.
Fr. Bruno had explained to me one evening that Siena is considered the rival city of Florence, mostly by a means of art. Florence, of course renown for their art, and Siena have had a numerous confrontations in the past most dealing with a some piece of art. There were two that he was describing to me that really stood out and I thought were pretty cool stories. The first story was basically about when both Florence and Siena were building their Duomos back in the day, Florence had made (at the time) the largest Cathedral in the world. When word of this got around to Siena, they did their best to top them and succeeded in creating a Duomo even larger than that of Florence's. Well that of course didn't stand well with the people of Florence so they ended up adding on to their Duomo and making it the massive structure that it is today. So yes, Florence took the cake on that particular occasion. The second story was about a renaissance painting (sorry can't remember which one ha) that an artist from Siena had painted for their Duomo. Florence was so enamored with the painting, that they kidnapped the artist and forced him to paint a duplicate of the one that was in Siena. He did so and was let go afterward. Not long after the painting was finished, there was a fire in Florence to which of course the painting was destroyed in. I guess some things are just better off the first time around. Anyway, walking through Siena was beautiful and actually reminded me quite a bit of Florence, but smaller. Siena is also located in higher elevation on the Tuscan hills. When we got there in the morning, there was actually a fresh snow on the ground. San Gimignano is a small walled medieval hill town in the province of Siena, Tuscany, north-central Italy. It is mainly famous for its medieval architecture, especially its towers, which may be seen from several kilometers outside the town. While cities in Tuscany such as Bologna and Florence were both a ravaged by war, San Gimigiano was unscathed and still holds 14 towers. It was a beautiful village with some of the most amazing views of the Tuscan countryside I have seen yet.

Venice Carnevale

Sorry it has taken me so long to get a post up about Venice. We went there last weekend for Carnevale and it was a blast. A group of students signed up for a bus service that took us there early in the morning and returned us around 3am in Florence. Venice is an amazingly beautiful city. It was a little chilly (like 45 degrees), but it didn't dampen my spirit. Carnevale wasn't exactly what a lot of the Americans were expecting I don't think. I think a lot of them thought it was going to be more like Mardi Gras in New Orleans. I don't think the American gringo realize that Italians don't really rage like that. They save that more for the "discotecas". Carnevale is a lot more sophisticated and classy than that.
Venice is one of the most unique cities in the world. Not very many places in the world where you can walk across bridges every other block and have a gondola with a hot and heavy couple blow by underneath you. Yeah it's romantic. San Marco square was really cool and very busy. It was loaded with people dressed up in masks for carnevale and bands playing music. It was a great scene. I ended up purchasing a mask for about 10 euro I think. Not sure, I just remember that I spent a lot more than that on vino that day. I regret not getting this black mask that reminded me of the ones the siblings from the swedish electronic band, The Knife, wear on stage. My favorite place we had a bottle of wine was definitely this small restaurant where we sat outside right next to the board walk. It was pretty amazing to have a glass of wine while overlooking the beautiful bay area. Overall it was a great experience and I truly think Venice was of the coolest cities in the world. I am going to Siena and San Giurgno tomorrow. I am really looking forward to it. Apparently, Siena is kind of a rival city of Florence, more from the olden days but it still rivals Florence for its art. If that's really the case, then I am pretty excited to see it because Florence is pretty amazing. Till next time, buena sera, ciao!

The Medici Villa, Italian booze, etc.

So last Friday morning our ISA group took us on a free little adventure to the outskirts of Florence to the Medici Villa. The Medici family is of course one of the richest families in the history of Italy and basically controlled Florence during the renaissance. Anyway, I heard how beautiful it was and planned on going for sure and then Thursday night happened. I was a little hungover on Friday morning, to say the least. Supposedly someone once said that the wine in Italy doesn't give you a bad hangover like it does in the States, well I can assure you that statement is utter bullshit. Now if there is something saying that cheap wine gives you worse headaches, that may be a little more believable. Booze is booze. But I did end up going. It was pretty cool, really pretty. I'm glad I went now, but that morning I wasn't thinking much of it.

Also in this post, I'm going discuss my alcohol discoveries in Italy. First category, vino or wine.

1. Wine is good. Some people don't like it, but I do. I don't really appreciate the way some people do (my parents). But I figure if you drink enough of it, you start to figure it out. Or at least that's been my excuse anyway. When we go out to eat we always get wine mostly because it's cheaper than water and it's booze. We usually go for the house wine as it is usually cheapest normally dark. I have found that I am definitely more of a red guy than a white guy. Not really sure why. If I asked my dear friend Lightweight which one he wants, he would most likely reply by asking which one has more booze in it. To that I would reply the red, but of course it varies and I'm probably full of shit, but that's what I hear. Unfortunately, no I have not yet found the Keystone Ice equivalent to a normal beer in a bottle of wine. Still, I have my fingers crossed.

2. Beer. The Italian's beer are pretty good. The three I have had are Peroni, Moretti, and Nastro Azzurro. Supposedly those are three big guys in Italy. Peroni is my favorite. It's just a good beer. It's like a classy PBR...if that's possible? Pistol, you'd approve. We played beer pong last night with Nastro Azzurro, so I'm going to have to get back to you on that one. Moretti is solid. I don't know, again...booze is booze. I just haven't come across very many beers that I don't like, that's not even saying ones I wouldn't drink, which is very few. Miller High Life though...damn. I have to choke that shit down.

3. I really haven't had much besides beer and wine. I have had a few mixed drinks at clubs and what not, but those are usually pretty expensive so I tend to stick pretty close to what I know (my dear friend jack and coke). Asked for a Windsor and Coke, no such luck. I constantly harass one of my roommates, who is from North Carolina, for calling a Long Island Iced Tea an L.I.T. Must be southern slang? K-Mart? I probably wouldn't have given him any shit at all except he went up to the bartender at a local Firenze joint and proceeded to ask, "Can y'all get me an L.I.T?" Of course they had no idea what that was, but anyway we came back a few nights later and the same bartenders were working and were pretty excited t see Paul. "Hey it's L.I.T.!! The L.I.T. man!" Classic.

I will continue my exploration of Italian booze and hopefully other foreign delicacies. Till then, everyone who reads this, tip back a cold one for me. I miss the boys.



Pistol = PBR
Lightweight = Keystone Ice (tall girl)
Stronghand = Budweiser
K-Mart = Joose
Connor = Bud Select
Harrison = just steal a PBR from Pistol

Pisa

Last Sunday, Fr. Bruno asked a few of us if we would like to spend Sunday afternoon in Pisa. Of course the first thing all of us asked was "how much is the train ride", as that is pretty much the first question nearly all of us ask when we want to go somewhere. It ended up costing me a total of 10 euro to go to Pisa and back. I felt like that a pretty good deal. The train ride to Pisa is about an hour long.

Pisa is a small city (87,500) in Tuscany, central Italy, on the right bank of the mouth of the Arno River on the Ligurian Sea. You can see the coastline from the Leaning Tower. The Leaning Tower is located in a courtyard of sorts and is right next to Piazza del Duomo which is basically the area where everyone goes to when visiting.

I enjoyed my visit here as it entailed more beautiful artwork, cathedrals, and architecture. It's an archaic city that is very representative to everything I've seen so far in Italy. I was there on a Sunday and everything wasn't next to the Leaning Tower was pretty shut down, as is in many places in Italy.

My next post will either contain more about Florence and my apartment and the area I reside in or it will be about my trip to Venice this weekend for Carnevale. Either way, I promise to have more photos of myself and others and hopefully a good story or two.

Ciao!

First few days in Firenze

So I am now currently a resident of Florence, Italy. My goodness what a beautiful city. THough I haven't been to very many places yet, Florence has easily been my favorite so far, which is a good thing because it's where I chose to live. Florence is an ancient, beautiful city that is one of the art capitals of the world. The city and it's buildings have a very "white" sense about them and by that I mean I can tell now why some people in Rome I talked to called Florence "The White City". The residents themselves, for the most part are very friendly and quite patient. Time seems to move a little bit slower here. Everyone walks everywhere and take their time doing it. I have been accused of this frequently back in the States, so I have had no problem adjusting to the "chill" lifestyle.

As I mentioned earlier, I live in the center of the city which is where all of the action and most of the attractions lie. I live on Via dei Calzaiuoli, which is a main shopping street where many formidable Italian fashion label's stores are (Armani, Dolce&Gabbana, Prada, etc.). I am taking a fashion marketing class while I'm here, so it's interesting to hear about these brands and the influence the Italians have had on world fashion. I live one block away from the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore which everyone here refers to as simply "the Duomo", the world's third largest cathedral. Talk about an amazing structure. It is truly massive and is the center of the entire city. I live on the north side of the Arno River, very close to the world renown bride, the Ponte Vecchio. My friend Kate walks across it every day to get to class. It's a structure unlike anything I'd ever seen. I now understand better why Florence is known as one of the most beautiful cities in the world.

My first day here, I met this interesting man named Fr. Bruno. He is quite the character. An amazing man, he has literally been everywhere and a good source to have when looking into traveling. He took us out to dinner our first night in Florence, got us boozed up and fed us like royalty. He reminds me a lot of the Jesuit priests back at Creighton. He is a apparently a pretty famous guy in this area as when we are with him, we are constantly bumping into people who seem to have some sort of affiliation with him. I believe he is working as some sort of chaplain for the program I am studying through. If any of you come to visit me (which I would love if you did), I will be sure to introduce him to you.

So my last post drew a little bit of criticism as although my photos were well taken, I need more photos of myself and people in them. So this post won't have many but I will try to in the near future, starting with Carnevale in Venice this weekend. Also, I will have a lot more pictures of Florence soon, but these are just the few I have taken since I've been here.

Ciao!

My first post from another country...coool.

So after a chaotic trip into Rome, I have finally gotten the chance to write a post. My flight started in Sioux Falls, SD and dropped me off in Chicago, IL and Munich, Germany before finally arriving in Rome, Italy. Once to Rome, I took a cab to the Hotel Palatino where the students of International Study Abroad Program were staying. Once there, I met a bunch of my advisors (all of whom are wonderfully kind Italian ladies) and met the guys I was staying with while in Rome. After an informative meeting and greeting from ISA and students, a few of us grabbed a bite at a local panini shop and chatted, getting to know one another better. Of course, Kate Larcom my good friend from Creighton University is also studying in Florence this semester through the same program as me. I am glad to have her company on this trip.

The second day happened a little early for everyone as we were all recovering from jet lag and it was about 10:00 am in Rome while it would be about 3:00 am in both Omaha and Chamberlain. On our second day in Rome, we were getting a private tour of the Vatican and Sistine Chapel. Once inside the vatican, we were all given head sets to help aid hearing our tour guide. Right away I noticed the amazingly beautiful artwork that was found throughout Rome and Vatican City. I am not what I would call a connoisseur of art history nor the rich ancient Catholic histories that are literally everywhere in the historic country, but I found I knew enough to make it much easier to understand appreciate the awesomeness that is Rome. The artwork inside the Sistine Chapel is simply beautiful. The paintings are so vivid and creative that when you look at them, the figures almost seem to jump off the wall into what are 3D images that left me standing in complete awe. I noticed very early on that throughout this trip, I can almost always be found near the tailing end of our tour groups as I am just fascinated by the amazing artwork and trying to capture these moments by working on my constantly improving photography skills. Though all of the artwork in the Vatican museum was spectacular, none of it came close to touching the gorgeous Sistine Chapel. I literally stood in the Sistine Chapel, hardly moving, for nearly an hour just admiring the details and intricacies of artists like Rafael and Michaelangelo. There is nothing quite like it anywhere in the world. I felt as though I was almost catapulted into something of a time capsule as the paintings I viewed recapped biblical events that I had learned about as 7 year old boy in CCD class, that at the time, seemed more like mythical fairy tales than actual religious historical beliefs.

After the extensive tour of the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel, we were given the afternoon and night to do with whatever we pleased. I broke off into a smaller group that wanted to explore the rest of Vatican City and eventually Rome. Our first stop was of course the vast, fantastical St. Peters Square and Basilica. St. Peters is actually how it looks in photos and tv x5. It was especially interesting coming to all these places after reading fictional novels like The DaVinci Code and Angels & Demons. Though both of those books helped form an image in my mind of what everything in the area looked like, once you get to these places the image is wiped clean and a new image is born that is burned into your retinas. For those who are Catholic, basically everywhere in Rome and Florence are an absolute must to see at some point in your life. Nothing has hit me quite as hard being inside St. Peters Basilica, the holiest of grounds. The beauty that is the Basilica is something that needs to be experienced by all those whose faith is important to them. My favorite piece of artwork that I have seen so far is most definitely the Pieta'. I viewed it for a good 15 minutes and it really struck a chord inside me. I don't think any piece of art has really ever had the same effect on me. I decided not to take a picture of this piece as I really feel as though a picture can do it no means of justice.

After leaving the Basillica, we finished exploring Vatican City and continued our expedition of Rome, eventually leading us to Mueseo Sant' Angelo. This museum was more like a historic castle, fortress of sorts. I found out that it actually was just that. The fortress was used as means of protection by ancient romans as well as protecting the Pope in the early days during some of the wars. Cool, huh? I think it costed roughly eight and a half euro to get in and I would have paid at least double that for the view of Rome it gave us once we reached the top. By this time it was dark and we looked for a nice little restaurant where we could enjoy some of the local cuisine. We at a nice little Italian restaurant and enjoyed a nice bottle of the house wine. I found myself becoming a little dehydrated while in Rome as the wine, while delicious, is sometimes cheaper than water, especially when you're in a group. I also found that when enough glasses are consumed, the long, cold walk back to the hotel goes a little quicker. On the way back to the hotel, we stopped at locations such as Piazza Navona, the Pantheon, the Quirinal Palace, and the Trevi Fountain. We stopped for a few more bottles of vino along the way as well. As I mentioned earlier, it helps keep you warm. As we stumbled back to our hotel, we walked right past the Coliseum and I just stood there staring in drunken awe. What an amazing building. I could have walked around it all night, but decided I could just wait till I got back in the morning.

So the next morning we woke up and toured the inside and outside of the Coliseum. It is crazy to think about all of the amazing events that had taken place in last hundreds of years. I could not help but imagine Russell Crowe in that badass gladiator mask out there fending himself against tigers and other enemy hordes. After the Coliseum, we went on a tour of the Roman Forum. The Roman Forum are a collection of beautiful ancient ruins. I got some great pictures of all of these stops and met someone that always seemed to be lagging behind the group taking photos as well. The rest of the day consisted of touring through other attractions of downtown Roma and finally led to dinner and an nice cool Pironi birra, the recommended Italian beer.

The next day we left for Florence in mid-morning and made our through the beautiful Umbria and Tuscany countryside. What a wonderful sight to view as we drove on a hazy, overcast day. Small villages built on the tops of treacherous cliffs, beautiful vineyards, and gaping valleys were a everywhere as we finally made our way into the ancient white city that I will be calling home for the next 4 months, Firenze. I plan on having a new post every few days on here and the next one should be tomorrow or Monday as I will write about my first few days in Florence and my new pal, Fr. Bruno! I have met some amazing people already and hope to continue to meet more. I already know that a couple of the problems I am going to have are money (europeans live crazy expensive lives) and narrowing down the places I am going to travel to on my list. Lastly, in some sort of godsend (arguable way of terming it), I have basically been given a South Carolinian/art history majoring/better bearded version of Pajamas/Pistol/Pedro Woolman to spend my time with over the next 4 months. A nice little slice of home. Fino al giorno...Arrivideci!